The year of 2019 has been home to many advances but mainly, the rise in the social media influencer market. Research shows that these influencers are steadily capturing larger proportions of the online marketing budget. In fact, Instagram alone is home to half a million influencers. 

Forbes recently conducted a study, which interviewed more than thirty enterprise marketers responsible for their brand’s influencer marketing. Its data demonstrates that as investments rose, the marketers’ budgets for influencer marketing grew in double and triple digits. In a few brands, the budget towards influencers accounts for millions annually. For example, the apparel brand, Lee Jeans, has doubled its digital budget for 2019 as an attempt to improve its approach to influencers, and this amount is predicted to increase as well. Additionally, FitTea, a famous detox tea, gives around $500,000 every time a celebrity, like Kylie Jenner, mentions its name. 

Marketers are also shifting away from the ideology that the “the bigger the influencer, the better,” as consumers are becoming increasingly aware of “fake” sponsorships, where an influencer does not genuinely enjoy or even use the product. Marketing tactics are also becoming more sophisticated and collaborations are more thought through. In fact, there is more of a focus on authenticity with smaller influencers or even non-influencers, those not yet aligned with brands. 

Although changes in the “influencer” market remain unpredictable, companies will inevitably increasingly employ these advertising techniques.

[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/forrester/2019/09/02/the-state-of-influencer-marketing-growing/#4dd8bb24e808

[2] https://digiday.com/marketing/lee-jeans-doubling-digital-advertising-budget/