Influencer Impact #7: Looking into 2023 - Part Deux ??

Welcome to the seventh edition of Influencer Impact! ??

?? And just like that, we've now rolled our clocks back.

As we approach the end of the year, I’ve begun to receive several requests for 2023 predictions. I wanted to share these predictions with you in an ongoing series over the next few weeks.

If you missed last week’s predictions, make sure you read them now.

On the influencer marketing front…

A recent study found that 86% of B2B brands report being successful with influencer marketing, boosting their brand awareness and reputation.

Additionally, influencer marketing in the U.S. alone is estimated to be $4.62 billion market in 2023, according to Statista.

This means that we’ll continue to see the development of job titles that include “influencer marketing” in them, just like mine does. This will help cement the importance of influencer relations in B2B next year.

On the dark social front…

While dark social encompasses many aspects, one of the key areas that will continue to accelerate in 2023 is the growth of private communities such as those available via Slack and Discord.

In my recent conversation with Christopher Penn, he mentioned that, as of the last time he looked, Discord had established 70,000 new communities in a month. That is an absolutely mind-boggling number. And this isn’t slowing down any time soon.

Though a vast number of B2B private communities are on Slack, we’ll see more of these B2B communities launch on Discord.

Why? There a two main reasons, IMO, though Chris shared additional ones during our interview:

1. There is a lower overall cost for the community manager, whether it’s a company or individual, especially as the community size grows.
2. There are more integrated features and third-party add-ons. Chris actually has several excellent ideas on how to take advantage of this.

A great example of a vibrant and active Discord is Joe Pullizi’s The Tilt:

Listen to the episode and let me know what you think.

?? ?? Where you can find me online…

LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram | Website | Influencer Impact Slack group

?? Where I’ll be speaking…

• RevGenius LinkedIn Live - What Exactly Is Community-Led Growth? with Katie Ray, Monday 11/7 at 2p ET | 11a PT

?? Thank you!

Thank you for subscribing. I appreciate you and your time.

I’ll see you at the same time, in the same place next week!

- Justin