As 2021 draws to a close, many brands are starting to look forward to 2022. Part of this involves looking into influencer trends because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up allowing brands to get in on these trends sooner rather than later. A report by Klear outlines some of the trends that we might start seeing in the influencer industry, and this report was compiled by monitoring the ad campaigns that were published across a wide range of platforms.
One thing that you might notice in this report is that there has been a marked increase in demand for sponsored content on Instagram. In fact, sponsored content has seen a 26.7% increase which is something that will definitely give people a lot of confidence after the drop that was seen in 2020 due to the global pandemic. While 2020 saw just over 3 million ad posts, in 2021 just under 3.8 million across Facebook, Instagram as well as TikTok and YouTube.
The Stories feature that a lot of platforms have started to put out has also been a big part of this, with the number of sponsored stories being posted increasing by around a third, or 33.5% to be precise. In 2020, influencers posted an average of 12 sponsored stories per week. However, in 2021 this number has increased to 16, suggesting a higher demand for stories and the engagement that they can bring. This shows what a good move it was for so many social media platforms to start incorporating stories into their user interfaces.
Another really important and interesting thing to note is that micro influencers are truly on the rise with all things having been considered and taken into account. Their share of the market went from 89% in 2020 to 91% in 2021, and this is something that shows how much they dominate the industry. A micro influencer is anyone that has between 5,000 to 30,000 followers, and they are preferred by brands due to the higher engagement rates that they get since larger influencers are often seen as unapproachable and inauthentic.
What’s more is that micro influencers are generally a lot more affordable than some of the better known influencers. If you take a look at Instagram, you would see that a post from a micro influencer costs just over $350 on average, and videos for around $555. Stories are exceedingly affordable at just under $180 which might be another reason why they have seen an uptick as well. The influence of micro influencers is hard to deny, and they are doing quite a bit to democratize the influencer landscape instead of allowing big name influencers to dominate it in all regards.
This isn’t just for Instagram either. TikTok also has a thriving community of micro influencers, about 38% of influencers that posted ad content and sponsored posts had under 50,000 followers. In fact, 23% had between just 1,000 and 10,000 followers, which indicates that it doesn’t take a lot to start getting sponsorships on that platform. That might be a big part of why TikTok is such a popular place for influencers to start out in if they want to start earning as quickly as possible.
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Instagram remains the single most popular platform for people that want to advertise properly. About 94% of all ad campaigns involved Instagram posts, with YouTube and TikTok being involved in only 10% and 13% respectively. Hence, Instagram is seen as a mainstay, whereas TikTok and other platforms are seen as places where you can experiment a little bit because they are not quite as essential.
Read next: How These Graphic Design Trends Can Boost Your Marketing Strategy (infographic)
One thing that you might notice in this report is that there has been a marked increase in demand for sponsored content on Instagram. In fact, sponsored content has seen a 26.7% increase which is something that will definitely give people a lot of confidence after the drop that was seen in 2020 due to the global pandemic. While 2020 saw just over 3 million ad posts, in 2021 just under 3.8 million across Facebook, Instagram as well as TikTok and YouTube.
The Stories feature that a lot of platforms have started to put out has also been a big part of this, with the number of sponsored stories being posted increasing by around a third, or 33.5% to be precise. In 2020, influencers posted an average of 12 sponsored stories per week. However, in 2021 this number has increased to 16, suggesting a higher demand for stories and the engagement that they can bring. This shows what a good move it was for so many social media platforms to start incorporating stories into their user interfaces.
Another really important and interesting thing to note is that micro influencers are truly on the rise with all things having been considered and taken into account. Their share of the market went from 89% in 2020 to 91% in 2021, and this is something that shows how much they dominate the industry. A micro influencer is anyone that has between 5,000 to 30,000 followers, and they are preferred by brands due to the higher engagement rates that they get since larger influencers are often seen as unapproachable and inauthentic.
What’s more is that micro influencers are generally a lot more affordable than some of the better known influencers. If you take a look at Instagram, you would see that a post from a micro influencer costs just over $350 on average, and videos for around $555. Stories are exceedingly affordable at just under $180 which might be another reason why they have seen an uptick as well. The influence of micro influencers is hard to deny, and they are doing quite a bit to democratize the influencer landscape instead of allowing big name influencers to dominate it in all regards.
This isn’t just for Instagram either. TikTok also has a thriving community of micro influencers, about 38% of influencers that posted ad content and sponsored posts had under 50,000 followers. In fact, 23% had between just 1,000 and 10,000 followers, which indicates that it doesn’t take a lot to start getting sponsorships on that platform. That might be a big part of why TikTok is such a popular place for influencers to start out in if they want to start earning as quickly as possible.
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Instagram remains the single most popular platform for people that want to advertise properly. About 94% of all ad campaigns involved Instagram posts, with YouTube and TikTok being involved in only 10% and 13% respectively. Hence, Instagram is seen as a mainstay, whereas TikTok and other platforms are seen as places where you can experiment a little bit because they are not quite as essential.
Read next: How These Graphic Design Trends Can Boost Your Marketing Strategy (infographic)