FLUVIP, the leading Influencer Marketing group in Latin America and the U.S. multicultural market, today proclaimed November 30^th as ‘Influencer Day’ in recognition of people on social media who influence audiences (friends, followers, fans) in making purchasing decisions via posted branded content.

As per a Nielsen study, 92% of people rely on recommendations made from other people rather than recommendations from the brand itself.  This together with social media’s hyper connection has allowed Digital Influencers to become a great alternative for effective advertising.  The ability to influence others depends on the level of closeness that the influencer has with their audience, instead of the size of the audience itself.  This way, a ‘Celebrity’ influencer with millions of followers on social networks tends to be someone who provides reach for brands, allowing a large audience to become aware of the message.  A ‘Professional’ influencer is someone that creates content on a specific topic (e.g. photography, finance, fitness, and fashion, among others) and has a connection with their followers based on trust, as such provides credibility to the message.  A ‘Citizen’ influencer is an ordinary person and with a small circle of friends, family, and coworkers and generates greater engagement when sharing content.

“By establishing the international ‘Influencer Day,’ FLUVIP wants to recognize the role of those who with their content impact the lives of their followers, creating a new style of relationship between brands and their consumers.  To this end, we are very pleased to present @manucandal, who is the spokesperson of this first edition of #ELDIADELINFLUENCER,” said Sebastian Jasminoy, CEO of FLUVIP.

FLUVIP’s portfolio currently includes more than 100,000 digital influencers in 22 countries who are part of an industry that represents more than $100 million annually in the region and is expected to grow 40% in 2017.

This growth is thanks to brands recognizing the power of influencers; furthermore, as per a study by eMarketer, 84% of marketing professionals in the United States consider including a native form of advertising in their 2016 marketing strategies, consequently larger marketing budgets are being allocated to include some type of content creation via digital influencers in campaigns.

All social media networks are important for an influencer marketing strategy.  In Latin America and the United States, Instagram is positioning itself as the preferred channel for branding with about 35% of the budget; followed by Twitter (23% of budget), a relevant channel for impacting opinion leaders and taking advantage of real time; Facebook is in third place (18% of budget) and is used primarily to reach the audience personally (like family and friends); and YouTube (15% of budget) is a favorite when it comes to content creation, although it presents challenges with video production and is less scalable.  Other channels like Snapchat, Pinterest and LinkedIn are growing in spending, but for now they represent only 9% of the budget.

Starting this year, digital influencers now have their day, and their impact will surely continue growing in the coming years.