Introduction

Influencer marketing is an industry that has existed in various forms for centuries, from the first time a celebrity endorsed a product. However, the modern social media era of influencer marketing has been around for a lot less time. Influencer marketing only became a marketing staple in the past decade, with the rise of the content creator as a celebrity.

Over that time, a lot has changed in the influencer marketing industry. For starters, it has gone from a $1.7 billion to a $13.8 billion global industry, according to data from Statista. But beyond the growth in the utilization of influencer marketing, there has been a significant shift in the tech and social media environment that has drastically changed how influencer marketing is done.

Influencer marketing is an industry that is all about adapting to new trends. Strong influencer marketing strategies will be based on what is current and fresh in the industry. To have the best results in your influencer campaign, you will center your outreach in a modern way. Let’s look at some of the most significant changes in influencer marketing over the past decade of the industry.

New Platforms

When influencer marketing first took off, it was primarily centered around three platforms: Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. All three of these platforms remain highly relevant in the modern influencer marketing world, but social media has changed significantly in the past decade. There are now many more social platforms on the market that are viable marketing channels to consider.

One of the biggest current platforms is TikTok, which recently crossed a billion monthly annual users. TikTok influencer marketing is an extremely effective marketing channel, with numerous exceptional creators and a content format that resonates well with Gen Z and millennials. It isn’t the only great option, though. Platforms like Twitch and even LinkedIn have seen influencer marketing increases.

Rise of Micro-Influencers

When influencer marketing first took off, the focus was on social media posts from big social media superstars with hundreds of thousands to millions of followers. While this remains valuable content, it requires greater marketing budgets, and many in the industry are pivoting towards using lower follower and cost influencers with high engagement rates. These are known as micro-influencers.

Micro-influencers have created an opportunity for brands, regardless of their budget size. A micro-influencer is a great option for smaller or larger brands, as while they have a smaller audience size, a campaign composed of micro-influencers will be able to get more posts for less money. Many have dubbed micro-influencers the future of influencer marketing due to their authenticity, impact, and scalability.

New Content Preferences

Two primary content formats drove the industry when influencer marketing was fledgling days. The dedicated picture post on Instagram and the long-form video on YouTube were the defining types of social content businesses would rely on for promotional posts. But because the platforms have changed so dramatically, so have the different ways to influencer market. Now, there are several different types of content options businesses can choose from.

Currently, short-form video content is extremely popular, with Instagram Reels and TikTok taking off. Another extremely popular content format is live-streamed video. Live video is available on platforms like Twitch, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok, and it has recently become a part of many different marketer’s content strategies. The average influencer marketer now has many more options, as do consumers.

Innovative Ways to Reach Consumers

As influencer marketing has gone from something only a few forward-thinking marketing teams were doing to a staple of countless major companies marketing efforts, a lot has changed on the technology end of things. There have been a few structural feature changes that allow companies the ability to reach consumers in different, more innovative ways. Many of these changes are new and high-impact.

For example, influencer whitelisting has arrived. Influencer whitelisting allows brands to create a post and share it from an influencer’s account, but it appears as a native advertisement in internet users’ feeds. It isn’t on the influencer’s profile and can appear on the feed of people that don’t even follow the influencer. It also functions as an ad, with all the analytics and tracking that comes from that. This is just one of several great innovations helping influencer marketers expand their outreach.

If you want to launch your social media marketing strategy, partnering with an influencer marketing firm is the way to do it. Influence Hunter is a top influencer marketing agency with significant experience helping brands develop customized, high-impact campaigns that deliver major results. Get in Touch Today to find out what we can do for you.