Separator

Influencer Marketing: The Trends Of 2018

Separator
Ashim Dutta, Co-Founder, Head ­ Marketing, AB HospitalsWith a demonstrated history of working in B2C & B2B domains, Ashim is structuring Business Planning, Marketing Strategies, Social Media Marketing, Content Marketing for organizations

To explain it simply, Influencer Marketing resembles a hybrid of marketing tools, taking the concept of celebrity endorsements and placing it in a present day content driven marketing campaign. The only difference being campaign results are collaborations between brands and influencers.

Inlfuencer Marketing will be a Thing in the Future
Influencers can be anywhere. They may be anyone. What makes them influential is their big followings online and social media. These people may not be on your favourite movie or Television show, but they're generating content that your consumers are seeing and discussing in droves. Their version of small and silver screens are the most notable networks on socialmedia like YouTube, Instagram, Vine, Twitter, Snapchat, blogs, and others.

To digital marketers, this new military of online experts, extroverts, and personalities reach audiences in a way other traditional marketing applications can't. More so, they are perhaps more relatable and seemingly approachable because
they share their real life on social network and present a more authentic, collaborative form of engagement. This is really where influencers have the capability to live up to their nickname. To consumers, they can be bonafide influencers. They fortify social proof even when they are not paid to do so. What they wear, ride, listen to, where they go, intrigues and inspires communities. This sparks trends and drives transactions, not as traditional celebrities on the right circumstances.

Social Media has become the vehicle for influencer marketing


Digital influence and affect generally may convey social proof, also known as informational social influence: a phenomenon in which folks take the actions of others in an effort to reflect correct behavior for a given situation.

Social Media has become the vehicle for influencer marketing. Social media is a collective of consumer-to consumer networks which democratize relationships, connections, information as well as the capability to influence and be influenced. It is an incredible phenomenon.

Trends of Influencer Marketing
Return on investment (ROI) of influencer marketing is the top challenge for the time ahead. Nevertheless, advanced marketers are starting to look at the full consumer journey, holding influencer marketing accountable for driving lower funnel metrics in addition to awareness and engagement. When measuring the achievement participation, efficiency indicators.

A Shift in Ownership
Influencer marketing has traditionally been seen as a PR/communications tactic and is used as a reach and awareness tool. Nevertheless, as the business evolves, there is a clear shift in ownership. Most of influencer marketing owners are on advertising/media teams, whereas only few are with PR/communications, a decrease from prior years. Media teams are taking ownership of influencer marketing as targeting capacities evolve and budgets continue to increase, and are managing programs with the same rigor that they use to manage other digital advertising channels.