What to Expect from Influencer Marketing in 2021

Influencer marketing in 2021 has changed from just an added value strategy to a must-have function for many businesses.

But why is this?

51% of buyers purchase from brands if an influencer or celebrity endorses them. Additionally, 8% buy even when they have zero interest in what the influencer or celebrity endorses.

On the other hand, 89% of marketers find the return on investment from influencer marketing better or comparable to other marketing channels.

Influencer marketing offers brands numerous opportunities to expand their audience and increase their revenue. However, the influencer landscape keeps changing, and tactics that worked two years ago will no longer help you succeed.

So how do you ensure continued success?

Read this post and implement the latest trends set to dominate influencer marketing in 2021. This way, your brand can keep up and achieve better returns.

But what trends are these?

Find out below:

1. Micro and Nano-Influencers Continue Becoming Popular

With a small audience, nano- and micro-influencers can build closer relationships with their audiences and hence stronger trust levels.

And guess what?

As more brands continue implementing influencer marketing, they’ve come to realize the value of micro- and nano-influencers. Additionally, unlike partnering with mega or celebrity influencers, micro-influencers have reasonable prices.

So, for influencer marketing in 2021 and beyond, brands will focus on partnering with micro-influencers more often since they have stronger connections with their followers. They also tend to bring in more engagement and better reach, according to 35% of marketers.

2. Need for Ongoing Partnerships

Another trend dominating influencer marketing in 2021 is the need for ongoing instead of one-off partnerships with influencers. Brands now realize that if they want to remain relevant and build a loyal audience, they need to develop influencer strategies that are always on.

But why do brands want to focus on long-term partnerships?

Ongoing relationships offer numerous benefits, including:

• Clearly defined expectations since the influencer understands your objectives.
• Opportunity to grow stronger relationships, trust, and loyalty with the influencer’s audience.
• Quality content since the influencer wants to maintain the long-term partnership.
• Access to data on what works with influences that you can apply to future collaborations.
• Ability to capitalize on new potential audiences as the niche audience of the micro- or nano-influencer grows.

Most importantly, if an influencer continuously promotes your brand, they showcase a genuine affinity to your products that can build believability and trust with followers.

3. Increased Performance-Based Partnerships

Most marketers running influencer marketing campaigns in 2021 face the dilemma of partnering with influencers without always reaching an audience that likes their products.

That’s why the focus of influencer marketing in 2021 is on performance-based marketing. In this case, brands pay influencers who bring in actual conversions or sales while reducing the risk of wasted budgets.

For example, paying the influencer when a follower either visits your landing page, makes a purchase, downloads a resource, etc.

Now, there are two types of performance-based influencer partnerships.

One involves affiliate marketing, where you provide the influencer with a code or link that you use to track performance. You then pay them either a percentage of total sales or a fixed amount for each sale.

Alternatively, you can do a paid campaign where you pay the influencer an initial flat fee and then make subsequent payments depending on their performance.

But how can you track their performance?

Leverage partner marketing platforms like Everflow to create partner links, track coupon codes, determine click-to-conversion time, and track performance. Alternatively, manage your partnerships through an affiliate marketing company.

4. Data will Rule

Now that brands will increase their performance-based influencer contracts, data will occupy a huge part of influencer marketing in 2021. This means constantly evaluating key performance indicators (KPIs) to determine if an influencer hits their goals.

But why run regular audits?

It can make your campaigns strategic since you make decisions based on actual data. Regularly reviewing your influencers also gives you clarity on their effectiveness at helping you achieve overall company goals.

Best of all?

If you run long-term partnerships, you can establish benchmarks that guide future influencer collaborations and content.

5. Continued AI Adoption

While you would not necessarily classify influencer marketing and artificial intelligence (AI) in the same group, it’s quickly becoming a rising trend.

But why do many brands plan to continue or start combining AI with influencer marketing in 2021?

AI-powered tools make it easy for marketers to leverage natural language processing and machine learning to track influencer campaigns. They can collect data with ease, analyze it, and measure the performance of individual influencer campaigns.

What’s more?

You can use these tools to predict your return on investment through forecasts and performance benchmarking.

But that’s not all marketers implementing influencer marketing in 2021 will use AI for.

There’s been a rise in artificially created influencers, with more of them including Lil Miquela, Shudu, Yumi, etc., partnering with brands.

This trend will continue rising, and you can expect to see more brands complement their influencer programs with these computer-generated influencers (CGI).

But why use them?

You get control over content while also reducing the risk of hiring an opinionated influencer who starts controversies around your brand. Additionally, these influencers can perform tasks at a lower cost than their living counterparts.

6. Increased Video Popularity

For the last few years, video has been on an upward trend and will continue to be when it comes to influencer marketing in 2021.

People love video, with 84% of them claiming they’ve purchased after watching a video. 69% would also prefer to watch short videos when learning about products.

But that’s not all.

The rise of features and platforms like TikTok, Stories, and Reels means brands will need to create more short videos to engage their audience.

Because people also prefer to learn from videos, influencer marketing in 2021 will consist of more videos. Expect to see more short video content, animated videos, stop motion videos, live stream videos, and augmented reality creations.

Brands will also seek to get their loyal customers and viewers to create user-generated videos they can share on their accounts. This way, they can convince 79% of consumers who say user-generated content impacts their buying decisions to convert.

Leading the Way with Influencer Marketing in 2021

We can expect these and more trends to dominate influencer marketing in 2021.

The question is:

Is your brand ready to adopt these trends and keep up with the changing influencer market?

If you are, then leverage these trends to stand out and increase your revenue.

Do you need help implementing any of the tips mentioned above? Comment below, and we can offer tips to ensure that you succeed with influencer marketing in 2021.