What I learned about Influencers (Blog #10)

 

Mostly all of us are aware of social media and the addiction it has on many around the world. This leads us to catch ourselves scrolling for numerous hours at a time, especially on TikTok, due to the fact that we are entertained by what continuously pops up in our feeds. We do see our friends post quite frequently on our social media platforms, but what we really see more than our friends are influencers.

Influencers are people who influence or inspire others, even though you could consider your mother an influence because she taught you much throughout your life the main thought that comes to people's minds when they hear this definition is the influencers on social media. These influencers typically have a bigger following on social media platforms because the more and more they post relatable videos, the more views they receive from shares by their audience. 

Influencers usually start their journey by posting relatable content and these videos are typically "Get Ready with Me" videos, "Day in the Life" videos, makeup tutorials, cooking tutorials, people who post funny content, and so much more depending on what your feed finds your interest as. These people have become our whole reality, apart from celebrities, and since they have become our generation's reality companies rely heavily on these influencers.

Many brands now collaborate with influencers if they seem to relate to a certain group of products. These brands send out "PR Packages," which are public relations packages that are meant to be opened on camera. These packages are usually put together tremendously well when trying to promote new products that the brand will be launching. These companies will add these influencers to a paid promotion for the brand just to open these boxes on videos and give a review on what they think. This benefits both the influencer and the influencer, as it influences the influencer's viewers to want to buy these products because they see someone they trust using them while also putting money into the company's pocket from these new buyers. 

Although this works most of the time, it can often cause backlash for fans if they splurge on the product and it does not do what the influencer advertised it does. These moments are usually considered " influencer scandals." This can cause the influencers to lose the trust of their followers, which looks bad on not just the influencer but also on the company who paid them to review the product because it is common for these PR package videos to have a disclaimer that says "paid promotion," whether it is in a hashtag or as a label on the videos. 

Overall, influencers have become normalized in society and companies are very much reliant on influencers as they promote many products that create sales. Even if an influencer is simply promoting a product or business without being paid to promote to still benefits the company in sales while also gaining even more trust in the influencers knowing that they are not being paid to say anything specific.