What are the Top Influencer Marketing Trends in 2020?
The influencer marketing industry has grown significantly over the last few years. In 2020, brands will spend more on influencer marketing. By the end of 2020, the influencer marketing industry will be worth between $5 billion-$ 10 billion, and by 2022, it’s estimated that up to 15B will go in to Influencer Marketing.
- Over 80% of marketers find influencer marketing effective and around two-thirds of brands have increased their influencer marketing budgets this year.
The Most Pressing Influencer Marketing Trends To Know In 2020 Include:
- The Role of Micro-Influencers and Nano-Influencers Will Grow In 2020
- In 2020, Influencer Platforms will Increase in Importance
- In 2020, Values Compatibility Will Be a Major Issue in Influencer Marketing
- Instagram Hashtags Will Remain Important In 2020
- Instagram Captions will grow in 2020
- Influencers will make more Audio and Video Content in 2020
- Best Instagram Posting Time in 2020
- Brands are Getting Better at Measuring Influencer Marketing ROI
- Influencer Fraud is still a Top Concern in 2020
- Influencer marketing will remain the Best Delivery Mechanism for Content in 2020
- Influencer Automation will be a Major Issue in 2020
- Instagram will remain the Most Important Influencer Marketing Channel
1. The Role of Micro-Influencers and Nano-Influencers Will Grow In 2020
Celebrities will become less relevant for influencer campaigns. Just being famous or having a lot of followers will not be enough to become an influencer.
- Marketers have realized that enthusiastic micro-influencers and nano-influencers with a smaller but dedicated following provide better value for money.
- Micro-influencers have better engagement rates (averaging 7%).
According to a study by experts at influencer marketing platform FOHR, Influencers with 0-25k followers deliver higher engagement results.
2. In 2020, Influencer Platforms will Increase in Importance
For most firms running their influencer campaigns in house, influencer platforms will become a tool of choice.
In 2020, the popularity of influencer platforms will intensify. Brands will either completely outsource influencer marketing to agencies or they will carry out their campaigns in-house using influencer discovery platforms.
There are three ways of running your influencer marketing campaigns:
- Working with an agency.
- Carrying out your influencer marketing organically by building influencer relationships naturally.
- Using an influencer platform tool to simplify the process with finding influencers.
Many firms have realized that the organic method is complex, stressful, and takes a long time and there is a high chance of failure.
Influencer agencies will continue having many clients. However, the biggest area of growth will be influencer platforms. Every month, new platforms are arriving on the market. These platforms offer services that are continually evolving.
SocialVex is an influencer platform that focuses on influencer discovery, influencer content amplification, and analytics.
3. In 2020, Values Compatibility Will Be a Major Issue in Influencer Marketing
Businesses have realized that there should be a better match between their values and those of influencers that they work with.
- An edgy brand can work with slightly contentious influencers. However, a brand that targets a conservative audience cannot risk working with liberal influencers.
4. Instagram Hashtags Will Remain Important In 2020
Over the last four years, the average number of hashtags in an influencer’s post has steadily increased.
One of the easiest ways to be discovered by new audiences on Instagram is by using relevant and targeted hashtags. Using hashtags helps in categorizing similar content making it more discoverable.
- Instagram hashtags can translate into more engagement for your brand.
- On average, Instagram posts with hashtags have 12% more engagement than those without.
5. Instagram Captions will grow in 2020
Longer captions will get better results in 2020. The average Instagram caption length has more than doubled since 2016.
In 2020, Instagram feeds will be filled with an average caption length of 405 characters. This is around 65-70 words. Influencers like Jenna Kutcher are using longer captions on their posts. This helps them to better share their knowledge.
6. Influencers will make more Audio and Video Content in 2020
Over the last few years, bandwidth and internet speeds have dramatically improved. It is easier than ever to make and share audio and video content with Instagram followers.
A Facebook executive predicted that by 2021 their platform will be all video and no text.
- 51% of marketers indicate that video has the best ROI.
- 64% of consumers make a purchase after watching branded social videos.
- Every year, mobile video consumption rises by over 100%.
- 6 out of 10 people prefer watching internet videos instead of TV.
7. Best Instagram Posting Time in 2020
Later.Com and Fohr.Co reviewed millions of Instagram posts with the goal of establishing the best Instagram posting time for influencers, businesses, and brands. It was revealed that the best time to post on Instagram is between 9 am and 11 am for Instagram users in EST.
The worldwide best times to post include:
- 8:00 AM AEDT in Sydney
- 7:00 PM GMT in London
- 11:00 AM ET in New York
- 8:00 AM PST in Los Angeles
8. Brands are Getting Better at Measuring Influencer Marketing ROI
In the earlier years of influencer marketing, brands had problems measuring influencer marketing ROI. Therefore, big money was spent on top celebrities and the resulting ROI was not always positive.
- In 2020, there are better ways of measuring ROI. This has led to a substantial decrease in vanity marketing.
- Marketers can now better evaluate sales conversions and authentic conversion rates. This has led to a rise in more organized and sophisticated influencer campaigns.
- Calculating the ROI of influencer marketing has become less burdensome because of better reporting capabilities, clearer communication, and stricter vetting processes.
- Influencer marketing platforms are now highly adept at detailing the success or failure of a campaign. This allows marketers to monitor performance in real-time and report metrics like cost-per-impression and cost-per-engagement.
9. Influencer Fraud is still a Top Concern in 2020
Influencer fraud costs brands billions of dollars every year. Around 15% of advertiser spending on influencer marketing is lost to fraud.
Red flags for fraud include recently created Instagram accounts with many followers but little engagement. Influencer fraud includes creating fake personas and purchasing fake followers.
Nearly two-thirds of marketers have experienced influencer fraud. Hopefully, with increased publicity about influencer fraud and state of the art fake influencer tools, fewer brands will experience influencer fraud in the future.
- In 2020, there are many tools that you can use to detect fraudsters. SocialVex is a tool that will help to reduce the effects of influencer fraud.
10. Brands are Getting Better at Measuring Influencer Marketing ROI
In the earlier years of influencer marketing, brands had problems measuring influencer marketing ROI. Therefore, big money was spent on top celebrities and the resulting ROI was not always positive.
- In 2020, there are better ways of measuring ROI. This has led to a substantial decrease in vanity marketing.
- Marketers can now better evaluate sales conversions and authentic conversion rates. This has led to a rise in more organized and sophisticated influencer campaigns.
- Calculating the ROI of influencer marketing has become less burdensome because of better reporting capabilities, clearer communication, and stricter vetting processes.
- Influencer marketing platforms are now highly adept at detailing the success or failure of a campaign. This allows marketers to monitor performance in real-time and report metrics like cost-per-impression and cost-per-engagement.
11. Influencer marketing will remain the Best Delivery Mechanism for Content in 2020
Influencer marketing and content marketing go hand in hand. The phenomenal rise in influencer marketing has been matched by an increase in content output.
12. Influencer Automation will be a Major Issue in 2020
Most marketers agree that influencer marketing can be automated. However, the bone of contention is the amount of automation that you can successfully use. This will continue being an issue in 2020.
- There are marketers who believe that you can automate the whole process from influencer selection to influencer payment. However, other marketers think that a personal touch is important, therefore, influencer marketing should be a hands-on process.
13. Instagram will remain the Most Important Influencer Marketing Channel
Every social platform attracts influencers to some degree. However, Instagram is the golden standard of influencer marketing. Nearly 90% of brands use Instagram for influencer marketing, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t ignore new and upcoming platforms like TikTok.
Conclusion
Influencer Marketing is a tool which should be in everyone’s tool belt this year and should be a part of a brands digital marketing strategies and efforts. There are many opportunities to reap the awards by investing in underutilized platforms, or dipping your toes and segregating a percentage of your budgets in to new and upcoming platforms. We wish everyone a prosperous and successful 2020 and hope this article has helped with your efforts.
Extra
Using SocialVex’s Suite of Tools, Influencer Marketing does not have to be that tedious task you tread on a daily basis. Learn More about our tools below:
