It can feel as though the influencer marketing landscape is ever shifting, making it a challenge to stay on top of the latest trends and best practices. In our digital event, ‘What’s Next in Influencer Marketing,’ two industry experts share their intel on the latest in this space, with practical applications that we can carry into our daily work. Named as one of the top 100 people in influencer marketing, Ryan Berger, founding partner of HYPR, co-presented this webinar with Renee Ogaki, a digital PR pioneer and founder of Ogaki Digital.

The takeaways:

• Tips for influencer-led brands: 
  • Trust your influencer - let them use their own voice and deliver the message for you 
  • Compensation is important - bring influencers into the financial revenue side of the partnership
  • Success will come - brands doing it well include Warby Parker, Dove, Nike and Estee Lauder
• Tap platforms like HYPR by Julius, which brands and agencies turn to for access to millions of global influencers paired with next-level human intelligence
• Trend: “Genuinfluencers” - Creators who use their platforms to share advice and information, focusing more on education than engagement 
  • Consider their audience and expertise (i.e. a women-founded biz would partner with influencer supporting the mission and story of your brand) 
• Trend: Influencer-led brands (or influencers turned entrepreneurs) are here to stay
  • These brands do well listening to their audience; let them tell you what they want from your brand (i.e. posting IG polls asking which colorway to produce) 
• Trend: Nano influencers (1k-10k followers) are on the rise as their audiences trust their recommendations and are sometimes considered more authentic since they don’t do as many partnerships as macro influencers 
  • Nano influencers can be your target customers or your actual customers (like Glossier’s method) 
• Trend: Nostalgia content - like 90s fashion and Dispo app (makes photos look like they were taken by a disposable camera) 
• Pro tip: HYPR by Julius tracks TikToks and IG stories for brands, and also helps you find influencers to work with
  • If that type of platform is out of budget, search popular hashtags (i.e. search sustainability hashtags and see who is posting around that to find influencers that suit that category) or use the ‘similar to’ tool when looking at a specific industry influencer to find likeminded ones
• Pro tip: Tap into current trends on TikTok by looking at top trending songs and the videos people are creating around them 
• Luxury brands: tap into what’s going on in culture, but in a premier way, engaging your discerning audience. Focus more on influencer trust than their number of followers 
• When measuring success, show your client ROI by explaining who likes and comments are from, as opposed to numbers along, showing you're reaching your target audience