Influencer marketing is a proven way of reaching more and more people, the five most popular categories being lifestyle, travel, parenting, food and fashion. With the outbreak of the pandemic, most of them were heavily impacted and many brands postponed their influencer-marketing campaigns to cut their costs. But anyhow, people started spending record time on the internet. During the peak time of it, even people who weren’t users of the internet started using it in 2020. TikTok, Zoom and all the similar platforms increased it’s reach among the young adults drastically.
Nano Influencers
A nano-influencer is a content creator in social media with a followers count between 1,000 to 10,000. Though their audiences are small and niche, the engagement level can be high. They are oftentimes everyday users who have cultivated some genuine followers and post sponsored content, by partnering with brands. This trend is growing mainly due to high engagement, authenticity, low-costs and is relevant in the current scenario as most brands have slashed budgets.
Micro-Influencers
Micro-Influencers are social media creators who have 10,000 to 50,000 followers. They typically build their profile around niches like travel, fashion, beauty etc and create communities surrounding their content. Most of them regularly interact with their followers and generate high engagement and better ROI. They can be ideal partners for small businesses with lower budgets but can get better benefits from word-of-mouth.
Video Content
With the introduction of Instagram reels and Facebook short videos, the consumption of video content is growing. Styling and makeup videos are in great trend. Viewings on Instagram shot up to 70%. On Instagram, IGTV content is 4 times larger than photos in the ‘explore tab’ and hence this improves the chances of the content being seen. Both long and short video content will be important in 2021 for storytelling and showcasing creativity and authenticity.
Innovative collaborations
Influencer campaigns are growing more innovative and spin across different formats like live streams, IGTV, Instagram reels, hashtag challenges, TikTok challenges, contests, giveaways and many more. These would give a more dynamic and engaging way to create content with an effective storytelling method. There are customised special offers, exclusive sales or special offer codes that an influencer can provide to his or her followers.
Social responsibility
The pandemic has brought increasing focus on reducing consumption habits that harm the environment or feed into social inequalities. Influencers are now standing up against body shaming, casteism, racism and many other issues and promote organically made environment-friendly products.
Now, the influencers can display the benefits and usage of products, mostly skincare and cosmetics. So, in a lockdown situation, where people cannot go and try the product, they would prefer to buy what the influencers recommends.
