Who is Influencing You?

When I was growing up the people I looked up to, besides my parents, were sports figures, like Michael Jordan and Bo Jackson, and actors like Bill Murray and John Candy.  They were people who you knew something about.

For the last 10 years or so, social media has become increasingly popular.  It has grown to become a powerful marketing tool with almost 42% of the population using social media in one form or fashion (Mohsin, 2019).  With that sort of usage, influencers inevitably emerged.  Sometimes these influencers are experts in their field, sometimes they are celebrities, sometimes they are content creators, and sometimes they are micro influencers.  Either way, these influencers tended to garner a fair amount of power over their follower’s decision making.

Celebrities are the traditional, or OG, influencers.  For decades businesses used celebrities to market their products in various ways.  While celebrities are highly visible, they are also limited in numbers.  Experts are respected because of the knowledge they have and for their success in their field.  The problem with experts is they can be highly divisive, and they tend to not have the same reach as a celebrity.  Content creators have come about pretty much during the rise of social media and some have large followings.  Finally, you have the micro influencer.  They have a smaller following and are usually focused on a specific area.  Micro influencers are abundant but are often less well known than celebrities and experts.

With all of the various influencers out there, more and more people are being influenced by individuals who the users know nothing about.  In the early years of social media, the early adopters gained followers and staked their claim to their piece of the pie.  These early adopters made lots of money and showed others how they could also make a living “influencing” others.  This ability to make money by influencing others gave way to fake profiles and bots which was seen especially during the 2016 election.

As social media platforms became bigger and bigger, more and more people jumped into the influencer arena.  The early adopters who had already gained followers and made their money continued to flourish while newcomers flooded the market.  It was during this time that the bots and fake accounts really started to flex their muscles.  These fake accounts and bots mixed in with all the new influencers coming into social media and quickly found footing with certain populations.  With no formal background checks or way to verify who some of these accounts are, any information they spread should be looked at with a fair amount of skepticism.  I find myself trying to check where my information comes from but even then, it can be difficult in the massive social media world.  So the question becomes, who is influencing you?

Sources

Hausman, A. (2019).  The rise and fall of the social media influencer.  Marketing Insider Group.  Retrieved from https://marketinginsidergroup.com/influencer-marketing/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-social-media-influencer/.

Mohsin, M. (2019).  10 Social media statistics you need to know for 2019.  Oberlo.  Retrieved from https://www.oberlo.com/blog/social-media-marketing-statistics.