Facebook is shifting the sponsored content of social personalities into paid posts, and leaving the boosting of influencers to the advertiser’s discretion.

Brand influencers get put into new pecking order

Brands will now have to choose which influencers are allowed to use a tag, as well as compile analytics on individual engagement and reach.

The new structure could make influencer marketing more expensive. Brands will have to provide monetary support to influencers where they had been receiving free publicity.

Matt Britton, CEO of influencer marketing company Crowdtap, believes brands will no longer be able to capitalise on organic reach as the new Facebook algorithm slowly supresses unpaid posts.

Is Facebook eradicating influencers?

Facebook is bringing influencer marketing more inline with traditional strategies, relying on the celebrity of an endorser rather than lesser-known organic postings.

Social stars will have less skin in the marketing game now that their follower numbers count for less influence than previous.

Influencers and brands will need to allocate higher budgets for promotion and look to friends and Pages for a competitive reach.

Facebook-specific influencers will take the biggest hit while, other ad campaigns using multiple social platforms will see more of a streamlined process.

As a new industry in advertising emerges, only time will tell the fate of traditional Facebook influencers.

Do you feel these are growing pains of an emerging industry? Are you a Facebook influencer? We want to know what you think in our comments section below.