AI-influenced marketing platform HypeAuditor has unveiled its five big predictions for the Australian marketing landscape for 2022. And if you haven’t heard of petfluencers, skinfluencers, granfluencers and finfluencers, apparently you’re about to. Check out the predictions below.
The increase of brand ambassadors over one time deals
In 2022, brand ambassadorship will take over one-time influencer arrangements, as brands seek to implement long-term relationships with their influencers.
Over the last few years, it has become clear that influencers that promote fewer brands over a longer period of time appear more authentic than those that advertise with different brands weekly. Conversely, brands notice challenges in getting a comprehensive story across in just one influencer post — hence the rise in popularity of brand ambassadors. When audiences on Instagram have multiple touch points with branded content, the content becomes familiar and recognisable, and as a result, much more authentic. We’ve seen this in Australia with Instagram influencer Revie-Jane’s (main photo) longstanding partnership with cosmetics brand esmi, which has morphed into Revie-Jane branded product bundles.
Influencers who have more opportunities to monetise their audiences will continue to blur the traditional lines of influencing
Historically, influencers found their fame across social media platforms and remained there. What we’ve seen recently is influencers blurring the lines of traditional influence, and expanding to other platforms, such as books, radio, and reality TV shows, with more opportunities to monetise their audiences. Whilst collaborating with brands still accounts for a significant portion of an influencers’ income, other sources of income will continue to take up a large share.
A recent survey led by HypeAuditor highlighted that a career as an influencer may not be as lucrative as it may seem. On average, influencers earn $US2 970 per month from their Instagram account, while micro-influencers (between 1,000-10,000 followers) earn on average $US1420 per month and influencers with more than one million followers average $US15,536 per month. As a result, only four per cent of respondents live on income from an account. The recent outage on the Facebook and Instagram platforms, which stopped many influencers from posting, also illustrates the urgent need for influencers to diversify their income streams to avoid being negatively impacted in case a similar incident occurs again in the future.
New categories of influencers are emerging, whilst standard categories are becoming much more fluid
Look back to 2015, and social media influencers could be segregated into a handful of categories. Now, we’re seeing new categories emerging all the time, and influencers that choose to break the mould and influence across multiple categories. In 2021, we have seen the rise of influencers and ‘fintok’, as well as petfluencers, skinfluencers and granfluencers.
Finfluencers have gained new popularity in Australia particularly, with Millennial women driving the trend. According to HypeAuditor, although finfluencers make up less than one per cent of all influencers in Australia, the group is highly impactful, with #moneytok enjoying more than 3.8 million views and #stocktok more than 361 million on TikTok in Australia.
Virtual influencers are here to stay
We first saw virtual influencers, a digital character created online and given a personality on social media, first appear a couple of years ago, but next year we’ll see them solidify their place in the world of social influence, securing more brand deals than ever before. Many of today’s most popular virtual influencers were born out of pandemic limitations, such as social distancing, and the need for brands to seek evolved means of engaging with customers.
The market for virtual influencers is expected to reach A$1.3 billion in 2021 and drive an economy of A$22.4 billion, according to China’s iiMedia.
The rise of social ecommerce
While social commerce was previously focused on ads or promotions, platforms are beginning to provide new and innovative selling solutions that focus on making the journey easier for buyers. Moving into 2022, brands should reevaluate the purchasing paths they offer and consider taking advantage of social selling opportunities through Instagram posts, Reels, Stories, and more. Brands should also remember that the power of influence is everywhere and not simply confined on social media platforms.
In late 2020, Instagram Australia hosted a world-first InstaNight Shopping event featuring exclusive sales and one-night-only product drops from more than 50 Australian brands such as Country Road, Bed Threads, and Write to Me. Brands need to recognise the power of social selling as a new and important pathway to consumers.
