9 Influencer Marketing Trends to Leave in 2019

Photo by Isaiah Rustad on Unsplash

‘Tis the season for articles titled “top XYZ trends of 2020” to flood your feeds! The beginning of the year is, of course, a wonderful time to forecast tactics and strategies we anticipate seeing in the months ahead. But it’s also a great time to reflect on the trends we do NOT wish to see continue from the prior year.

Our team round up 9 influencer marketing trends that we would like to see left in 2019. Enjoy!

1. Cookie Cutter Content: Flat lays had their moment, but we’re ready to leave lackluster content in the past. In 2020, we’re rooting for more innovative, imaginative, scroll-stopping influencer content packed with valuable, insightful, or entertaining captions.
2. Reaching for Reach: When the ACTIVATE Studio team casts for a campaign, we look at a variety of factors, in alignment with our client, that lead us to our recommendations. While the tier of influencer is an important consideration for garnering impressions, the Instagram algorithm somewhat levels the playing field. Working with large scale creators, especially those who have offline influence and are considered a tastemaker, can be extremely fruitful, but making decisions solely on influencer follower count is something we don’t condone!
3. Usage Rights in Perpetuity: Why? Most influencers are not comfortable giving away full usage rights, for content they’ve created, for… ever. Once a brand re-purposes influencer content organically, whether on their website or social channel(s), typically usage terms ensure that said content can remain published in perpetuity. Instead of grabbing hefty usage rights and re-purposing stale content, consider developing long term partnerships that will deliver fresh content regularly!
4. Transactional Partnerships: We’d like to see the era of one-and-done influencer partnerships come to its end, for so many reasons. At ACTIVATE, the most successful campaigns we see our Studio team and platform users run are the those that engage influencers over a multi-phased campaign lasting anywhere from 4–12 months. By working with Influencers in a longer term capacity, teams can cut down a tremendous amount of time spent on recurring casting exercises and contracting. Additionally, it’s often easier to negotiate more efficient fees in a long term deal. The list of pros goes on!
5. Hesitation To Test Emerging or New Platforms: As an ever-evolving medium, we feel strongly that influencer marketing is primed for test-and-learn opportunities. When Twitch and TikTok became household names, some brands hopped on the bandwagon quickly (hello, e.l.f Cosmetics!) and without fear of failure. Some, on the other hand, are still scratching their chin wondering how to make a move. We say, make your move! Influencers on the platforms are hungry to monetize their presence with brand opportunities, and are a low entry way to test if your audience lives on Twitch or TikTok. Instead of crafting a major brand campaign that lives on an emerging channel, consider testing new waters with Influencers at the helm. You don’t even need to put all of your eggs in one basket. Consider an emerging platform as an extension of an Instagram-focused program.
6. Failure to follow FTC Guidelines: Need we say more?
7. Lack of Sustainability in Gifting Practices: Brands sending influencer gifts with too much packaging, product or plastic are under fire — and for good reason. Heavy glitter and 12 tubes of the same lipstick are not only unnecessary, but more and more frowned upon by Influencers of all archetypes, not just those fighting for sustainability. Plus, in a recent study conducted by Nielsen, “81% of global consumers said they feel strongly that companies should help improve the environment.”
8. The Nano Influencer Craze: Nano Influencers, which we consider someone with a social following under 10K across platforms, were all the talk of the industry at the beginning of 2019. They’re cost effective, garner tremendous engagement, and are essentially a brand’s everyday consumer. However, tracking the output and performance of a network of hundreds or even thousands of Nano influencers is far more complicated than tracking a few macro creators. Instead of scaling your Nano Influencer efforts, consider how you can transform your general consumer efforts. Aren’t all your customers really influencers in their own right?
9. Judging influencers on ER% alone: First we told you we are sick of seeing Influencer selection overrun by the need for reach, and now we’re telling you to stop judging influencers solely on the engagement rate they garner. Crazy, we know! We often see Instagram posts reach up to 20% of the followers of the account it’s being posted from. When you look at the engagement rate against actual Impressions, versus the industry standard Follower Count (also known colloquially as Potential Reach), the percentage jumps significantly. Generally speaking, there are so many ways to judge an influencer’s performance as a partner, as well as reasons to re-engage them. Don’t let engagement rate be the only one! The influencers with the highest engagement rates are not necessarily the best sales drivers.

We saw influencer marketing take a giant leap forward in 2019, and we can’t wait to see what 2020 has in store. Consider the above when crafting your partnerships to keep things fresh and innovative!