In the below video, Forbes 30 Under 30 Honoree and Pixlee Founder & CEO Kyle Wong discusses how businesses can adapt to less control over their messaging and leverage social media influencers to help grow their brand.

Influencer marketing can be loosely defined as a form of marketing that identifies and targets individuals with social influence over potential buyers. With the rise of influencer marketing and shoppable Instagram, we’re seeing brands leveraging these individuals to create awareness and validation for their products and services.

In fact, 84% of marketing professionals are expected to launch at least one social influencer campaign in the next 12 months. Augere, 2015.

Why are marketers investing in influencer marketing programs? Because social media influencers positively affect brand loyalty, engagement, and sales.

• 92% of consumers trust online content created by their peers above all other forms of advertising. Nielsen, 2012.
• Brands make $6.50 for each $1 spent on influencer marketing. Tomoson, 2015.
• Customers acquired via social influencer efforts have a 37% higher retention rate than customers acquired through other channels. McKinsey, 2011.

Here’s a Google Trends chart that represents the search interest for the term ‘influencer marketing’ over the last 10 years. Needless to say, it’s time to bring brand influencers into your marketing mix if you haven’t already.

Social media has fundamentally changed the balance of power between customers and brands; Social networks are enabling peer recommendations to play a greater role in purchasing decisions. What this means is that a brand’s message no longer has to come from the brand itself in order to be impactful: A brand's own customers are valuable marketing assets.