In July 2017, Kylie Jenner posted an image of herself wearing Beats by Dre headphones on Instagram. The shot shows Jenner’s profile, brushed bronze with makeup. It’s perfectly lit against a lush brown backdrop. Over her ears rest a pair of metallic Beats, with the logo right in the center of the photo. To date, more than 2.1 million have liked the post.
If the prototypical example of influencer marketing exists, this is it. By now, most consumers are well acquainted with influencer marketing. Celebrities write #ad to disclose a paid post, and YouTube vloggers receive a portion of the sales from products linked to their videos. The benefits of influencer marketing are huge, with businesses making an average of $6.50 for every $1 spent on ads, and top influencers making more than $150,000 per Instagram post and $300,000 for a YouTube video, according to Forbes.
