Creating a trend and influencing people’s tastes and purchases may seem like just a matter of charisma, but it’s not like that, behind success in eCommerce there is a right Influencer Marketing strategy and a precise study of trends. But what is influencer marketing and why does it sell more?
Let’s start by saying that the value generated by Influencer marketing increased globally from $1.7 billion in 2016 to $16.4 billion in 2022. To capture this increased value and capitalize on revenue opportunities from the Influence Economy, consulting firm Ogilvy has identified six key trends for 2023.
What is Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is a set of activities that aim to stimulate the sales of some brands by leveraging a testimonial or influencer, a blogger or a social reviewer (to see how much a successful influencer earns see the “price list” here). It is essentially a strategy that uses sponsorships and mentions from influencers, i.e. people who have a large social pool (friends or followers) and are seen as examples to follow in their niche.
The key elements are the presence of social channels and the trust that people have in a certain individual, the credit that this person receives from other people, in short, the Ferragni model, just to mention the best known.
In 2020, according to the Multichannel Observatory of the School of Management of the Milan Polytechnic and by Nielsen, 77% of users searched for products and services to purchase on social networks and Altroconsumo found that, in the 18-34 age group, the 22% of users decided on a purchase following the advice of an influencer.
Why does it work?
“Influencer marketing works because people trust people more than brands, it connects brands with audiences in a way no other marketing mix lever can, with authenticity,” said Rahul Titus, Global Head of Influence at Ogilvy PR and author of the report.
“In a context of economic uncertainty – he continued – the real challenge for brands is to invest effectively and incisively. Some of the trends highlighted in this report, such as the need to leverage hyper-local audiences, allow brands to bypass mass market sales models, better define and communicate with users”.
Here are the trends for 2023
2023 sees first of all the return of collaborations among multiple influencers. These collaborations, if well done, allow you to reach a wider audience with creative and captivating content.
The other big trend is about proximity to the public. In 2023, in fact, the physical place no longer represents the only way to identify oneself as a community but, also thanks to the evolution of social media, contents will assume the most important value also from this point of view (from hyper- local switches to hyper relevant). Consumers increasingly engage and connect as a community starting from what they have in common: geographical proximity or their interests.
L’iCommerce, i.e. what is defined as the Influence Economy, is unquestionably one of the trends of the year. Driver of this tension is Tik Tok. The third largest social platform in the world and the most powerful both culturally and commercially, the hashtag TikTokMadeMeBuyIt has recorded 29.3 billion views and promotes iCommerce through live shops on the platform, a practice that provides brands with insights without previous.
Other trends explored include i subscription services. Platforms like OnlyFans and Patreon are going mainstream, this business model will define 2023 globally and for creators it represents new revenue streams, even bigger than paid advertisers.
Even the artificial influencer or AI, absurdly they are becoming more real. In 2015, there were just 9 registered AI influencers, today they are over 200. Greater creative possibilities, personalization of storytelling, uniqueness, connections, real-time engagement and lower costs help to increase the appeal of the AI influencers and their success. The real benefit for brands lies not only in the potential for infinite evolution, but also in the fact that they may be less risky than real humans: no contracts, no brand abandonments, and no limitations.
Finally, one cannot underestimate the rise of the Health Influence. In fact, 40% of people say the information they find on social media influences how they’ve coped with a chronic condition, their outlook on diet and exercise right down to choosing a doctor, so selecting the influencer is basic.
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