Influencer Marketing Trends 2018

Marketinghas evolved through years and so has InfluencerMarketing, and 2018 will set new milestones. In 2017, influencer marketingproved to be the best marketing channel for brands to connect closely withtheir customers, establish trust and build long lasting relationships. Justlike the evolution of every other marketing channel, influencer marketing isgetting more sophisticated and data driven while also being a great fit bothfor companies that are starting or are globally established. Its no more a funmarketing stunt but a result driven strategy integral to a brand’s growth.Current trends reflect that it is one of the most effective methods ofadvertising available today owing to its low cost, high engagement and improvedtargeting abilities. Here are some of the top trends we will witness in 2018.

Long Term Integration:

Marketeersare always aiming for high ROI on their investments and when it comes toinfluencer marketing, this means building long lasting relationships with theinfluencers. This in turn converts to better content for the brand while alsoincreasing engagement and conversion as the influencers start to become trueambassadors. This can also be fruitful in better cost for engaging withinfluencers as longer contract tend to be more cost friendly.

Personal Brand of Influencers:Influencers will recognize the value of their personal brands. People todayconsider famous Influencers and bloggers who have high following and whogenerate quality content being equal to the status of celebrities. Just ascelebrities have built their personal brand names over the years, influencerswill start understand the power of their audience and how to better utilise it.

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Content Freedom:

The very idea ofinfluencer marketing means using KOL’s to create original content to promote abrand. But the very idea of this is harmed when brands try to exercise a highlevel of control on the content which leads to poor performance as the contentmostly does not resonate with the influencers audience. As brands start torecognise the importance of giving freedom of content style to influencers, theperformance of this channel is all set to go up.

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Cross-Channel Approach:

‍ Today,users are active across a wide range of social media platforms. In 2018, brandswill likely look into promoting their products or services not only on singlesocial media platform but on multiple platforms leading to a more cross channelcommunication with the influencer’s audience. While images are highly engagingbut videos are constantly proving to be more effective both for engagement aswell as for leaving a more lasting impression about the brand. A lot morebrands will create video content this year.

Stories:We all know how stories took over our lives in an extremely short amount oftime and in 2018 stories are going to rule. While a regular post is essential,stories are going to work to reemphasise the experience of a product to theirinfluencer’s audience. Instagram Stories has already more than doubled in thenumber of users in a really short amount of time.

2018will belong to those brands who understand making smart use of influencermarketing and those who understand the power of user generated content toattract new customers and reengage existing customers.

OneImpression is the fastest growingtechnology platform helping brands leverage the power of influencers, contentcreators and celebrities. We work with some of the most iconic brands helpingthem design successful influencer marketing campaigns at scale. We are on amission to make influencer marketing easy, affordable and at the same timehighly effective.

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Edited by One Impression

Source:https://medium.com/@oneimpressionco/influencer-marketing-trends-2018-f8c2d6ddb483

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