by By Hannah Miller
As social media platforms continue to grow in 2020, influencer marketing will keep on evolving. Influencers have become a fundamental marketing strategy for many brands, and will continue to help brands in connect with their public in relatable ways. In 2020, just being famous will not be enough for brands. Brands desire influencers that will have an effective influence on their audience, and who are connected to their brand’s specific niche. Ultimately this will lead to an engaged pool of consumers.
I follow influencers that focus mainly on lifestyle, health, fitness, food and travel. I have gained their trust and believe they are honest about the products they share with followers like me. Brands have utilized influencers on traditional social media platforms for a while now. However, I’ve noticed that more recently they have also been utilized to promote products on up-and-coming platforms like Apple Podcast, YouTube and TikTok.
As TikTok continues to grow in popularity, there will be more opportunities for influencer marketing on the platform. Monthly downloads of TikTok have exceeded Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat. Brands have recognized this, and are reaching out to influencers who can have a valuable impact on their niche audience on TikTok.
Smaller influencers who can be easily found on TikTok, can help support brands in reaching specific consumers of their niche market. Many people are highly influenced by micro-influencers, and have gained trust in TikTok influencers with a smaller following.
If you find yourself following influencers regularly, you have nothing to worry about, they aren’t going anywhere. Influencer marketing is a tool for brands that you will begin to see everywhere. It will be interesting to see this type of technique evolve with many platforms we access each day.
I, too, have discovered that the influencer market has moved to Tik Tok. I recently joined Tik Tok and I have found on my FYP that many influencers I follow and recognize on Instagram have found their way to another app on my phone. Since Tik Tok is a different platform than Twitter or Instagram, the influencers have to get creative when promoting something on this particular app. They can creatively incorporate the product in their video or talk about while they are filming themselves using it, just like vlogging or something they would post on their Instagram story. -Jamie Dun
I remember Kendall Jenner doing a Proactiv feature on her Instagram a while back, raving about how Proactiv cured her problem skin, and when she went to show herself applying the product — she had no idea how to open it… Even though she was promoting it, it was pretty evident that she did not actually use this product.
Your comment about how you believe the influencers you follow are honest and transparent about the products they feature / how you trust their recommendations got me thinking. With platforms such as Instagram cracking down on influencer transparency, requiring posts to mention #ad or something highlighting that “this is a paid partnership with X brand,” does that affect your level of trust in the influencer? Does the fact that they’re very obviously being paid to promote these products make their “opinion” of them lest credible?
This is a very interesting point! I think that many Influencers have already, and will begin to, become extremely popular from Tik Tok. In the past, many Influencers gained popularity from using Vine to become famous, and then moved on to a bigger platform such as Youtube. My question is whether or not Tik Tok will be a start up platform for Influencers like Vine was?
Hi Hannah. I definitely agree that influencer marketing isn’t going anywhere for a while. It’ll be interesting to see how it changes with the changing social media platforms such as TikTok becoming more popular. I honestly prefer hearing about brands or products from influencers than celebrities or brands themselves because it feels more genuine. Hearing from a real person feels more authentic and like I can trust them more. I agree that companies should take advantage of this new influencer market if they have the means and resources.
I think it is so interesting that TikTok now has so many influencers and sponsors getting paid to post. What surprises me is how young the audience and posters on TikTok are. There are so many young teenagers who have become very famous on TikTok and therefore other platforms as well. I never expected TikTok to gain as much popularity as it has, but it makes sense since it is a very versatile platform where you can post pretty much whatever you want. I wonder if TikTok has already reached its peak or if it is still on the incline in terms of downloads and number of members active on the site.
It will be interesting to see how these new platforms evolve. However, I have noticed that posts from newer platforms like TikTok get circulated on Instagram and Twitter a lot. This keeps people from joining TikTok since they have easy access to its content. I wonder if these social media platforms will put measures in place to stop their content from circulating because the circulation prevents people from joining their platforms and potentially hinders revenue generation.
Yeah, I think it’s quite wild the turn in how influencer marketing has risen and almost fallen from its notoriety (as in, focus of big-name celebrities). As much as I think influencer marketing is not going away, I definitely already see things in place for brands to better outreach to influencers, programs like Octoly, in which influencers large and small can signup to receive makeup/skincare products to review.
I think the problem with platforms like TikTok are that many of them are dependent on being on other platforms like Instagram, YouTube and Twitter to keep relevance and reliability. Perhaps I’m just a tired boomer who doesn’t want to hop onto TikTok, but I hope it dies as quickly as Vine and Musical.ly did.
I have always found it to be very interesting that individuals who become self-made on apps such as Tik Tok and Youtube can now become influencers. Tik Tok seemed to flourish very recently and there are several influencers on the app that many people look up to, especially younger audiences. Additionally, through social media platforms such as Youtube and Tik Tok, influencers must find creative ways to produce content while also promoting.
I think influencers pop up at the most random times and yet they become famous, it seems, overnight. TikTok in particular allows for 15/16-year-olds to post videos and gain followers by doing the Rengade dance. It’s crazy that people who are in their 20’s are watching these videos and find them fascinating and continue to watch. Once someone gains a certain amount of followers, they get the “verified” icon and are seen as “celebrities” just because they could do a dance or act out a #pov. Anyone can become an influencer and that is both interesting and scary.
I think the influencer evolution is so interesting. It amazes me how someone who does well on instagram and tik tok can eventually become classified as a “influencer”. They are then given so much power and authority. Companies are looking towards influencers for marketing and advertising because they know that our generation can easily be influenced, especially by our favorite followed influencers.
As an avid TikTok user, I have definitely started to notice sponsored content on my feed. There is actually sponsored posts, that are labeled sponsored, but then there are also popular TikTokers who have brand deals with companies. I have seen many popular creators on TikTok make a video showcasing specific outfits and clothes. Their caption will say where their outfits are from and often include a discount code so their followers can purchase the items. This shows how it is extremely important for brands who use influencers to stay with the times and up to date on current trends. TikTok has grown to millions of users in only a short amount of time, and there is huge potential for brands to utilize influencers on TikTok to promote their products. So you are right, there are influencers everywhere!
Hi Hannah,
I like what you said about TikTok and that there are many small influencers on the platform. I think it is very much like Vine and that could be unfortunate for its future. In the case that the app follows the same path as Vine and shut down, influencers on TikTok will have their large following but no platform to interact with their followers. Companies will be unable to take advantage of the influencers’ followings unless they move to a different platform such as YouTube, like Vine influencers did. Some influencers from Vine even grouped up to form larger groups on YouTube.