All of which means that your social media is about to get even more cluttered with attractive people claiming to love products they’d never use in real life, posing awkwardly in front of national monuments, and pretending to be surprised in engagement pictures captured by the professional photographer they hired. But on the plus side, if you fancy a crack yourself, there’s gold in them thar likes.

“Gen Z is the first generation that doesn’t know life before the internet,” says Hennessy. “They watch YouTube like older generations watch television, and if you want to reach them, you’ll have to do it through influencer marketing. If you want to know how important influencers can become, just look at pre-teens making millions of dollars on YouTube. They’re just getting started.”

The Verdict

“It’s hard to imagine it going away but I know it’s [also] become harder for influencers. Becoming a top-tier influencer is like becoming an A-list celebrity at this point. It’s really difficult. But the micro-influencer market is booming right now. We might be in a bubble, but I don’t know that I’d say it’s peaked.” – Amy Odell

“In 2019, Facebook will really start to push IGTV as a YouTube competitor and that means there will be a much larger focus on video. There are still so many brands and entire industries that aren’t participating in influencer marketing. We’ll see some of them dip their toes in the water in 2019 and others dive in.” – Brittany Hennessy

“In 2019, the influencer market is likely to be even bigger than last year. There’s been a steady recognition in the power of influencers to market to consumers, in large part thanks to the connection that underpins the influencer/audience relationship.” – Chris Stokel-Walker