• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, November 6, 2019

Influencer-marketing company Whalar has issued a report looking at trends in the sector as we head into 2020.

The biggest trend the firm reports is the rise of “influencer advocacy.” Influencers around the world increasingly use their platforms to promote causes, drive change and advocate for shared values with their audiences.

Those audiences are listening to those advocacy positions, in part due to misinformation they’re confronted with daily and perceived distrust of more traditional news channels.

Nearly one-quarter of the influencers surveyed by Whalar dedicated some portion of their content to social causes this year, including climate change, civil rights and gender equality, with expectations this will increase in the 2020 U.S. election year. 

The company found that #activism has been shared by over 1.3 million users and a further 1.2 million for #activist (source: Instagram Live Data), while Google searches for “activism” increased by 250% this year, according to Google Trends.

The Whalar data science team analyzed more than 15,000 creators around the world for the firm’s latest trend report.

Other major trends by spotted by the Whalar team include:

A Return to Craft Work - the democratization of creativity has bred a new generation of self-taught artisans who learned their craft through tutorials on YouTube and Instagram, and now use these platforms to share their art and process with audiences around the world.

Level Playing Field - with the Women’s World Cup and U.S. Women’s National Team victory came a watershed moment for celebrating women’s sports and athletes online.

Digital Romanticism - a return to a classic, romantic visual aesthetic as an antidote to the deluge of staged, modern design compositions that dominate today.

Y2K 2.0 - as digital natives mature, they’re nostalgic for more analog experiences and aesthetics, with a growing penchant for online vintage and tech with personality.

Fantasy Face - as beauty continues to dominate online, creators are celebrating bold and unapologetic creative approaches to beauty and identity online.

More on the report, including recommendations from the firm on how marketers can best leverage the latest trends can be found here.