Conor Begley is the Co-Founder and President of Tribe Dynamics, a company he started with Jon Namnath in April 2012 after discovering the power and potential of influencer marketing while working in Australia. What began as an intuitive theory shared by two long-time friends, the Silicon Valley-based startup now counts some of the beauty brands in beauty as clients, solidifying its authority in technical marketing and social analytics within the beauty fashion, and lifestyle industries. Here, Conor discusses the trend of influencer investment as it relates to a brand’s online and in-store success.

This year the topic of influencers has gone from experimental marketing budgets to the main stage and it has happened quickly. According to Fashionista and research Firm Fashion and Beauty Monitor, brands in the fashion and beauty space are expecting to increase their budgets by more than 59 percent this year.

The reason this shift is happening so dramatically within the beauty space has little to do with optics and is largely due to one topic most people can’t ignore: revenue. Brands that have focused on this as their primary marketing activity have seen large gains in market share, and the big players are starting to pay attention in the form of acquisition and investment. In the last 18 months NYX Cosmetics and Too Faced Cosmetics have each been acquired for $490 million, record-setting revenue multiples which has led to a whole new batch of players.

Becca Cosmetics just set Sephora’s first-day sales record while collaborating with Youtube influencer Jaclyn Hill; ColourPop has exploded onto the scene with an online-only, influencer-driven model; Glossier is one of skin care’s fastest growing brands with a social content-focused strategy.

With all of this being said, while last year may have been “The Year of the Influencer”, this will be “The Year of Influencer Investment.” Look for the major players to start putting serious dollars behind their influencer investments and to significantly alter the way they are distributing their traditional marketing budgets (print in particular).

The wave is coming, I hope you catch it!

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