Next year is only set to be even more exciting as this ever-evolving space continues to go from strength to strength. We asked industry experts to share their biggest predictions for 2020 and performance measurement, sophisticated data and

authentic engagements will be on the rise. 

Owen Hancock, marketing director of EMEA, Impact

“Influencer marketing has seen incredible continued growth in 2019. For marketers this has been a huge opportunity, as when managed correctly influencers deliver both impact and results. The reality is, time spent on social media platforms is only going to grow, albeit at a slower pace than in the last few years, and influencer marketing will be more popular than ever next year. In fact, brands are now ready to make an even greater investment in their influencer campaigns and programmes – so expect to see spending on influencers surpassing $9b annually in 2020. Influencer marketing will lead the way in producing authentic engagements, trustworthy quality, and endless scale but marketers will demand actionable performance measurement in return for this increased spend.”

Scott Guthrie, independent influencer marketing consultant

“The conversation around data will become more sophisticated. We will ask not just for data but ask where that data is from – the data’s provenance; its accuracy. We will be powered by data but guided by insights, intellect, and human instincts. We’ll look for storytellers who share our brand’s world-view, our tone-of-voice, our values, and beliefs. And, increasingly creators will perform the same checks on our brands too. They will only look to work with brands who share the same outlook as their community.”

Alexander Frolov, CEO of HypeAuditor


“In 2020 social network services will have more power than mass media to influence the customer decision. Competition for consumers’ attention will rise. Brands that will be running campaigns based on data and with the help of artificial intelligence will benefit from influencer marketing, and others will lose their money. In 2019 we have seen that Instagram started to fight their problems of fakes and shady growth methods, and I think that in 2020, they will double their efforts.”

Dafydd Woodward, global lead at INCA

“Going into 2020, we will see a more structured and measurement-oriented way of working with influencers. Brands will want assurances that budgets are being directed towards authentic engagements in high-quality media environments. In practice, this will mean working backward from the outcomes that brands are trying to achieve. The objective could be increased brand awareness or recall, or a highly-specific result such as increased footfall in a flagship store. Once this is established, brands and agencies can decide on the right platform and the best influencer or influencers to achieve that objective, as well as the most suitable KPIs to accurately measure the effectiveness of a campaign. Ultimately, partnerships with influencers will become more geared towards achieving business outcomes.”

Mackenzie Newcomb, influencer marketing manager at Traackr

“The importance of influencer evaluation is going to become even more strategic as new social networks gain popularity (aka TikTok) and existing ones introduce new engagement methods (aka Instagram testing hiding likes). Such constantly changing dynamics increase the need for systemic vetting, fraud detection, and performance measurement. On a very positive note, I expect we’re about to see an influx of creativity coming from influencers. Without the stress of an engagement rate, Instagram users may go back to using the app as it was initially intended – to share imagery they love without feeling like they’re participating in a popularity contest.”

Let us know your top 2020 prediction by Tweeting us @talkinfluence.

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