Everyone’s going crazy about influencer marketing: going crazy about their favorite vlogger or celebrities endorsing the brands ranging from newly-released products to global brands.

Influencer Marketing is the hybrid of traditional and digital marketing, combining the idea of celebrity endorsement and placing it into a modern-day content-driven marketing campaign. The main difference is that the results of the campaign are usually collaborations between brands and influencers.

Now, why do almost all brands tend to shift to influencer marketing now?

It’s harder to be visible online now that the algorithm is constantly changing.

Algorithms continue to evolve on all social media platforms, especially Facebook and Instagram. Between ad restrictions, automated content flagging and news feed display changes, reaching targeted audiences has become increasingly difficult.

Authentic, relatable content has the best chance of reaching the right people from organic shares while building real brand-consumer connections.

Instagram Stories was the ultimate killer in influencer marketing.

Last year brought the meteoric rise of Instagram Stories, which lets brands and influencers provide intimate behind-the-scenes access. The feature also prompts more audience interactivity with the Polls, Ask Me and Swipe-Up features.

With over 400 million active Instagram users viewing Stories every day, it’s rapidly becoming an ideal platform for informal, positive brand conversations.

Engagement rates are the real metric and this is what’s important for brands.

In many ways, the percentage of an influencer’s audience that responds to their content has become far more important than their total number of followers. Micro-influencers and nano-influencers (loosely defined as those with less than 50,000 followers and less than 1,000 followers) are frequently overlooked by brands. But we’ve found that what they lack in numbers they make up for in loyalty and engagement.

The direct, personal connections they have built with their audiences may be the key to campaign success when it comes to reach and ROI.

If you’ve never tried influencer marketing before, this is a great time to jump in. A recent study revealed that businesses are making $6.50 for every $1 spent on influencer marketing. And according to McKinsey, “research shows that marketing-induced consumer-to-consumer word of mouth generates more than twice the sales of paid advertising in categories as diverse as skincare and mobile phones.

Original article from Forbes.