The Top Influencer Marketing Trends To Watch Out For In 2023

You've come to the right place if you want to understand the influencer marketing trends that will impact you in 2023. Influencer marketing is already important and will continue to grow. New social media channels, content categories, and networks for brands to interact with potential customers emerge every year. The top influencers follow the latest trends so they can provide brands with the tools they require to succeed. Given how swiftly the social media landscape is evolving, influencers must act quickly to take advantage of the current influencer marketing trends in order to establish their authority and expertise and increase their appeal to companies. Brands will want to take advantage of these trends in influencer marketing to grow their customer base, attract fresh leads, and increase revenue.

After the pandemic, when companies were forced to quickly alter their marketing and advertising strategies in order to connect with a consumer base that was unexpectedly stranded at home, 2023 holds out a lot of possibilities. Businesses have discovered the benefits of operating virtually, but more and more customers are also using the internet to fulfill their eCommerce demands. Additionally, because a number of conventional marketing strategies were ineffective in addressing the effects of a worldwide pandemic, corporations looked for influencers and content producers that are skilled at producing reactive content. In fact, the pandemic led to an upsurge in influencer marketing, according to our benchmark research on the topic. That is a lot. Influencers have seen a brightening of the spotlight because of this.

So let's get started with the influencer marketing trends you can rely on to keep your brand growing all year long.

The Top Influencer Marketing Trends To Watch Out For In 2023

1. Influencers on Social Media Will Continue to Influence

The high ROI of influencer marketing will continue to increase, according to HubSpot's 2023 Marketing Strategy & Trends Report. According to the study, more than one in four marketers are presently using influencer marketing, which has the second-highest ROI of any trend. According to the report, 17% of marketers aim to invest in influencer marketing for the first time in 2023, which will result in significant growth. Furthermore, 89% of marketers use the influencer marketing plan to keep or expand their investment in the upcoming year.

According to Pierre-Loc Assayag, CEO and co-founder of Traackr, an influencer marketing platform, firms would actually spend more on influencer marketing in 2023 despite the fact that total marketing budgets may decline due to an impending recession, much like the HubSpot analysis predicted. "A recession will further solidify what we already saw during the pandemic, when resources were limited but influencer marketing had a higher ROI than typical digital media." According to Assayag, marketers have the evidence they require to shift budgets to influencer marketing as a more efficient and approachable method of reaching consumers.

2. Influencers Will Become Key to Many Affiliate Programs

Influencer marketing and affiliate marketing were often thought of as two distinct practices until recently. But in fact, they are intricately related.

Both actions include an "outsider" encouraging their supporters to purchase someone's goods. In fact, Refersion, one of the platforms, is both an affiliate and an influencer platform and has previously made this link. The distinction between affiliates and influencers is becoming hazier as influencer platforms integrate with eCommerce more and more, moving beyond straightforward "awareness" campaigns to actually drive sales, as noted by our reviewer of that platform.

The majority of affiliates in the past were conventional bloggers or publishers. On their websites, they would post product walkthroughs, reviews, and demonstrations. To increase their chances of receiving referral fees from a wider range of readers, they frequently promoted numerous, sometimes rival affiliate marketing programs.

3. The popularity of video content is growing

It can be challenging for brands to break through the noise and reach their target audience on social media, where there are more than two billion active users. People can now consume more video and audio information due to recent technological advances like 5G. High-speed fiber internet expansion has also been beneficial. People now consume more content in these formats as a result.

According to a recent analysis by NeoReach, video-sharing platforms like YouTube and TikTok provided the best influencer marketing results for brands. Over the first quarter of 2022, 107 million people liked sponsored creator content in video postings. All industries and levels of influencers continue to use short and long-form video content to drive influencer marketing efforts. Although Instagram is the most widely used social media platform, expect a shift in content types over the coming year toward audio or video. Podcasts are more popular than ever, while TikTok and YouTube are growing in popularity. Videos are now prioritized on Facebook and Twitter as well.

4. Local Marketing Remains the Most Effective

Over the past few years, searches for "near me" companies on mobile devices have skyrocketed. According to Google statistics, searches for "shopping near me" increased by almost 200% between 2016 and 2018. A SafariDigital analysis from 2022 states that 97% of users looked for local businesses online. Local marketing has never been more crucial, and in 2023, the emphasis will remain on local.

In 2023, there will still be a strong emphasis on local marketing, according to Linda Pophal, founder and owner of Strategic Communications, a company that offers marketing strategy solutions. According to Pophal, "Even the big brands are attempting to establish themselves in local markets and compete against local businesses that, perhaps surprisingly, have an advantage because their content can be more specialized and relevant to local geographies and, therefore, is rewarded by Google." To "win" from a search perspective, brands with multiple locations must localize their content and make sure it is relevant and unique.

5. Live shopping will play a significant role in influencer marketing campaigns

Live shopping is one of the most well-liked categories of influencer content. Here, an influencer will provide real-time feedback and reviews while also demonstrating to their followers how to make product purchases. Influencers' influence grows along with the use of social media. 37% of marketers said they will increase their budgets for influencer marketing in 2018, and this pattern is anticipated to hold over time. For instance, in March 2022, Walmart collaborated with 10 TikTok creators for the second time.

Live shopping is particularly beneficial for fashion and beauty firms since it gives potential customers a chance to see how the goods behave and seem in actual use. Live shopping will continue to gain popularity as streaming services like Twitch and YouTube Gaming grow in popularity. Influencers will be able to reach greater audiences and increase sales for their sponsors if they can use these channels effectively.

6. A Greater Emphasis on Diversity and Representation in Influencer Marketing

Recently, diversity and representation in society have received more attention. Therefore, it is not surprising to see this influencer marketing. On YouTube, the top LGBTQ+ influencers have more than 10 million followers.

Even influencer agencies exist that are committed to increasing representation. To make sure that everyone is represented in the media, REFLECT, a space for underrepresented groups within media campaigns, is one example. They only collaborate with companies that value diversity and inclusion in their marketing strategies and share their passion for broadening the media.

The representation of black and brown creators is the primary focus of other organisations, such as Shade and Black Girl Digital. Black Girl Digital, for instance, chooses to concentrate exclusively on black women as suggested by their name. Their objective is to motivate brands to form closer alliances with this group of influencers in order to enable them to develop a successful business doing what they enjoy.

Today, to make sure everyone is represented, influencers and consumers examine branded messages and initiatives. Brands will need to change their corporate cultures in the future to emphasize diversity and get rid of any signs of exclusivity.

7. Micro and Nano Influencers Will Keep Gaining Popularity

From nano influencers with just a few thousand followers to famous influencers with millions, there are various types of influencers. According to our benchmark research on influencer marketing for 2022, while engagement rates decreased, this wasn't the case for the majority of nano and micro influencers. These influencers' engagement rates are higher, and their conversion rates are also higher.

Brands can extend their influencer marketing costs while still working with influencers that are closely associated with their audiences by concentrating on nano and micro-influencers. Brands will therefore continue to prioritize engagement rates above follower counts.

Also Read: 11 Top Tech Trends To Look For In 2023 And How They May Impact Your Life

8. Brands Will Look for Ongoing Partnerships Instead of One-Off Projects

In 2023, expect long-term partnerships between influencers and brands as compared to one-off sponsored posts. Neal Schaffer even predicts in one of his blog articles that it would eventually become the standard. Although there are many causes for this change, the main one is that sales take time to close. When engaged for only one sponsored post, even influencers with the most active audiences may struggle to provide any genuine value. Many times, a long-term marketing effort with a specific influencer will simply be more successful than a short-term one. Additionally, just like with brand ambassadors, brands are becoming more interested in developing better partnerships with influencers.

We advise building packages that you can sell to brands looking for your services that include a number of sponsored posts spread out over time, much like what they would typically do when running Facebook advertising or advertisements on other platforms, if you want to profit from this influencer marketing trend. Joining an influencer marketing network can also be beneficial to establish your credibility.

9. Marketers Will Spend More Money on TikTok

We always have room for more social media channels, as the past few years have demonstrated. Due in large part to the pandemic that ravaged the world and kept people home with little to do, TikTok in particular enjoyed outstanding years.

Influencers were there when TikTok took off in early 2020, gaining followers on the site and working with brands to produce sponsored posts and advertisements. Without a doubt, TikTok will continue to gain popularity among influencers and marketers during 2023. In fact, according to Neal Schaffer, in 2023 TikTok may potentially unseat Instagram as the leader in influencer marketing. He argues that TikTok's rising popularity is due in part to the fact that it is so well-liked by younger users.

Will TikTok really grow in popularity? In only two years, marketing teams' expenditures on TikTok influencer marketing will nearly treble, according to research provided by TheB2BHouse marketers. They calculated that TikTok influencer marketing expenditures in 2022 would total close to $800 million. They forecast that it will surpass $1.3 billion by 2024.

10. Performance-based deals will become more common.

Performance-based offers are predicted to increase in popularity in 2023 as influencers start to play a significant role in affiliate marketing programmes and more firms look to establish long-term collaborations with influencers.

Customers will therefore anticipate influencers to fulfil their commitments, such as a predetermined volume of clicks or sales. Influencers who are faced with performance-based contracts might wish to think about converting them into regular royalties rather than taking a one-time payment. Before agreeing to anything and before promising a certain return, you should carefully read the contract you are about to sign.

Conclusion 

According to online analytics, influencer marketing is here to stay. According to our own benchmark analysis, the sector has grown by more than quadruple over the last five years, from $4.6 billion in 2016 to more than $16 billion in 2022.

Therefore, it should not be surprising that the majority of marketers intend to boost their budgets for influencer marketing. It's critical to pay attention to these influencer marketing trends for 2023 to ensure that your attention and advertising expenditures are being directed toward the appropriate items as influencer marketing gains popularity, demand, and marketing spend.

Unexpected marketing issues that needed creative thinking to handle plagued the last couple of years. Those remedies will be put to the test as we anticipate the influencer marketing trends for 2023.