The Phenomenon Of Influencers On Social Networks
Globalization is a phenomenon that has ended up affecting the way we understand marketing. Today, the advertising saturation added to the boom in social networks has led many companies to rethink new actions to reach consumers. This is where the figure of influencers appears.
A person with an account on a given social network and a community of followers over which they have influence. They are also seen as a new player in the company’s marketing strategy. The latter thus seeks to obtain a more credible message.
Influencers can be traditional celebrities. However, many bloggers, YouTubers or Instagrammers have also become important and can bring greater segmentation to the brand’s message. And allow companies to directly reach their market niche.
The arrival of social networks has created a panorama in which the opinion of any user can generate an ideological current. This then gives birth to a new language. The objective of this article is to examine this phenomenon which generates more than one billion euros. And in which more than 20 million people work around the world.
What are social media influencers?
We all have the ability to influence. However, to a greater or lesser extent, an influencer is able to transfer certain information to a greater number of circles of influence.
These people reach multiple online communities, the media, other influencers, and most importantly, the end consumer.
Among his main skills are the ability to communicate and contact with his “followers”. The influencer must know his audience and the language he uses, he must know how to adapt his message. We must take into account that the influencer communication model is two-way, since it generates a space for dialogue.
Thus, they also have the ability to generate trust and reciprocity. That is to say the ability to transmit proximity and establish lasting relationships. Showing empathy and similarity with “followers” is key for influencers.
Of course, it is also important to demonstrate a significant knowledge on a concrete subject and a certain coherence in the speech during the intervention. Thus, a very positive point in their work is that they know how to anticipate the questions that potential buyers of the products they are promoting may ask themselves.
One of the main characteristics of influencers is their ability to set trends. This person must be able to make the customer buy, consume and recommend the product. And for all this, the influencer must have a good ability to tell stories, create content (videos, images, articles and opinions), maintain a certain level of quality and arouse the interest of the public he wants to achieve.
Between fraud and numbers
We must also stress the dangers of this phenomenon, in which it is easy to take advantage of ignorance. Here we see two cases that highlight the dangers we can encounter:
A particularly paradigmatic story is that of the American instagrammer Arii. A girl who has more than 2.6 million “followers” and who has decided to launch a clothing line. She couldn’t sell more than 36 T-shirts.
It is a real demonstration that the number of “followers” does not always represent a loyal audience. Or a mass of potential customers. There are, for example, tools that allow you to buy “followers”, the so-called “fake influencers”.
Another very remarkable case was the Fyre Festival, an event broadcast by many influencers. The beach, top models, an island that belonged to Pablo Escobar in the Bahamas, tickets from 4,000 euros. All tickets sold out within 48 hours. It was actually a farce.
However, despite these dangers, according to a 2016 study by Twitter, 49% of consumers seek advice from influencers on social media to buy. In addition, 20% said they bought by following the tweets of certain influencers.
On the other hand, this study also shows that the areas most affected by this type of marketing are politics, society and fashion. The most used social networks are Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
So it can be said that influencer marketing is a viral phenomenon for consumers and businesses. Consumers thus prefer to trust a person who, although he or she does not know it, gives them arguments to buy a product.
So, companies have decided to invest time and money in a new marketing plan that includes influencers in the promotion and communication strategy.
However, it is important to choose the right influencer for the brand. Otherwise, resources would be invested unnecessarily and trust in the brand could be lost.
Our thoughts Can we really log out of our phones and computers? Are we able to move away from new technologies?
