Love them or hate them, social media influencers are here to stay. According to investment banking company Goldman Sachs, ​​the influencer industry is worth approximately $250 billion, and is expected to grow to nearly $500 billion by 2027.

One recent survey conducted by influencer marketing agency IZEA found that 79% of people polled had bought a product after seeing an influencer use it. It goes without saying that social media influencers have become valuable to businesses and brands in the digital age, and can be extremely beneficial.

Problems pop up when the few bad apples take things too far, using their influencer “clout” to try and get away with whatever they want, as if the rules of society don't apply to them.

Olivia Savage is an influencer marketing expert, and the Senior Marketing Strategist of Creator Growth and Engagement for partnership management platform impact.com. Savage has tons of experience working with influencers, so it pays to listen to what she says.

When Bored Panda reached out to her, the expert was more than happy to share her words of wisdom with us, our readers, and anyone who considers themselves an influencer or wants to break into the market.

Savage cautions that influencers need to remember that they are small-business owners. "You have built a reputation and community around certain common interests, but if you’re not careful about protecting the brand you cultivated, you can lose it all in an instant with poorly thought-out behavior,” warned the expert.

“Be very careful about burning bridges and abusing the platform you’ve built, because ‘cancel culture’ is still very much alive.”

Bored Panda asked Savage whether there's any real benefit for brands when they give freebies to influencers, and she believes there is. "Providing free product gives creators the opportunity to try it out and provide genuine, authentic feedback about what they think," she told us. "Leveraging product gifting as a compensation strategy can be very cost effective, depending on the price point and shipping costs."

Then we wanted to know whether it's considered rude for an influencer to ask for free stuff. Apparently not... "Our own impact.com research shows that brands love it when creators initiate contact, rather than waiting for the brand to reach out to them," she revealed. "Don't hesitate to reach out to brands you love."

But Savage says there's a way to go about it. "We have educational content about how to pitch yourself and even a media kit template to help creators craft a winning pitch," offered the expert.

"Aside from proper grammar and good overall email practices, creators should be sure to provide some information on their content style, primary audience, followership, and any tangible results they've generated for other brand partners. Providing a couple broad ideas for how they'd leverage their free product in promotional content is also a good idea."

Not all brands or small businesses are in a position to give away free stuff. But that doesn't mean they can't work with social media influencers, says Savage. "Brands can provide influencers discounts to purchase your product, plus some sort of bonus or performance-based compensation if content they make promoting your product generates sales for your brands," suggests the expert.

"You can look for creators who are already making organic content about your brand and ask to repurpose or repost their content in exchange for some sort of discount or other reward."

According to impact.com, theoretically, anyone who self-identifies as a trendsetter or plugs a product on social media can be considered an 'influencer.'

"But what sets influencers apart from the 'average Joe' is the quantifiable amount of clout they wield with their followers. What's even more valuable than their number of followers is the trust their audiences place in them," explains the company's website.

The impact.com team adds that audiences place a premium on authenticity. "If an influencer has done a good job of cultivating trust through engaging content that resonates with followers, they can parlay that trust into lucrative partnership opportunities with brands," reads the site.

But once you've built that trust, be warned: you can lose it even faster than it takes to hit "like." So please don't follow the example of anyone featured on this list!