You are just like me, we scroll through our social media every day. You might scroll less than me, I scroll without even realizing sometimes! Through our daily scrolls, we see and hear the posts we expect from the people we follow. If we did not want to see or hear it, we would not follow them right? What is the percentage of people you know in comparison to the influencers?
Our Following Habits
Before we used to follow our friends and celebrities, especially the days of Facebook in its prime and Instagram. Now, those are just the foundations of our followings, we may not realize it but our followings become more diverse with the more people we interact with. Remember this, because this is important!
As our presence on social media has grown massively, so has brands’ reputation. Any brand that we consistently purchase from, or like to stay up-to-date with, we most likely follow their social media, or someone who is associated with the brand. 57% of us follow brands because we look forward to seeing the latest products and services. Shock.
Are you into fashion? You most likely follow the brands you really love, or an influencer who promotes their products. Do you love sports? You definitely follow at least one athlete, or the brand/retailers that they are sponsored by!
Ronaldo is a generic example to start with, but I just had to set the pace because, everyone knows who Ronaldo is right? I know you do, but if not I will give you another example. Unbelievable.
Kendall Jenner, a very dominant face in both the Beauty and Fashion industries, will influence people into associating and buying from the brands that endorse her, like Calvin Klein or Fendi. Sherlina Nym is growing rapidly in the UK right now. She has inspired millions of women domestically and internationally to be more proactive in the “sneaker game”.
These types of influencers, their reach and audiences are very different and use different methods to continue to dominate in their respective fields. But they serve as inspiration that can make people adopt a new avenue in their lifestyle, or serve as motivation to grow.
Quality of the Posts We See
One of the best features of social media that will continue to blossom is access and motivation creatives are expressing. This is pushing the world to be more creative and to inspire others on a global level, as we know the reach of social media is unmeasurable. Look at the painting below, a famous art account on Twitter posted it and has received 1.1million likes. So imagine the reach, and it was not the painter who even posted it!
The quality goes further than just art. Comedy, entertainment, educational, all these things are also dominating social media. Giving more people a voice and expressing it in new forms of communication. Many could even argue that social media has become the new stage for comedy, as stand-up comedy shows have been declining over the decades.
Sure we all know this popular face, because he has provided us with frequent and applicable comedy during our frantic times of COVID. His niche? He would provide funny skits almost instantly after a major event has occurred, leaving people amused yet puzzled how he is so efficient?
Most influencer posts are calculated, the majority of them are taken organically, especially by those that have made their passion/profession their lifestyle. The one who are posting continuously are usually more orchestrated than organic. With fast fashion influencers, this is usually the case.
But all-in-all, high quality is a must to capture audiences. Even if it is not true, the image and perspective of high quality has to be present because in an age where there are so many options, if this is not achieved it could push these audiences elsewhere. And today’s society is all about value and the money $$$!
Authenticity On Our Heart Strings!
We see a lot of images and social media is full of people and information that is gathered and accepted. But the presence of misinformation and/or missing knowledge can be the underlying factor that can reduce the power of an influencer and can even result in “cancelling” a person.
Where does authenticity apply? For an influencer to actually be able to “influence”, people want to see that they actually live the life that they are sharing to the world. We understand once you create an image, when you are in the public eye you have to maintain that.
What better example to use than Molly-Mae right? Molly was growing online before reaching Love Island. Many are said to go on Love Island now just for the aftermath benefits, rather than actually participating in the show for the actual reason. Love.
This is why Molly not only strived within the show, but also has expanded extraordinarily since then. She was a Youtube star beforehand, influencing women with makeup, fashion, and more. After leaving the show, her reach has gone up by millions.
It is easy to create a perception online, it is harder to maintain it if that is not the way you live, and this is easy to tell online. You can easily see who’s influence online truly speaks to the masses by the type of endorsements they have and how frequent they influence.
This is why our followings are also diverse like I said earlier. We want to see more of this but from different perspectives, different angles. Influence is not a one-way street, there are numerous ways and there are multiple different brands that have many different representations and representatives. This is why diversity is key!
So… Do They?
I mean, there is no indefinite answer as everyone is different. Everyone’s social followings serve different purposes. But ask yourself this, when you read this, were you aware of this already? Are there people you follow that you did not realise are influencers and may have contributed to your spending habits in some way or form?
Could be as simple as following someone who is into fitness, their journey or work ethic could serve as motivation to you. Influencers are not all big, they are not famous. Could have influencers as friends.
My point is, influencers are not just celebrities anymore. We have become them.