Social media has been influencing our lives for some time now. The total reach of social media according to the latest statistics in 2020, is over 3.6 billion people using social media worldwide. The projections for internet users for 2025 are almost 4.41 billion. This is a huge number.
Due to Covid19 lockdowns the world over, there were bans on going out, people are forced to live inside and this resulted in having plenty of time at hand. We as species are said to be social animals. This means interacting with other human beings is our basic necessity. The technology came to the forefront and the different social media platforms like TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc came to our rescue. It’s like the opening of the world through our laptops/ computers or just from that little wonder called smartphones. The Covid Pandemic has really boosted the game of influencers.
Social Media has become a powerful tool. It’s like having a personal newspaper or personal news channel. You can share whatever you want to, with the world in different formats like writeups (WordPress or Blogspot or self-hosted blogs, FB posts, etc.), photos (Instagram, Pinterest, etc.) or videos (Youtube, TikTok, etc), speaking up your mind on any news (Twitter, etc.). With social media becoming a trend, more so during a lockdown, content creators sharing their daily lifestyles, food bloggers or travel bloggers have taken the world by storm.
The latest trends show that anyone who shares the knowledge and experiences regarding the basic necessities of life is the people, the world is looking at. If I need to classify them into groups, I will be having these groups – food, travel, finance, fashion, education. This huge surge in the popularity of SM influencers has collectively disrupted the digital marketing premise completely. Very recently, they have often been brushed aside as amateur content creators. But as social media is evolving, these influencers become the new favourites of the current generation of millennials for whom social media is a way of life. The influencers have a huge impact on the consumers today as they choose to trust a fashion or lifestyle blogger while making their next purchase. They find it easier to believe the words of someone whom they are following on social media platforms like Instagram or Facebook.
Social media marketing is cost-effective for companies too. Launching a hashtag with a large number of influencers and some celebrities increases the outreach of brands exponentially with a fraction of the budget. If I speak about the outreach of influencers, the market in India has increased due to huge internet penetration and adaptability and availability of budget smartphones for as small as 20 $. It is unbelievable but some of the social media platforms are more popular in the interiors of the country surpasses those in metro or bigger cities.
With time, many resources have been developed to make this journey easy for brands and influencers. We need digital marketing platforms, influencers, and brands. Now a number of platforms have come up to connect influencers with the brands. The availability of high-speed internet across the globe, availability of gadgets to common people from e-commerce platforms, competitive creatives, and huge human potential have boosted the game of marketing through digital channels a few notches higher.
The trend for 2022 is also only upward. This is an ever-growing place. If you have not yet taken your presence on social media seriously and are thinking that it’s a lost opportunity now, then you are wrong. Your time is right now. Learn influencer marketing strategies and sell your skills to collaborate with companies who want marketing managers for social media platforms. In 2022, chances are that marketing agencies may focus on influencers as brand ambassadors. Are you imagining yourself on the billboards of your town? 🙂
Chances are that smaller influencers will be in front as their interactions with their followers are seen to be real and larger in numbers than influencers with huge followings.
So what are you waiting for? Be a game for this. But do not be misled or have this misconception. It’s lots of hard work and needs overflowing creative juices!