By Mya Harrison
If you are looking to work with an influencer in 2022 to promote your business or products, you have come to the right place. It’s expected that 72.5% of marketers are going to grow their influencer marketing presence by the end of the year. In 2022, the influencer marketing industry is projected to grow a little over $16 billion, according to Influencer Marketing Hub. What does this mean for your small business or nonprofit? It means influencer marketing is a critical marketing strategy to consider as you map out your goals and campaign for the year. Working with influencers is a little complicated, but these tips and tricks can help get you on the right path.
Quick Definitions:
What is an influencer?
An influencer is a person. Let’s start there. They are real humans that help you communicate with other real humans. They’re known for creating relationships with people (followers) online and through these relationships, they can influence those followers’ decision-making habits. Those followers are potential buyers of a product or service you may offer. In addition to helping communicate with their audience, you can work with influencers to deepen your relationship with your audience. Influencers are professional content creators. Think of them as an extension of your marketing team who can help create copy and visuals you are able to leverage on your channels, emails, websites, and even in the media.
What is influencer marketing in 2022?
Influencer marketing is more than sharing free products in 2022. It’s a strategy that has to be planned, executed, and frequently adjusted based on ever-changing market trends. Brands and businesses can approach influencers with specific campaign messages and goals. Influencers will often partner in exchange for products/experiences, sponsorship fees, or commission. Feed posts, stories, TikTok videos, contests, blog post features, email features, and even guest appearances are all ways to work with influencers. It’s important to implement tracking and analytics into partnership agreements to determine success and make plans for potential long-term partnerships.
Trends to Consider for 2022
Focus on Influencers in Your Niche
Get specific with your audience profiles and campaign goals. Finding the right influencers on social media can mean all the difference in the world. In 2022, companies have to be as savvy as influencers. The competition is growing and the market is saturated. Influencers are getting more specific with their content to stay relevant and so should you. Here are a few questions to ask as you consider influencers to work with:
-Do their visual assets align with our visual brand identity?
-Are they in the same age group as our target customer?
-Do they use keywords and hashtags you’re using in our own content? For example, our client Stegmann Clogs is looking for influencers interested in eco-fashion and sustainable living, so we reach out to those to collaborate.
-Does location matter to you? If so, make sure they live in your target area.
-What are your content goals? If you want more trending videos, make sure they’re making it already. If you want more blog backlinks, make sure their blog content is strong.
– How can you apply your mission statement when connecting with these influencers?
– Is there a potential for a long-term partnership?
Integrating TikTok Will Be Critical to Growth
Tik tok is still taking over the world and more specifically the influencer marketing industry. The app is going to have about ⅔ of U.S. influencer marketers planning to put their content on the platform. You’ll see influencers using the app to promote products, experiences, and even apps in a creative way. It’s working for influencers just as much as it’s working for brands. Social Media Today found that 87% of influencers say they are receiving most of their engagement from the TikToks they create.
Pro Tip: Get specific about the content you request influencers create for TikTok. The highest video success rates are 13 seconds or less. Make sure you give them clear guidelines on what to feature and how.
Diversity Should Be Top of Mind
Diversity and inclusion are always important no matter the situation. Having a targeted audience is a great thing, but you also want to make sure that audience is made up of diverse people.
The Influencer Marketing Hub also states that, “brands will also need to change how they do business as a whole to build diversity and inclusion into every aspect of their brand.” Increasing diversity also has very simple benefits: it helps you grow your audience across different demographics. Supporting and recruiting influencers from diverse racial, physical, and cultural groups is not only the right thing to do, they will make content more physically accessible and visibly diverse. People want to see themselves represented in your content.
Pro Tip: Consider cause marketing as a vital part of your influencer partnerships. Cause Marketing is when your business has a relationship between maximum profitability, while also making society better.
Micro and Nano Influencers Create Major Impact
When most people think of an influencer, they think of someone who has tens of thousands of followers. That is not always the case, especially in 2022. New micro and nano influencers are helping brands make an impact at increasing rates on social media. That’s because their followers are much more likely to be real and engaged people. A 2019 Later and Fohr report found that “micro-influencers, particularly those with fewer than 25,000 followers, have the highest engagement rates at around 7%.”
Honest Truth : A person is more willing to buy a product that is being promoted from someone they know than from a total stranger.
Video Content Is King
Even though a picture can say a thousand words, a video can say double that. In fact, 72% of consumers would rather learn about a product or service via video, according to MarketingTech. This allows for direct communication with your targeted audience and helps give them a clear understanding of what your product or business can do. Creating videos is another way to keep your content library stocked for your own social and ad content.
Long-Term Partnerships Will Work Best
Long-term partnerships can help you navigate your way to a long-lasting connection with your customers and even grow your community. Look for influencer prospects who can help you stay in touch with their audience with consistent messaging and regular content. Influencers like this can help you have more connections to their already tapped-in audience across a longer period of time, rather than just a one-time touch. Another good thing about these partnerships is that you will be able to build strong relationships with these influencers, which in turn could help you successfully grow your brand, according to influencer strategies.
Commission and Affiliate-Based Partnerships will be Useful
Affiliate Marketing is when an influencer earns commission by promoting a product or business. These commissions are based on a number of factors such as number of clicks on website or purchases, which is a clear way to track and reward success. Even though you are paying, you can better control and analyze the traffic coming towards you.
Compared to 2017 affiliate marketing spending was $5.4 billion and is projected to hit $8.2 billion this year, according to Tune. Marketers are wisely and heavily using affiliate marketing to gain more traction to their social media accounts and more importantly their brand.
There are dozens of new tactics and trends for working with influencers. More will show up this year as new platforms arise, algorithms change, and other global and local events transform our social, financial, and creative ecosystems. One thing will remain true: influences are critical to business success in 2022.