Have you ever considered paying a social media influencer to help promote either your brand or a specific product? Recently I’ve been studying if it makes financial sense to engage a social media influencer to help promote one of the companies I’m involved with. Let’s be honest, the most important thing is that income exceeds outflow and when you’re a small business that is even more important. So being careful with these types of decisions are critical to survival. So what about social media? Is it even useful?

Of course everyone knows the main social media players. Facebook Instagram, TikTok, Twitter (X), LinkedIn, and multiple other smaller ones and that’s all well and good, but what about real reach? There are essentially four social media zones and we have to decide where we, or our campaign belongs. What are these zones?

In no particular order, they seem to be community, publisher, commerce, and entertainment. As you will see, while wearing different labels, they overlap. Community – this is the one many of us visit the most often. It is where we share with our friends and families. We keep up with each other and we can think of it as our cyber neighborhood. Publisher –  This zone consists of people who post images and videos. Now this is one of the zones that definitely crosses over and shares space with community. We’ve all seen the videos of kids and grandkids playing. The person doing the posting is the publisher in their community. Commerce – this is where businesses and self-employed people live. Trying to either get new customers or retain existing ones. Customers. Posts are designed to increase sales, help to insure brand loyalty; in other words to make sure the company or brand is seen in a positive light. The final zone is entertainment and that once can actually cross into commerce and publisher. Videos and images that are designed to entertain and still promote the brand.

When an organization is deciding to use an Influencer in their social media marketing campaign, it is, in my opinion, necessary to choose one whose influence can simultaneously encompass as many zones as possible. The person selected must have a proven record of accomplishments the public is aware of; and a history of being able to reach across not only the various social zones and networks, but also generational cohorts, cultures, and interest groups.

Another consideration when choosing an Influencer is their social footprint. Therefore, we must take into consideration the reality that

“All social media are networked around relationships, technologically enabled, and based on the principles of shared participation. (Tuten & Solomon, 2018, p12-13) 

The more a person affects a particular social media environment, the larger their imprint is. This offers that person an opportunity to have a much larger data tracking history than others. (Tuten & Solomon, 2018)  When users are able to view a person on a regular basis and on multiple platforms, they can then begin to feel an attachment, and often, at least in their minds, a relationship.

“Based on the literature in evolutionary psychology, one would expect that people, regardless of the situation, would be attracted to and form attachments to familiar others whose faces and voices have become well known.” (Stever, 2017, pp. 98)

Society has witnessed this, sometimes in a negative manner with stalkers, but often in a positive way seen in the popularity of meet and greet contests.

Once we establish a foundational understanding of what we are looking for in our Influencer, i.e., a person who can cross-zones, who has a public persona the audience can identify with, or at least enjoy seeing and hearing, and who is seen as someone dependable; it becomes easier to narrow down our list of candidates.

One major risk that brands face is picking the wrong Influencer. One who does not fit the demographic for your company’s products or services. Recently this was clearly seen when the marketing department of Bud Light chose Dylan Mulvaney as an influencer. The choice of Dylan failed because the marketing people were dismissive of the current fans of the brand. They took sides in a hot-button societal issue and instead of focusing on the quality of the product they made it about beliefs. They ignored the reality that when people spend their money on a product, they are making an emotional commitment to that brand. That issue was compounded when the Vice-President of Marketing publicly made disparaging remarks about the current consumers of the brand.

The rewards can be spectacular when the correct individual is chosen. One such success story is Lil Beanies food offerings for toddlers. Using what are known as “mommy bloggers” the company achieved a 5 percent sales increase and had over 56 million impressions. The company was successful both monetarily and psychologically. (Tuten & Solomon, 2018)

The use of Influencers is different from the use of traditional “spokespersons,” especially when it comes to the psychological attachment people feel towards a “celebrity.” It is true that many people have developed a strong attraction for television series, such as “Star Trek” and often try to identify with either an individual or the show as a whole. (Steyer, 2017)  Due to an inherent perceived close relationship, that individual might feel they have with an Influencer; there is an excellent chance they will be more inclined to believe their recommendations. Whereas a television personality or a cartoon character who is seen only in commercials is not likely to have that same long-term or emotional attachment. While there is a familiarity with the spokesperson, there is also the knowledge that the figure is nothing more than someone “pitching” a product; whereas an Influencer can be seen as someone who truly cares and is an expert. Selecting the correct influencer for a brand requires extensive research and analysis, especially when it comes to predicting the return on investment the company has to make to ensure a positive return on investment.

Don’t let your emotions guide your decisions, it’s not about what’s right or wrong, it’s about what will sell the most product.

References

Booth, N., & Matic, J. A. (2011). Mapping and leveraging influencers in social media to shape corporate brand perceptions. Corporate Communications, 16(3), 184-191. doi:http://dx.doi.org.lib-e2.lib.ttu.edu/10.1108/13563281111156853

Lurillo, O, (2019) 6 Dangers of Influencer Marketing, Social Media Today, retrieved from https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/6-dangers-of-influencer-marketing/558493/

Stever, G., (2017), Evolutionary Theory and Reactions to Mass Media, Understanding Parasocial Attachment, Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 6(2)

Tuten, T., & Solomon, M. (2018). Social media marketing (3rd ed). Los Angeles: Sage. (pp. 12-13, pp. 85)