Influencer marketing saw a huge growth during the pandemic. There was a surge in the number of new content creators as well as we saw so many influencers strengthen their position. And this has led to boost of the trust of the consumer on the influencers in 2022 as well.
Digital Marketing
In the recent past, digital marketing has taken centre stage when it came to brands planning and strategising their marketing budgets. Social media has become the source of brand discovery and social media influenced purchases amongst consumers have also risen.
During lockdown and while consumers were in isolation, they relied on social media influencers for inspiration. People were searching DIY videos, recipes, fitness videos and self-care became the buzzword. Influencers played an important role to provide support to people by building a sense of community to face the tough time. This led brands to market their products digitally through influencers.
Consumption of video content and rise of video content creators:
Video content was consumed much more during the last two years of the pandemic. I read in one of the articles published in a business portal online that in India, the online video user base has increased to more than 350 million people. This led to a huge rise in the number of influencers making video content. Even young children started creating video content and had their You-tube channels. We all know that the use of smartphones has increased tremendously and it would not be wrong to say that most of the video based content that is consumed is on the smart phones which in turn gave a boost to the sales of smartphones as well.
Changing trend in brand’s outlook towards influencer marketing:
One noticeable trend during the last two years has been that brands has realised the importance of a more engaged audience than just follower counts. Brands are also looking to collaborate with influencers for long term basis, engaging them through various brand campaigns and not single posts. Brands want to market their product through the influencer whose audience is already using the brand or knows about the brand.
In the past, influencers were a source of creating awareness about the brands amongst the consumers. But in the last two years, when the brick and mortar stores took a hit, consumers increasingly bought online and thus influencers campaigns lead to sales for the brand as well. This trend is likely to continue since people tasted the benefits of E-Commerce. Now, it was more convenient to order and consumers got numerous options on their finger tips. So, consumers are looking for reviews of brands on social media. This strengthens the position of influencers.
Influencers/Content creators becoming Entrepreneurs:
Influencers are not only content creators, but now becoming the new age entrepreneurs. This is because brands are also not only relying on metrics such as likes and comments to judge a campaign’s success but using various platforms to track return on investment metrics such as revenue and total conversions. Thus, influencers need to plan and strategise the campaign which would generate sales for the brands like an entrepreneur would do for his business.
When I started blogging in year 2016, I started it as a hobby and to share my experiences as a mother. Though blogging was not new in 2016, yet I never thought of it as a source of generating income for me. I was just a mother sharing her parenting journey. I evolved from being a parenting blogger to diversifying my content as I started writing on fitness, wellness and started writing for brands as well.
The change I now see in the approach of bloggers and influencers towards their work, is very encouraging. They are looking at content creation as a business venture and are trying their best to share relevant content while being consistent as well.
I also feel that due to high level of competition in the content creation space, creativity has also increased tremendously and all this means more growth prospects for the industry as a whole.
What kind of growth do you anticipate for the content creators for 2022? Do share your views and experiences if you are a brand or a content creator.