Instagram is now focusing on transparency in advertising by allowing brands to sponsor or promote influencer posts as their own ads. Rather than a brand paying an influencer discreetly for a post, this will create and formalize the process behind ad-buying. These branded content ads will expand the overall reach of the post.

Read more about Instagram’s branded content tools —>

Influencer marketing has definitely gained traction in the last few years and is continuing to boom going into 2019. More companies are expanding their marketing strategies to incorporate influencer marketing, and many others are increasing their influencer budgets.

See what influencers are saying about the trends that they think will explode in 2019 —>

An overwhelming majority of brands have reported that their influencer marketing workload has risen. With that being said, it’s vital to have a strong strategy in place that can be scaled for success. Their are at least four necessary components needed in building a successful influencer strategy:

1. The Team

2. The Tools

3. The Money & Metrics

4. Building and Testing Influencer Funnel

With influencer marketing on the rise in 2019, what trends should brands be looking out for? Here are 7 key stats to be watching for this year:

1. Influencer marketing is projected to become a 10 billion dollar industry by 2020.

2. Transparency & authenticity are key factors in influencers’ success.

3. Over a third of Instagram accounts with over 15k followers are influencers.

4. Almost half of marketing are concerned with fraudulent influencer activity concerning bots.

5. About a fifth of young adults have made a large purchase because of an influencer.

6. Most marketing believe that being able to measure ROI will determine the future of influencer marketing.

7. Engagement is the biggest measure for influencer marketing.

Although Facebook has been a go-to platform for the consumer market to discover and learn about brands, it is no longer standing in the #1 spot. Now it appears that YouTube has become one of the most effective social media marketing platforms with video content as a whole and mobile-friendly videos are becoming the most sought after media.