Influencer Marketing in 2020

Influencer marketing is only going to continue to grow as social media becomes more influential. AdAge reports that influencer marketing spending might double in 2020, and is predicted to become a $15 billion market by 2020. However, you can expect to see some changes in how marketers go about influencer marketing. Here are some predictions as to what you can look out for in 2020, as well as our take on the impact these changes will have. 

Paid amplification will be expected during an influencer campaign — Paid amplification helps to deliver the media metrics that brands are used to seeing in a campaign. Adding media budgets brings a whole other element to influencer marketing. 

Positives: By monitoring the influencer’s organic performance, marketers are able to build on those learnings, extend their reach, and optimize towards their goals. If a brand is putting the budget to having an influencer support their brand, it is worth the additional investment to ensure that they are amplifying the message and getting the most from the positive influence the influencer will have on their brand. 

Negatives: People who are going to care the most about what the influencer has to say will be the ones who are already following that influencer and ingesting their content. Targeting influencer generated content to an audience who isn’t familiar with the influencer may not be as effective. Although this may not be as much of a concern if the influencer is well known — such as an athlete, artist, etc.

The standard for measurements will evolve beyond the superficial —Brands and their partners will move furtheraway from likes as a measurement and continue to determine measurement effectiveness through influencer brand lift studies, conversion and sales lift reports, and creative analysis. 

Positives: Additions like brand lift studies and conversions analysis elevates influencer marketing to a similar playing field as other media tactics. Measurement in all areas will continue to become more meaningful as there are more metrics to measure and as brands rightfully require more verification of the impact of their advertising dollars. Insights gained from these types of reports can help marketing teams justify influencer campaigns and more closely compare them to other tactics. It will also allow brands to test creative messaging, making these campaigns more relevant to their audience. As brands begin to require more audience information, it could lead to brands being more particular when choosing influencer partners. 

Brands and influencers will seek long-term partnerships — with growing influence and forward progress with data and measurements, collaborations with partners are bound to become more long lasting. 

Positives: The longer an influencer works with a brand, the better their “voice” will become in the relationship and the smoother the whole process will be. 

Negatives: As a brand, you need to ensure that you are still receiving a strong ROI from the partnership year after year. If there is an influencer who promotes a brand and after a few years, most all their followers are now using said brand. As a result, there likely isn’t a need to continue the partnership, as the ROI has been maxed out already.

Transparency in influencer marketing campaigns won’t be as big of a problem —  While transparency issues will not completely disappear in 2020, it will not be the main talking point in influencer marketing campaigns. 

Positives: Being closer to resolving this issue is a positive on its own. More meaningful data weeds out inauthentic influencers and leaves more room for the marketer’s main goals. If a brand is expecting a brand lift or sales lift study from an influencer campaign to have certain results, the expectation is clear. The influencer could choose to report bot account numbers all day long, but at the end of the day, if they haven’t hit the true objective of the campaign, they likely wouldn’t be working together for subsequent campaigns.