It's been very strange growing up in a time where being an "influencer" is a career. I started reading fashion/lifestyle/beauty blogs in high school and then started my own blog my sophomore year of high school. I also watched a lot of YouTubers, but at the time they were all just doing it for fun. Sometimes they were sent products from companies to try, but mostly it was girls just like me posting content online. What is an Influencer?
Before I jump into more information about influencers I want to define the term. Influencers are people that are able to produce a compelling impact on the actions, behaviors, or opinions of others. This generally comes in the forward of sponsored posts on social media. The appeal of influencers over celebrities is that influencers are more closely related to us "every day" people. Celebrities have this air of exclusivity about them whereas influencers could be that girl in your communication class with 500,000 followers on Instagram getting brand deals. Even if an influencer is not someone you personally know, the idea is that they have a substantial enough following online but they aren't what we would call traditionally famous. We like to see content from influencers because we feel like we know them and can trust them when they recommend us products.
Examples of Influencers in my Life
The pictures sprinkled throughout this post are examples of #ad or #sponsored content I see on my Instagram feed. The first photo about EcoTools was posted by Katy Bellotte. I love Katy because she's honest and real. She is that big sister you've always wanted. When I was in high school I heavily relied on her boy advice and confidence tips. She built her following throughout high school and college, and now she's living in NYC with a job at Loreal. Watching her grow up and seeing her reach her dreams has inspired me to continue to push myself. Her partnership with EcoTools was smart because she works in the makeup industry. Her followers see her as a trustworthy source for product recommendations. She has established herself as honest and genuine which furthers her audiences' trust of her sponsored content. If you want to learn more about Katy I would recommend her blog, Instagram or YouTube channel. Katy recently started a podcast called "Thick & Thin" and it's incredible, too.To the right you will see Brooke Miccio's post about Olly Nutrition. I don't remember when I first started following Brooke but I know it was on YouTube. She is a senior at University of Georgia studying business and is a Kappa Delta. I probably began watching her videos before college because I binge-watched every single "recruitment advice" YouTube video before going through sorority recruitment. I relate to her because she also is the VP Public Relations of her KD chapter. She doesn't have as many followers as Katy or Danielle (who I'll talk about next). Brooke is relatable, she's so driven and she seems to always have her life together. Out of the three influencers I'm talking about today I think I am most like Brooke (based off my assumptions from them from social media). She works hard and is always busy. I trust Brooke's sponsored content because I know she only picks companies to work with that she really supports and believes in.
The final influencer I want to talk about is Danielle Carolan. I just recently began following her because she's also a Kappa Delta at UGA. She has more followers on YouTube and Instagram than Brooke which is still strange to me because I started watching Brooke first. Danielle and Brooke just started a podcast called "Gals on the Go" so that was how I first discovered Danielle. I'm fairly new to her content so as an audience member I'm still learning what Danielle's interests and passions are. I would be least likely to follow up on her sponsored content because I don't "know" her that well yet. So far, though, I have really enjoyed listening to her thoughts on her podcast. I think that naturally when you first start following someone you aren't going to just jump on and support every product they post about, you have to learn more about their style and interests.
Competitive Environment
Something I'm very interested in studying is how the market for influencers will change over time. This is the first time advertisers are really experimenting with influencers and not using traditional celebrities to market products. One complaint I'm seeing is that there's too much sponsored content. When this happens audience members stop liking or engaging in posts online. Obviously, companies are paying influencers to promote their products and they want to see that influencers are getting more likes not less. In the next few years I don't know how influencer marketing will transform but I think changes are likely to happen.
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