Influencer Marketing on Instagram Is a $1 Billion Industry [Infographic]

Now, what do you get when you combine perhaps the fastest growing social media platform in the world with an innovative, powerful means of attracting new customers? You get a $1 billion industry that is ripe for the picking, according to data from MediaKix.
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“To estimate how much money advertisers spend on influencer marketing on Instagram, we tracked the number of sponsored Instagram posts over a year,” wrote the authors of the study. “At present, we estimate the advertiser spend with influencers on Instagram at over $1 billion per year, with indications of significant annual growth.”

http://tech.co/influencer-marketing-instagram-billion-2017-04
http://mediakix.com/2017/03/instagram-influencer-marketing-industry-size-how-big/#gs.gyQ4QGo

Could Instagram's Revenue Really Hit $22 Billion by 2021?

 Last month, Instagram said it reached 1 million active advertisers on its platform.

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Revenue expectations are fairly high for 2017. eMarketer expects Instagram to generate $2.8 billion.

https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/04/18/could-instagrams-revenue-really-hit-22-billion-by.aspx

The FTC Says Celebrity Social Media Ads Are Still Too Sneaky

The Federal Trade Commission has been trying for years to crack down on stealth marketing campaigns that use celebrities and social media. Now the agency is trying a new tactic: Sending letters to so-called "influencers" that instruct them to clearly disclose when they are pushing a product.
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The agency also warned that common disclosure tactics—such as including the hashtag #sp or putting a "sponsored" label near the bottom of a post—are not sufficient.
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 Influencers should mention a sponsorship deal near the top of a post.

http://fortune.com/2017/04/20/ftc-instagram/

Instagram is starting to crack down on fake account activity

Instagram is cracking down on fake account activity with the closing of Instagress, a popular third-party service that advertised itself as an automated way to "get real Instagram followers and become incredibly popular."

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Instagress said it was forced to shut down its service, which let people pay to have their accounts automatically like and comment on other photos, "by request of Instagram" on Thursday. The tool is "like creating a small robot clone of yourself with the same interests and style, and then letting it work for you on Instagram" to gain followers, according to the now-shuttered Instagress website.

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It's unclear how many users paid for Instagress, which had cost $10 per month, but the service had been operational for at least three years before shutting down on Thursday. A 2015 research study estimated that around 8% of all Instagram accounts were likely automated spam accounts, and that hundreds of third-party services sold fake followers or fraudulent activity on the platform.

http://nordic.businessinsider.com/instagram-cracks-down-on-fake-accounts-by-shutting-down-instagress-2017-4

Walt Disney Company world's is leading licensor with $56.6bn in licensed products in 2016

With more than $272bn in global sales of retail merchandise last year, a License Global magazine report lists the Walt Disney Company as the world’s leading licensor with brands that include Lucasfilm, Marvel, ABC, ESPN, DisneyPixar and Walt Disney Studios and a total of $56.6bn in licensed merchandise sold in 2016.
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"The Top 150 Global Licensors report offers insights and trends for the world's major brands in the entertainment, sports, fashion/apparel, corporate, art and non-profit sectors and exemplifies the popularity of consumers' favorite brands around the world," ​said Tony Lisanti, global editorial director, License Global. "This report also reinforces the importance of licensed brands as a critical business for many of the world's largest retailers."
http://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/04/17/walt-disney-company-worlds-leading-licensor-with-566bn-licensed-products-2016

Can Luxury Challengers Take Burberry’s Digital Crown?

The share of luxury sales that occurs online is set to triple over the next 10 years, from around 6 percent today to 18 percent in 2025, according to McKinsey. This means e-commerce is set to become the world’s third largest luxury market after China and the United States.
https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/fashion-tech/luxury-challengers-burberry-digital-crown

It's Insanely Easy To Buy Thousands Of Instagram Followers — But Should You?

Buying Instagram followers is insanely easy and has become relatively cheap. In 2012, Forbesreported that you could get 1,000 followers for $90. Now, there are multiple sites, including Buzzoid and iDigic, where you can get as many as 10,000 followers for less than $70. 
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The more followers you have, the higher your engagement per post needs to be in order for the ratio between the two to look legitimate. That said, buying Likes is just as easy as buying followers and is still relatively cheap; 10,000 will cost you around $70 on most sites. But comments come at a higher price. On Gramozo, 500 comments will cost you $129.95. Maybe that's okay for your budget if you're only doing it for one or two photos, but if you begin doing it for every post, plus buying Likes and followers, things start getting very pricey.
http://www.refinery29.com/how-to-buy-instagram-followers