“We estimate that 2022 will end with a turnover of two million euros in the area of ​​influencer marketing in Latvia, but in 2023 the increase will be another 15%,” said Deniss Ševeļovs, co-founder and director of development of the company. talent and impressive agency “Collex”.

The industry’s rapidly growing turnover is closely related to the financial results that social network opinion leaders generate for business. A global study found that 88% of marketers surveyed agreed that collaborations with digital content writers increased business visibility, almost 80% highlighted an increase in the number of visitors to their brand’s website or app, and 69% – an increase in number (ie, an increase in user interest for a product or service that has the potential to convert that interest into a purchase).

“The demand for collaboration with content writers is growing,” Shevelyov explains. “And it’s natural: young people, especially Gen Z, consume information mostly on social networks – for example, 39% of “digital natives” (18-24 year olds) currently use social networks as their main source of news. reads directly from websites or apps.The realism and authenticity that influencers successfully use when creating content are especially important to them.

Thus, considering that more than 50% of the EU population uses social networks and the share of active users between the ages of 16-24 is close to 90%, influencer marketing has become the most important field whose trends span a wide social and social sphere. economic impact. More than 50% of European companies use it in their communications, but in some countries this share is almost three-quarters of companies. Since data for 2022 is not yet available, we can analyze the years 2020 and 2021, when explosive growth of this marketing segment is observed all over the world.

What can we observe in other EU countries?

Finland: The influencer marketing turnover in this country in 2020 is estimated at 27.9 million Euros. More than half (58%) of advertisers in Finland used influencer marketing in 2020, with a 17% increase in this category in 2021.

Sweden: For comparison in 2021, Sweden had 17 multi-channel media agencies working with influencers – a few years ago there were only 10-12 media agencies of this type.

Germany: In 2020, the influencer marketing market in the DACH (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) region was worth €990 million, almost double that in 2017. In the November 2021 report, the total “market value” of the top 25 German influencers was estimated at 80.7m euros (from 10.9m euros for the highest-rated influencer to 0.1m for the 25th-ranked influencer). According to the survey data of the German Digital Economy Association in 2021, 45% of the companies surveyed increased their annual budgets for influencer marketing, while 23% kept their budgets at the previous year’s level. Only 4% said they would cut their budgets.

Italy: In 2021, approximately 450,000 people were employed in the field of influencer marketing in Italy. Among them, more than 350,000 are influencers and digital content creators, the rest are intermediaries such as social networking platforms, executives, talent agencies, marketing agencies or media centers. The value of the Italian influencer market reached 280 million euros in 2021, but the increase reached 15% compared to the previous year. The most important sectors are fashion and beauty, which accounts for almost a third (31%) of the entire market, followed by travel, food and lifestyle (18%) and fitness and healthy lifestyle (15%), which have been significantly affected by the pandemic.

“We can study any country – everywhere there is an explosive increase in collaboration between companies and influencers.

With the demand for influencer services increasing day by day, many are trying to delegate administrative duties – for example, drafting contracts, accounting, reporting, meeting the terms and conditions of cooperation, as well as representing their interests in negotiations and showing due care. of their image – to professionals, that is, to talent agencies. For example, in just six months, Latvia’s first talent and influencer agency “Collex” took care of 60 digital content creators: Marka Riva, Signi Meirāni, Anna Bīrmani, Indra Salceviča, Armanda Jaunzemi, Jūlija Verbicka, Kristīna Beitik, Ulla Zirni and others, Shevelyov interprets it.

Given the rapid development, influencers attract not only representatives who represent their interests, but also entire creative teams, such as cameramen, directors, photographers, make-up artists, creative directors, screenwriters and producers. The higher the “star” level, the wider the range of specialists involved in content creation and advertising.

“Obviously, influencer marketing is here to stay and has been the catalyst for its development, while raising serious questions about the epidemic and war, ethics, media literacy and society, and tolerance for digital content writers,” Shevelyov said. Next year’s growth is a very modest estimate given current trends.