Influencer Marketing: Surviving or thriving during Covid 19

The influencer marketing industry is estimated to be worth $15 billion by 2022. This figure is no surprise with over 500,000 influencers (and counting) active on instagram alone.

However one may argue that anyone and everyone can be an influencer due to the fact that no specific criteria need to be met for someone to be classified as one. So here at Zen we’re wondering how influencer marketing is coping given the current times.

From reality tv stars, to footballers, to influencers who are purely known for their social media presence and have had the skills to turn it into a career, are all having work slow down like many others due to coronavirus however this is a job that can be done from home so what is work looking like now in the influencer marketing industry?

Examples of influencer marketing slowing down can be seen just by looking at many influencers profiles. One fashion influencer who has a large following on instagram has posted five ads in the past three weeks during lockdown, this is a significant drop compared to almost double in February over the same amount of time, not only was there more ads but more posts in general. This trend can be seen for many other influencers. For influencers who are solely known for being an influencer and their online presence it can be seen that their main focus is continuing to post content as they do not have another job unlike sports and tv personals, making it important for them to keep engagement up and content flowing. 

For influencer marketing that focuses on marketing a cause or a charity this has not slowed down, (if anything it’s been ramped up). This is not surprising as this kind of promotion usually doesn’t involve a physical product but rather an issue which still exists and is important despite COVID-19, unlike a new pair of shoes (that you sadly won’t be able to show off just yet). 

Companies may be cutting back on marketing in general due to many people having wages cut meaning less disposable income however on the flip side lots of money is being saved as we can no longer eat out and socialise (which adds up more than we like to think about). This creates an issue for companies deciding how to market products during COVID-19, which has inevitably had an impact on many influencers who rely on work from these brands.