Influencer marketing started to take the world by storm in the last decade, revolutionizing how brands interact with the markets. Initially, it was used to drive traffic and potential customers to platforms serving various interests, from content to products. Later, as social media platforms put their foot down to limit outgoing traffic, essentially to capitalize on advertising opportunities, a whole new trend was kicked off. Until this point, it was generally referred to as affiliate marketing. It still exists as such but in a more direct form.
Affiliate marketing laid the foundation for influencer marketing with a steadily increasing focus on individuals with high following and engagement. As the industry progressed, multiple channels saw tremendous growth in cross-platform content with high engagement, and Youtube was among the central channels. All this developed a keen interest in marketers and brands to source outreach for themselves with these popular channels. The introduction of better analytics enhanced the process.
Even the platforms hosting the influencers saw the potential and started providing better features to support these activities. And with time, we are in an era where influencer marketing is a whopping $14 Billion industry compared to the less than $2 Billion in 2016. Studies and surveys suggest that one in every five marketers intend to spend more than half of their marketing budget on influencer marketing.
One of the biggest adopters of influencer marketing is the crypto marketing industry and blockchain businesses. While Fashion and Apparels industry shares the biggest chunk in influencer marketing spend, blockchain businesses are steadily spending more and more on their end.
Since a few years in 2017, back when blockchain technology made the headlines, the market practically exploded. And the young industry took to influencer marketing as its go-to channel to grow. The primary reason was the explosive demand for information and content on the cryptocurrency market and earning opportunities. This also gave birth to a generation of influencers in parallel and so it began. And this is where it gets even more interesting!
The Evolution of Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing provided an opportunity to reach a very segregated audience with better targeting. The impact of influencers added trust and acceptance factors driving high engagement and returns. And for many, that was the limit to the outreach available with influencers for marketing. But the crypto marketing industry took it one step further with Telegram, Discord, and other such community-building tools.
It was a growing trend for many businesses to indulge with their communities as part of their marketing and the need was much more for blockchain businesses. Many influencers had their own communities as well, especially in the trading business for crypto and other markets. This was leveraged by crypto marketers to build and engage their own communities. However, even community building was limited to certain forms of businesses in the crypto space.
New-age blockchain businesses, especially NFTs and blockchain gaming took things one step further.
Dev Sharma of Blockwiz, a global crypto marketing agency told us, "We have seen influencers within the crypto space and from outside involved in cross-promoting NFT platforms by auctioning their works as NFTs, encouraging their followers to indulge in the NFT marketplaces. In the blockchain gaming metaverses, influencers are hosting events in those virtual spaces to interact directly with their audience. Influencer marketing has become much more personal towards its audience in recent times. From followers to community members, people are now enjoying much more direct interactions with influencers."
Yes, you heard it right, blockchain businesses have taken influencer marketing all the way to personal interaction with the audience. In between these activities, the process has increased outreach, brand recognition, revenues, and so much more for marketers.
Disclaimer: No Deccan Chronicle journalist was involved in creating this content. The group also takes no responsibility for this content.
