Influencer Marketing Trends For 2019

2018 has seen influencer marketing become an integral part of wider marketing strategies, changing the way we shop and how we make purchasing decisions. 2019 is set to be the biggest year yet for influencer marketing, so The Blogger Programme have taken a look at some of the ways the industry will be making its mark.

Brand Ambassadors & Partnerships

As the conversation around influencer authenticity grows, 2019 will see the role of brand ambassadors becoming ever more prominent. Brand ambassadors help to humanise your brand and communicate your key messages in a more organic way. The consistency in content means your brand is in the forefront of people's minds and most importantly, builds up brand trust and loyalty for future purchases. 

Growth of Video Content

YouTube channels and Instagram feeds are platforms that require the final product to be edited and polished to the highest standard. But with the rise of Instagram Stories and more recently, influencers creating content on IGTV, we're now seeing video content that provides us with a real-time insight into the lives of influencers, allowing us to connect with them on a more personal level. If there's a story to tell and an audience to resonate with it, 2019 will see us ditching the highly edited videos and favouring more everyday content. 

Brand Fit Over Following

Before all the questions surrounding influencer authenticity started to arise, the most important measure for any influencer marketing campaign was it's reach. Now, with Instagram itself cracking down on fake followers and brands becoming more savvy to the signs of influencer fraud, it's seen the majority of campaigns revisit their KPI's. In 2019, the priority for brands will be the quality of engagements, authenticity of content and their persona aligning with the brand's identity. Most importantly, brands will need to ensure their audience demographics match that of the brands target audience.

Measuring ROI and Attribution

As brands prepare to invest more into influencer marketing in 2019, they will expect these campaigns to deliver the same results as they are used to with traditional marketing methods. More focus will be put on ROI and how that can be measured through working with influencers. Ultimately, brands need to ensure that their investment into influencer marketing can meet their wider business objectives and can implement a strategy that aligns successfully.