Image: Search Engine Journal

The influencer marketing landscape has significantly changed throughout the years. According to the 2022 Benchmark report by Influencer Marketing Hub, the influencer market is estimated to grow into a $16.4 billion industry from $13.8 billion in 2021. The proliferation of technological advancements and newer business models is bound to redefine the influencer marketing industry.

Image: Influencer Marketing Hub

The Martech landscape has transformed marketing by making campaigns more personalised and riveting for consumers, plus creating ecosystems more integrated and targeted for marketers. 

This helps as marketers also have to deal with the additional responsibility of the disruption of the pandemic and how consumers’ preferences have changed. 56% of consumers are now more influenced by images and videos on social media when making purchases post-pandemic1. With more active users on social platforms, the plethora of content posted on feeds compete to attract user attention. This is as the algorithm integrated on various platforms decides which content to priorities and feature to particular users. These key factors affect the performance of your social media efforts: 

• Relationship with users - If a user interacted with plenty of your previous content, they’re more likely to see your future content. Being consistent and creating engaging content is crucial to building a loyal audience.
• User’s interest - This is based on whether the user interacts with other similar accounts/posts like yours. Users who engage with similar content are more likely to see your posts as well. 
• The regency of the post - Recent posts are favoured and pushed to the top of the feed. Thus, planning your content schedule to post regularly and at best-performing timings is key. 

With influencer marketing, all these processes are simplified, as it already comprises the mentioned factors of engagement, building awareness and tapping the interest of your target audience to ensure that your brand gets sufficient exposure. 

Who are influencers?

Influencers are individuals with the ability to connect and relate with their audience. There are 4 main tiers of influencers - Mega, Macro, Micro and Nano. Mega influencers are essentially your celebrities with a huge following. Macro influencers usually have about 30 K and above followers with an average engagement rate of 1 to 3 %. Micro-Influencers have about 5 K to 30 K followers and an engagement rate of 3 to 5 %. Lastly, you have your Nano Influencers with 5 K followers or less, and their followers typically consist of family members and friends. These smaller influencers have an engagement rate of 7 to 10%. With Nano’s, they are great to work with on a small budget as they are cost-effective.

How influencer marketing helps:

Highly influential:

Influencers connect with today’s consumers more effectively as they are authentic and relatable, which help brands to gain exposure and visibility. With every activated post, the brand becomes increasingly visible to the influencer’s audience organically.

Broad reach:

Algorithms show bias toward posts made from accounts with higher engagement rates. Therefore, your sponsored posts can stimulate greater reach, given the fact that the influencers you’ve partnered with have a solid bond with their community. Targeted following

Influencers' social following is extremely targeted. Working with influencers of a niche that you’re targeting would ensure you reach the right target audience, as the content is relevant and interesting for social users following that particular influencer.

Image: Khanchit Khirisutchalual from Unsplash

Influencer marketing trends for 2022

1. Video content continues to increase in popularity 
   Instagram renamed IGTV Ads as Instagram In-Stream video ads - Creators can monetize their long-form content, and brands can reach audiences engaging with long-form video2. In early 2020, looking at Facebook itself, the number of users watching live videos increased by 50%. Hence, capitalising on short video content would help you attract more users attention.
   
   
   
2. Long term ongoing partnerships
   Brands and influencers are looking towards longer-term and ongoing projects rather than one-off sponsored posts. Influencers do not prefer commission-based short-term projects for a single sponsored post. Therefore, longer-term partnerships translate to higher brand credibility as influencers become part of your brand as they work together with your company and endorse what you stand for. It builds a sense of loyalty towards your company and encourages them to impart their content in the best possible way to their audience.
   
   

3. Engaging Nano social media influencers Authenticity
   Their lives are very much similar to any other ordinary person, which is why audiences relate to them. They go for regular jobs and don’t rely purely on sponsorships to survive. These aspects are great for your small business, as customers don’t follow people who simply cut and paste suggested content onto their accounts, or have fake followers/accounts. 90% of consumers factor authenticity important when choosing products they support or like

Organic and loyal following:
The majority of these influencers’ followers count are people who know them, like friends, family, and coworkers. Thus partnering with them gives your brand an authentic feel.

Cost-efficient:
Nano-influencer’s charge a smaller fee, making it easier for you to achieve your target ROI, especially if you’d like to hire more than one for your brand. They are also approachable, so it’s easier to build connections.

Nano influencers have defined and specific followers who are invested in the content they post. They can interact and engage with their audiences at ease. These influencers have meaningful conversations with their followers, and their high engagement rates can boost reach and drive conversions for your brand.

As a successful platform available in many countries in Asia, Partipost is a great example of an essential tool for brands to leverage. We further consulted them to find out more about how small businesses can get started with a small marketing budget. 

Partipost is a crowd marketing platform that connects brands to a network of influencers across the various tiers, from Nano to Macro Influencers. With a network of 600,000+ influencers across SEA, Partipost allows brands to run campaigns at a scale and with speed. Combining the user-facing mobile application with the client-facing Campaign Manager dashboard, influencer marketing campaigns no longer need to be manual and time-consuming. We have worked with industry-leading brands like Nando’s, ChopeDeals, Dettol, and POKKA.

Getting started with a small business budget

Image: SEMrush

1. Identify influencers

Shortlist the right influencers aligned closest to your business. This could be in terms of your marketing goals, or those who cater to the same audience that you intend to service or sell to. This increases the chances of successfully making a sale, as you’ve already targeted your market by choosing the right influencer suitable to represent your brand.

2. Reach out

Follow their pages, or any platform they are on, and convey your intentions. Introduce your brand and why you want them as an influencer for your products or services. Success of landing them depends on how well you pitch a future partnership with them.

3. Content creation with your influencers

After choosing and connecting with your influencers, create content and ideate the best ways to address your brand’s USP’s to your targeted audience with them. Then, share and promote the content they’ve created across social media.

4. Track and measure the performance

This is to see if you can continue engaging with this particular influencer, or find other better ones instead. 

Having a good influencer marketing strategy is crucial in 2022, so work on building the right influencer marketing campaign. Do take into consideration the important factors from this guide to grow your business.

Trustana is offering S$50 off* first orders to help retailers kickstart the new buying season post-holidays. Take this chance to try selling new products today! You may just find your next best-seller. 

Quote ‘Trustana’ and receive an exclusive 10% discount from Partipost’s package. Get in touch with Julee to find out more now!

For more information, contact Trustana here.

References:

1. https://www.netimperative.com/2021/08/18/online-shoppers-shunning-influencers-in-favour-of-authentic-content-from-real-consumers/ 
2. https://influencermarketinghub.com/influencer-marketing-trends/#toc-12
3. https://stackla.com/resources/reports/bridging-the-gap-consumer-marketing-perspectives-on-content-in-the-digital-age/
4. https://izea.com/resources/influencer-marketing-for-small-business/
5. https://getcarro.com/blog/10-steps-to-influencer-marketing-for-your-small-business/
6. https://muffinmarketing.com/influencer-marketing-small-business/
7. https://www.unboxsocial.com/blog/influencer-marketing-in-fb-industry/
8. https://union.co/articles/how-influencer-marketing-improves-campaign-performance-and-drives-food-beverage-sales
9. https://www.upfluence.com/blog
10. https://www.theshelf.com/the-blog/instagram-influencer-marketing/
11. https://influencermarketinghub.com/influencer-marketing-benchmark-report/