Recently, brands have been dedicating a substantial amount of their budget to influencer marketing. The rise of ad-blocking has marketers and advertisers looking to social media influencers to get their product and message in front of viewers. And it’s not going away any time soon. Last year, interest in influencer marketing more than doubled and Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube users continue to grow at an unbelievable rate.

For all you influencer marketers out there, here’s what’s trending in 2016:

3 Best Influencer Marketing Channels:

appleblog_facebookFacebook Video

Although it has been cloaked with controversy ever since, Facebook announced that it would split ad revenue with its video creators. Since that move, Facebook’s video growth has reached about 8 billion average views per day. Popular vloggers, Viners, creators and social media influencers (even the newbies on the scene) have been vying to be the first ever breakout “Facebooker”.

appleblog_SNAPSnapchat

At the moment, Snapchat has a long way to go before it is accepted as a legitimate marketing platform. But that hasn’t stopped brands like GE, Burberry, Amazon and more from using it to grab the attention of the millennial consumers.

appleblog_periscopePeriscope

If you haven’t heard, live streaming is on the rise, and a great tool to connect audiences with events and brands in real time. This year we will see more brands using Periscope with top social media influencers to drive awareness and engagement.

Quality Engagement vs. Followers

While reach and impressions are still crucial metrics, marketers are starting to place more of an emphasis on action-based responses, such as comments and shares. This year, brands should shift their focus to results that display more active participation rather than passive participation.

Cross-Platform Strategy

Several brands have begun to utilize platform-specific influencers on their original platform while, at the same time, promoting influencer generated content across other channels. For brands sponsoring content with social media influencers, a cross-platform strategy promotes brand messaging, and has the capacity to reach a range of audiences on various touch points and social channels.

To see this approach in action, check out BMW’s #DrivingLuxury campaign:

 

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Instagram Influencer Marketing

Advertisers are now leveraging Instagram for more long-term branded content instead of just the one-off post. As Instagram is inching toward becoming one of the top mobile apps for millennials, consumers are speaking up about their disdain for sponsored ads and their desire for storied content.

YouTube is Still Top Dog

Despite some new competitors on the scene in 2015, YouTube has managed to retain its position as king of the social channels. Although it is still necessary to adapt content to newer platforms, YouTube is still considered significant because of its well-established global audience. It will continue to be the Elvis of brand influencer marketing because of its long established traction for numerous demographics over Facebook and television.

What do you think influencer marketers should be on the lookout for this year? Share your thoughts on Facebook!