The field of digital marketing is continually changing—it’s essential to know expected trends developing PRIOR to writing your digital marketing strategy in 2021. Take these influencer marketing trends to heart and use them to create a robust process that will allow you to dominate your competition in 2021.

Influencer Marketing will remain one of the most important digital marketing trends for marketers in 2021 as it will increase engagement and leads. The way buyers consume content is changing, so marketers need to remain agile and stay two steps ahead of the next big marketing trend. When outlining your marketing strategy for 2021 and beyond, you should consider all these marketing trends in your business context.

Influencer Marketing

There's a lot of talk about influencers these days, and perhaps Instagram is one of their most popular platforms. A common mistake people make when thinking about becoming an Instagram influencer is that you need hundreds, thousands, or millions of followers to attract brands with your unique talents.

How to Market & Promote Yourself

If you learn how to market and promote yourself as an influencer, you will be different from many others who decide to be a social media influencer one day. Whether it's just posting about yourself or posting about your family, ensure that you have a long time working as a social media influencer and pick a niche that suits you.

Pick a Niche

This goal will impact the type of fashion influencer you are going to address, so it's essential to have a clear idea of who you are. To become a successful influencer, you need to pick the right one for your niche and audience. But if you want to become a social media influencer by 2021, you'll need a lot of time to gain real followers on your chosen channel. This is one way to get people to click the "Follow" button to become an Instagram influence.

The influencer marketing industry is on track to be worth up to $15 billion by 2022, up from as much as $8 billion in 2019, according to Insider Intelligence estimates, based on Mediakix data. ... Brands can leverage relevant niche influencers to more intentionally target audiences.

According to the May GlobalWebIndex survey, 96% of US and UK consumers who followed influencers were engaging with them more or to the same extent as before the coronavirus outbreak.

Influencer Marketing Stats & Facts

• The influencer marketing industry is on track to be worth up to $15 billion by 2022, up from as much as $8 billion in 2019, according to Insider Intelligence estimates, based on Mediakix data.

• Every social platform attracts influencers to some degree, but Instagram is the gold standard for the group. Nearly four in five (79%) brands predominantly tap Instagram for influencer campaigns, compared with Facebook (46%), YouTube (36%), Twitter (24%), and LinkedIn (12%), per Influencer Marketing Hub.

• There are two primary ways of categorizing influencers: reach and niche.

Source: Business Insider

1. Quality of content.

Before working with an influencer, review their content and compare it to others in their industry. According to Ryan Robinson’s recent blogging statistics, 65% of content marketers say they have a documented content marketing strategy in place, meaning 35% have room to improve.

Is their sponsored content thoughtful and creative, or is it comprised of quick shout outs or product placements thrown in without much thought?

2. Target audience.

Even if an influencer has great content, it’s crucial to confirm that the influencer’s audience profile aligns with the demographics you’re targeting for your campaign.

3. Engagement rate.

Engagement is by far the most common metric used for measuring influencer marketing success, measured by 75% of marketers for influencer marketing.

The engagement rate of a post is calculated by adding up engagement (likes, comments, etc.) and dividing it by the influencer’s total number of followers.

Note that engagement rates for sponsored content will almost always be lower than on organic posts.

4. On-brand messaging.

Evaluate whether the influencer’s voice and aesthetic line up with your brand’s style.

It’s also important to research any past controversies and keep an eye on their language to identify whether anything throws up red flags regarding brand safety.

5. Budget.

Clearly, an influencer needs to be within your price range.

Remember to consider influencer fees, production costs, product costs (if you plan to ship them a sample) and any platform or influencer agency fees when calculating your overall budget.

Source: Big Commerce

Hailey Feldman is a Brand Marketing Specialist and Equestrian of the Palm Beaches. This website contains content about Hailey’s life in West Palm Beach, FL. Hailey created this website to share free branding and marketing expertise. In addition to providing branding and marketing answers, Hailey talks about her life in Florida. The site is filled with helpful articles on topics such as life and style, fashion and shopping, equestrian show jumping, and travel recommendations.