Media Influencers - Embracing The Inner Billboard

Seriously though people post videos of themselves just existing and get 50k likes. It's unreal.

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Social media continues to connect us more than ever before. It's on our phones, our laptops, our Google searches... it's everywhere. It's exceedingly hard to find someone these days that doesn't have any form of social media to be honest. Spaces like LinkedIn have become so mainstream in the business world that having a presence on the site (even to a minor degree) is almost a barrier to entry for most jobs now. For those that have stayed off that site, there's still Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Reddit, and more. Even services that you wouldn't expect such as Spotify, iTunes, Discord, Youtube, etc... have so many built in social functions that even spending a little time on them will likely expose you to people. It's the internet after all. It's all connected, and everyone seems to be a click away these days.

For those of you who have spent a little time on some of these sites, you'll know many of them revolve around things such as "Likes". It'll differ from place to place; some give you "Followers", others offer you "Upvotes", and there's always "Subscribers" for those on viewership platforms. Call it what you want... it's basically fake internet points. It is, sorry, it's internet points. Redeemable at the internet store for... uh... a cool t-shirt that says "I'm popular".

Jokes aside, there is not many sites that put real value behind these Likes, Follows, or Subscribers. You can't redeem them for anything other than a little clout around your friends. That's not to say that there isn't any value there at all though. For many of us, we get excited when we see the "Like" counter crack three or four digits. Five is, for many people, unrealistic. Six? Forget it. But there are those out there that can post pretty much anything and drop a quarter of a million reactions on their account almost overnight. Is there any value to that?

These individuals can be thought of as "Influencers". They can be large (think seven figures worth of reactions, celebrities, athletes, those kinds of people) or small (seemingly random people with massive social networks), but they all have a few things in common that we can dive into shortly. Like it or not, they also have a tremendous amount of marketing power if wielded correctly.

So how does one gain proper "Influencer" status? How does an "Influencer" influence things? And what purpose do "Influencers" serve in today's industries?

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Under the influence

There is no real hard and fast line that you need to cross to become an influencer. There's no rules, guidelines, cutoffs, or scorecards tracking who gets the honor of calling themselves an influencer. No one will come to your house and give you a little gold trophy to commemorate your influencer status. So how do we know we've found one?

To be clear, anyone can declare themselves an influencer. You can stop reading this and log into your social media profiles right now and change your bio on that profile to declare that you're an influencer. There's no interview process and no reporting structure for the esteemed title. All you need to do is actually bother to do it. For most people, calling themselves an influencer would seem silly considering 80% of us don't reach 10k people on social media. This all being said, calling yourself an influencer is simply that... a title. I can go out and call myself the Sovereign King of the Moon if I want. That doesn't make it true.

In order to become a proper influencer, you need the audience to do it. Again, there's no cutoff for what constitutes an influencer as far as followers go, but depending on the platform, you're likely looking to hit at least six figures before you can really start touting your claim around. As for how you get that content, that's the tricky part. Are you famous? Is your content just that good? What is driving people to your page or profile? Figure that out and let the follower count snowball and you're headed for influencer status.

The other element to take into account (especially on the "smaller" end) is intent. There are people with 60k followers who will declare they are an influencer. There are others with 600k followers that won't touch the distinction with a long stick. There's going to be a difference in how they treat both their content and their audience. Mostly, it boils down to "Are you attempting to influence people". Novel concept I know, but it really does make sense if you think about it for more than a couple seconds. Why is that influencer on your feed? Are they trying to promote something? Draw attention to something? Purpose and intent matters here. And yes, some people such as celebrities will obtain such a large following that they can't really escape the distinction, but those people are very few and far between.

So a basic summary for everyone...

Does a person have a decently large social media following?

Are they trying to influence you to think or act a certain way, or are they trying to get you to buy something?

Are they calling themself an influencer?

If you got a "Yes" for all three questions, congrats, you found an influencer.

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The power of persuasion

Alright, great! You found an influencer! What exactly do they do?

For those that don't know how an influencer goes about their business, the concept can be very strange. On the surface, it appears that they are simply existing, posting on social media in an effort to gain likes and followers to satisfy a quest for vanity. The truth is that influencers are business people. It seems kind of odd to consider someone a hard working individual when their job is to post photos of themselves on a pier having coffee (heck, you can go post a photo of yourself right now!). It may even be tempting to dismiss influencers as not having a real job, or that their job is considered easy. I would be inclined to respond simply with this: Ok, you do it if it's so easy.

Anyone can post online. Anyone can interact with people in the comment sections. Very few know how to drive a mass audience and sustain growth of that audience. That's the hard part.

Influencers are marketers. They are marketing themselves, embracing the concept of being a walking billboard. What drew the audience to them? It'll vary from influencer to influencer. What matters is that they have the audience. Influencers have hundreds of thousands of eyes on them and their content. As an advertiser, is that not exactly what the end goal of an advertisement is? To get in front of as many people as possible without forcing them to be there?

Many wonder how these influencers make money. Really, the biggest thing is the sponsorship deals with these advertisers (though there are many others). It's why you have people who are trying to become influencers seeming to pop up now and again wanting to be sponsored or asking for freebees in exchange for exposure. Influencers know they have an audience (likely one that hangs around for at least long enough to engage in some way with the influencer's content) and know that they can put a brand in the spotlight as a result. They simply need to engage their audience enough that the audience sticks around. A few sponsorship deals later and the influencer collects a big cheque every time they post content. That money can be spent on creating crazier, more unique and engaging content, further driving up the audience count and attracting more sponsors. The cycle repeats.

The influencer simply needs to know how to drive engagement and growth in their audience.

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At the business level

How much impact can one person have on an industry? Armed with only a social media account and a little name recognition, can an influencer have any lasting or noticeable sway on how business is done? There will always be people who want free stuff in exchange for a little digital real estate on their Instagram account, but pick the right people and you could find yourself cooking with fire. From simple name drops to strategic brand placement in posts, you can find many avenues to passively put a logo in front of the masses.

Let's not dismiss the facts from earlier. These influencers are marketers and business driven individuals. They have mass appeal and that mass appeal is profitable. Dwayne Johnson can essentially pitch his brand off his name and personal social media account alone, but he's not holding up the brand as his content. Come off like a commercial and you turn people away, but have the brand visible and you gain tons of engagement without forcing it.

Let's take it another direction and look at a man who calls himself "Ninja". Again, it's easy to think that a gamer with neon hair filming himself isn't a job, but look at both his audience reach and his demographic. Want to market to a primarily younger audience? Strike a deal and guess who will be spending minutes to hours of their time staring at your brand or having it name dropped. Being advertiser friendly and holding an audience gives you the ability to tap into the deep pocketbooks of companies because you have become the billboard everyone wants in their back pocket.

Can an influencer have business level influence. Absolutely. It's why these deals get made all the time. It's why companies drop billions of dollars on people to keep their brand in the public eye. In the technology era, it's just business.

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Popularity sells

To dismiss social media and all the trapping that come with it is to dismiss an entire suite of opportunity. Take what we've just discussed with influencers and swap the name out with "Contractor". Has anything really changed? They are independent marketing personal that have embraced the fact that they are a digital billboard. It's no different than slapping a company decal on the side of your car. Popularity drives people to the top of the pile where they can become more popular (metrics wise) and it only serves to make them more attractive to potential money generating deals. Do influencers have a place in the business world going forward? Yes, they are the primary way forward if things like the metaverse and always-online initiatives continue the way they are.

It's easy to see the photos and think influencers have the easy life, but it's like any social media. People will display what they want you to see. What you are shown is the picture perfect view of a person smiling as they dangle their feet over the grand canyon and enjoy the great outdoors (while sporting whatever gear they're sponsored to of course). What you don't see is the commute, the multiple angles and takes, the editing, the potential SEO work, and the planning for what comes next once the post "dies" in 72 hours. Again, there's nothing stopping you from trying it for yourself. Maybe you'll be the next million subscriber superstar! If you go out there and end up making it happen, you'll have definitely earned it.

~IR

Do you follow any influencers? What kind of things do you see influencers doing that you've tried to replicate? Or maybe you just have a comment to add? Check out the Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn page and let everyone know. Don't forget to follow or like the page for updates! And share this article if you feel others should give it a read!

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