Influencer marketing continues to grow in popularity and remains one of the most powerful strategies for businesses seeking to reach new audiences and grow their revenue. By 2025, it’s estimated that influencer marketing will be worth a whopping $24 billion.
What makes it so popular? It’s most likely the fact that the majority of consumers have become disillusioned with traditional marketing techniques and influencer marketing offers a more identifiable and relevant approach. Moreover, more than half of the world’s population now uses social media, which makes it one of the best ways to reach a huge audience of potential customers.
Whether you’re already doing it or you’re new on the scene, it’s important to remember that the nature of influencer marketing is constantly evolving. But this is no surprise considering how quickly things change in the social media marketing world.
With the global financial crisis increasing incentives for a decent return on investment (ROI), it’s more important than ever for brands to ensure they’re harnessing the right strategies to stay on top. With that being said, let’s take a look at some existing and emerging fashion influencer marketing trends that are set to shape 2023.
1. Livestream shopping
Livestream shopping is a trend that’s experiencing rapid growth in China and is quickly being picked up on a global scale.
It involves influencers going live on platforms such as Instagram, TikTok or Facebook to describe and review products. Viewers can purchase products directly through the livestream session as well as take the opportunity to ask any questions they might have about the product.
The main benefit of livestream shopping is that it gives the audience real insight into the product or service. In a world where videos and photos are constantly tweaked to appear better than they are in reality, this approach offers viewers an unedited insight to help them make more informed decisions about the products they decide to consume.
This year, Instagram introduced a new feature to the platform in the form of Live Shopping. This lets users purchase directly through an Instagram Live video, reducing the time it takes to purchase with an immediate call-to-action.
2. Video-based content remains popular
It’s no secret that video is the most powerful modern marketing tool. An incredible 86% of marketing professionals reported that they used video as a marketing tool and 78% of them feel that video marketing has directly increased their sales. Consumers are also demanding more videos from the brands they interact with 72% agreeing they would rather learn about a product or service by way of video and 84% attesting that a brand’s video has convinced them to invest in a product or service.
The rise of TikTok and other video-focused platforms like Instagram and Youtube offer brands a new approach to sponsored content. One approach that influencers take to grow their audience and boost engagement is to share short-form content that informs or entertains. It’s also important to note that algorithms take this type of content into account
Brands can use this type of content to support their campaigns and form partnerships with influencers who align with their brand values or already use the products or services they supply. But it’s also important to stay up to date with trends within the wider sphere of video marketing to ensure you’re leveraging the right kind of influencer marketing videos to engage your target audience.
For instance, vertical video is growing in popularity due to the wide number of platforms that support it, including TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and YouTube. In the fashion world, these short videos could be anything from product promotion to affiliate link sales promotions, to a full-blown social media takeover.
3. Repurposed influencer-generated content
Nowadays, content repurposing is becoming an increasingly important way for businesses in the fashion world to maximise their influencer-generated content.
Content repurposing allows you to generate a repository of content that can be used across your various channels. This means you can reshare influencer-generated content on your various social platforms, as well as in online ads or your website. What makes this such a wonderful trend to catch on to is that it means you don’t have to spend time and money creating your own marketing collateral – influencers do it for you!
Moving forward, we are likely to see more spotlighted influencer-generated content on company websites as well as influencers cropping up in email campaigns, on billboards, at events and even in-store. This not only maximizes the peer-to-peer effect of influencer marketing, but it also provides the audience with the type of content they want to engage with.
4. Greater interest in meaningful content
Consumers become increasingly conscious about the products they buy and the brands they affiliate themselves with and taking action to lead a more sustainable lifestyle. Therefore, it’s important for brands to recognize the role of developing meaningful content to keep them engaged and on board with their values.
Consumers are eager to see how brands position themselves in terms of social and environmental issues and are making more informed buying decisions based on this information. In the world of fashion influencer marketing, this means brands are increasingly aligning themselves with influencers who are vocal about their values and there is a growing need to become more transparent when it comes to their impact on the world.
In the same way that influencers are choosing the brands they associate themselves with wisely, companies must do the same with the influencers they select. If they want to create truly meaningful content that resonates with their target audience, it’s vital that they don’t associate themselves with an influencer whose values are not aligned with their own. Therefore, brands should invest their time in creating content that champions consistency, stability and durability to avoid pushing consumerism on their audience.
5. More refined niches
Following on from the point above, we’re likely to see influencers dividing into more refined niches moving forward. Consumers are becoming pickier and pickier about the content they consume and share, and therefore the influencers they choose to follow. This is, again, due to their increasing preoccupation with values and morals in a world saturated with harmful content and misinformation.
It’s important to be clear about what social media users can expect from your brand and what you post when trying to build a community. In the fashion world, niches may be formed around budget or sustainable fashion. Knowing which niche you wish to penetrate with your content is essential for identifying which influencers to reach out to and start building connections with.
This trend means that brands can ensure maximum relevance with their audience through more refined and organic targeting, but if your product or service has multiple audiences it could mean you need to work with more influencers to reach different segments – which could require more investment on your side. However, tools such as Click Analytic, can help you to find your niche and collaborate with major and minor influencers at affordable costs based on the budget you have available.
6. Focus on developing long-term relationships with influencers
It’s a competitive world out there. As the social media and consumer landscape becomes increasingly saturated, it’s vital that brands focus on building long-lasting relationships with the influencers they work with.
This means treating them well and ensuring they are getting the benefits they expect from working with you. But it goes deeper than that, influencers want to feel involved in the product and the company they’re working with to be able to promote it in the most effective manner.
Ready to kick off 2023 with a killer influencer marketing strategy?
Staying abreast of influencer marketing trends is crucial if you want to beat the competition. The factors mentioned in this article are a good place to start if you want to get ahead and be the first to hit the mark when the new year rolls in.
Whether you’ve already got a thriving social media presence or you’re just getting started, having the right tools under your belt is essential. If you’re ready to jump into influencer marketing, Click Analytic can help you find the ideal personas to represent your brand and create a buzz.
