Influencer marketing is a part of marketing plans for businesses around the world, especially in industries such as fashion, beauty, retail and entertainment. But high-profile scandals like the Fyre Festival show that this industry that sprang up to help brands forge authentic connections to consumers is facing increasing scrutiny of its own trustworthiness.

• How much should marketers be spending on influencer marketing? The average share of budgets is only about 10%, but marketers are increasing their spending as their reliance on the tactic grows. In some Asian countries, such as China, the practice is even more important than in other parts of the world.
• Why are marketers gravitating toward Instagram Stories? Influencers like Stories because they can be more candid and real than in feed posts, and because they can disappear. Stories are also helping to bring influencer marketing closer to the purchase decision, because they allow outbound links.
• How big a problem is fraud in influencer marketing? Fraud is on the rise, and issues ranging from fake engagement to nondisclosure are still far from resolved. Some marketers such as Unilever have pledged to no longer work with influencers whose metrics they cannot trust.
• Why the spike in interest in microinfluencers? A growing number of marketers are taking a back-to-basics approach, scaling back their use of celebrities and megacreators for so-called “micro-” and “nano-” influencers who have smaller audiences but may actually use a product and can speak authentically about it.

WHAT’S IN THIS REPORT? This report pinpoints the ways marketers are using influencer marketing successfully and explores how they are getting past some of the vexing issues that threaten to hold the tactic back.

KEY STAT: A worldwide survey of CMOs found that 30.5% are increasing their focus on influencers as part of the advertising media mix.