Predictions
What is the future of influencer marketing?
In a lot of ways (and I’m going to borrow this quote from William Gibson), “The future is already here – it’s just not evenly distributed.”
So much of advertising is stuck in the past – we still spend an obscene amount of money on content that’s unproven, on mediums that have no measurable ROI, on old ways of working with agencies, and on celebrities that may or may not have an impact on a brand’s business.
So much of digital (and social) is overlooked and pigeonholed as this thing that is going to be big and important someday–for most brands, it is still considered to be very experimental.
Many brands are not leveraging the ability to do some of the most basic things available to them, like optimizing their digital ad spends, targeting, and creative. Instead, they buy digital the way you buy print or out of home, handing over the budgets upfront and then walking away. The same goes with influencer marketing. Many brands are still paying a premium for “traditional” stars (i.e., TV and movie stars), even when targeting younger consumers.
The opportunities that brands have today to surpass their competitors and be more targeted, efficient, and effective are at their fingertips, but they’re not fully taking advantage of them.
I think the future will be a deconstruction of the existing processes and agency structures where things are leaner and more results-oriented.