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Top Influencer Marketing Trends to Watch

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influencer marketing trends

Marketers are always trying to stay on top of trends in the industry. Some trends come and go quickly while others stick around for a long time. When influencer marketing first started gaining attention, some people predicted that it wouldn’t last very long. It’s clear now that they were wrong, though. Influencer marketing has grown into an incredibly important form of digital marketing that gets more popular each year. 

Today, there are even trends in influencer marketing. Brands can hop onto influencer marketing trends to create timely, effective influencer marketing campaigns. In this blog, we’ll explore some of the influencer marketing trends in 2023. 

What Are the Top Influencer Marketing Trends?

As you’re building your influencer marketing strategy, it’s important to consider the current top trends in influencer marketing. Some of the top influencer marketing trends include:

More Focus on Video Content

Partly thanks to the rise of TikTok, video content has become a major trend in influencer marketing lately. Better bandwidth and the rollout of 5G have also helped the growth of video content in influencer marketing. People are watching lots of video content on social media, and brands can take advantage of that. Video content in influencer campaigns is a great way to capture engagement. 

Expect brands to partner with influencers to create more video content this year. They can do so by partnering with influencers on video-focused platforms like TikTok and YouTube or simply by requesting video content from influencers on other platforms like Instagram and Facebook.  

Nano and Micro-Influencers

Using nano and micro-influencers in influencer marketing campaigns isn’t a new strategy, but it is becoming a bigger trend lately. Some even say that micro-influencers are the future of influencers and influencer marketing. Nano and micro-influencers are two of the four main categories of influencers. So what are the 4 types of influencers? They are:

  • Nano-influencers: Influencers with between 1,000 and 10,000 followers
  • Micro-influencers: Influencers with between 10,000 and 100,000 followers
  • Macro-influencers: Influencers with between 100,000 and 1 million followers
  • Mega-influencers: Influencers with over 1 million followers 

The answer to “who is the biggest influencer right now?” is almost always a mega influencer. Though mega influencers like Charlie D’Amelio and Emma Chamberlain get lots of media attention, brands can benefit from forging partnerships with smaller micro and nano influencers. These influencers often have higher engagement rates and are seen as more relatable compared to influencers with more followers. They also typically charge lower rates, making nano and micro-influencers more affordable partners for brands. 

Audiences Across Social Media Platforms

Most social media creators rise to prominence on a specific social media platform — whether that’s Instagram, X (Formerly Twitter), YouTube, etc. — and that hasn’t changed. However, influencers are increasingly operating across multiple social media platforms. They’ll post content on Instagram and YouTube and TikTok, for example, and build their audiences that way. This allows brands to have their sponsored content on multiple platforms just by working with a single influencer. 

Long-Term Partnerships

In the past, it was common for brands to work with influencers for one-off projects. Marketers would develop a specific campaign (for instance, to launch a new product line) and reach out to a group of influencers to create content just for that campaign. After the campaign was over, that was often the end of the relationship between the brand and the influencers they worked with. 

That’s changing, though. More and more, brands are trying to build lasting, long-term partnerships with select influencers. These influencers can become brand ambassadors and have more of an impact. 

Are Influencers Here to Stay?

Some people aren’t convinced that influencer marketing will last. They ask questions like “when will influencers go away?” But all the statistics show strong influencer trends in 2023. The market size of influencer marketing keeps growing — up to over $16 billion already. And every day, there are more influencers building audiences and developing strong content. Social media users and marketers alike have every reason to believe influencers are here to say. 

Will Influencer Marketing Remain Effective in the Future?

While it’s impossible to predict the future, all signs indicate that influencer marketing will remain effective for many years to come. Social media continues to grow, as does the percentage of social media users who have bought a product or service recommended by influencers. These are strong indications that the future of influencer marketing is bright. In short, the answer to the question — is influencer marketing effective 2023 — is a resounding yes. 

How Lionize Can Help with Your Influencer Marketing 

Keeping track of all the trends and best practices in influencer marketing isn’t an easy task. Working with an influencer marketing platform like Lionize can make the whole process simpler. 

Lionize is an AI-powered platform that helps brands manage every step of the influencer marketing process — from recruiting the right influencers to monitoring and reporting the results of the campaign. Book a Discovey Call with us to learn more about what Lionize can do for your brand.