In today’s world, influencer marketing is taking over the game through social media platforms. Influencers have been paving the way for a new type of advertisement that the world has never seen up until now, with most of the creators being from the demographic age group Generation Z. It has created a new way for consumers to find current trends, by seeking content posted by their favorite creators who may be endorsing the specific brand as a sponsorship.  

Influencer marketing is known as a type of social media marketing that involves endorsements along with product placement from individuals who have a high amount of engagement on their pages. They have a lot of power over consumers who look up to their purchasing decisions because of their relationship with their audience. This sort of advertisement originally started with celebrity endorsers who would appear in Television Advertisements for certain brands. However, with the rise of platforms like TikTok and Instagram, the game has changed. Some of the current trends within this market are influencers collaborating with brands and making short form video content to go along with it.

A great example of this is Alix Earle, who is a young female influencer who gained followers on TikTok for being a relatable college student attending University of Miami. Now, Alix is a graduate that has over 4 million TikTok followers. Her fans enjoy her content because of how relatable and fun she seems to be in her life. She has done collaborations with brands such as L’Oréal, Benefit Cosmetics, Poppi, and many other popular brands. She will typically make short, 1-minute videos reviewing these products explaining what she uses them for. Sometimes, she will provide a promotional code to her followers that allow them to receive a discount on these products. This helps the certain company gain more traffic and make sales while Alix gets a percentage of the profits. This works great for companies because anyone who follows an influencer that might look up to them in some way, and especially how trends are always fluctuating on TikTok, people are easily convinced. If someone enjoys Alix Earle’s content, they will most likely look into purchasing the products that she’s purchasing.

You may be wondering what the downfall is to all of this. There must be a challenge or critic these influencers get when promoting brands. And yes, you are right. Many viewers get discouraged or raise concern when a certain creator posts a brand; they may think the Influencer isn’t being transparent and doesn’t use the brand or its products like they make it seem in their short-form videos. This can have influencers receiving criticism for accepting endorsements just for promotion or benefits. Along with this, it can also be difficult for companies to track how many people purchase a product as a result of seeing an influencer’s post, especially if they don’t use the unique links or promotional codes. This can be solved by using surveys or customer feedback to find out how the customer found out about the brand. Sometimes brands aren’t specifically focused on just increasing sales, it could be about brand awareness or community building, which makes returns on investments more intangible with influencer marketing.

Looking ahead into the future of influencer marketing and what it will look like in the long term, it will certainly be driven by authenticity along with transparency. With the rise of Ai as well, this will benefit both brands and influencers collaborate in an easier, more efficient way by enhancing the process and effectiveness of campaigns. Ai will also help with generating content creation and personalization to bring out the most effective advertisements. It will also be helpful when doing an in-depth audience analysis and making sure brands are finding the right influencers to advertise their product, so it is in the right consumer hands.

Overall, as a person who is an active user on TikTok who also follows the latest trends, I do enjoy following my own favorite influencers and finding out what brands or products they are endorsing and recommending to their audience and why. I think this will pave the way for new generations along with more social media platforms to come and show us a new way to advertise.