Influencer Marketing Investment Trends in 2019

People across the globe use social media extensively. According to Brandwatch.com, “There are 3.49 billion active social media users. And, 91% of retail brands use two or more social media channels for their outreach program.” Social media has certainly become an integral part of people’s lives, and hence a prospective place to look for new audiences.

Influencers

Free social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube are popular across the world. Social media users share personal stories, pictures of life events, vacations, etc. They craft their own stories for other users to view, like and share over mobiles, laptops and other devices. Over a period of time, people who consistently engage with their group, and have a clear voice of their own, garnering large numbers of followers and views came to be known as social media influencers. They have a loyal following and can influence a viewer’s buying decision. Quality of the content, target audiences, and the engagement rate of posts in terms of likes and comments are some of the factors used to rate an influencer.

Influencer Marketing

Brands collaborate with influencers to reach out to a specific target segment, spread awareness on their products and services, or convert prospective buyers. This is called influencer marketing. According to Influencermarketinghub.com, “Marketers spend anywhere from $25,000 to $100,000 on influencer marketing.” It involves sponsoring the influencer’s online content, to drive purchases for their product or service.

Let us look at some of the influencer marketing investment trends for 2019 that are based on a survey conducted by Mediakix.

• Bigger influencer budgets – More than 60% of companies will increase their influencer budgets this year. One-fifth of marketers will spend $1,000 – $10,000/year on influencer marketing, while 7% of companies have budgeted over a million dollars.
• Larger share of marketing budget – 17% of companies spend more than 50% on their marketing budget on influencers. This includes brands in the e-commerce, fashion, gaming, and travel segment.
• Considered essential – Close to 90% of marketers feel that influencer marketing is better than other marketing tactics.
• Instagram rules them all – Amongst social media channels, Instagram has been ranked the number one impactful channel, with over one billion users. Instagram posts and stories are found to be most effective for influencer marketing.
• Biggest spending on Instagram – Instagram will also be the space where most of the influencer marketing spend will be directed this year. The least impactful is Snapchat.

However, influencer marketing is not without its share of challenges. It includes fake social media accounts, fake followers, constantly changing social algorithms that change user feeds from time to time, rising influencer costs, lack of strong creative content, and more. All it requires is a bit of caution while choosing the right influencer who is aligned with the brand.

Influencer marketing is thriving and doesn’t appear to be going anywhere, anytime soon. But it’s not just social media that keeps the e-commerce wheel turning, mobile is a driving force too. With m-commerce sales skyrocketing, and smartphones allowing users to shop on the go, anytime, anywhere, a mobile app is essential for your online business to flourish.

Vajro is a renowned instant mobile app factory, empowering businesses to scale their market reach exponentially. You can learn more about the transformative power of Vajro here. To boost sales and delight customers with an intuitive mobile app for your business, get in touch with us. We’ll have your app up and running in no time.