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Influencer product purchasing has been a part of our lives since ancient times. We often trust a person’s choices, when we relate to them or know them personally. Everyone of us is an influencer, even if you are influencing a single person. This got immediately amplified when social media started booming across the globe, where we see our friends and relatives on our phone screens more than celebrities.
Local marketing soon became the norm for purchasing products and services, suggested by niche influencers, who are somewhere related to you. This trend grew 10x as we noticed about 4.9 billion people are available online and people shop on Google more than a billion times a day. Now, influencer marketing jobs have been on a rise, where you are seeing regular people talking about snacks, technology, gaming, fashion, meditation, makeup and even candles. This is only just the beginning of influencer marketing.
Channels of Communication
YouTube Reels: YouTube shorts had 10 Trillion views in 2021 and the stats show us that there will be 900 million active internet users by 2025, with a rise of 70% growth in online shopping trends. YouTube is the best platform to create a high intent moment, where 75% of the users get unexpectedly inspired to shop after watching a recommendation. We also see 30 billion daily views on Reels where users are spending 35% more time on watching these.This is where an “online video podcast” comes in, which can be a great way to connect with your target audience. You can record a video podcast and post it on YouTube to build trust and credibility with your viewers.
Instagram Reels: Business intelligence suggests that the influencer marketing jobs industry will be worth 15 billion by 2023. Instagram encourages brands to connect and engage with local influencers for marketing purposes. Where influencers are mostly either paid after seeing the footfall brought by them or in a barter system. Where getting even one like on your post, is considered as an engagement.
Google Shopping: We have close to 190 million online shoppers in India and there’s a 70% growth in shopping trends from the APAC region. About 2/3rds of US shoppers say that they first start looking for the product/service on Google, where “near me” shows a 90% YoY growth. Gen Z and millennials are targeted by over 600 D2C brands, driving the market size of this industry.
Today, even a young Direct-to customer brand, having limited resources can employ an influencer marketing strategy to penetrate the growing market and capture a share of the consumer base, just by being internet-first companies.
What is Influencer Marketing?
Influencer marketing is a social media marketing strategy where brands and regular people (typically influencers) come together to collaborate on advertisements, catering to the influencers huge followers base and have a social engagement. Ecommerce brands often give away products (as a barter payment) or pay for the sponsored advertisement, or sometimes be instrumental in creating projects in return, for being a part of an influencer’s public post.
The value of influencer marketing jobs skills lies in the fact that most of the consumers trust local influencers, product/service decisions and recommendations. The brand raises product awareness, and generates online traffic. Collaborating with influencers simply leaves a positive impact in the marketplace. We have reached a stage where social proof is needed to build trust in a brand.
Influencer Marketing Landscape: Ecommerce Trends
According to Statista, the influencer marketing industry is worth 13.8 billion dollars, which accounts for a 42% YoY growth from 10 billion in 2020. Over 50% of brands believe in working with influencers, where most of these brands run an eCommerce store.
This trend clearly demonstrates the rise of eCommerce businesses and also shows how influencer marketing fits best as a marketing model. These retail stores can be accessed from anywhere in the world by sharing products with collaborators everywhere, without having to limit outreach by geographical constraints.
Leveraging Ecommerce Brands
- Use influencer marketing collateral as social proof for driving sales
- Displaying testimonials from social media influencers
- Updating Instagram and Facebook stories and reels
- Building affiliate sales using promo codes with influencers
- Sponsored giveaways and using sponsored content
Influencer Marketing in 2022 and beyond
The state of affiliate and influencer marketing has drastically improved over the last few years. Here’s how we predict the industry will look in the coming years. About 60% of social marketers are looking at increasing their budgets, as the value generated through local marketing is indisputable. By 2024, brands will be spending more than 5 billion dollars each year on influencer marketing. This shows that there is a 25% increase between 2022 and 2024, as shown in the graph below.
Conclusion
Influencer marketing gives D2C brands a huge opportunity to reach millions of potential customers through people that they trust the most. Consumer trends show us that they connect better with real people with relatable content. It just drives better sales and builds a brand presence. The trick here is choosing the right influencers for the brand.
