According to the study, influencer marketing is getting affected as it faces budget cuts after the rise in inflation and other macroeconomic challenges. However, the forecast also shows an increase in the spending of US marketers on creator partnerships. Another meaningful change is that more dollars are going to TikTok now.
Research has been conducted to forecast influencer marketing spending on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, and other platforms to analyze further why marketers channel more money into creator partnerships. According to the study results, Instagram will continue dominating the different social media platforms in terms of influencer marketing dollars. It had the highest share of 43.1% in 2019, 43.6% in 2020, and 45.0% in 2021. It is gradually decreasing as it has a 44.7% market share of influencer marketing dollars in 2022, which is expected to be around 44.6% in 2023, and 44.5% in 2024. The decrease in the percentage is minor, so Instagram remains at the top anyhow. However, TikTok, lagging behind all other platforms before, now seems to beat Facebook in 2022 and might even overtake YouTube in 2024.
Previously, influencer marketing has been uncertain about its effects on creators and brands. However, it is now evident with the stats and studies that it is more vital than ever now. By 2022, brands will spend roughly $15 billion on influencer marketing. It might leave many of us wondering, ‘Where and Why will they be spending this money?’ and ‘Which platforms will be more suitable for them?’ With the help of recent studies, we can now predict the future growth of influencer marketing.
Here are a few key points that can help us get an insight into what’s happening to influencer marketing in 2022.
Creator-Friendly Features and Tools
Instagram is winning the race of engaging the audience compared to other social media platforms. It is mainly because they motivate their influencers to create more exciting content. Besides investing in resources, they are also introducing new features and tools focused on brand partnerships and content creators. For instance, it developed “Collabs” last year to get a larger shared audience. It recently introduced “Add Yours” stickers on Instagram stories to boost engagement. It is a way to direct traffic to the landing page, so it would help them measure the benefits they are giving to different brands through the stories. It is an excellent opportunity for marketers to use these unique features and develop collaborations to reach more people, connect with them, and make them buy their products or services.
TikTok Is Over Taking Other Platforms
TikTok is overtaking a lot of other social media platforms like YouTube and Facebook. It is rather addictive and increases engagement, especially for the younger generation. Its short-form video format has a strong appeal. Moreover, it focuses on creative and fun content rather than brand-heavy content. That is the reason that a lot of people are shifting to TikTok from other platforms. Marketers also plan to invest more money in TikTok in the coming years. The sponsored content partnership is going to become standard on this platform. According to the survey, more than half of the marketers have planned to do a sponsored TikTok collaboration this year.
Social Commerce Is Booming
Consumers shifted to social commerce during the pandemic as they started shopping directly from online websites, apps, or stores. Instagram also started giving commissions to its creators for every online purchase they can drive through the app. TikTok has also introduced ‘TikTok Shopping’. The Instagram data shows that more than 130 million users click on the shopping posts they see on the app every month. After the addition of social commerce functionality, it is expected that users will get to see more sponsored posts for shopping online.
LinkedIn Influencers Are Going to Emerge
On LinkedIn, many companies have started using their employees to get the maximum benefit through social media marketing. Companies have also worked with brands to run advertising campaigns in the past. And the requests for collaborations are continuously increasing at the moment. B2B companies want to create relevancy with their customers to boost engagement. LinkedIn has developed a new category for ‘Influencers Emerge.’ It is also building more tools to support more CEOs, businesses, and brands.
More Compensation for Creators Is On the Way
In the past, no one could imagine being a social media influencer would be a good career path. However, it is happening as more and more influencers join social media to collaborate with brands and businesses. Social networks have also realized creators’ actual worth, and they now agreed to pay them more moderately than before. It would help ensure that the influencers or creators make a living out of the social media content they create for consumers. Social media platforms have also launched different subscription models to help creators earn more.
Authenticity Is Going To Prevail
Those days are long gone when people were obsessed with perfectly polished pictures or ads. Now they are more interested in watching reality and rawness. To ensure followers can relate, creators share more authentic stories and behind-the-scenes videos. Similarly, brands are searching for those creators now who create genuine content that doesn’t look like an ad.
Wrapping Up
2022 is the year for influencer marketing, as it is getting stronger daily. More and more brands encourage partnerships and collaborations with influencers to reach a wider audience. It is high time for influencers to make the best use of this opportunity offered by both brand and social media platforms.
