Firms considering the potential benefits of influence marketing may find themselves thinking hard about whether this is a form of digital marketing that has peaked, or has further to go due to ever more granular specialisation.

The question has been given plenty of thought by many analysts all over the world. In India, for instance The Financial Express suggesting 2021 has been a “revolutionary year in terms of exploring the influencer marketing industry and the vast opportunities that it holds for both brands and influencers”.

It suggested the evidence for this could be seen not just in the expansion and innovation seen in the field, but the way the country’s national advertising regulators the ASCI has been passing new rules governing how influencers can work.

These observations will not just be relevant to India, however. The article noted how nano and micro-influencers were also on the rise, showing the importance of peer-to-peer marketing aimed at specific niche groups.

All this, of course, will sound familiar to anyone keeping up with the latest marketing trends. It seems that, whether in the UK, India or anywhere else in the free world, influencers are becoming increasingly focused, adaptive and agile in reaching their markets.

However, if 2021 was quite a year for influencer marketing, that is not to say it was THE year for it; after all, there is always the possibility that 2022 may be an even more significant 12 months.

Forbes has predicted that next year will see a continuation of the growth of influencers as a key aspect of marketing success, driven by the fact that the pandemic has now embedded online communication, shopping and working in people’s lives.

It said: “The recommendations consumers trust most won’t come from celebrities on infomercials. They’ll be from nano-influencer on Stories, Reels, and Shorts.”

In particular, Forbes noted that 77 per cent of marketers would rather work with nano-influencers than celebrities. Not only is this more effective, but costs less.

So it seems that big 2021 has been for nano-influencers, it could be that 2022 is greater still.