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 —>

With influencers using many platforms for marketing and branding purposes, keeping these accounts secure becomes a top priority. However, hackers are now keen to this value behind influencer mediums and are getting creative in their ability to steal user credentials. One of these hacking methods is called a credential stuffing attack. A credential stuffing attack is when the hacker takes a stolen credential and uses an automated process to use the credentials into popular websites.

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.

Social media has become the easiest ways for brands to reach customers in their everyday lives. Stories are now meeting the needs of the high demand of relevant and current content from consumers. Stories became popular in Snapchat, eventually taking over Instagram, and now Facebook.

Stories are just another form of digital and visual story-telling which brands have seen success with. Before considering using Stories, check out these three tips on how to put together an effective strategy —>