If this question had been asked 10 years before, eyebrows would have been raised. Though blogging or "ónline journaling" had started more than 20 years back. I mean Phew! Yes, the Blogspot platform was established in 1999 and then followed this revolutionary thing called blogging. The online world became more about sharing authentic experiences, people started opening up about the good as well as the bad. While a part of it seemed a bit narcisistic to some, it was helpful to the majority nonetheless.
The global influencer marketing platform had a 6 Billion USD worth in 2020. So does it say something?
1. Instagram has become the main platform for promotions. What started as a photo sharing app, has transformed itself into an all in one platform and it's been quite a ride!
When was the first time you signed up for Instagram?
Well for me, it was in early 2014, when I first got a smartphone. I started blogging in 2013, so a year after that. Though that did not mean I was new to it, I used to follow my favourite bloggers' feed on my desktop. I had been religiously reading and following blogs since 2012, and all the OG bloggers like Emily Schuman, Rachel Parcell, Tamara Kalinic, etc etc used to share their life on this grid app. There used to be lot of flat lays and food shots, pretty glimpses of their real life. I loved how clean the app was, and it was purely inspirational, to elevate life, to arrange things prettily.
Instagram started in 2010 and has come a really long way; believe me, if you jumped into the bandwagon later. Initially, you could post only the pictures that you took through the app. So the pictures were absolutely fresh. There was square mode only. Then gradually, we could access our gallery and post those. Then came other ratios; we could post videos too, then came carousel posts, live sessions and stories. The launch of stories spread like fire. We creators got endless options to share, without worrying for the aesthetics of the grid. And that was just the starting of the revolutionisation of this app.
From IGTV to reels, upload from desktop to subscription services, Instagram is nothing similar to what it was 12 years ago.
In the mean time, many platforms came and went. Snapchat, Helo, Likee, etc etc. While many of them are still there and used, they never got the status of a leading influencer platform. Then Musically arrived and it became a rage. It was a lip syncing app and everyone started using it madly; just for fun. Videos started gaining more popularity. Then Musically became TikTok and the rest is history. Life was never the same again. From celebs to the next door food hawker, everyone started using Tiktok. This short video app became a smashing hit both on the East as well as the West.
In 2020, the pandemic happened. People were locked inside their homes, and they needed a creative outlet to kill boredom. The number of new content creators rose alarmingly high during this period. From sharing doing household chores to creating new recipes, from getting ready to home decor, video creation got a new meaning.
Then an inevitable happened. TikTok got banned in India. In terms of the influencer industry, India is big. Mind you, the second largest population means a very big economy. Instagram got this ban as its greatest opportunity to tap the short video market and it launched REELS. So while European and American influencers gyrated to TikTok, Indian creators and brands resorted to Instagram Reels for promotions as well as entertainment.
Reels are the new normal of today's influencer marketing industry all across the world. The audience loves to watch lighthearted, fast and short videos and that explains the success of reels.
2. Websites still have their importance.
While all the OG bloggers (the verified and really big ones) as well as veteran bloggers like me have shifted their main focus to Instagram for content creation purposes, websites are still here to stay. While the blogs are not getting updated daily, they still are an indispensable part of this influencer career/industry/world. The creators who want to share detailed reviews, vent out life lessons, share innumerable pictures, etc, blogs are the medium. Not to forget, permanent back links are possible only on the World Wide Web, and it's indispensable for businesses and website owners.
The recent outage of Instagram also proved that the blogs we own, are truly ours. No third party app can give us this ownership. Not to forget, hacking of profiles also have become quite common; which is really scary. It is always advised to switch on the two factor authentication.
3. The brands want high quality content.
By high quality, the brands want professionally shot and edited content. Take a look at Vanessa Berlin's profile. The grid screams professionalism. It's a business after all, so there's a team for the content creation process as well another for the administrative work.
While the OG bloggers, celebs and verified influencers have taken the absolute opposite route.
Their grids are having blurred images and real candid shots like never before. While they have been lashed before for being too much staged/ fake, this is their attempt to look more 'REAL'.
So what's the future of this industry? It's projected to be a 24.1 Billion USD industry in 2025; which means a growth of 32% in 5 years.
Love it or hate, you simply can't ignore this influencer marketing industry! It's here to stay!
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