The best influencer marketing news fit to share this week. Stories, articles and content collected throughout the week of September 10-14 and curated by our influencer marketing experts especially for you in this weekly thought leadership roundup.
18 Instagram Stats Every Marketer Should Know for 2018
Sprout Social
Instagram is a complete powerhouse amongst rival social networks. And if you think anything is different in 2018, you may want to reconsider. The newest Instagram stats show there are currently more than 800 million monthly active users and many experts believe it could reach a billion in 2018. That’s more than double the monthly active users of Twitter and over three times as many users on WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.
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Pinterest Reports 25% Increase in Monthly Active Users
TechCrunch
Two hundred and fifty million people are using Pinterest every month, up from 200 million last September, according to new numbers the company shared this morning. The visual search giant is also reporting that more than half of its users and 80 percent of new sign-ups come from outside the U.S.
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Instagram is Testing Video Tagging
TechCrunch
Instagram is testing a way to allow users to tag their friends in their video posts, not just in photos, TechCrunch has learned and the company confirmed. The option works similarly to tagging photos, but instead of pressing the small icon at the bottom left to see the list of tagged names appear over top of the content – something that would be more difficult with videos – the button links to a list of tagged people.
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Vertical Video Ads are Coming to YouTube
The Drum
YouTube is embracing vertical video ads to let brands “provide a more seamless mobile experience” for viewers, it revealed at Dmexco today (12 September) where it also revealed plans to sell advertisers video ads based on users’ personalized home feeds. Advertisers can now snap up slots that fill up a users’ screen when they’re viewing content on YouTube’s mobile app in a similar way to the ads served by the likes of Instagram and Snapchat.
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$75K: The Alleged Cost of One Negative Review Posted by a High-Level Beauty Influencer
The Outline
Over the last three years, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has cracked down on Instagram influencers, forcing users to disclose sponcon and brand partnerships with a simple hashtag (#ad or #paid are preferred) or built-in branded partner ID tools. Business is booming regardless, with even teens getting a piece of that that sweet sweet sponcon cash. However as the industry matures and companies grow more dependent on the insidious form of advertising, it seems like the real money, and shenanigans, might not be in glowing reviews, but brutal takedowns.
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Influencers now drive nearly 70 percent of sales at Revolve
The Drum
L’Oreal Active Cosmetics is investing 90% of its influencer marketing budget on Instagram, but to ensure the brand is in safe hands it’s performing “background checks” on the micro-influencers it’s working with as part of a new three-step vetting process. Since Unilever chief marketing officer Keith Weed put a spotlight on the problem of fraud in the influencer marketing sector, social media stars have been under greater scrutiny from advertisers.
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