Despite being called a fad, a bubble and a waste of money, influencer marketing is still, well, influential.

In a March survey of marketers and influencers conducted by Activate, 62% of marketers said they're growing their influencer marketing budgets in 2018. Meanwhile, nearly as many influencers (61%) said they had more sponsored partnership opportunities in 2017 than they had in 2016.

Influencers work with brands in different ways. Nearly half reported posting about a brand simply because they like it. In essence, they're already advertising these brands to their audience before a paid sponsorship even comes into the picture.

Others (38.8%) are provided with comprehensive brand guidelines to adhere to, while only 29.6% reported "often" being asked for their opinion on content for campaigns.

“Influencers are people, not ads,” said eMarketer principal analyst Debra Aho Williamson. “They know their audience really well, and not allowing them to bring that knowledge into a marketing partnership is a mistake.”

Activate's findings mirror a study WhoSay conducted last year, which found that marketers are seeing a lot of value in influencer marketing. So much so that roughly 70% of US agency and brand marketers said they "agree" or "strongly agree" that influencer marketing budgets will increase this year.

Interested in learning more about influencer marketing? Look out for a report on the current state of influencer marketing worldwide publishing on July 16, exclusive for eMarketer PRO subscribers.

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