Influencer Marketing. Influencer marketing involves… | by Candace J. Dixon | The Small Business Marketer | Sep, 2023

Influencer marketing involves collaboration between brands and influencers — and it’s currently on fire! Indeed, the future of influencer marketing seems quite bright: Once considered as something just “nice to have”, it is quickly becoming a staple in marketers’ arsenals as well as a hot advertising strategy these days, with 93% of marketers having used influencer marketing in their campaigns.

Influencer marketing is a collaborative approach between influencers and businesses to help businesses shape and grow their brands and make more sales. The influencer marketing strategy has been carefully and successfully honed and used by countless businesses with continued growth for over a decade.

Influencers are typically individuals with a substantial following to consume the content they create for social media, videos, or blogs. Successful influencers are considered to be trustworthy and knowledgeable, possibly even experts, in their chosen niche. For that reason, they are able to effectively impact, or “influence”, the purchasing decisions of their audience through their recommendations or endorsements of a brand or the brand’s products. Influencer and brand partnerships can be quite successful, helping the business expand their reach and generate leads while effectively making a positive impact on the influencer’s own career.

Sprout Social’s 2022 “Creator Economy Report” in July showed that a majority of brands work with influencers to increase their engagement, and that influencers tended to seek out brands in order to grow their own brand.

The goal of 62% of businesses working with influencers is to increase engagement.

As marketers see the value of working with influencers, more brands are expected to begin using influencer marketing or increase their already allotted budget for it.

The influencer marketing industry has seen significant growth over the last several years, valued at $1.7 billion It is projected to be a $16.4 billion industry.