12 top influencer marketing predictions for 2018 - made with - CampaignDeus

12 top influencer marketing
predictions for 2018
                             made with

12 top influencer marketing
predictions for 2018 —
CampaignDeus

2017 is the year influencer marketing entered the mainstream. And its popularity
shows no sign of slowing.

There are a myriad of emerging trends shifting this exciting young sector. In this
post we pick out 12 we think will shape the industry in 2018.

#1 Expect to pay more
Higher demand for social influencers’ creativity will translate into higher tariffs for
their services, especially in popular verticals such as fashion and style.

Additionally, organic reach will start to be squeezed (see below). Brands will have to
pay to ‘amp’ their influencers' reach with paid promotion.

#2 Increased focus on ROI
With increased influencer marketing spend comes a greater need to demonstrate
value return on investment (ROI). Accurate data and robust, independent campaign
performance evaluation, along with industry benchmarking, will become a
fundamental part of the influencer marketing campaign planning process.

SEE ALSO: Influencer marketing benchmarks: how to measure success

#3 More structured approach
Communicators will run more structured influencer marketing programmes. This
will be as a result of:

   Increased investment
   Heightened need to demonstrate ROI
   Need to put paid post promotion behind sponsored work
   Move from ‘tent-pole’, event-driven campaigns to long-term, mutually beneficial
   relationships between brand and creator

There is a groundswell within influencer marketing to tighten contracts and make
creative briefs more prescriptive. It is right that both influencer and brand agree
what to expect from one another. Carefully thought out guidelines can help a
campaign succeed without restricting influencer creativity.

Communicators will increasingly spend more time undertaking pre- and post-
campaign measurement. They will check:

   Engagement ratio between branded and non-branded content
   Best-performing themes for branded content
   How relevant the influencer’s following is to their brand.

#4 Video as a dominant force
Video content will continue to rise in popularity. More than one in two internet
users (56%) watch video on social platforms each month according to
GlobalWebIndex data. These engagement levels (up from 38% in 2015) are set to
rise further as platforms concentrate more on their video offering.

Video is also nearly twice as effective at driving sales according to gen.video and
Geometry Global research.

#5 Decline of organic reach
In June Instagram rolled out its paid partnership tag. At first sight this looks like a
step towards improving transparency around brand sponsored content:

   Users can easily identify which posts are organic and which are paid for
   Regulators (Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), Competition and Mergers
   Authority (CMA) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC)) are reassured the
   platform is taking disclosure seriously
   And brands get access to some under-the-bonnet performance metrics

On the other hand, this may be part of a longer-term goal to kill off organic reach,
just as Instagram's parent, Facebook, has done with its brand pages.

#6 More integrated communications plans

Influencer marketing began as a bolt-on to core media plans. It is now increasingly a
key element within an integrated communications strategy, a trend set to continue
throughout 2018.

Intelligently targeted paid promotion will go hand-in-hand with carefully selected
influencers, given the leeway to produce content which resonates with their
audience and which sits on both earned and owned assets.

Expect to see influencers being integrated throughout the customer journey, too.
Brands will blend the voices of mega-influencers with the power-middle and
micro influencers to reach their audience.

#7 Increased focus on compliance
Regulators will get even tougher with those flouting disclosure regulations. Lack of
effective disclosure erodes trust with an audience.

Recent figures from the ASA, the UK advertising watchdog, reveal there were
1,824 complaints about content on social networking sites in 2016, up 193% from
622 in 2012.

Expect to see stricter rules and higher penalties for influencers, brands and
marketers who ignore them.

However, satisfying influencer marketing disclosure regulation is good for brands,
good for influencers and good for their audiences.

SEE ALSO: Why disclosure is good for business in influencer marketing

#8 Fewer, more meaningful long-term relationships

Brands and influencers will look to forge fewer, but more meaningful relationships
with each other. One-off campaigns will be replaced with longer, often episodic,
co-created content which mines deep insight and understanding about both -
the interests of the target audience and knowledge of the brand’s
product or service.

Finding the right fit between brand and influencer will go far beyond follower count
and will include shared values, tone of voice, future aspirations and genuine
advocacy by the influencer for the brand.

SEE ALSO: How to build influencer marketing measurement best practice

#9 Artificial Intelligence
AI (artificial intelligence) is revolutionising every industry, from finance to farming.
Influencer companies will increasingly embed AI technology into their platforms,
providing marketers with identification, activation and real-time measurement
solutions. Expect many to say they’re using AI, but few to offer something
genuinely groundbreaking.

#10 Fake followers, gamed engagement and buying
credibility
Expect to see a rise in fake influencers as more money flows into the industry.

Buying followers instead of organically building a loyal community is just one fraud
issue influencers are using to grow their visibility. It’s becoming one of the biggest
challenges marketers and platforms have to face when working with influencers.

Look out, too, for fake engagement via Insta pods and attempts to buy credibility
by paying thousands of dollars for Instagram verification.

#11 More influencers will build their own brands and sell
their own products
Influencers will build their brands beyond content, converting their audiences into
consumers. Rather than earning money solely from the promotion of established
brands, more influencers will start to create their own products and services.

Kylie Jenner, who is probably best known for starring in reality-TV show
‘keeping up with the Kardashians’, conceptualised, founded and leads Kylie
Cosmetics. The company is forecast to hit 1$B revenue company by 2022. This is
an extreme example of the phenomenon.

Keep an eye on brand extensions like Amazon Spark and Shopify VIP which aim to
help influencers scale their ecommerce offering.

#12 Instagram will pass 1 billion active users

Instagram is the powerhouse platform driving influencer marketing revenue. User
numbers have accelerated throughout 2017. The image-lead platform, owned by
Facebook, currently has 800 million users engaging with the service each month.

The site added 100 million users between April and September, alone. 500 million
users login each day.

About CampaignDeus

CampaignDeus is the leading independent provider of influencer marketing
campaign data for Instagram and YouTube. Our platform identifies and classifies
brand sponsored influencer campaign performance metrics, tracking hundreds of
thousands of posts.

We use this data to provide Brands & Agencies with industry insights across
verticals, benchmark campaigns against vertical & competitor averages, and equip
clients with in-depth reporting and recommendations on how to make campaigns
more effective.

Want to improve the ROI of your next influencer marketing campaign? Ask us how:

Scott Guthrie works with companies to drive business growth in the social age
through strategic insight and technical know-how. A former digital director of
influencer relations at Ketchum, Scott is now an advisor at CampaignDeus. You can
find Scott on LinkedIn and Twitter, or on his blog.

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