Influencer marketing has become one of the primary ways brands advertise their products since the rise of social media. However, when celebrities and influencers become embroiled in scandal, the brands they represent end up dropping them. In addition, the pandemic has changed the way customers have been interacting with brands, forcing many to rethink their strategies.
It’s apparent that influencer marketing is changing, but what direction it’s headed in isn’t exactly clear. To share their insights, members of Young Entrepreneur Council weigh in with their predictions for the future of influencer marketing in the coming months and years.
Young Entrepreneur Council members share what they think will become of influencer marketing in the future.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.
1. Larger Brands Will Drop Influencer Marketing
Everything comes down to risk and reward. What I predict we’ll see is that larger brands are more likely to drop influencers, and smaller brands will continue to leverage them for growth and exposure. You have to remember that celebrities also protect their personal brand and have something to lose. With that in mind, it’s important to select responsible people with clean backgrounds. You don’t want to be blindsided by unknown information later on. Do your homework and work with people who align with your goals. – Tyler Quiel, Giggster
2. Influencers Will Build Marketing Strategies
Influencer marketing is showing no signs of slowing down, even during the ongoing pandemic. But now with the changing situation, it’s important for influencers to have a proper marketing strategy. Many people see influencers as living a dream life, attending parties, traveling to cool places and doing things people dream of. But now with the pandemic, all of that has taken a back seat. So it’s important for influencers to focus more on health, fitness, beauty, wellness, etc. They should focus more on how to make life easy and beautiful even in the quarantine period. – Josh Kohlbach, Wholesale Suite
3. Brands Will Choose From A Wider Celeb Pool
Once upon a time, we had a handful of celebrities, but they were mega-celebrities. Now, things are moving toward a paradigm with many more tiers of celebrity. Often, those smaller celebrities are much more tightly bound to a specific audience. For instance, now you can have a teenage TikTok star with a massive audience of other teens and they will be way more influential on that audience than the old mega-celebrities of rock stars and A-list actors. I think brands can choose from a wider range of celebrities now who may not be as globally famous but who are even more influential with a specific audience. That kind of targeted influence can have great results. – Cody Candee, Bounce
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4. Influencers Will Promote With More Structure
Influencer marketing is not going away. In fact, more small brands are adding on micro-influencers to help them drive awareness. In addition to smaller brands latching on to influencer marketing, there will be more structure to how influencers promote a particular product or company. Just like celebrity endorsement contracts, influencers will most likely have scripted or guided statements and content that they are provided. Moreover, there will be more disclosures to go along with any messages these influencers post. – Maria Thimothy, OneIMS
5. Brands Will Have More Creative Control Over Influencers’ Content
I think we’ll see much greater creative control of influencers from brands wanting to lower their liability risk. It’s too great a risk for many top brands to hire an influencer only for that same influencer to spark a controversy later on. Therefore, I expect we’ll see a massive rise in influencers being barred from making off-script statements on social media. This, in turn, might come off as disingenuous and cause the public to distrust influencers. It’s a vicious cycle that might see the end of influencer marketing as we know it, as, eventually, nobody will have faith that the influencer is being genuine. – Tyler Gallagher, Regal Assets
6. Influencers Will Send More Mindful Messages
As the world is slowly emerging from the problems caused by the pandemic, influencers and businesses need to be more mindful of the messages they send out. Now is not the time to promote excesses in lifestyles or other distasteful content. Instead, influencers are likely to focus on wellness, hacks that help people and content that truly educates. Businesses need to follow suit with similar messages to their audiences. – Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner
7. Influencer Marketing Popularity Will Depend On The Platform
I believe that influencer marketing will wane in popularity with some platforms such as Facebook and YouTube because at times, with these platforms, mentioning brands feels forced. However, on Instagram it can continue to grow, especially with micro-influencers because they deliver more personalized experiences to niche audiences through a more authentic voice. Businesses that know exactly who their target audience is can locate influencers popular with their target market and take advantage of lower rates as compared to larger influencers. Most importantly, this translates to a higher ROI for advertising expenditures on influencers. – Salvador Ordorica, The Spanish Group LLC
8. Customers Will Follow More Socially Conscious Influencers
With social norms changing, marketers and business owners can expect to see customer interactions with influencer content change. More attention will be given to influencers with authentic messages who can make genuine connections with their audience. If they support good causes and seem genuine in who they are, they’re more likely to encourage sales. Customers are becoming more aware of the authenticity of businesses and brands they spend money on and want to spend in socially conscious places. – Stephanie Wells, Formidable Forms
