Influencer Marketing in 2020

If 2019 was the defining year of influencer marketing, 2020 looks set to be the year that the influencer marketing industry establishes itself as the proactive marketing solution. 2019 saw huge changes in the influencer market. From the rise of TikTok to the removal of ‘likes’ from Instagram, the developments continue to have an impact. With legislative changes, influencer marketing has become a more authentic marketing option that prioritizes transparency.

Long gone are the days when influencers were only brand-name celebrities. More than ever, brands are looking to influencers with smaller followings, taking the time to build relationships with the social media profiles that can boost brand trust and create a more targeted marketing approach. This means that blogger and influencer outreach is more important than ever in 2020.

Authentic Collaboration

Consumers are more aware than ever when they are being targeted by a business. Influencers that promote multiple products from a variety of brands will face negativity from their audience due to a lack of consistency. When authenticity is the primary benefit of influencer marketing, long term relationships between brands and the influencers that they connect with are the goal.

Creator Content

When it comes to influencers, brands can often sit back and let them create posts that promote the product. However, as authenticity continues to be the core benefit of an influencer strategy, brands need to start recognizing the real value of that content. As part of your overall marketing campaigns, that created content can easily be repurposed so that it becomes part of your digital, print, or outdoor marketing campaigns, This will mean that your authenticity reaches entirely new audiences.

Big Data and Influencers

Although the term ‘big data’ has been thrown around throughout 2019, the fact is that most marketers don’t understand that the concept is simply about gathering insights into the behaviors and habits of consumers. Influencer marketing in 2020 is going to need to be more aware of that data, and for brands that aren’t analyzing data for improved influencer marketing impact, outsourcing to data-driven digital marketing agencies like ClickIntelligence is essential. Your blogger and influencer outreach is going to lack potency if your brand fails to make use of the available analytics.

Video is Going Nowhere

2019 was very clearly the year of video content, and that looks set to continue well into the next decade. Consumers want video content, and brands are going to have to supply it or risk losing out to competitors. That means the influencers that you opt to partner with will need to be able to create the video content that your target demographic is looking for. This will mean more than 10-second Snapchat videos or a brief video glimpse behind the scenes of your influencer’s life. It means transitioning to video as your primary form of content, with your influencers leading the charge.

A strong backlink strategy can have a dramatic effect on your website traffic, meaning that you get more opportunities to introduce new audiences into your sales funnel. Influencers are becoming one of the leading components of a backlink campaign, and businesses that fail to make the maximum use of them in 2020 could find themselves falling behind faster than they think.