Since the influencer marketing industry first started getting more popular with companies and influencers, there have been numerous shifts and changes. However, the last couple of years have given way to some of the biggest changes in the influencer marketing industry, and there are still many yet to come.
Affiliate marketing
Most people, until recently usually saw affiliated marketing and influencer marketing as two different marketing efforts. However, they tend to be quite interconnected with each other as they both involve an outsider promoting a company or its solutions, and encouraging their followers to make purchases.
That’s why there has been a number of brand new platforms that have started recognizing the connection between public relations and influencer marketing and affiliate marketing, and provide companies and influencers with both of those marketing opportunities in collaborations.
Although in the past, most affiliate marketing efforts were done by publishers and traditional bloggers, which included product demos, reviews, and walkthroughs, this has changed in the last few months. That’s because influencers have started recommending solutions to their followers, but those solutions are the ones that the influencers use and trust themselves as well. These types of influencers don’t want to alienate anyone in their audience by promoting solutions that they don’t stand by and believe in, and as a result, plenty of companies have discovered that through influencer marketing, they can actually invest in brand advocates at the same time.
With these types of marketing campaigns, social media influencers tend to give their personal demonstrations, and reviews and include a call to action when they’re talking about a company or its solutions. They’re able to help their audiences move swiftly and effectively throughout the entire buying journey, from the awareness stage to the consideration, and even the purchasing stage in an authentic and personalized manner.
Specialization
Many companies have already noted how some influencers have managed to carve out smaller niches for themselves and their target audience, and this trend is not showing any signs of changing, but only growing in the future.
Social media influencers are going to continue to develop an expertise in their industry or niche, which will make them a lot more popular with specific brands in those same industries. In fact, influencers themselves, that haven’t created a unique niche for themselves, or haven’t even considered the possibility of what a niche can provide to them, have started thinking about which industries they are most passionate about, and will start developing relationships with the companies that fall under the same umbrella.
Additionally, as more influencers become a lot more specialized in their content and personality, there is also going to be a change in the language that people use, such as no longer calling people popular on social media platforms “influencers”, and instead calling them content creators. Given the fact that the number of these people actually have multiple jobs on a daily basis, from writer to photographer, videographer, and more, the change in title is only fair.
