If you think it’s too early to be talking about influencer marketing for 2021, you’re wrong! Companies and brands start planning their marketing campaigns and goals for the year before it starts. Since we’re in the last half of 2020, it is perfect to discuss a few influence marketing 2021 trends we think will rule. So grab your notepad and a pen and start taking notes as we discuss the upcoming trends.

Influence Marketing 2021—What Will The Future Look Like?

Influence marketing has grown tremendously over the past few years. With the rise of new social platforms, such as TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram, businesses have targeted their customers in new and improved ways. Moreover, influencer marketing is a tactic that seems to work the best as people seem to look up to and relate to these influencers who are not celebrities, but real-life people with real-life experiences. It is crucial to know where the industry is headed so that you can prepare for the future in the best possible ways. Here are a few trends we think will rule in 2021.

The Rise Of Micro-Influencers

Micro-influencers are influencers who have less than 10,000 followers. While big companies haven’t been paying much attention to these micro-influencers, 2021 may be able to change this status quo. Micro-influencers have a little but highly-engaged following. They are ideal for local and small brands that want to get the word around with little budget. These local and small brands may be able to get loyal followers through micro-influencers due to their highly engaged following. We are expecting more and more brands to work with micro-influencers as they are easy to work with, have a niche audience, and have very high engagement.

More Planning In Collaborations

In 2021, we will see more data-driven planning in marketing campaigns. Businesses, whether working with an influencer marketing agency or in-house, will be more focused on selecting credible influencers based on their following and engagement, and would structure the campaign in a way that would generate expected results. Data, demographics, and analytics will be at the core of marketing campaigns to not just collaborate with influencers for its sake.

More Raw Content

As you might know, content is the KING of the internet. However, not every content that is posted online gets successful. Today’s consumers know when content is real and from the heart and when it’s fake. In 2021, more focus would be on producing real and raw content that people would be able to relate to. Brands will look for influencers who are good communicators, not just amplifiers. More stress would be put on authentic content that would keep viewers engaged without it being too staged.

More Focus On Purpose

In 2021, we are expecting more attention towards creating a better society and giving back to the community in all aspects of life. Influencer marketing will follow suit too. We are expecting influencers to use their platform and following to give a positive message that makes society better. Moreover, influence marketing will be used for promoting brands that are sustainable, make environmentally-friendly products, are inclusive, and give back to their community.

More Focus On Common Values

Next year, we are expecting brands to be more conscious of who they choose to work with. Simply having a large following won’t cut it. Brands will expect influencers to have a clear purpose and voice. They will expect influencers to have deep insights about their audience so that when they work with them, they know what they will get out of it. Similarly, brands will look for influencers whose values, voice and purpose align with theirs along with the same target audience.

Increased Demand For Video Content

It is estimated that video content will get as much as 80% of all internet traffic by 2021. However, video content is one of the most difficult content to generate and scale. Moreover, the wide range of mediums that a brand generates its content on all require slightly different video content to appeal to the right target audience. Not only small but big brands also find generating consistent video content quite difficult. In 2021, we are expecting brands to turn to influencers to generate video content as a means of the distributed creative workforce for the brand.

More Influencer-Run Brands

You may have seen a lot of influencers creating their own brands as part of the E-commerce brand tsunami that took place in the past years. In 2021, we are expecting more influencers to come up with their own brands. Over the years, we have seen Fashion Nova, BBG by Kayla Itsines, Seed Beauty by Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian, and much more come to the limelight and demonstrated the power of influencer marketing.

Wrapping Up

Influence Marketing has taken the world of branding and marketing in the past few years. In this article, we predicted a few trends in influence marketing in 2021. Next year, we are expecting to see the rise of micro-influencers, influencers who have less than 10,000 followers but an engaged audience, more data-focused planning in marketing campaigns to make them successful and get results out of them, more raw and real content that inspires people, more purposeful collaborations, more focus on common values, increased demand of video content, and more influencer-run brands. Which of these trends do you think will rule in 2021 in influencing marketing?