We are currently going through a revolutionary shift. Primarily, it was the industrial revolution, then it was the mass media revolution and now we have entered the digital revolution.
Advertising stayed relatively the same for 50 years until the internet and social media came and disrupted it. When was the last time you bought something because you saw a newspaper ad or billboard? Now advertisers are spending money on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, etc. As well to social media platforms, they are also investing in influencers and content creators.
An influencer is someone like you and me who chooses to consistently post online on any chosen social media platform or all of them catering to their particular niche. They could post beauty tutorials, comedy skits, or gaming commentary. They could even be posting about drinking soup which some people find entering, or the recent and popular trend of ASMR, creating sounds and whispers up close on a microphone. Whatever it is, there is a demand for influencers.
If you’re wondering why your child or you are sitting staring at a screen watching these videos, then this is now the world we live and work in. Currently, influencer marketing is a billion-dollar industry so brands are realising this is an effective way to market to millennials. When it comes to regulations, procedures, measuring ROI, and all these things, we are working it out as we go along. Even the government is now releasing more laws on influencers as a way of protecting advertisers but also figuring out just how powerful influencers are online.
Read about the Saudi Arabia law: Social media expat influencers face jail for 5 years unless they work through licensed companies and agencies – ITP Live
Influencers are applicable to anyone trying to gain a presence on their brand. As a leading agency in the region, ITP Live have seen a huge growth of businesses go from a start-up to an empire, just by using influencer marketing. 70% of purchases by millennials are made from a peer recommendation. 60% of in-store purchase decisions have been influenced by a social media post or a blog post. 60% is quite high and if you think about why that is, on average millennials are spending 9 hours on social media a day. Oftentimes, the YouTubers or people they are watching are now becoming more of their friends than their real-life friends (which is probably why we can now meet friends through the metaverse now).
One case study I had read about included a brand that hired nano and micro-influencers for their brand to gain recognition and purchases, before saving enough money to have a mega-influencer or “celebrity influencer” Kylie Jenner use the product on her social media. It went out to 75 million followers at the time, and its sales skyrocketed.
Not only is influencer marketing applicable to brands but also applicable to people. If you ask any millennial if they are trying to build up their Instagram right now, their answer will probably be yes. That’s not something to be looked down on, because they know that building a personal brand today is so important than any other time as it can help you potentially with job employment, and accessibility.
As an influencer, your audience grows with you and trusts you- you are your own advertiser if you are an influencer yourself. Personal brands are important and part of that puzzle piece is growing your audience, but how do you grow your audience? One way is utilising influencers – if you have your own brand, you can have another influencer in your niche promote your brand and do a shout-out. Shout-outs are how a lot of people are growing quickly.
Generation Z
In the next 20 years, Generation Z will be grown up. What do you think will be the revolution then? No one will know as no one knew how big and new the industry of influencer marketing would be on a global scale. Potentially, we may all be living in the metaverse.
There are, however, restrictions in place for how people view branded content, and there are rules and regulations that influencers and content creators have to follow. For example, a requirement that influencers now have to do if promoting a brand is using the #AD on their posts or disclosing if it’s #Sponsored.
A popular influencer and internet personality Jake Paul spent the first 7 minutes of his 30-minute video upselling his products to kids as one of his marketing strategies. However, there are rules to say you can only spend 20% marketing to kids, and this video had 50% – do we still have a long way to go? The answer is yes.
Lastly, let’s talk about money. Influencers, when done right, can make a lot of money. In one of Jake Paul’s videos, he admits he made 50 million in one year. Not only did the advertising industry change, but also the entertainment industry. You may see influencers that you have never seen before appear on your screen for a new tv show, or charity competition.
If you see a sponsored post by a creator or influencer that you like, don’t roll your eyes as this is the time that you should interact and show your support. When you like that post, you know the brand will be looking at those insights, and therefore it is the time the influencer spends or a creator spends in making that post happen. They are the directors, creatives, lighting, storyline, and much more when it comes to creating content – it’s not just getting out of bed and taking one picture – there is more work to it otherwise we wouldn’t exist.
If you see an affiliate link, use it, if you see a promo code, use that too as you need the product and you like seeing your influencer and content creator creating content for the product. You’re helping highly creative people build their lives.
To conclude
- Influencers are not going anywhere
- Stop picking on your kids
- Support the influencers in your life
It’s as simple as that!
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