Influencer Marketing is Undergoing a Shift and Here’s What You Need to Know

Influencer marketing is a powerful tool that enables brands and organizations to reach their target audience in an authentic and engaging way. When done right, it can be a game-changer for organizations looking to connect with their valued communities in a meaningful way and drive impact. By partnering with the right voices, brands can leverage the power of trusted influencers to drive awareness, engagement and action. This angle of marketing transcends mere product or service promotion, but when done right, is a deeply integrated and powerful tool that spans across every aspect of brand’s communications ecosystem. So it’s no surprise that brands are choosing to invest in this space, with the industry reaching $23B in 2023 globally [1].

 

So what is driving the growth in the industry?

It’s simple. While there are many reasons and perspectives as to why it’s continuing to grow at a rapid pace, here are four that stand out:

1. Changing media consumption habits: 46% of Canadians are blocking desktops ads and 23% are blocking smartphone ads.[2]
2. Market/economy pressures and marketing waste: creators are more cost effective than Big C. [3]
3. Decline in Trust for Big C and institutions.  [4]
4. Influencer performance vs. other marketing channels: Influencer marketing delivers better 11X ROI. [5]

 

So who are influencers?

They’re the instagrammers and TikTokers of the world, right? Right and wrong. The influencer marketing industry spans far wider than social and digital and is anyone who can influence your brand or organization in a meaningful way. This could be a TikTok creator or it could be the HR Director of an organization. Understanding how and who to engage depends on your brand, business and communication objectives.

 

So how do you unlock the power of Influencer Marketing for your business?

Let’s put it this way. An influencer holding your product and slapping #ad in front of it will scratch the surface, but the opportunity lies so much deeper than that. Anyone can post a piece of content. To build trust makers to believe in your brand, your vision and your purpose, requires you to dig deep to drive authentic relationships that ultimately drives trust from valued communities and in turn drives action.

 

So What Does the Future of Influencer Marketing Look Like?

Glad you asked, because THERE’S A SHIFT TAKING PLACE right now. UNDERSTANDING IT WILL HELP YOU SUCCEED IN THIS SPACE.

Where once we viewed audience as the holy grail, this has slowly shifted to community. Let us explain.

Audience is a house, community is a home.

Audience – shared demographics – numbers – data.

A community is a set of individuals who share a collection of values or interests.

Success in influencer marketing is achieved when you connect with communities – which is to say culture and values – rather than audiences.

The output of partnerships with influencer is undergoing a shift too.  from aspirational to feeling more authentic [6]. Gen Z in particular looks for content and creators that align with their own personal values—they’re over the fake and into the real. They want to see it how it is, not the polished and curated content that’s unrelatable.

 

Authenticity and connection to community are at a premium

With demand for influencer marketing rising at an accelerated rate, it’s easy to view it as an extension of your PR efforts and pay influencers to talk about your brand. But if you want to succeed, you must focus on these two key pieces:
 

Authenticity

Don’t approach it from a mindset of Pay-to-play. Focus on building authentic relationships that go beyond sponsored content, bringing the right influencers in as an extension of your brand – ones who align with your values and purpose, who resonate with your brand and who you don’t have to ‘sell’ to partner with you. By focusing on the right partnerships and handling it with care, you’ll create trust makers who stand with you proud – from the very start of our campaign ideation through to execution and beyond.
 

Connection

Take the time to connect with your community. Influencers will unlock an incredibly integrated opportunity to connect with your  community vs. speaking to youraudience. Take the time to understand the conversations and issues happening within the community so you can bring something of value to your target. Influencers don’t need to be an after thought but a partner to you right from the start.

 

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Want to learn more about our approach to influencer marketing? Reach out! We’d love to discuss how we can help you.

Sara Rezaee, Head of Influencer Marketing Canada and North American Influencer Operations

Sara.rezaee@edelman.com