Where to Be in 2023: 8 Game Changing Influencer Marketing Trends to Watch
Marketers see tremendous value from investing in strategic creator partnerships, which helps them meet and exceed brand awareness and performance goals. While economic uncertainty continues to make headlines, creator marketing will be a mainstay of the modern marketing budget, with total influencer spend set to rise by more than 20% from $5 billion to over $6 billion.
Alongside rapidly growing demand for creators, marketers look to AI to deliver real, predictable, and measurable results with influencer marketing—and to spend smarter on their campaigns. Take BENlabs’ AI toolset: Fueled by machine learning and founded on deep experience and industry roots, it powers predictive analytics and intelligently pairs brands with pitch-perfect influencers to maximize ROI.
While AI springs to the forefront to help brands strategically source and work with creators in 2023, influencer marketing will continue to evolve on camera and see even more innovation behind the scenes.
Here are eight influencer marketing trends to watch and adopt in 2023.
Gen Z Googles on TikTok
BRAND AWARENESS
THE TREND: Don’t dismiss TikTok as just a home for silly viral dance videos. While Google is the undisputed leader in search, Gen Z is turning to TikTok as a primary source of information. Google even acknowledged the shift, noting that 40% of young people use social platforms as a search engine.
WHAT IT MEANS FOR MARKETERS: In 2022, TikTok drove brand awareness, engagement, and conversions. With audiences using TikTok to search, brands need to consider how they can be a valuable source of information in 2023, both in influencer campaigns and in their own social strategy.
No matter the campaign objective, weaving in authentic and educational messaging—content that may teach audiences something new—leaves a lasting impression and builds a valuable, long-lasting customer relationship.
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BRAND AWARENESS
WHAT IT MEANS FOR MARKETERS: As marketers, we want to build valuable customer relationships but it’s hard to stand out on TikTok. After all, despite skyrocketing in popularity, the platform is new to most brands. Creators with an existing audience can offer a strategic shortcut.
Consider all types of creator relationships—maybe even offering a full-time creative gig—to significantly grow followers and secure long-term opportunities for authentically engaging with users.
Creators create shopping lists
DRIVING CONVERSIONS
Creators are tastemakers and influence buying behavior. Brands including Ulta Beauty and Tula have seen success working with creators to curate gift guides and promote merchandise directly on YouTube through tactics like livestreaming and shorts.
WHAT IT MEANS FOR MARKETERS: Creators can help brands influence customers to buy their products. Together, marketers and influencers can create interactive buying experiences by strategically leveraging features such as live shopping and clickable shopping links—features that encourage consumers to buy products in the moment and make shopping easy by taking them directly to their websites.
5,700 link clicks + 2% CTR
The metrics BENlabs and an e-commerce company achieved for a campaign designed to drive site traffic and awareness for a denim brand’s collection around a major sales day. BENlabs smart AI paired the denim brand with a variety of on-brand lifestyle creators to speak about their favorite products on Instagram Stories and in-feed posts. The campaign used clickable link stickers, which were key to driving sharing behavior and results.
Y2K and 90s nostalgia
BRAND AWARENESS
WHAT IT MEANS FOR MARKETERS: As an entire generation reflects on their childhood, they’re leaning on social platforms to unlock core memories and reminisce over shared experiences. To stay relevant, brands are participating in millennial nostalgia. Consider working with creators of the moment, be proactive and adaptable, and find memorable ways to weave popular culture into brand-creator collaborations.
Most importantly, brands can evoke a strong emotional reaction in viewers by incorporating throwback content into creator-led campaigns. The result? Brand affinity and heightened engagement among their target audiences.
2.1 million
The amount of views garnered for an entertainment company’s campaign promoting a 2022 tour for a popular 90s boy band. To target millennial and Gen Z users, BENlabs tasked creators across lifestyle and “momfluencer” verticals to post TikTok and Instagram videos documenting their experiences at the concert.
Brands get authentic with user-generated content
DRIVING CONVERSIONS
WHAT IT MEANS FOR MARKETERS: UGC creators build authenticity because they’re real fans of the products themselves. Instead of a purely transactional endorsement, UGC arms brands with “social proof.” For this very reason, companies like Glossier and Starbucks have repurposed UGC on their own channels. And it works. People are 2.4x more likely to view UGC as authentic compared to content produced by brands.
On top of that, 93% of marketers agree consumers trust UGC more than branded content. As brand believers, these UGC creators are able to connect with their followers on a more personal level. UGC-driven campaigns that amplify the voices of brand advocates online are a powerful way to boost sales and build brand trust.
Creator podcasts cement communities
DRIVING CONVERSIONS
THE TREND: As an audio-first medium, podcasting hasn’t been considered a traditional social media platform. But more than ever, the line between social media influencer and podcaster is blurring. Listenership is also on the rise. U.S. podcast listeners grew 6% year-over-year to reach a total of 125 million people in 2022.
WHAT IT MEANS FOR MARKETERS: Podcasting is a powerful platform for creators and brands. By sharing hot takes and controversial opinions, or livestreaming content to interact with listeners in real time, podcast episodes often drive higher engagement than typical video uploads. YouTubers-turned-podcasters find that audio-first content resonates strongly with specific subscriber groups thanks to YouTube Podcasts. The platform creates a more interactive, tight-knit subcommunity of listeners and offers the ideal space for product promotion.
From Philip DeFranco’s news commentary to Logan Paul’s lighthearted celebrity guest interviews, brands like DoorDash and HelloFresh are partnering with a wide range of podcasters to expand their reach. It’s no wonder: Podcast ads are the most recalled ad types, generating more than four times better brand recall than display ads. The majority of listeners don’t bother to skip ads. They’re known to sit through at least 80% of each episode. To boost conversions organically, support podcasters and get an in-episode brand shoutout.
LinkedIn’s rising B2B creator star
BRAND ENGAGEMENT
THE TREND: Creators aren’t just thriving on TikTok and Instagram. Enterprise companies are now partnering with professionals on LinkedIn to promote their B2B offerings. The goal is to educate key executives who manage company spending and nudge them in the direction of specific products and services.
WHAT IT MEANS FOR MARKETERS:The creator economy on LinkedIn is a rapidly growing movement: As of July 2022, more than 11 million LinkedIn members have identified themselves as content creators with professional expertise. Household names like IBM, Google, Vodafone, and Samsung are among a long list of B2B companies that have jumped on the trend.
While retail brands can spur impulse purchases by sponsoring “Get Ready With Me” social videos, B2B marketing is a bit more complicated. Business buyers are much less likely to make important budgetary decisions on the fly. Flashiness and theatrics don’t often land.
That said, partnering with reputable creators on LinkedIn is an effective route. B2B brands should look for LinkedIn professionals (BENlabs AI can help) to advertise within specific communities and hone in on target audiences.
Going viral with original sounds
BRAND ENGAGEMENT
THE TREND: Uploading a video with an original sound leads to other users catching on—that’s how sound goes viral. Brands are taking note, working with creators to upload their own sounds to grab organic views and boost their chances of ending up on a potential customer’s For You page.
WHAT IT MEANS FOR MARKETERS: Music can make TikTok videos go viral, but the most popular songs on the app are not accessible to most brands. That’s licensing for you. To navigate this roadblock, work with creators to develop original audio for interactive campaigns.
This approach provides incentive for consumers to engage with brands. For example, BENlabs worked with a hip-hop artist to produce an original jingle remix of a classic song that a medicine ad previously used. Creators took the remixed version of the song and applied it to a viral TikTok challenge, which fueled UGC and drove organic awareness.
Economic uncertainty will continue to make headlines in 2023. Brands need to respond with proven tactics while still capitalizing on new trends like the ones we’ve outlined: Distinct opportunities for marketers to tap into the power of influence to meet and exceed performance goals. Incorporating these trends into existing strategies will be crucial to upping your creator marketing game.
Whatever marketing challenges you face in 2023 and beyond, BENlabs is here to help. Predictive analytics and smart creator pairing, powered by AI, take the guesswork out of influence marketing.