Legitimizing the Influencer Market

On track to be worth up to $15 billion by the year 2022, the influencer market is growing at an exponential rate. As Instagram achieved over 1 billion active users, it is now one of the broadest advertising platforms to date. The influencer industry has gone from caterpillar to a full on swarm of butterflies amidst this, giving those with bigger followings a chance to advertise to their audience.
With over 2.4 million followers, an independent clothing line, best selling book, a collaboration with Macy’s, and a charity platform, Danielle Bernstein of "WeWoreWhat" has also tapped into organizing the influencer industry. As you can imagine, the industry for this job is quite ambiguous. It seems as though brands magically collaborate with bloggers and a lot of what goes on behind the scenes is not uniform. To solve this, Bernstein created MOE Assist, a project management tool used to manage projects, partnerships, and payments on the back-end.

The success of this project has been well-received. As bloggers with a medium to large following who get many partnership requests, it’s a great tool to organize. However, there is a quite large market within the influencer industry that doesn’t get as many inquiries. These are called ‘micro-influencers,’ or those with under 5,000 followers. In order to further legitimize the entirety of the industry, Bernstein expanded her MOE Assist program to the new Global Creators Community. On the site, influencers of any size have access to professional advice, digital talks, mentorship programs, financial advice, and more.
With the rise of social media comes the rise of new voices. This tool will be one of many emerging platforms that aim to help people find community through their specific interests. The influencer industry is still quite new and malleable, and sharing advice and a platform of resources is marking the start of its legitimacy.


By: Adi Shoham
IG: @adiblossom