From an at-home side hustle started with $100, to a multi-million dollar, international fashion brand, it’s not every business that can claim Misha Collection’s exponential growth over the past five years.

Unilever CMO, Keith Weed, has been crowned the world’s most influential CMO, followed by GE’s Linda Boff and Twitter’s Leslie Berland, all key figures driving transformational change within and outside their organisations.

It’s not hard to find social media influencers to talk about holidays, restaurants and televisions. But what about a gel designed to alleviate vaginal dryness?

Israeli drinks company SodaStream is beefing up its video presence and social media play in the wake of successful influencer marketing campaigns including ‘Join a Revolution’ featuring ‘The Mountain’ from the Game of Thrones.

With 80 per cent of Australians spend more time on the Internet than they do watching television, CMOs must look beyond traditional channels and harness online if they are not to be left behind by an increasingly connected and digitalised consumer.

Marketers need to rethink influence marketing in the new year if they want better marketing outcomes and more authentic experiences, otherwise they run the risk of wasting money on simply a ‘gun for hire’, several experts agree.

Blockchain is rapidly capturing the imagination of the business community, exploding beyond its origins underpinning Bitcoin to become the proposed solution to all manner of transaction-based processes. Now one entrepreneur is planning on using it as the basis for a service that will connect businesses seeking promotional and affiliation services with influencers.

Millennials are a highly influential group when it comes to making recommendations on home electronics. But they are also notoriously difficult to reach through traditional advertising.

Influencer marketing is fast becoming a powerful way brands can connect and engage with audiences. But the right collaboration needs a strategic mindset, founder of social influencer agency theright.fit, Taryn Williams, said.

The rapid rise of the social influencer has given brands new and exciting ways to get noticed by customers, and while experts welcome the recent AANA rules, which push brands to disclose they are collaborating with social influencers on sponsored posts, many think more needs to be done.

Carlton United Breweries has signed on as the exclusive Australian partner for a new social influencer app launched by boutique agency, Social Soup.

The rapid emergence of social media influencers presents marketers with yet another channel in the ever-fragmenting media landscape.

A recent report from Nielsen revealed 92 per cent of consumers trust recommendations from friends and family over all forms of advertising. But while everyone now understands the power of word-of-mouth marketing (WOMM), what does it really mean in today’s digital age?

LG Electronics Australia has completed a six-week social media influencer program designed to increase awareness of LG mobile’s latest smartphone release.

Online entertainment network Machinima has reached a settlement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission for failing to disclose it paid people to produce endorsement videos for the Xbox One gaming console.

Digital media technology company, Netccentric, will look to expand its social media influencer advertising platform locally after raising $12.5 million in an IPO and listing on the Australian Stock Exchange.

Personal recommendations have long been perceived as one of the most persuasive forms of marketing, especially when they are delivered by trusted parties such as friends and family. But despite social media’s ability to connect individuals, it has not proven effective in harnessing recommendations for brands.

Social media and digital interaction have handed brands exponential opportunity to target and interact with individuals in a relevant way. They’ve also opened up a new avenue of third-party content creation and engagement that’s gaining attention – for both the right and wrong reasons.

Word-of-mouth marketing is responsible for up to 50 per cent of all purchase decisions and should be an increasingly important part of a marketer’s on and offline brand approach, global word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing expert, Geno Church, claims.

Influencer marketing, also known as word-of-mouth marketing, is popping up increasingly in the headlines thanks to social media’s dominant role in marketing and customer engagement.