Scope of Influencer Marketing in 2021

Scope of Influencer Marketing in 2021

Last year, when COVID-19 came knocking on our doors, all people could do to keep ourselves safe was to, lock ourselves up inside our homes. Although it was necessary for our safety, the lockdown threw us all in the spiral of boredom and monotonicity. The only window left to look outside was the small screens of mobile phones. These turn of events caused people to use more social media than ever before. Nielsen's studies show that home-bound people have led to a 60% increase in the amount of content consumed globally and several influencers in India have witnessed explosive growth over the past year, so does the interactions and trust between the influencers and their followers. 

The numbers never lie 

While the COVID situation caused brands to cut down their advertising budgets, the brands did not shy away from taking the leverage of rising influencers and turned their eyes to Influencer Marketing. As per the State of Influencer Marketing Report of 2020, Influencer Marketing was 18% more effective in driving sales than in 2019. The global Influencer Marketing platform's market size is to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 32% after 2020. The Influencer Marketing industry is expected to be worth up to $15 billion by 2022, compared to $8 billion in 2019, according to Business Insider Intelligence estimates. The growing market size suggests that influencers are more likely to drive and impact consumers' buying and spending decisions going forth, as social media becomes pervasive and functional beyond communication.

According to eMarketer, 84% of marketers are leaning towards launching at least one campaign involving an influencer;

In the B2B sector, 34% of businesses have pushed promotion via third-party media or influencers. 71% of consumers make purchases based on a social media reference. 57% of beauty and fashion companies use Influencer Marketing as part of their Marketing Strategies.

Keeping in mind last year's analytics, and how 2020 reformed the digital industry. The scope of Influencer Marketing shows anything but a declining graph.

Rise of Nano and Micro-Influencers

A micro-influencer is someone who has between 1,000 to 100,000 followers. Nano influencers tend to have a smaller number of followers in comparison to micro-influencers, less than 1,000 followers and are a relatively new breed of influencers. 2020 has witnessed many of such influencers rising from ashes. With multiple brands reaching out to micro and nano influencers due to their authenticity and cost-effectiveness, they are presumed to rule the influencer market in 2021.

A Future, Brighter then The Sun

While 2020 played as the catalyst of growth of Influencer Marketing, 2021 is expected to take it to new soaring heights. With millennials becoming money decision-makers and ad-blockers becoming a thing, the effectiveness of the traditional methods of marketing is dwindling. Consumers no more desire, superficial, in-the-face marketing methods, rather they fancy two-way and purpose-driven conversation. In such cases, brands are bound to use influencers as communicators for their products. 

Conclusionally, influencer Marketing now has more scope than ever, with COVID-induced lockdown which brought everything to a standstill, giving a platform to budding content creators. Influencer Marketing is going to play a key role in helping brands find their foothold in the hearts of consumers. It will be interesting to witness how Influencer Marketing unfolds all its cards.

By:- Prapti Upadhayay