At the start of 2019, we released some key stats and predictions about Influencer Marketing in the year that would be... and feel proud we were on the money.
Let’s look back on what happened and why we’re more excited than ever to be in this space!
Instagram started hiding the likes
Not too long ago, Instagram made the world collectively gasp in horror by removing likes from posts! 😱
More accurately – it removed the public visibility of post likes. Users can still click to see how many people have liked their own posts.
Trials started in Canada in April 2019, then rolled out to six more countries including Australia and New Zealand in July. And just in November, Instagram rolled this out in the U.S.
Initial results have shown that post likes are likely to drop. But this isn’t as terrifying as it may sound. Without likes to look to, brands and Creators are being forced to look to metrics that matter such as sentiment, story engagement, saves, click throughs and swipe-ups.
Paid Partnerships became more of a thing
At last!
Through 2019, we’ve really seen this functionality start to be rolled out across the Influencer community.
Paid Partnerhship tags are the best thing since sliced bread for a few reasons:
• You can access Creators' performance data directly
• You can turn your best performing Creator Posts into Branded Content ads
• It makes working with Influencers a more seamless experience, with sponsored posts easily identifiable.
Instagram raised the eCommerce stakes with Checkout
In May 2019, Instagram dropped its new Checkout feature for select, high-profile celebrities. It’s now trickling out to all Creators, which is EPIC for brands because you’ll have more ways to drive sales and determine the ROI on your Influencer Marketing investment.
This marks a significant shift towards Instagram as an eCommerce platform, which we’ve seen coming for a while…
We got alllll the deets on Fyre Festival
Both Netflix and Hulu released documentaries (conveniently at the same time) in January 2019, outlining the details of this Influencer Marketing #fail back in 2017.
But rather than highlighting flaws with the concept of working with Influencers, Fyre Festival has opened brands’ eyes to the risks of engaging with big name celebrities.
One good thing to come out of the event is the tightening of disclosure guidelines for Creators. In the U.K, for example, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) used Fyre Festival as a key trigger to update Influencer Marketing Guidelines around disclosure.
TRIBE upped the Influencer Marketing game
A lot’s happened this year in TRIBE HQ. And not to toot our own horn too much (okay, maybe a little…) but these major platform updates are definitely shaping the nature of Influencer Marketing!
• We made the TRIBE platform faster, smarter, and safer – for better campaign outcomes
• We launched in the U.S. mid-year, and have partnered with big brands like Procter & Gamble, Adobe and Unilever. Not to mention, Keith Weed (only the most influential CMO on the planet) put his money where his mouth is and invested in TRIBE!
• We made it easier for brands and Creators to collaborate on Stories and Carousels
• We were invited to become a Facebook Marketing Partner – allowing marketing teams to take a faster, more agile approach to content production and generate mobile-first creative that drives business results
• We released Content Library – enabling brands to create a curated and on-demand branded image library.
All in all, 2019 was a big year for Influencer Marketing.
We can’t wait to see what the next decade brings!
