Key Social Influencer Trends Brands Need To Know

Influencer marketing has been one of the most talked about digital trends of 2016. With consumers now preferring the authenticity of influencers over ads, this year has seen even more focus placed on influencers such as bloggers, celebrities and Youtube creators and it’s likely that the influencer trend will continue to grow far into 2017.  

If you’re looking to work with influencers in the coming year then there’s a number of changes and important trends that your business should be aware of and take into consideration. 

Increased Customer Awareness

Consumers are getting more clued up about the world of social influencer marketing, not only is it now necessary to make people aware of sponsored posts, with over the top or out of context copy it’s also becoming generally just more obvious when a post or video is an ad. This means you need to begin focussing on creating engagement from influencers, rather than trying to straight up sell to people. Once people are aware of how influencers and brands may be manipulating their buying habits, they’re less likely to buy from your company.

You should aim to focus on working with influencers in order to create quality content, don’t use influencers for hard selling, if you can get buyers on side and have them truly become interested in your business, people are much more likely to invest in your brand.   

More Social Influencer Platforms 

In coming years you’re definitely more likely to find that more influencer platforms are becoming available. These platforms work as a place for brands and influencers to discover and approach one another, working particularly well for ‘smaller’ influencers or independent influencers who may not be signed to or working alongside management who can help them connect with brands.  

With so many social influencers and content creators out there, it can be difficult to find the right people to work with and there’s no reason small businesses shouldn’t think about these platforms in order to reach out to influencers.  

Influencers Know Their Worth

These days, influencers know exactly how important they are and unless they really really love your brand it’s very unlikely they’ll promote you for free. If your business is willing to pay then you can expect to see prices continue to rise into 2017. With powerful influencers getting paid thousands by large brands, there’s plenty of competition out there, especially if you’re looking to work with larger or more popular influencers. 

The key thing to remember is that you don’t have to work with the biggest most expensive influencer in the world, you need to work with the right person for your brand, potentially working alongside smaller influencers who can grow with your company and still engage with your customers.  

New Laws and Guidelines 

In recent months there has been added focus on how social influencers and brands should be going about their advertising. With changes to the advertising guidelines and changes in laws making it so that influencers declare their ads or sponsored posts in order to avoid fines. This doesn’t look to be going away any time soon and it’s very very likely that in early 2017 we’ll see even more changes in the law preventing brands and influencers from not declaring their ads as exactly that. 

If you are looking to work with influencers then you need to abide by these new guidelines, don’t try and pull the wool over consumers eyes, be straight up and ask your influencers do the same, not only does it look more authentic and trustworthy it can also help your brand avoid a hefty fine. 

Social influencer marketing is often misunderstood, however if done correctly can be an effective way of marketing your brand in a modern way, allowing you to reach out to the perfect audience for your business. With these trends in mind, there’s no reason not to consider working with influencers in order to spread your outreach and to generate more sales.