I see this working and continuing to be a very powerful form of marketing. My 12 year old son and 10 year old daughter are always quoting their "influencers" as reasons for wanting something or making an argument that they're right because an "influencer" said something and it must be right.

For our new Startup it's on our list for May to see who we can strategically work with to help promote our company. I think influencers will be believed (paid or not) provided they're sincere and not just doing it for the money (having values).

GREAT POST!!!! P.S. My son follows that Game guy and daughter used to love Drake & Josh. Right now SpongeBob has influence over my 8 year old.. GRRRR.

My now 15 y.o. was a big Drake & Josh fan as well! I have to admit I find SpongeBob pretty funny. Do you think you'll be using an agency to find an influencer? Good luck and keep us posted on your efforts.

I hear you on SpongeBob, Patrick, Squidward and my fav Mr. Krabs.

Haven't thought about using an agency, though if it can speed up the process it's a great idea. I've been just reaching out individually via phone, email, Twitter and LinkedIn. Thus far successful, though would love to SPEED it up :)

Will definitely keep you posted. To Krabby Patties ~ Mike

Thanks for the insightful article, Suzanne. Do you have any experience with software services that help you manage influencer / advocate programs, like Influitive?

No we don't, Amber. This is a great question to ask in our LinkedIn group: https://www.linkedin.com/gr...

You may want to check out Traackr, mentioned here: http://www.socialmediaexami...

I highly recommend TapInfluence for managing influencer marketing promotions and providing real measurement and ROI.

Amber, I've used Tidal Labs and really like their platform as it gives brands the ability to push campaigns out to groups of influencers and easily curate the best content into your brand marketing channels.

Thank you all for the tips!

Its very informative and super excited to see that social media stars are turning into customer acquisition source. But you didn't mentioned, what scale of companies would make best out this new influencer marketing strategy.

At this point, I think many "influencers" will promote your product as long as it nourishes and nurtures their own audience. That means businesses of any budget can get in the game, even small biz. This said, influencers mentioning your products and services at no charge must see great relevance and value for their audience. Only the top influencers like those mentioned at the top of this article get the big bucks. Heck, an influencer for a local plumbing company could be a nearby electrician who has a decent Facebook following . . .

With not budget to hire a influencer marketing agency, I wonder what methods should I use to reach these new breed of stars.

You might want to read this, Roberto: http://www.socialmediaexami...

Thanks for a great article. I'm currently struggling with how to find these influencers. I'd like to find smaller/niche market influencers with maybe just 5-10 000 followers in a certain location. I'd like to find who they are on Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIN etc. Any tips on how to find them?

Well, you found me!! Or actually I found you and gave you unique directions! I would definitely be interested in learning moe about your product and review it!

Check out: http://www.socialmediaexami... and http://www.socialmediaexami... where writer Marcus Taylor says, "It’s easy to discover which sites the social influencers in your industry use to find articles they share. Use a tool like Topsy or Followerwonk. Next, order Twitter profiles by social authority or influence. Then view the sites where these influencers share." Good luck!

Thank you Suzanne, I'll have a look at your recommendations, thanks again!

We have done some Influencer marketing using Triberr and the results were OK but not anywhere near as good as we were expecting (maybe our expectations were too high!) but i do think its something we will do again soon. Are you aware of only other platforms like Triberr that are available to help find influencers?
With Triberr you pay the influencer of their work which they have to disclose under FTC rules

Thanks for the boots-on-the-ground info, Chris. :)

This is a very awesome case study if that's what it's called. We have also started on building an influencer list for our Marketing strategy and for the most part it has prove to be useful and worthwhile.

Great! Sounds like putting the work in is paying off . . . Did you use an agency to find your influencers?

Influencers should definitely be paid. I think it's fair because the work load is tremendous as an influencer. People don't realize the amount of work put into being an influencer. We test the product thoroughly, research the product and company thoroughly, share our honest opinion of the product (in a well-written article of course), take photos, set up the post so our SEO is just right, and then constantly share on social media. Every article on my website takes over an hour and that's just writing and editing photos.

My only concern is the companies that expect a 100% positive review after paying an influencer. Too many times I have experienced and heard of companies guilt-tripping influencers into changing their reviews because they didn't suit their needs or wants.

Great article! Thanks for your input on this subject.

Thanks Joyce. Also, influencers only have room for a few review articles per month, right? If you have lots of followers, you may want to check out the influencer agencies that have cropped up in the last few months.

I love this! I'm so glad to see that those of us who influence for companies are getting a bit of recognition in the hard work we put in. Not only do we want to be successful; but the majority of us WANT the company we are helping to be successful as well!

Grow community grow!

My agency has managed hundreds of influencer campaigns that have been highly successful and measurable. The most important things to remember are very careful selection of influencers, clear campaign goals and communication with influencers, and use a tool to measure results. We were the first agency to use TapInfluence and we consider the ROI measurement to be key to why our clients come back to do more campaigns.

Super helpful piece to share with clients who are trying to wrap their heads around influencer marketing. Thank you! While the data focuses on younger consumers, influencer marketing is also effective for 30+ consumers.

Regarding compensation, I've worked both sides of the brand+influencer fence and do feel incentives are an important part of the equation. Doesn't always have to be cash, but brands who build influencer relationships with a value exchange mindset will get better results.

Great work! There is not a lot information about that! Thank for share!