3 Influencer Marketing Trends in the first half of 2022
Is influencer marketing dead yet? Despite the pandemic impacting the world, the influencer marketing industry is still doing well and is expected to grow more. However, trends don’t last forever. Is this a worthwhile investment for business owners who plan to promote their brands?
According to Kepos, the percentage of Malaysians using social media to research for brands has reached 91.7%. We are experiencing the golden era where anyone can become an online influencer, as long as he or she put in the effort to create valuable online contents. Brands are still using this method to reach their target audiences and boost their sales numbers.
Read on to learn about the current trends that help companies grow with influencer marketing.
1. Brand Ambassador Programs
Brands love to create and maintain relationships with influencers. These programs help the brand to raise awareness and build the relationship between itself and the consumers.
Back in 2018, Zalora discontinued its brand ambassador program. Then, the brand made a comeback in 2021 and expanded its ambassador program to become the “Community Influencer Program” which allowed anybody to join and earn commission. Influencers can check their rewards based on their number of followers and post per month on the Zalora website.
Influencers need not be adults. Some brands are also looking for youngsters to play such roles. Nestle Malaysia will be offering a one-year term youth influencer program, grooming university students to become Nestle ambassadors for their respective university.
The youth influencers are bridges between the brand and the students, leading brand campaigns and creating hype for events. Participating students have the opportunity join the company after the program ended. It’s a good plan for the brand to reach different target audiences.
2. FinTok
FinTok is an upcoming trend within the TikTok community featuring financial contents. FinTok is a combination of the words “Financial” and “TikTok”. Financial influencers are allowed to share advice on topics ranging from crypto investment to saving for retirement. More and more youngsters are riding this trend and turned themselves into “Finfluencer”.
TikTok is no longer limited to entertainment only. Check out the hashtag: #stocktok. It has at least 2.7 billion views now.
3. Multi-Influencer Campaigns
Brands always love stars! Who doesn’t? But brands are no longer attached to celebrities only. With the rise of micro-influencers, major brands are also searching for new ways to gain exposure.
Bob’s Red Mill, the 44-year old American brand, entered the Malaysia Market in 2015. The local distributor began to engage micro-influencers to feature their products in more videos.
Mission Foods is a world leader in corn flour and tortilla production. Its distributor in Malaysia is hiring micro-influencers as part of their marketing campaign as well.
Influencer marketing isn’t dead yet. It is just that netizeds are become smart at distinguishing between sincere and hard-sell content.
Therefore, it is very important to have reliable KOLs to represent your brand. Authenticity is the key in such brand collaboration.
At its core, influencer marketing is still based on the “people buy from people” concept. Understand what your customers needs. Choose the right approach. And chances are your campaign will go well.
