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Is Influencer Marketing Going Away?

Influencer Marketing

While there are threats to the influencer marketing industry – including fake follower schemes and a decline in perceived trust among some creators – it remains strong in today’s market.It’s no secret that influencer marketing is a booming industry. According to Statista, the global influencer marketing market size has more than doubled since 2019. In fact, in 2022, the market is projected to expand to $16.4 billion. 

Influencer marketing has essentially changed the way we buy things, forever. Gone are the days when people in need of a new item would go to a physical store without an idea of which brand they wanted to purchase. Nowadays, people are turning to friends, online reviews, and social media influencers for recommendations. An estimated 49% of consumers depend on influencer recommendations to inform what they buy.

While there are threats to the influencer marketing industry – including fake follower schemes and a decline in perceived trust among some creators – it remains strong in today’s market. 

Read on to learn where the industry is headed and whether influencers are still effective for brand marketing.

Is Influencer Marketing Declining or Growing?

When you look at the numbers, it’s clear that influencer marketing isn’t going away any time soon. In fact, since marketers started really keeping track of influencer marketing statistics in 2016, the industry has seen immense amounts of growth. Most projections say that it will only continue to expand in 2023.

Here are a few statistics to show how much influencer marketing has grown in the last few years alone:

U.S. Influencer marketing platform market size, by application, 2020 - 2030 (USD billion)

Source: Grandview Research

What can this growth be attributed to? The increasing popularity of social media platforms has helped fuel the rise of influencer marketing, especially in the midst of the 2020 pandemic. Being stuck at home allowed people more time to be on their phones enjoying social media content, much of it produced by influencers and content creators. Short-form video content especially took off on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, engaging consumers of all demographics for longer periods of time.

Another reason is the decline in respect for brands by consumers. Not only do consumers not trust or want to regularly hear from brands, many have turned on ad blockers or learned to ignore display ads. With all of the stimuli we receive on a daily basis, influencers help cut through the noise to share branded messages in a palatable and friendly way.

A final reason that influencer marketing is growing, not going, is due to the number of influencers currently willing and able to partner with brands for promotion. If you’re wondering how many influencers are actually out there – the number is between 3.2 million and 37.8 million globally. With that many creators vying for sponsorships, brands will never run out of options to turn to.

While marketers will never invest their budget fully into one marketing method over all others, influencer marketing continues to be a hugely important piece of marketing strategies

Are Instagram Influencers Still Effective For Brand Marketing?

Instagram is a widely popular platform for users, influencers, and brand marketers alike. In fact, it is the fourth biggest social media app, behind Facebook, YouTube, and WhatsApp, and just ahead of TikTok. The emergence of Instagram influencers helped continue the platform’s success, and brands love to post there, since it’s a place where they can engage younger users.

Influencer marketing remains an effective strategy on Instagram. This year alone, brands like Sony, Dunkin’ Donuts, GymShark, and more, have run successful influencer campaigns on Instagram. Rather than selling directly to consumers, successful companies form relationships with relevant influencers, who will in turn grow brand awareness for them. 

Brands looking for influencers in 2022 and beyond will need to be careful to avoid poor quality influencers. While content quality can be subjective, a low quality influencer is one who uses “follow farms” or similar schemes to masquerade as a legitimate influencer, or as more successful than they really are. Tools like Modash and HypeAuditor quickly parse through followings to measure the percentage of fake followers an influencer has.

Even with a few bad apples, influencer marketing on Instagram continues to thrive. Only time will tell if the industry will eventually decline, but in today’s market, it seems that influencer marketing is here to stay.

Lionize Makes It Easy For Your Brand to Work With Influencers 

Lionize uses Artificial Intelligence to connect brands and agencies with their ideal creators to manage effective influencer campaigns.

Whatever your budget, whenever your timeline – talk to us about finding the right influencers for your brand. Our platform can help you simplify the influencer marketing process and create successful campaigns for your brand.