INFLUENCER MARKETING TRENDS 2022

12/20/2021

During the year 2021 influencer marketing and social media channels have only been establishing their important role in businesses marketing and communication programs. Is it possible for them to still keep growing? What’s happening next? This is something we’ve been discussing with social media influencers and heads of marketing, while exploring international research and predictions. Based on the previous, we’ve listed five stand out trends which will strongly influence the content creation, influencer marketing and marketing in social media in 2022. 

#1 Influencers growing sales – Social shopping becoming more effective 

Organisations are seeing the power of influencer marketing as an effective part of their overall communications strategy. 

In 2020 almost 30 million euros was spent on influencer marketing in Finland and about 60% of advertisers used influencer marketing as a part of their communications program. Consumer trust is very high when it comes to influencer marketing. About half of consumers trust the recommendations made by a social media influencer more than a brand itself. 60% have bought something based on a recommendation by an influencer and 48% finds influencer marketing more genuine/authentic than any other form of marketing. (source: Kantar and IAB Finland)

The past couple of years have been difficult for us all, and working from home is something that most of us can relate to. For social media the year 2021 was non stop growth and everything going on in the world has only boosted the power of social media platforms and opened up our culture of discussion even more. The power of social media influencers also kept on growing and we could all see the increasing amount of unboxing, advertising and tips being shared when it comes to different products, services and online shops. In the year 2022 influencer marketing will be focused more in real life, authenticity and storytelling. 

In 2022 influencers are also going to be taking a bigger role in the organisation’s marketing and commerce. It is possible to communicate, grow your audience, create more sales and support different causes through an influencer in a more reliable and trustworthy way while speaking directly to your desired target audience. This year Instagram released the story link sticker (used to be available only for accounts of 10 000 followers or more) for everyone to use, which has made a big difference. Now it is possible for everyone to guide their followers to a specific website. Especially for micro influencers, this was great news. In 2022 social media influencers are going to be playing an even bigger part in organisation’s product and service development. 

Find out more about our client Storytel and Lapland speaking by Inari Fernández -podcast collaboration, which has been bringing incredible results and developed to a product and service design between the influencer and the client.

#2 Social impact influencing and society themes rising 

All the changes that social media has brought to our communications have been, and still are changing the world and society like we’ve never seen before. Since we were introduced to the “hybrid” way of working and living, traditional media, digital platforms, influencer collaborations, social media as well as entertainment and news are existing, influencing and cooperating more than ever before. 

While this is happening, there are still many questions up in the air: How can we use our influence to enhance humane well-being? Can we work together to create a better world? How is it possible for meaningfulness, social responsibility and the will to change the world to increase well-being while strengthening personal brand, leadership and growing your business?

As we monitor the use of social media it’s clear to see that conversations about society are becoming more and more common. People are expressing their opinions and open conversations are taking place more publicly. The diverse channels of social media are proving to be excellent playing fields for social impact influencing. 

We believe that in 2022 social impact influencing will only grow within organizations, consumers and influencers. We’ve already seen some great examples of responsible projects in social media during this year. Dive into PING Helsinki and Clarion Hotel’s “Year In Clarion” -campaign results from here

Social impact influencing in a nutshell

Social impact influencing is a wholesome strategy for a company, influencer or an organization that covers all society topics that they’re willing to take actions for. For example these topics can be climate, environment, working conditions, salary, education, health care, gender equality, well-being or any other society topic. The impact is born with how the strategy and genuine actions followed by it are being communicated to the desired target group. Interested to know more? PING Helsinki’s CEO Inna-Pirjetta Lahti and Head of Growth Tuomo Meretniemi are writing a book about social impact influencing. Unfortunately, the book isn’t available in English yet, but we’re more than happy to tell you more! Contact us here

#3 TikTok – massive growth while providing entertainment for even older people

During the year 2021 we’ve had the pleasure to watch the massive growth and development of TikTok around the world. TikTok acts as an entertaining short video provider and in 2022 it’s predicted to become one of the most important social networks when it comes to marketing. TikTok is also going to be used more as a financial advice platform among influencers while it is becoming more and more common to start social media accounts based on sharing information about economy and finance. 

TikTok became the most downloaded app in the world already back in 2020. Up until now it has been downloaded over 2 billion times. In Finland TikTok holds just over 1,1 million monthly users. And unlike Instagram, TikTok also equally reaches men, who make 44% of the users. 

In Finland, half of TikTok users are 18-24 year olds, and a quarter are over 25 year olds. Yet older people are finding their way to TikTok and the average age will likely get significantly higher in 2022. 

According to TikTok’s advertising data, with a reasonable budget it is possible to reach approximately 1,2 million users in a fairly short amount of time. Advertising through TikTok is constantly growing and it is proving to be a great channel for influencer marketing either on it’s own or alongside other channels depending on the goal set for the campaign. 

Did you know that PING Helsinki holds TikTok advertising rights and with us, you can create effective influencer collaborations and boost your existing content cost-effectively on TikTok. Contact us and we’ll tell you more! 

#4 The power of video content and growing versatility of social media channels 

Social media is developing at a fast pace and new channels are trying to find they’re place among all the others. Development of the channels and the intense growth and popularity of video content has opened many more doors and opportunities for influencers as well as organizations.  

Looking at 2022 now is the latest time to turn your focus on video content. Especially Instagram’s algorithm strongly favors short videos like Reels and stories and they’re definitely being developed to a more commercial way to achieve more sales. When it comes to collaborations and organizations it is definitely handy how easy it is to make use of the same vertical video on TikTok and Instagram Reels. You should definitely also take advantage of these videos in advertising. Especially with influencers, real and genuine content works incredibly well and reaches way more people while making the campaign even more effective. 

#5 Reinforcing diversity and inclusiveness 

Societies are developing and so are people. Especially when it comes to our behavior and way of thinking. Accepting differences in nationalities, gender, ethnicity, backgrounds, education, generations, age, religion, sexuality, skills, experiences and different ways of working and thinking is becoming more and more important and it is crucial for organizations to update their methods so that they’re truly acknowledging diversity in all their actions when it comes to their values, communications and recruiting. 

Change doesn’t just happen. Organizations need to make sure to accept that everyone is different and their own person. They need to stay active and bring their behavior methods up to date and start thinking about how to naturally bring diversity to their communications. 

Influencer marketing is becoming more diverse with different influencers and different backgrounds. It’s time to take a stand and have brave conversations. We’re hoping to see every company that chooses to take up influencer marketing in 2022 make sure their campaigns and influencers are diverse and inclusive. 

#6 Consistency is the key

Long term collaborations are growing stronger in 2022, while even more companies and organizations are planning to start working with influencers. Long term collaborations allow companies to massively grow their sales and expand their reach. 

Long term collaborations allow influencers and their followers to become an important part of the whole process through interaction, from planning to executing. 

From our own experience, this has also been the best way to come up with fresh ideas. Also allowing your audience to watch a real life person use a certain product or service long term, has proven to work incredibly well in conversion based collaboration while strengthening the bond with your customers.

Brand ambassador contracts with popular influencers are confirmed early on, so make sure to plan ahead.   

Benefits of consistency?

Long term collaboration is well planned and aligned with organizations functions, goals and wholesome communication. To accomplish effective collaborations everything needs to start with a strategy based on the organization’s goals and choosing the right metrics for the campaign. It is also crucial to find influencers with a loyal following and similar values. Especially in a long term collaboration, it is important to look at finding the right influencers from a recruiting point of view and spend time on finding the perfect match through an influencer-survey and decision making. This way you’ll make sure that your message comes across genuine and believable. 

A long term collaboration is also a great way to bring the influencers into the organization’s product, service or even communications development. You can get your audience to engage more with polls and other activities, while including influencers to your media work. Long term collaborations are also allowing us to gather a great amount of data, which gives us great guidelines and maybe even predict the future a little bit. From here you can read more about the results of a long term collaboration between our client Clarion and influencer Joona Pesonen

Year 2022 is going to be extremely interesting and we’re feeling very hopeful. Can we help you make great plans and execute them? Or does your heart desire more information about the great possibilities of influencer marketing? Maybe there is something you’d like to know more about in this article? Let us know, we’re more than happy to help!

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