Influencer trends that brands need to take advantage of

If you’re an avid social media user, you may have noticed that the past year has brought some pretty unexpected influencer trends to our phone screens – muckbangs, speed cleaning and the Bratz Doll challenge just to name a few. While marketeers cannot predict what new influencer genres or content trends will come our way, we can ensure we act on them. Here are few of the industries that need to take advantage sooner rather than later.

Home Interiors

2018 was the year of home interiors and as we enter 2019 it is showing no signs of stopping. Analysis tool CampaignDeus undertook a survey of 4,500 UK influencers, studying 700,000 Instagram posts during the first half of 2018, which identified a growth in home & garden related branded posts of 1.3%. Homeware accounts such as Lydia Millen Home, Mrs Rackley Home and House Wise  have catapulted home interior brands, websites and stores directly in front of Instagram users eyes.

Some high street retailers such as Home Bargains and Home Sense have benefitted from this organically, as influencers are already finding hidden homeware gems in their stores whereas brands such as Ilovewallpaper.co.uk have been raising awareness for their websites by gifting and working with top interior influencers. There are endless opportunities for home focused brands to work with influencers within this genre and I for one am particularly enjoying this trend!

Cleaning

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll have seen that Mrs Hinch and her dedicated ‘Hinch Army’ have been ruling the sparkling clean roost of Instagram.

Since the loveable Essex Instagrammer’s rise to fame she’s managed to sell out ‘Minkehs’ nationwide and increased the sales of scented disinfectant brand Zoflora by more than 210% (Not forgetting that she’s also bagged herself a best-selling author title with her book Hinch Yourself Happy). Whilst this success was completely unprecedented, bargain stores of the UK high street have done some great reactive marketing including the creation of dedicated Hinch aisles.

When Sophie Hinchliffe was ‘hinching’ her way to celebrity status on Instagram, YouTubers were speed cleaning. Speed cleaning does what it says on the tin and shows content creators cleaning their homes in a sped-up edit. Sounds strange but it’s actually quite therapeutic! We believe Mrs Hinch and co. have opened the doors to a new genre of influencer and cleaning brands need to act fast before the dust settles or they just may get swept under the freshly cleaned carpet (sorry, I couldn’t resist!).

Food & drink

Another industry that has seen a further growth in branded posts in the past year is food & drink. While eateries and alcohol brands have always harnessed the power of influencers, there’s been a surge of pre-made healthy meals hitting the ‘gram and of course the sensation that is ‘Muckbanging’ on YouTube.

If you’re not familiar with the term Mukbang or indeed what it entails, it’s when someone eats large amounts of food while filming and interacting with their online audience, most commonly on YouTube. It originally became popular in South Korea back in 2010 but became global in the second half of 2018 and into 2019. Personally, I believe more food brands should tap into this trend while they can.

Influencer trends will come and go, and brands need to be prepared to act whether that be reactively or proactively at all times.

If you represent a brand and you would like to talk about an Influencer Marketing campaign, then drop us a message and get in touch here.