An influencer is a person with the potential to influence the mindset of people. Influencers have had their fair share of the market since the internet seized marketing. Brands often rope in internet celebrities with millions of fanciers to promote the brand from their platform. With the innovation of televisions, advertisers often star actors, sportspersons or political leaders in their advertisements and same concept has taken over in the digital space. Hence making the viewers believe that if they associate with this certain brand then they are adopting a product which their beloved idols use. There has been ample of instances where brands have profited by associating with an influencer for the promotion of their brand. When a brand is relatively new in the market, to grab the attention of people can get challenging. Connecting with an influencer can facilitate the exposure of brand hence help in the brand building process. It is noticed that when a celebrity or a blogger give details of their attire or fitness routine by tagging a brand, the brand receives a better response than a brand sponsoring their own products. Over time the thin line between influencer marketing and influencer advertising has become blurred. Influencer marketing is establishing a genuine relationship with influencers based on mutual interest who over time promote the brand for free. Influencer advertising is paying an influencer to boost the image of your brand. Often the followers of these influencers don't comprehend which content is sponsored but we cannot disregard that each leads to the evolvement of a brand. For instance, when Lord & Taylor had paid 50 influencers to wear the same dress and promote how it should be a staple in their wardrobe, the very next week the dress was sold out but later received charges from FTC. One of the reasons for influencer marketing gaining momentum is due to the saturation of people with paid ads. As nowadays people have become "banner blind", that only 14% people remember the last ad they saw and remember what was being promoted (source: Infolinks). Another advantage is that these ads don't get blocked by AdBlock and similar plug-ins. The response of influencer marketing is traceable. In the digital world likes, comment and activity on the post decide the impact of the marketing. Also, these posts result in better ranks on the search engine. The popularity increases with the increase in mentions on different social media platforms. This way you can track whether the influencer has benefited in building your brand. According to The Social Media Revolution, user-generated social posts account for 25 percent of search results for the world's top 20 brands. Many brands have now incorporated influencer marketing in their digital marketing campaigns. The profit and popularity gained cannot be overlooked. The sheer engagements on these social media posts of influencers have created an undeniable demand for the brand. It is also important to discover the right influencer who equivalents to the image you want to build for your company. The time of spending bountiful money in advertising with no indication of its success in influencing people has surpassed. Influencer marketing is a raging trend and is here to stay. Umang Mathur, Founder and CEO at I Media Networks