Is Influencer Marketing Still Effective in 2024?
If you are a part of the marketing world or even just a media consumer, odds are you are aware of influencers and influencer marketing. This marketing strategy has become extremely popular and for good reason, it works!
If you have utilized influencer marketing in the past and wonder if you should continue or if you have never used it and are wondering if you should start, we are here to answer those questions and so much more. In this blog, we will dive into what Influencer marketing is, if influencer marketing will remain effective in 2024, and what influencer marketing trends to look out for. Let’s get started!
What Is Influencer Marketing?
In today’s fast-moving marketing world, businesses are constantly looking for innovative ways to reach their target audience and grow their brand. The strategy that has gained a huge amount of popularity is Influencer Marketing.
Influencer Marketing is a strategy that involves collaborating with people who have a significant online presence and a strong influence over their followers. Influencers can sway the purchasing decisions of their audience through their authentic and relatable content.
This form of marketing allows brands to tap into a highly engaged and targeted audience, as influencers have a niche following that closely aligns with the brand’s target market. By partnering with the right influencer, a brand can gain access to a larger and more diverse audience, ultimately increasing brand awareness and potentially driving sales.
Influencer marketing is not limited to just product promotions. It can also include sponsored content, brand ambassadorships, and collaborations, where influencers can create unique and creative content that showcases the brand in a positive light.
This has proven to be a successful strategy for brands to connect with their audience more authentically and organically. But it is very important to note that, businesses must choose the right influencer who aligns with their brand values and message. For example, if you are a skincare company, partnering with a beauty influencer would benefit most for your brand.
Why Is Influencer Marketing Still In?
At the end of 2023, utilizing influencers was a huge marketing strategy for many businesses. In fact, according to The Social Shepherd, “78.6% of businesses of U.S. marketers within companies exceeding 100 employees were projected to leverage influencers for marketing endeavors. On a global scale, the influencer marketing market reached a valuation of 21.1 billion U.S. dollars for 2023.”
This number is expected to increase in 2024. Influencer Marketing will definitely remain a large portion of businesses’ marketing strategy. Many brands prefer to spend money on influencers rather than other marketing funneling strategies such as ads. By using influencers, you can not only benefit from their loyal followers but it is also now a huge sales lever too.
While influencers were originally used to drive their followers to your business’s website or socials, now influencers have the opportunity to sell your products directly from their pages as well. Utilizing platforms such as TikTok Shop, creators can sell business products through their videos. This takes away extra steps and increases the likelihood of their followers reaching the purchasing stage.
Influencer Marketing Trends 2024
There are a few changes and new trends to be aware of when it comes to influencer marketing in 2024. Let’s explore those changes or trends.
More Certified Influencers
When influencer marketing began, it was common for the influencer to have to reach out to brands and fight over deals with other influencers, whereas now, it has switched completely. Since the demand for influencers is so high, brands may have a harder time creating a partnership with influencers in regard to competition.
With this switch, comes more control from the influencer in terms of content they want to create, products they want to showcase, and how much money they want to charge.
Influencer vs Creators
Influencers were once the only name for what they do, whereas now, the titles of influencers and content creators will be more interchangeable. Since there are so many content creators out there with a large loyal following, they make for a great influencer marketing outlet just as someone who calls themselves an influencer.
Content creators give more of an opportunity for brands to find one that makes sense for their brand. For example, a regular lifestyle influencer could be a beauty guru, mom, and workout fanatic. This means that a makeup company, a diaper company, and a workout clothing line all could work with this one content creator. This content creator probably has all kinds of followers who would like one or all of the brands they are posting about. This will also allow brands to connect with a super-niche influencer. They may have a smaller audience, but most times their audience is more engaged and loyal.
This also gives brands more of a choice in terms of budget. With so many content creators out there, there is a lot of wiggle room for how much you are willing to spend. Some content creators with not as many followers could be used to start out and more of a choice to pick an individual that naturally matches their brand’s intentions and values.
The Use of AI
A change we will see in 2024 when it comes to influencer marketing will be the use of AI. On the brand’s side of influencer marketing, AI can be used to figure out what the influencer posts about, the demographics of their followers if they work with your competitors, and more. Finding influencers is arguably the hardest part, so it is safe to assume that brands may look to the help of AI for the vetting portion of influencer marketing.
On the influencer side of marketing, creators may use AI to come up with ideas, scripts, and more to help them create content for your brand.
More Analytics
With the constant updates and improvements of apps, there will be more ways to measure the success of your influencer’s success. By being able to measure clicks, reach, engagement, and more, you can see if your influencer is converting to sales for you.
At this point, it is our goal that you understand that although we predict some changes, Influencer Marketing is not going anywhere. By following these updates and continuing to tweak your influencer marketing strategy, we feel you will continue to succeed with this strategy. What are your favorite parts of influencer marketing, if you are an influencer or content creator, what is your favorite part of your job?
If you want to learn more about influencer marketing, you are in luck, because Metricool has a whole bunch of blogs related to this topic. We have several blogs where we highlight popular niche influencers as well as step-by-step guides. Check them out below:
