The Metaverse will evolve from distraction to (virtual) reality for brands
While many believe Facebook’s rebrand as Meta and focus on the metaverse is a strategic distraction from bad press fueled by the Facebook Papers, we believe at Anvil that its horsepower, deep investment in the metaverse, along with additional investment by other major players like Microsoft, will inspire many brands to dabble in the virtual world in 2022. While consumers maybe a few years from caring about the metaverse, early adopters will embrace the novelty and utility. We’re hoping that the 2022 iteration of the metaverse is more than just a glorified Second Life.

Web 3.0 will become ubiquitous
Consumers’ concern over data security and creating a safer online environment to share personal data will be driving forces that fuel the growth of Web 3.0 technology in 2022. The evolution of blockchain technology in particular will provide a safer user experience (UX) for consumers, where they will feel safe sharing first-party data and know exactly how third-party platforms are using personal data. Combined with improved AI functionality, semantic metadata and 3D graphics – Web 3.0 will deliver an improved and better UX for all users. As full data transparency is on the horizon, this will accelerate the transition and put control of data back to where it belongs – the user.

Video marketing will become a vital part of any online marketing strategy
Consumers rely increasingly on the video to make decisions about the products they are buying. Video platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok feature live streams, unboxing, and testimonial product videos, which are going to gain popularity in 2022. As a result, video optimization and advertising on TikTok and YouTube will be increasingly necessary. Google has also rolled out structured markup features like clip markup which help users find important individual parts of videos, increasing the need and value of optimization for commerce. Using new and emerging markups on a brand’s most popular videos will help to improve user experience and Google’s ability to digest and index the video content.

MUM will strengthen Google’s ability to understand more complex searches
Google is always working to get users quicker, more seamless access to information. MUM, or Multitask Unified Model, uses AI to formulate an understanding of the context behind searches and will have a greater influence on search results in 2022 and beyond. Google recently demonstrated how MUM works, showing that search results would attempt to fully answer a search query with text, imagery, maps, and more. With MUM, content strategies will need to provide unprecedented depth, in order to provide searchers with all the information in a single result. The days of providing only topical information on a given webs page in order to gain organic visibility in target searches are numbered.

OTT will gain traction as ad targeting options decrease
Security and privacy demands are creating problematic limitations with third-party cookies and data tracking. Facebook, Apple, and Google Chrome are limiting data collection capabilities. Social media and search engine platforms will become much more generalized, with decreased targeting capabilities. Ad platforms will eliminate audience targeting, limiting advertisers to first-party data collection. These changes will encourage more brands to explore connected TV, podcasts, and platforms like Spotify that have their own internal marketing platform where the user controls what content they want to see. Products like Google’s smart TV and the new Roku TV are allowing viewers to stream content and enjoy gaming, utilizing click-to-buy on-screen ad placements. Smart TVs will be getting smarter with shopping from your own home with enhanced OTT streaming advertising options.

More businesses will move to DTC eCommerce
Due to the pandemic, businesses ranging from psychiatrists to car dealerships have begun marketing and selling products and services direct-to-consumers (DTC) on their websites. Companies are tired of losing profit by selling wholesale to distributors and evolving technologies have made eCommerce approachable to even the smallest business. Even larger retail chains are starting to focus more on DTC eCommerce, limiting physical store locations, retail footprints, and headcount. Brands like Nike are limiting distribution of its footwear and apparel so they can sell more direct and other brands will follow suit in 2022. The additional margins gained by DTC eCommerce sales can be reinvested in digital marketing to further increase profitable revenue. We predict brands will sell on select marketplaces (like Amazon, Walmart.com, and Target.com) to augment reach and revenues, but will still rely primarily on DTC.

More companies will offer retail media networks leveraging first-party data
With the impending loss of third-party tracking cookies in 2023, companies and marketers alike will be exploring new opportunities to reach prospective customers. Companies such as Target, Walmart. Recently, Lowe’s launched its own media network, allowing advertisers to utilize its company’s first-party data and reach customers as they shop online. As the pandemic accelerated the adoption of online shopping, we expect retailers will offer additional advertising opportunities on digital storefronts in the coming year.

Third-party cookie data will begin to sunset itself
With the anticipation of platforms eliminating third-party cookie data, marketers are forced to produce workarounds. Even though Google has pushed out its third-party data sunset date to the end of 2023, users and businesses have been preparing for the loss of critical targeting data with various workarounds, including the increasing use of first-party data. With Google failing to find a viable solution that meets everyone’s needs thus far, we predict there will be some sort of industry compromise by mid-2022, resulting in third-party data naturally sunsetting by year’s end on most popular platforms.

Influencer marketing will fuel sCommerce
Influencer marketing has gained notoriety within the digital marketing ecosystem as an essential strategy in the past few years. At Anvil, we believe the next evolution for influencers is to become the foundation for successful social media eCommerce (aka sCommerce) in 2022. In addition to important metrics such as engagement rates, influencers will be commonly compensated based on a commission structure related to conversion rates (leads or sales). With a greater focus on performance metrics, influencers will achieve a higher level of credibility with brands. Micro-influencers will rise significantly in popularity due to their accessibility to small businesses and the appeal of being able to target nuanced audiences. Retail eCommerce brands invest in direct shopping formats on popular social platforms, including TikTok.

Multicultural representation in marketing will continue to increase in importance
The digital age, accelerated by COVID-19, has created a world that is more interconnected than ever before. The term “global village” carries increased weight as even extremely remote areas see mobile device use continuing to reach saturation point. The success of international content breaking into the US mainstream has also led to an acceleration in engagement and demand for global representation. South Korea’s Squid Game on Netflix is the latest example, following the Spanish global hit Casa de Papel (Money Heist). With content publishers leading the way, brand advertisers will follow suit, developing new strategies to maximize the relevance of multicultural inclusion within marketing messaging, including messaging from the US’s own backyard.

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Getting Creative: 2020 Highlights
2020 was such a rough year, I felt obligated to dedicate the masthead image to the “Moldy Whopper” which aptly represents 2020. Burger King launched the Moldy Whopper ad campaign in early 2020 to highlight the lack of preservatives in their burgers, in order to draw a truly unique comparison to their rivals. While the campaign included broadcast and broad media exposure, the ad went viral digitally. It may not have increased Whopper sales, but it did capture tons of free media exposure. In other news, the Superbowl happened as it does every year, involving breaks in between commercials for some football. Check out some of the best ad creative via The Drum’s Superbowl highlights. Shout out to The Drum for being a critical resource for this article. I’m a long-time reader and fan, and they’ve done an exceptional job curating content, including Creative Works: the 10 most viewed ads of 2020. One brand that generated a great deal of buzz from its Superbowl ad was Planters and the killing off of its 104-year-old mascot as outlined in this article: The Mr. Peanut Death Super Bowl Commercial Refuses to Die.

Making Lemonade During The Pandemic
While Asia was rocked by COVID-19 in the Fall of 2019, the US didn’t feel it until March of 2020. Face masks, handwashing, thermometers, quarantine, remote work and Zoom meetings became a part of our daily lives. Marketers had to adjust to the resulting layoffs, hospitalizations, deaths, restrictions and changing behaviors. Smart brands adapted quickly, tweaking logos, messaging, creative and channel strategies to reach those stuck at home. One notable COVID-19 messaging adjustment came from a global fast-food chain: Why KFC isn’t stickin’ with its famous finger lickin’ slogan… for now. For the remaining brands, I outlined a few notable coronavirus communications strategies in the article Ten Marketing Communications Strategies to Navigate the COVID-19 Crisis. I also shared insights into the impact of coronavirus on the mom-and-pop storefronts: How to engage customers and market your retail business during a pandemic. One of the positives to come from pandemic is a renewed focus on authenticity in marketing: Coronavirus is prompting brands and tech players to show the real power of purpose. Regardless of the degree of your marketing or business pivot during 2020, humans have changed for good. I address the impact of the pandemic in the article COVID-19 changed consumer behavior and marketing strategy. In case you were looking for a silver lining in all of this, Facebook (aka Mark Zuckerberg’s) earnings were impacted, earning $3 billion less than pre-pandemic estimates.

Making Social Change
On May 25th, George Floyd was slowly suffocated by police, on a now infamous 8:46 video. While excessive force and deaths are common among minorities in the US, this particularly graphic video became a rally cry to eradicate racial injustice. Protests started Minneapolis and spread quickly across the US and around the globe. Some brands reacted quickly and powerfully, like Ben & Jerry’s, and others followed suit, as covered by The Drum: Brands show solidarity with George Floyd protests, but can they contribute to real change? The ripple effect extended to Facebook and Twitter in the form of advertising boycotts. Despite media attention, this summer’s Facebook ad boycott did not affect the social network’s ad revenues. Many brands elected to reallocate ad budgets back to Facebook moving into 2021, but time will tell whether any meaningful change resulted from the boycott. One lasting impact that snowballed quickly after George Floyd protests was a new cultural awareness filter regarding product names, mascots and packaging that could deemed insensitive. Names changed across the board, ranging from professional sports teams (The Redskins) to household products, as outlined in this article: Eskimo Pie Becomes Edy’s Pie: Here Are All The Brands That Are Changing Racist Names And Packaging. If you’re still unsure what your brand can or should do to honor (or simply minimize blowback) from the racial equality movement, I’ve outlined a few key stopes in this article: How You and Your Brand can make Positive Change in honor of George Floyd.

Maximizing Brand Strategy & Engagement
For the past few years, influencer marketing has been a big buzzword and a growing marketplace. The pandemic further fueled growth, as consumers were relegated to shopping online for most of the year and looked to influencers for ideas. I’ve outlined my perspective in this article: Influencer Marketing Strategy Best Practices, Tips and Trends. The coronavirus ripple effect forced marketers to evaluate new ways to engage consumers and influencers. The best example of opportunistic influencer marketing engagement is outlined in this article: Ocean Spray finally reacts to viral skateboarding TikTok. I’m a big fan of authenticity in influencer marketing, so I felt the Ocean Spray example was a gold standard for what will be a more intentional brand strategy moving into 2021. Another trend I couldn’t help but notice, was a rash of brand collaborations and product licensing deals between CPGs, QSRs (and other brands that lack cool abbreviations). The Drum provided an excellent summary in this article: From Dunkin’ PJs to Doritos’ sweaters: why brands are leaning on licensed products. Last but not least, I have to give a shout out to my idol, both personally and professionally: Yes, Ryan Reynolds Really Writes His Own Stuff, and He’s Got 7 Marketing Lessons for You. Beyond his acting and comedic chops, Reynolds brilliant marketer and a very astute businessman, from whom we can all learn.

Evolving Channels & Platforms
While I kicked off my digital marketing career in the mid 90’s as a search engine marketer, I’ve always preached the virtues of a multi-channel approach. In this article, Omnichannel marketing in the new digital age, I outlined the importance of integrated messaging and tracking across media. The pandemic forced many lagging businesses and marketers to make a digital transformation to deliver products and services online. One of the channels that benefitted from quarantine, was podcasting. While I first co-hosted a podcast over a decade ago, podcasts were relegated to a nerdy subset of the consumer spectrum. Not anymore, as Forbes outlined in its article, Podcasting Is Going Mainstream. I provided an outline for brands looking to join the fray in this Business Journal article: Podcasting strategies for quarantine life and beyond. Finally, virtual meetings and events became the new standard form of communication, as well as marketing. In a two-part series, the Anvil team outlined a game plan for slow adopters looking to ramp up event marketing in 2021: The Power of Virtual Events, Part 1.

For many, 2020 was a year to try to forget. For smart marketers, however, it will be a year to remember. Brands and marketers demonstrated an ability to pivot, be more authentic and create content with a greater sense of purpose. Look for that trend to continue. When it comes to digital marketing strategies and trends in 2021, we have you covered as well. For more insights into the year ahead, check out Anvil’s 2021 Digital Marketing Predictions.

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Advertising: Amazon Will Eat Google and Facebook’s Lunch
You may be aware that many product searches start on Amazon. Amazon, smart agencies and brands are already well-aware (that includes Anvil of course). What we see changing most in 2020 is Amazon’s ability to improve its advertising options for brands and sellers alike, especially in the voice search realm (we’ve been wrong about this in the past, but we really feel it this year!). Amazon Advertising is one of the few high growth areas of its business lines and will make greater strides in 2020, taking more market share from Google and even Facebook. Make sure you have an Amazon marketing strategy for your product business in 2020 or get left in the dust.

Display Ads: Animated GIFs, Video and Interactivity will Replace Image Ads
Static image ads on social platforms will start to fall away and videos, animated GIFs and interactive ads will supplant the 25-year-old ad format on popular platforms like Google and Facebook. This trend is already starting to occur, with video becoming increasingly prevalent. The reason is obvious: interactive and motion-oriented ad formats are more engaging, memorable and tend to convert better. While static imagery is still a majority of ad format inventory, that will change by the end of 2020. Brands and agencies designing ads in animated, interactive and video formats will take a leadership role and stand out in a crowded marketplace.

SEO: Structured Data Strategy will be More Important than Ever Before
In 2019, “0” or ‘no-click’ searches surpassed regular clicks on organic and paid links in search results. As a result, brands will need to become intimate with structured data, most commonly powered by schema markup. As more searches move to mobile devices, users are not scrolling down the page, as they expect the first result they see to answer their query. Similarly, with voice search, users expect the first search result to be the best answer to their query. Marking up content with multiple types of structured data to secure the featured snippet real estate will be more important than ever. Sites who do not take advantage of structured data will see their site slip down the results page and will ultimately lose traffic to competitors with strong structured markup strategies. Google wants to be able to provide an answer to a user query as fast as possible, and with structured data on a page Google can more easily understand and compartmentalize the information on you site. With that better understanding, Google will be able and more likely to serve your content as a result when it is applicable to a query. Routinely making sure the structured data implemented on your site is error-free and up-to-date should be a required part of every ongoing SEO strategy.

SEO: Google Will Mandate That All Websites Be Voice Search Compliant
Anticipating the continued proliferation of smart speakers and digital voice assistants through 2020, Google will proactively mandate that all websites be voice search compliant by the end of 2020. Currently, over 40 percent of searches are voice-activated and that will continue to increase, likely becoming most searches by 2021. Website copy and content will have to be voice search friendly to rank well in Google searches. Brands will need to utilize structured data (aka schema markup or rich snippets) to power the ‘best answer’ on smart speakers or position 0 on screens. Site structure and content will also need to be altered to better answer questions commonly asked via voice assistants and smart speakers. Websites that lack structured data will be penalized by Google. This prediction expands on the previous structured data trend.

SEO: Augmented Reality Will Play a Bigger Role
Imagine virtually trying out clothes from your favorite brands without leaving your home. Augmented Reality (AR) can make this a reality. AR provides brands an opportunity to overlay information in video, text, or image format onto everyday surroundings, objects and real-world locations. Nearly 80 percent of the information the brain takes in is visual. By providing information in a visual medium, that also has the spatial nature of augmented reality, brands are giving the brain a very intuitive way of accessing and understanding information. ECommerce will benefit the most from AR implementation, as will destinations, automotive and other complex sales. Brands like adidas and Converse have already implemented AR, earning higher conversion rates with fewer product returns.

Email Marketing: The Flywheel Will Displace the Traditional Sales Funnel
More companies will be moving away from the traditional sales/marketing ‘funnel’ to the Flywheel model in 2020 in order to focus on creating experiences that engage and empower customers. Originally created in 1898, the AIDA (Awareness/Interest/Desire/Action) funnel model is a linear approach that focuses on attracting new customers and engaging them in a business or service to turn them into a quantifiable lead. The flywheel approach takes an innovative view of the buyer journey and uses all client-facing roles such as customer service, marketing, and sales to interact with customers at every stage. Attracting, engaging, and delighting customers even past the point of purchase – so companies continue to interact with customers instead of treating them as one-time-only prospects. The customer is the lynchpin, with the flywheel itself divided into three equal segments, each representing stages along the customer journey: attract, engage, and delight. Each area creates energy and passes it along to the next, with the delight phase feeding back into attract. Note: Anvil was not paid by HubSpot to endorse its model, we just agree with the methodology and hope for greater awareness and adoption.

Email Marketing: Push Notifications Will Replace Email
Email is going the way of the dinosaur, maybe not next year, but in the coming years. Starting in 2020, however, there will be a notable shift to push notifications and chatbots as viable replacements, especially for brands targeting Gen Y/Z, consumers and retail environments. Push notifications are alert style messages that can be sent to a user via desktop or mobile web, depending on context. At least twice as many people today sign up for web push notifications, compared to newsletter registrations. Only the top 10 percent of the email marketers can achieve a newsletter sign-up rate that matches the performance of push notifications. The average time that passes before the recipient opens a newsletter is 6.4 hours. With push notifications, the recipient will see the message immediately. The updates to the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) and stricter filters have dented the potency of email marketing, which will be further compromised by the CCPA legislation. As alluded to earlier, younger, digital-native audiences favor fewer touchpoints and other methods of communication than email, when engaging brands.

Social Media: Performance Metrics Will Replace ‘Likes’
Those following social media closely are likely familiar with Instagram’s recent decision to hide “Likes” from followers. With the proposed change, only account owners and select third-party platforms will have access to that data. While influencers and marketers alike have voiced concerns about the change, it does provide an opportunity for everyone to be smarter about social media strategies, especially evaluating influencer marketing programs. For example, influencers will need to up their game to become more professional about how they represent their potential impact, focusing on reach and engagement rates over Likes. This trend will also push brands to adopt performance models based on transactional goals. The social platforms, especially Instagram and Pinterest, are making buying product easier than ever, so the timing is ripe for change.

Social Media: Consumers will Drive Alignment and Transparency in Influencer Marketing
Moving forward, look for brands and influencers to create better alignment and transparency. According to research, 84 percent of consumers believe authenticity is important when choosing influencers to follow. More compelling: only 11 percent of influencers are CMA and FTC-compliant when disclosing relationships with sponsoring brands. Millennials are increasingly skeptical of businesses’ motives and impact on society, according to Deloitte. As a result, brands looking to target Gens X, Y and Z will need to be more intentional about how they select and engage influencers based on core values and fit vs reach. Another trend that will go together with transparency and alignment is a shift to “always-on” instead of project-based influencer campaigns. The writing is on the wall for brands and agencies, especially for brands targeting younger consumers, to plan accordingly.

Social Media: TikTok Will Lose Momentum – Relegating It to a Snapchat Knockoff
While we’ve seen a good deal of hype and momentum built around TikTok this year, marketers are still trying to figure out how they can use it to their advantage. It is true that TikTok saw incredible growth this year (over 500 million active users in Fall 2019), which earned it the title “social platform of 2019.” But’s also true that signups are coming to a near grinding halt. As a result, parallels can be made with Snapchat’s adoption history – incredible growth, everyone joins, signups slow, users leave/become less engaged. We believe TikTok will figure out how to utilize ads more effectively in 2020, but we don’t think user engagement will sustain and the platform will end up in the same purgatory as Snapchat. It will become an afterthought as brands evaluate platforms on which to target and invest. The one exception to this prediction, is if you’re looking to reach a very, very broad audience within a certain *cough* young demographic (and China as a growth marketplace).

We hope to get good grades when we review our 2020 digital marketing predictions at the end of the year. Let us know what you think of our 2020 digital marketing trends in the comments section or add your own predictions. May your 2020 be full of fulfilled predictions!

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Influencer Marketing Background
Influencer Marketing involves brands focused on engaging key industry leaders to drive brand message and awareness with specific target audiences. While the concept of influencer marketing is not new, the explosive growth of social media has led to a renaissance. Over the past 3 years, searches for “influencer marketing” on Google have increased 1,500 percent. The influencer marketing industry is now estimated to be between $6.5 and $10 billion, with plenty of room for growth.

There are a variety of reasons consumers follow and engage with influencers. First and foremost, consumers like to learn new things in general, but also like to learn more about the influencers themselves. Many consumers like to get inspiration for their own lives and want to stay updated on pop culture as well. From a brand perspective, a major growth driver for influencer marketing is the return-on-investment (ROI) companies are experiencing. According to NeoReach, the average earned media value (AEMV) per $1 spent on influencer marketing in 2018 was $5.20, while branding-focused influencer campaigns averaged an 8x ROI. I’ve seen studies with ROI as high as 10x as well.

Here are a few more compelling statistics for skeptics:
• 87 percent of shoppers are inspired by an influencer to make a purchase
• 80 percent of Instagram users follow a business
• 70 percent of consumers say they trust the opinions of influencers as much or more than their real-world friends, while 78 percent said they trust influencer opinions more than traditional ads, and more than half said they consider the influencers they follow to be an extension of their circle of friends (Sideqik)
• 61 percent of people interact with an influencer daily
• According to Digital Marketing Institute, teenagers trust influencers more than traditional celebrities
• Whalar recently found influencer ads to be 277 percent more “emotionally intense” than TV ads

As a result, brands are responding by making bigger investments in influencer marketing. According to Influencer Marketing Hub, Instascreener and Vamp Brands, 86 percent of marketers plan to invest in influencer marketing in 2019. Thirty nine percent of marketers increased influencer marketing budgets this year, with an average 83 percent year-over-year increase.

Influencer Marketing Challenges
Despite the rapid growth and adoption of influencer marketing by brands big and small, the relatively new channel has no shortage of shortcomings and controversy, ranging from transparency and fraud to declining engagement and measurement challenges. According to a research report by NeoReach, ViralNation and Influencer Marketing Hub, 64 percent of marketers deem influencer fraud as a big concern and only 11 percent of influencers were compliant with CMA and FTC regulatory guidelines.

One of the greatest challenges facing brands investing in influencer marketing is fraud. According to Arkose Labs, 53 percent of social media account logins are fraudulent. In Q23 of 2019, nearly 19 percent of a $314 million Instagram influencer marketing spend reached fake followers. Other common challenges include finding relevant and qualified influencers, managing contracts or campaign deadlines, bandwidth or time restraints and payments. The good news is that tools and platforms are improving rapidly, allowing brands to more easily identify, connect with and manage influencers. The chart from eMarketer below outlines additional challenges associated with fraud, measurement and rising costs.

While the industry (influencers, platforms, brands and regulators) evaluate solutions to these challenges, there is one near-term alternative to paying third party experts to endorse your brand: become an influencer yourself. In my article (How to Become an Industry Influencer) and related interview (5 Things You Should Do To Become a Thought Leader In Your Industry), I outline how you can do just that. In brief, start by educating yourself and others, then build a network and give back to your industry and local community.

Since many brands do not have the interest or ability to create influencers from within, they must look outside their walls. This means marketers must be aware of the challenges facing influencer marketing and address them head-on as they build or refine programs. Brands must ensure they select influencers that align with company values, are transparent with sponsored content, have legitimate (non-bot) followers and are able to set up and track key performance indicators (KPIs) that accurately value the impact of the investment in influencer programs.

KPIs are under scrutiny and Instagram is responding by threatening to remove the number of likes on posts. While many influencers are up-in-arms about the suggested change, sophisticated marketers appreciate the need to evolve to more meaningful metrics. ‘Likes’ are arbitrary and can be easily gamed by influencers. More powerful metrics, some of which can be expensive to measure, include: purchase intent, brand affinity or sentiment. Easier metrics to track include reach (brand awareness) and conversions (to lead or sale), but brands and influencers must agree on how to best track success. For example, a recent study by InfluencerDB indicated the average engagement rate for sponsored influencer posts in Q1 of 2019 fell to 2.4 percent from 4 percent in just three years. With declining engagement on Instagram, the platform, influencers and brands need to get creative with content and measurement.

Influencer Marketing Program Fundamentals
Not everyone can afford to utilize outside help from firms like Anvil to build out and/or manage an influencer marketing program. This article, in conjunction with our extensive insights section is designed for you. Regardless of your budgets or resources, consider the following framework when developing (or approving) an influencer marketing plan.

The first step in creating a successful influencer marketing program is to outline your overall objectives, whether they be brand awareness, brand perception, engagement or conversions. The second step is to map your core audiences against popular social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and LinkedIn). Keep in mind platforms perform differently by gender. Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest are more likely to influence females’ buying decisions, whereas YouTube and Twitter are more likely to influence males’ decisions to make a purchase (The Manifest). Note in the chart below that Instagram is the 800-pound gorilla of the influencer marketing ecosystem.

With objectives, audiences and key platforms identified, you can utilize a host of free and paid tools to evaluate specific influencers on each platform. Beyond conducting topical searches on Google and related hashtag searches on social platforms, consider utilizing these free and low-cost social media and influencer marketing platforms for your research: BuzzStream, BuzzSumo, Discover.ly, FameBit, FollowerWonk, GroupHigh, HypeAuditor, NinjaOutreach, PeopleMap, Pitchbox, Social Crawlytics, Tell and Upfluence.

When evaluating possible influencers, it is important to understand current engagement rates by size and platform, as they do vary. Influencer follower size matters as well. Micro-influencers achieve an average of 7x more engagement than influencers with larger followings (celebrities and macro-influencers). The smaller the following, the more an influencer’s location may come into play. The chart below shows engagement rates by platform and influencer reach:

Interestingly, engagement rates vary by media type, not just platform. For example, Instagram engagement rates are significantly lower for video posts than images, and those rates are a fraction of the video engagement rates on YouTube (the most engaging social media platform of all). On Facebook and Twitter, engagement rates are nearly identical for images and video, which are 2-3 times higher than text. See the chart below for specifics:

Now that you’re armed with engagement rates, you can create leverage with your negotiations, particularly in discussions with influencers who have lower-than-average engagement rates. Cost is also a factor, and it’s important to be informed about current rates for influencers. The chart below shows the average cost-per-post range from $100 to $4,000 depending on follower-count.

Developing an influencer marketing budget is important, and many brands are being more reactive that proactive when it comes to financial planning. I recommend starting small and increasing investment as influencers generate return. Refine your program before you make large investments. For reference, Fashion Nova was the top spender on Instagram in Q2 2019, investing $5.5 million into social media influencers. Ciroc earned second place with $3.4 million in spend followed by Flat Tummy Co with a $2.9 million investment (Instascreener).

Now that you’ve identified target influencers, the real work begins. Start your outreach with well-crafted communications that clearly outline your company values, goals and understanding of the fit between your brand and the influencer. Demonstrate you understand who they are, how you are aligned and the additional value you can provide, in order to maximize leverage when negotiating costs. For example, many influencers appreciate creative freedom and flexibility, while others may appreciate swag or additional exposure and credibility they can gain through your network.

Once you’ve secured your first round of influencers, the next step is providing raw materials (product, images, logistical support or other assets) as well as guidance or training on the products or services they are being asked to promote. It is important to ensure you’ve clearly delineated who creates content and where it gets syndicated. Some brands recruit influencers to create content for their own brand feeds (UGC), while others only want to be featured or mentioned in influencer feeds. If you intend to leverage influencer content in your brand feed, ensure it is properly optimized, sourced and syndicated for maximum reach and engagement.

The last two, but most impactful elements of your influencer marketing program are management and measurement. As outlined earlier, managing influencer assets and relationships can be a challenge for marketers. While platforms continue to improve, building process and maintaining regular contact is essential. We suggest weekly check-in calls and monthly reports as a minimum threshold. To maximize the value and impact of your influencer relationships, remember to create supporting blog posts, share influencer posts with your network (adding comments for context, brand messaging and optimization) and syndicate across your social platforms.

In terms of metrics, the most common influencer marketing analytics include: engagement or clicks (according to 43 percent of marketers), views, reach or impressions (33 percent) and content type or category (24 percent). Additional metrics to consider when evaluating your programs include website traffic, and share-of-voice. At Anvil, we value reach, engagement and conversions most, depending on the client, objective and platform.

B2B Influencer Marketing
Most of the available research and press coverage on the topic of influencer marketing is focused on business-to-consumer brands. Here are a few best practices for business-to-business (B2B) brands looking to leverage influencer marketer to build brand awareness. Around 30 percent of influencer marketing campaigns currently originate from the B2B sector and nearly 65 percent of those programs are campaign-based (vs. ongoing). Look for both numbers to change moving forward, as I’ll touch on shortly.

Unlike consumer influencers, B2B influencers are typically professionals within your industry. That means they may work for a competitor or have other employment restrictions, making a partnership more challenging. There is hope, as the B2B marketplace is diverse and fragmented. To reach your target audience, consider looking outside popular industry thought leaders to niche experts. Also evaluate internal resources including seasoned employees, engaged customers and vendors or strategic partners.

Most B2B brands are looking to grow or maintain thought leadership and leverage expert content and networks. Consider leveraging your own company’s assets when structuring an influencer partnership, including access to data, tools or even other experts in your network your influencers can tap for content. It is also essential to provide your influencers access to shareable content like research reports, eBooks, webinars, white papers and infographics.

Unlike most B2C influencer engagements, B2B influencer marketing programs tend to be longer-term by necessity, due to longer sales cycles. This creates a longer runway and greater potential for return. Speaking of return, common KPIs for B2B influencer programs include growth in subscribers, downloads or demo requests. The key to success with any influencer marketing program, B2B or otherwise, is mapping metrics to your overall objectives and target audience.

Influencer Marketing Trends
When conducting research for this article, I identified a few trends worth sharing as you refine your influencer marketing program. Below are six influencer marketing trends worth considering as you start your planning for 2020:

Alignment and Transparency: Moving forward, look for brands and influencers to create better alignment and transparency. According to research, 84 percent of consumers believe authenticity is important when choosing influencers to follow. Millennials are increasingly skeptical of businesses’ motives and impact on society, according to Deloitte. The writing is on the wall, especially for brands targeting younger consumers. For more insights, check out this article: 3 Trends Driving Gen Z Brand Preference and Purchase Decisions.

Always-on Campaigns: Moving forward, B2B and B2C brands will become more strategic in how they approach relationships with influencers. Long-term thinking will benefit all parties involved, including consumers. With longer-term thinking, look for both more realistic goals and meaningful objectives from brands and greater alignment with influencers.

Getting Small: The latest trend for larger brands is moving from macro to micro-influencers. The next logical evolution for brands, due in-part to rising costs and declining engagement rates of macro-influencers, is to go even smaller to nano and niche-influencers. Essentially, brands will develop a higher volume of relationships with influencers with 250-10,000 followers to maximize engagement and authenticity. The chart below illustrates marketers’ perceived value of nano and niche-influencers.

Raw Realism: One of the most interesting trends I’ve seen recently is the movement by influencers to share more authentic images and videos that are less aspirational and more empathetic to followers. Brands that understand and leverage this trend may see remarkable results, but it will require trust and flexibility between parties.

B2B Growth: Perhaps the least sexy but profoundly important trend is significant growth of influencer marketing programs among B2B brands. Nearly 15 years ago, we helped build and market a blog for a B2B client that was written by an industry thought leader. It was well ahead of its time but demonstrated the power of a transparent partnership that provided real value for all parties involved. Look for more of these strategic partnerships moving forward.

Improved Integration: Since I come from the world of search engine marketing, I would be remiss if I didn’t include what I feel is an important trend for our industry. Influencers by default have high credibility with Google, especially if they maintain a blog or website. Brand mentions with links back to a brand website from an influencer blog post or article can have tremendous search engine optimization (SEO) value. Similarly, social posts with influencer-powered content can generate exponential reach and engagement when boosted in brand social feeds and can even be supported by display ads across the Google network. Improved integration among influencer and search marketing teams is a logical next step and we’ve seen success with Anvil clients on this front recently.

Conclusion
You don’t have to be a fashion brand like Revolve or Dior to see massive returns on your investment in influencer marketing, but you do need to be aware of challenges, build a solid plan and manage your influencers proactively. Above all else, a successful influencer marketing program of the future will be based on transparency and authenticity.

Resources
5 Key Components of a Successful Influencer Marketing Strategy
5 Things You Should Do To Become a Thought Leader In Your Industry
7 Influencer Marketing Tools to Boost Your Campaign
How to Build a B2B Influencer Marketing Strategy for 2020
Influencer Marketing 101
Where Influencer Marketing Goes Wrong (and How to Fix It)

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From Brand Ambassadors to Content Creators: Using Micro-Influencers to Create Engaging, On-Brand Content, Beth Teague, HotelTonight
This session covered the evolving challenge of engaging influencers to create content that is on-brand. According to Beth’s definition, micro-influencers:
• Have 50K or fewer followers
• Have higher-than-average engagement rates (5%+)
• May be part of a niche or focused topic
• Still considered a trusted peer vs. celebrity
The reason micro-influencers matter is due to their high-level of authenticity and personal if not intimate connections with followers. Micro-influencers drive 60 percent more engagement than campaigns compared to mainstream influencers.

The Up & Comers (micro-influencers) are ideal for creating content vs. amplifying, which Celebs do best. HotelTonight has invested in photography and video from micro-influencers to differentiate from competitors and decrease dependency on stock imagery. Micro-influencers can also be affordable sources for original assets in real-time, as compared to employees and professional photographers and videographers.

HotelTonight suggested the following tips to get more value from micro-influencers:
• Expand your definition of a micro-influencer
• Identify your biggest needs and content gaps
• Do your diligence regarding creative (style guide) and legal departments (ownership and liability)
• Take a multi-channel approach to maximize assets and budget
• Trade one-offs for long-term relationships
• Find your niche – don’t try to boil the ocean
• Make sure you have a solid contract in place

In terms of identifying micro-influencers, there are a host of free and low-cost tools available, although Beth likes Mavrck. Her advice to micro-influencers interested in standing out: create a thoughtful and strategic pitch that illustrates clear value. If you’re looking to leverage the authenticity and flexibility of micro-influencers, this session provided an excellent summary of benefits, strategies and tactics.

Five Reports Every Marketer Needs to Master in Google Analytics, Colleen Harris, CDK Global
Colleen manages analytics across 7,000 client websites and has a good deal of experience leveraging Google Analytics (GA) to measure website efficacy and ROI. Currently 30-50 million websites us GA. Currently, 50-90 percent of GA accounts are not passing data properly, so the opportunities (and challenges) are tremendous. More than 66 percent of ecommerce website traffic comes from Google, with 43 percent coming from Google Organic and 26 percent coming from Google PPC, so GA is an ideal solution.

The secret sauce, according to Collen, is leveraging dimensions (description, characteristic, feature or aspect of your data. The five most valuable GA reports and filters are outlined below:
1. City, States & Locations. Modifiers to apply: “service provider” and “source/medium” are important to understand. Example of the report value: looking at a dealership client US heatmap, it was apparent that Facebook ads were targeted nationwide, instead of geo-targeted at Florida.
2. Browsers. As page load times increase from 1 to 5 seconds, the probability of bounce increases 90 percent. Colleen suggests using WebPageTest.org to validate site speed.
3. Devices. This report tells you about the user experience, particularly focusing on mobile. Colleen recommends emulating mobile with Mobile Moxie. Unknown or unusual devices are likely bots.
4. All Channel Report. Bounce rates are important, and the range of 25-40% is actually a good target. Anything higher than 90 or lower than 10, means something is suspect and should be validated. Other Traffic is also a good place to find miscellaneous or erroneous tracking codes. A common issue with GTM tags is using capitalization, which is an issue, as well as spaces vs. underscores. Two UTM tools to know: Google Analytics URL Builder and UTM.io bulk URL builder. Also check out the funnel visualization to see where traffic is dropping off the website. Once you have goals set up on the website, you will be able to see which channels assisted conversions, including each key steps taken towards the conversion. If you look at a secondary dimension of landing page, you can see which pages are essential to conversion.
5. Google Analytics Dashboards can be easily edited and customized, but they are limited to 12 widgets and simple colors. Colleen likes DashboardJunkie and Google Analytics Solutions Gallery as resources. Of course Colleen likes Google Data Studio, as it pulls information from various sources and is free, although it naturally has drawbacks and limitations. Additional tools: Webris, 21 Templates and her custom Super Report.

Colleen brought her A-game by giving away a ton of free resources and tools in her session. Unfortunately, I was only able to attend a handful of sessions on day 1, but look for much more coverage for day 2 coming soon!

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