Welcome to the blog of Dr. Lisa Burns' Media Studies senior capstone class (2 pm section) at Quinnipiac University. If you're looking for the latest on media industry trends and insightful media analysis, you've come to the right place!
Tuesday, February 23, 2021
Lifestyle & Niche Media Blog 4, Question 3 (March 2nd)
How are brands and advertisers using social
media influencers to target audiences? What are the pluses and minuses of using
TikTokers, Instagram stars, and YouTubers to promote products?Limit: 7 responses
Nicole Bruder Part 1: As social media has become big enough that people can make a career out of it, brands have been utilizing the popularity of these influencers to help get their name out there. These influencers have a large following due to the fact that people just like them for who they are or how their lifestyle is. Brands team up with influencers who seem to fit their mission and overall vibe of the brand, so that the collaboration makes sense. Instagram has been seen to be one of the most used platforms for this type of marketing. I believe this to be true as you can see a picture or video of the influencer using the product and connect with the advertisement. I think it is best for brand to be consistent with their influencers, so people know there is a true partnership. This was discussed in the article posted by Influencer Marketing Hub. Their research found that “the majority of brands use the same influencers across different campaigns.” To make this bond even stronger, I think that brands should pick influencers who are well known along multiple platforms. This way there is consistency, and the word is being spread to a wider audience. Even though this type of marketing has been a thing for years, due to the current Coronavirus pandemic, the use of this tactic has increased. This is because now, more people “spend considerably more time online than previously”(“The State of Influencer Marketing 2021: Benchmark Report”). This is a great way to get company’s known because if more people are online, there is a better chance of people seeing ads.
Nicole Bruder Part 2: What I also think is important are the people that companies pick to represent their brands on social media. I think it is so important to be diverse with the people picked so the consumers can feel like they are being represented. When you feel represented by a company, it is easier to see yourself using that product because you can relate. But when a company is diverse in who they hire, they need to treat their employees/influencers fairly and equal. When picking influencers, companies need to be aware of the demographics they need to attract with their campaigns. Ashley Viens wrote an article about who is using social media the most. Vien states, “Gen Z is the first group in history that has never known a world without the internet,” and that their “daily activity on social media is 2 hours 55 minutes.” Given that they are on the internet most, companies should want to skew their campaigns to their liking. Monique Thomas wrote in her article about Black voices in the influencer marketing world and the impact Gen Z has on all of it. Thomas claims that since Gen Z is “the most racially and ethnically diverse generation,” and that they are “drawn to brands that are inclusive.” Many people and influencers feel as though more companies should take accountability for their lack of diversity through their influencer marketing campaigns. With all of this, I do think that it is a good idea to use TikTokers, YouTubers, and other influencers to promote your company. I think it is a fast way to increase the popularity of your business because people can see the people they look up to and can relate with using your product. With all good things, do come some downsides. While using influencers can be seen more as a positive thing, you have to understand that you cannot control the actions or words of other people. Many influencers can be unpredictable and get into scandals easily. If they are associated with any brand, this may make people think negatively about that brand. An example of this is the Olivia Jade college scandal. The brands she was associated with, completed dropped her when the news came out so that they could not get backlashed for continuing their work with her. Overall, I think that it is a strong marketing tactic to use popular influencers to get the word out about your brand. Given that social media is so popular, you need to use what is current to stay relevant.
Works Cited
“The State of Influencer Marketing 2021: Benchmark Report.” Influencer Marketing Hub, 15 Feb. 2021, influencermarketinghub.com/influencer-marketing-benchmark-report-2021/#:~:text=Coronavirus%20has%20accelerated%20that%20growth,of%20%249.7%20billion%20in%202020. Thomas, Monique. “4 Black Voices on Diversity in Influencer Marketing.” Later Blog, 4 Feb. 2021, later.com/blog/diversity-in-influencer-marketing/. Viens, Ashley. “This Graph Tells Us Who's Using Social Media the Most.” World Economic Forum, 2 Oct. 2019, www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/10/social-media-use-by-generation/#:~:text=Generation%20Z,55%20minutes%20spent%20per%20day.
As the use of social media has been on the rise over the past years, brands and advertisers have opted to use social media influencers in order to target certain audiences. This type of marketing is on the rise to grow to $13.8 billion in 2021 (The State of Influencer Marketing). Companies tend to use things like brand ambassadors, sponsored posts on social media, and affiliate marketing in order to get their product known to the public. Brand ambassadors hold a long-term partnership with a brand and it tends to be the most effective (Luenendonk). An example of a brand ambassador is Messi with his partnership with Pepsi. His job is to improve awareness or create a better bran for Pepsi though his social media channels. Companies will also use sponsored posts on Instagram as a short-term strategy. An influencer will create a post in which he or she is promoting a product or service through a picture, video, or blog. The last most popular strategy is affiliate marketing. This is more commission based and it motivates influencers to create better content and in turn drive up sales (Luenendonk). Even though 90% of survey respondents believe influencer marketing is an effective way to market (The State of Influencer Marketing), there are many pros and cons by using influencers to promote products. The pros to using influencers are the following. It was found that brands tend to give away free product samples rather than giving cash to their influencers (The State of Influencer Marketing). This is an advantage for businesses because they do not have to directly give paychecks to their influencers which helps them get their product out to their desired audience without going over budget. When dealing with partnerships, in particular YouTube, sponsored videos by channels with more than 7 million subscribers can earn about $300,000 for a video partnership (Luenendonk). Because over 1.8 billion people log onto YouTube every month, partnerships are a great way to get your product known. Because of the possible income an influencer could make, partnerships become the main source of income for YouTubers (Luenendonk). There are also many cons when dealing with using influencers to market products. Most brands will base their deal with you based on the amount of followers a user has. However, it is difficult when taking into account fake followers. The amount of influencers purchasing followers have been on the rise and if partnering with an influencer who has fake followers, one’s brand will not get as much attention (Council). Also, the influencer market is becoming extremely saturated. It is very easy to become disengaged with an influencer if they are constantly promoting brands. When choosing influencers, brands need to be extremely careful with the type and amount of promotional content an existing influencer is taking part in (Council). Ultimately, utilizing influencers to target a certain audience is a great strategy form brands to use, however they have to be on the lookout for the risks it can pose.
Luenendonk, Martin. "Earning Power: Here’s How Much Top Influencers Can Make on Instagram and YouTube." Cleverism 24 Nov. 2020, "The State of Influencer Marketing 2021: Benchmark Report." Influencer Marketing Hub 15 Feb. 2021. Council, Young Entrepreneur. “Council Post: The Pros And Cons Of Influencer Marketing For Your Brand.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 17 Dec. 2019, www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2019/12/17/the-pros-and-cons-of-influencer-marketing-for-your-brand/?sh=7fe2c2bb5ed0.
Brands and advertisers are using social media to promote products and services new more than ever before. The use of influencers to advertise and promote is on the rise, in a quote from a blog on Later the author states “In fact, 63% of marketers intend to increase their influencer marketing budget in the next year”. The article also mentions that the influencer marketing industry is on track to be worth around 15 billion by 2022. These numbers are only getting higher and the industry as a whole is rapidly growing. These influencers can be anyone,” they can be fitness gurus, gaming addicts, beauty bloggers, fashionistas, foodies, travel experts, etc.”, as described in a CBS Money Watch article. This becomes a plus and a minus for the influencer. The positive side is that your content and fan base is in a narrow and specific category. The CBS article also mentions that this creates a more personal connection with the content creator and viewers. For example, gaming influencers can promote to their viewers, controllers or keyboards or any other gaming related products. It becomes a minus because this is all that they can promote. Unlike celebrities or other famous TV personalities or even athletes have a wider range of what they can advertise for. The influencer is sort of locked into a certain category and has limited mobility in ads. These advertisements are also extremely expensive for influencers. In the same CBS article it mentioned ads costing near $20,000 for each post. Another negative about spending all this cash on influencers is some people might not see the advertisement. If I do not follow them on social media or, just happen to not go on my phone for a while, I could miss it on my feed. Unlike TV ads they are played multiple times on different channels. TikTok is the newest social media platform and is taking over at a rapid speed. This app is also filled with influencers that are extremely popular on the app. I have the app and I do not follow the influencers, but sometimes they pop up on my “For You Page” and I end up seeing them anyway. Challenges and viral trends are all over the app and companies are trying to take advantage of it. In a pixlee article, they mention having Dixie Damelio trying to start a challenge using a Coppertone product and telling everyone to do the challenge with a #CoppertoneGlowupChallange. This ad received 15.1 million views after she posted it and who knows how many people followed along with the challenge. Another viral trend was the TikTok Feta pasta trend which according to refinery29, caused stores in Finland to sell out of feta cheese. I saw this trend everywhere and I even tried it and it was amazing. Just goes to show the power that social media and influencers have over the public.
Works Cited Luenendonk, Martin. "Earning Power: Here’s How Much Top Influencers Can Make on Instagram and YouTube." Cleverism 24 Nov. 2020,
Carbone, Lexie. "Top 8 Influencer Marketing Trends Coming in 2021." Later 5 Dec. 2020. Contributor, Pixlee. “3 Reasons Why TikTok Is Pivotal for Influencer Marketing.” The Pixlee Blog, 15 Sept. 2020, www.pixlee.com/blog/tiktok-influencer-marketing/. Wang, Lydia. “Is Feta Cheese Really Sold Out Thanks To This Viral TikTok Pasta Dish?” Is This Tiktok Pasta Causing Feta Cheese To Sell Out?, www.refinery29.com/en-us/2021/02/10308754/feta-cheese-tiktok-pasta-recipe-ingredients-sales.
In the beginning, social media was a personal, informal platform for people to connect with others through. However, as social media like Instagram began to explode, the opportunity to use it’s informality in order to gain the trust of audiences became apparent to advertisers. “The State of Influencer Marketing 2021: Benchmark Report” highlighted some of the key insights of current social media influencer marketing. Notably, the influencer industry is set to grow to a 13.8 billion dollar industry in 2021, following the significant impact influencers held during the ongoing pandemic (Influencer Marketing Hub).
The main appeal of influencer marketing is the informality and organic feel to their content. As noted in “Top 8 Influencer Marketing Trends Coming in 2021”, an important form of influencer marketing is video content, as it provides a way to speak directly to social media users, whether it be through content like Instagram Reels or TikTok videos. Influencer Elizabeth Gilmore notes that she finds that “the more authentic, in the moment, and less ‘curated’ the better” in regards to influencer video content (Carbone). Influencers are trying to earn their audience’s trust, so it’s crucial that they are believable in terms of the brands they are supporting. In light of the pandemic and months on end of quarantine, authentic and unpolished content is becoming more and more popular. In fact, according to influencer Rohini Mauk, “the days of a perfectly manicured feed are slowly dying out” in favor of creating deeper connections with followers through value-driven content (Carbone). 2020 was somewhat of a turning point in this direction, as influencers could no longer maintain a “perfect image”, since society itself essentially shut down for the better part of a year. The newfound authenticity has only improved the effectiveness of influencer marketing, as followers can relate and trust the influencers they follow more than before. Another interesting development in influencer marketing is the success of nano and micro influencers, as noted in “Earning Power: Here’s How Much Top Influencers Can Make on Instagram and YouTube”. Nano influencers and micro influencers are seen as more approachable, in contrast to celebrity influencers like Kim Kardashian (Luenendonk). These smaller influencers have great engagement due to the authentic nature of their posts, but they typically don’t reach a large number of people. Overall, in 2021 we will see a more realistic side of influencers, as they post more video content and ditch the heavily-edited aesthetics that have been prevalent for years. Brands will want their influencers to be as convincing and relatable as possible to gain support from their followers.
As aforementioned, video content is a major part of influencer marketing right now. TikTok is an amazing way for brands to reach a massive audience, as there are 600 million active monthly users on the application (Hunt). According to Sarah Bricker Hunt in “Is TikTok Marketing Right for Your Brand?” fewer brands have dipped into TikTok marketing in comparison to social media apps. TikTok also has a massive pull with Gen Z users, as they make up 60% percent of their user demographic (Hunt). There is also massive potential to go viral on TikTok, meaning that a brand could explode on the platform if marketed properly. However, TikTok is primarily a younger generation’s platform, so brands miss a significant part of the population by advertising on it. Youtube is also a great platform for video content influencing, as people tend to religiously watch their favorite creators’ videos. Youtube feels much more authentic, as influencers can promote brands through clothing hauls, vlogs, or recommendation videos. Instagram, in contrast, typically feels much more curated, but that has begun to change after 2020. However, it can be difficult for Youtubers to gain new popularity, whereas it is much easier to grow on platforms like Instagram or TikTok.
Carbone, Lexie. “Top 8 Influencer Marketing Trends Coming in 2021.” Later Blog, 10 Dec. 2020, later.com/blog/influencer-marketing-trends/.
Hunt, Sarah Bricker. “Is TikTok Marketing Right for Your Brand?” Business 2 Community, 24 Feb. 2021, www.business2community.com/social-media/is-tiktok-marketing-right-for-your-brand-02388644.
Luenendonk, Martin. “Earning Power: Here's How Much Top Influencers Can Make on Instagram and YouTube.” Cleverism, 24 Nov. 2020, www.cleverism.com/earning-power-heres-how-much-top-influencers-can-make-on-instagram-and-youtube/.
“The State of Influencer Marketing 2021: Benchmark Report.” Influencer Marketing Hub, 15 Feb. 2021, influencermarketinghub.com/influencer-marketing-benchmark-report-2021/#:~:text=Coronavirus%20has%20accelerated%20that%20growth,of%20%249.7%20billion%20in%202020.
With the rise of social media over the past few years, a lot of companies have become more reliant on influencers to push their products than the traditional advertisement route of commercials and ads. The companies that rely on those influencers tend to be more online driven to begin with, with more emphasis on their own social media presence and online stores. There are so many positives of using influencers. For example, they are more relatable to their fans, as the fans who follow, follow for a reason. In addition, influencers allow companies to reach out to different demographics and showcase more diversity by handpicking the communities they share their products with. In the Later Blog article, Lexie Carbone discusses how diversity and inclusion will be a main focal point in influencer marketing in 2021. Carbone concluded that, “The goal for 2021 should be to build diversity and inclusion into all aspects of your business — including influencer marketing — to create effective change and illustrate your brand’s values,” (Carbone). With everything that happened in 2020, it is important to showcase all levels of diversity whether it be race, disability, gender, or size. People want to see themselves represented, to be able to be inspired by others who look like them. One company that has proven to emphasize diversity within the past year has been Gymshark. In the past, Gymshark was highly criticized for lack of inclusiveness in their models and social media posts. Being an athleisure company, they were prone to posting athletic consumers and the ‘ideal look’. However, over the past year, Gymshark has included a vast diversity on their social media pages and through their influencers. One of their ‘controversial’ influencers and model, Aaliyah, was showcased on their page representing their brand with hairy armpits and an unibrow. This blew up across social media, mostly with positive energy. Gymshark responded to hate from the post with, “we will be featuring a lot more body positivity from now on… Fitness comes in all forms and we’re pleased to be able to feature diverse models on our feed,” according to a Yahoo! article (Tarbert). With companies focusing on diversity and inclusion, using influencers of all backgrounds will allow for that to be easily achieved.
Across all platforms of social media, we see companies utilizing influencers in similar ways. Often times, the company will provide their products or services for free or at a discounted price if the influencer talks positively about it to their audience. However, according to Cleverism, influencers can make a lot of money representing various brands (Luenendonk). Companies are growing their influencer marketing budget rapidly year over year. With the different types of influencers available, companies are able to pick and choose various markets and representation their want to fit their brand, allowing for expansion into more diversity and inclusivity. With the influencer market growing exponentially, it is no surprise that brands will soon shift to relying more on social media advertisements through influencers than spending for airtime or pop-up ads.
Works Cited Carbone, Lexie. “Top 8 Influencer Marketing Trends Coming in 2021.” Later Blog, 10 Dec. 2020, later.com/blog/influencer-marketing-trends/. Luenendonk, Martin. “Earning Power: Here's How Much Top Influencers Can Make on Instagram and YouTube.” Cleverism, 24 Nov. 2020, www.cleverism.com/earning-power-heres-how-much-top-influencers-can-make-on-instagram-and-youtube/. Tarbert, Kristine. “'Here for It': Gymshark's 'Inclusive' Post Sparks Huge Response.” Yahoo!, Yahoo!, 11 Nov. 2020, au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/gymshark-diversity-black-model-aaliyah-armpit-hair-post-viral-response-225500329.html.
Long gone are the days where brands advertise solely though radio or television. Social media is now in, and it makes sense. Last year alone, “over 3.6 billion people were using social media worldwide, a number projected to increase to almost 4.41 billion in 2025” (Tankovska, Statista). It makes perfect sense for companies to begin advertising on social media. The sheer number of people that the company can reach vastly outweighs the potential of any 30 second ad slot of radio or television. But how do they do it?
I actually have experience doing this. I served as the marketing and social media manager for a holistic health and wellness company last semester, and social media marketing was exactly what I did. We had a few tricks up our sleeve to make sure that we marketed to our niche audience. On Facebook for example, we would join selective groups with the company page. These Facebook groups were filled with mothers and people who were interested in our line of medicine, meaning that we could post in this group and directly communicate with potential customers. It was great. We would create posts centered around our services and then share it to thousands of people who we already knew were interested in our business. They in turn would interact with our post and drive-up interactions. Another trick we used to target our audience was using selective hashtags. We would research hashtags that were related to not just our content but our practice as well. We would then use these hashtags on our posts to clump our content in with similar content to reach a selective audience. We would use hashtags about everything – from our location in #Fairfield, to the category of our topic such as #Cognition for example. Then, anyone who was searching for posts with those catch phrases in it would likely stumble across our posts.
These ‘tricks’ aren’t just inclusive of what we were doing, but these practices can be found everywhere. Nearly every brand has some sort of structure or book of tricks that they use to reach their selective audience. Targeted ads, video production, and brand identity are all keys to strengthening a company’s social media presence.
Using social media stars like those found on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube is an effective media strategy, but they also carry with them some serious potential minuses. First off, if an influencer promotes a company’s product, that product is now immediately tied to them. If that star gets in the media for anything negative, your company is immediately linked. Take Reebok for example. In 2013, rapper Rick Ross, who is sponsored by Reebok, wrote a line in his popular song “U.O.E.N.O” about drugging a woman with molly. Ross almost immediately faced immense backlash, so much so that Reebok chose to cut ties with him. The press was bad for Reebok, naturally, as one of their star sponsors was in the media for all the wrong reasons.
On the flip side, sponsoring stars can go tremendously well for companies in reaching their audience. Adidas is a tremendous example of this, as in 2015 they decided to start partnering with social media influencers to promote their products. Adidas partnered with a line of influencers, including Selena Gomez who at one time was the most followed woman on Instagram. The campaign was a smashing success, as “this social media strategy helped the sports brand increase their sales by 24.2% between January 2015 and January 2016. During the same period, their top competitor, Nike experienced a 9.1% drop in sales” (Barker, Shane Barker). While partnering with influencers on social media can be dangerous, the payoffs for companies that take the risk can be huge.
Works Cited:
Barker, Shane. “15 Examples of Brands That Nailed Their Influencer Marketing Campaigns.” Shane Barker, 21 Jan. 2021, shanebarker.com/blog/influencer-marketing-examples/.
Crook III, Lawrence. “Reebok Drops Rick Ross over Lyric Apology Fallout.” CNN, Cable News Network, 12 Apr. 2013, www.cnn.com/2013/04/11/showbiz/reebok-drops-rick-ross.
Tankovska, H. “Number of Social Media Users 2025.” Statista, 28 Jan. 2021, www.statista.com/statistics/278414/number-of-worldwide-social-network-users/#:~:text=Social%20media%20usage%20is%20one,almost%204.41%20billion%20in%202025.
Yuzdepski, Zachary. “28 Best Social Media Marketing Tips to Make Your Life Easier in 2018.” Vendasta Blog, 20 July 2020, www.vendasta.com/blog/social-media-marketing-tips-expert-roundup/.
Social media influencers are an essential asset for brands and advertisers everywhere. Not even ten years ago, the career “social media influencer” didn’t exist. Now, they’re everywhere. According to “Earning Power: Here’s How Much Top Influencers Can Make on Instagram and YouTube”, “social media influencers are becoming one of the most utilized channels companies use to help their product or service reach the desired audience” (Luenendonk). Reaching a target audience is easier than ever because of influencers.
Social media influencers are so popular right now due to their effectiveness. They have the power to reach thousands of followers directly in their feeds. There are many different types of influencers. The article “Social Media ‘Influencers’ Add a New Twist to Advertising” states that, “influencers can be fitness gurus, gaming addicts, beauty bloggers, fashionistas, foodies, travel experts, etc” (Meltzer). The one commonality social media influencers share is a large follower count. To be an influencer, you need at least 10,000 followers on any platform.
An Influencer Marketing Hub report states that “90% of our survey respondents believe influencer marketing to be an effective form of marketing” (Influencer Marketing Hub). Brands and advertisers use influencers because they're extremely effective. It helps them get “personal” with their audience. They seem like “real” people compared to celebrities, whose lives are often luxurious and unattainable. These influencers are “just like you and me” and a level of trust is created. Brands are matching the goals and ideals of their product with the influencer, creating a more realistic reaction to the product.
Ryan Detert, CEO of Influential says that "Six years ago, we received $5,000 budgets, if we were lucky. Now, this is a $5 billion- to $10 billion-a-year business” (Meltzer). Influencers on platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram have grown exponentially. A plus to using these influencers is the engagement they receive with their posts. In a Forbes article, Colbey Pfund states, “think about engagement as the percentage of the influencer’s audience that actually interacts with their content, rather than simply following them or scrolling by their content” (Pfund). Unlike A-list celebrities, social media influencers thrive on follower engagement more than followers. This is definitely a huge benefit of social media influencers, especially with younger generations. In my opinion, it takes more effort to advertise to younger generations. They aren’t going to buy a product just because a celebrity uses it. Influencers create trust with their audience.
A definite downside to influencers is the amount of them on social media. Sometimes it’s hard to scroll through a platform without seeing tons of influencers promoting products. I think this is something the influencer business should be wary of. People are not going to stay engaged forever. In “The Pros And Cons Of Influencer Marketing For Your Brand” it says, “…the influencer space on social media is becoming incredibly saturated. At some point, audiences will become disengaged, or less engaged than they once were” (Pfund). Another minus to influencer marketing is confusing the audience. With so many influencers on social media, it’s hard to decipher whose opinion is real and whose is a paid opinion for a brand.
For now, I believe that influencers will play a big part in the success of many brands and advertisers. But, as more and more influencers come about, the more saturated the business becomes. This success might be short-lived. Influencers might leave as quickly as they entered.
Works Cited Luenendonk, Martin. “Earning Power: Here's How Much Top Influencers Can Make on Instagram and YouTube.” Cleverism, 24 Nov. 2020, www.cleverism.com/earning-power-heres-how-much-top-influencers-can-make-on-instagram-and-youtube/.
Meltzer, Lauren. “Social Media ‘Influencers’ Add a New Twist to Advertising.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 8 Feb. 2018, www.cbsnews.com/news/social-media-influencers-brand-advertising/.
Pfund, Colbey. “Council Post: The Pros And Cons Of Influencer Marketing For Your Brand.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 17 Dec. 2019, www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2019/12/17/the-pros-and-cons-of-influencer-marketing-for-your-brand/?sh=16ede60b5ed0. “The State of Influencer Marketing 2021: Benchmark Report.”
Corey Kremberg Over the past 20 years, branding and building companies has changed tremendously. With the birth of social media, doors were opened to what was possible when trying to target an audience and construct a company. In the 2010s, a popular term called “influencer” was rebirthed through the world of social media. In fact, according to The State of Influencer Marketing 2021:Benchmark Report, there were 240 new influencer marketing-focused platforms and agencies entered the market over the last 12 months. This is a giant leap from 2015 where there were still almost 200 new platforms to be used. This isn’t just a small percentage of influencers either. According to the same article, smaller influencers (less followers) actually have more engagement rates than some of the biggest ones out there. This is a positive note meaning that companies with a smaller budget can take fair advantage of individuals who may not have that checkmark; but still get some good engagement with their advertisement. This is why more than half of the companies who budget for influencer use will be increasing their payout over the next year. One of the biggest apps with the most success with this strategy is Instagram. According to Earning Power: Here’s How Much Top Influencers Can Make on Instagram and YouTube, influencers on Instagram make around $100 per 10k followers. You may wonder why companies would even pay random teens and adults on social media for products. The best way to understand this, is if the person has a pull, they can persuade their following to use whatever product they talk about. Prices can range too depending on the engagement they receive on posts and the type of campaign the company wants to run on the influencer’s page. The same thing happens on YouTube as well. YouTube channels with more than 7 million subscribers can make as uch as 300k for a video partnership. While YouTubers may only receive a few cents per 1k views, partnerships can turn into a real time job. This is a strategy that not only benefits the company, but the user as well. This is why when TikTok hit the mainstream stores, companies began going crazy! A whole new generation inspired by dancing, dark humor, and comedy sketches. However, an article called The Pros and cons of TikTok Advertising discusses the negative side to TikTok as well. Compare to its competitors (Facebook, YouTube, Instagram) the ads are more expensive. To put this into perspective, influencers with more than 5 million impressions can cost up to 50k per day. This can be beneficial if you are targeting the right audience. However, a problem with TikTok is that older audiences aren’t as dominant on the platform. This means if your product is targeted towards people over 30, brands may want to consider where they spend their money. It is easy to think that spending more money on a popular app means a better turnout for you. Yet, growing a business relies on targeting the right audience and spending your company’s money right. Nevertheless, I think there is an option in this new age of promoting for any business with any idea.
Citations: The editorial unit. “The Pros and Cons of TikTok Advertising.” The Upcoming, 20 Mar. 2020, www.theupcoming.co.uk/2020/03/20/the-pros-and-cons-of-tiktok-advertising/?cmpredirect. Pernille. “The State of Influencer Marketing 2021: Benchmark Report.” Influencer Marketing Hub, 15 Feb. 2021, influencermarketinghub.com/influencer-marketing-benchmark-report-2021/#:%7E:text=Coronavirus%20has%20accelerated%20that%20growth,of%20%249.7%20billion%20in%202020. Luenendonk, Martin. “Earning Power: Here's How Much Top Influencers Can Make on Instagram and YouTube.” Cleverism, 24 Nov. 2020, www.cleverism.com/earning-power-heres-how-much-top-influencers-can-make-on-instagram-and-youtube.
Nicole Bruder Part 1:
ReplyDeleteAs social media has become big enough that people can make a career out of it, brands have been utilizing the popularity of these influencers to help get their name out there. These influencers have a large following due to the fact that people just like them for who they are or how their lifestyle is. Brands team up with influencers who seem to fit their mission and overall vibe of the brand, so that the collaboration makes sense. Instagram has been seen to be one of the most used platforms for this type of marketing. I believe this to be true as you can see a picture or video of the influencer using the product and connect with the advertisement. I think it is best for brand to be consistent with their influencers, so people know there is a true partnership. This was discussed in the article posted by Influencer Marketing Hub. Their research found that “the majority of brands use the same influencers across different campaigns.” To make this bond even stronger, I think that brands should pick influencers who are well known along multiple platforms. This way there is consistency, and the word is being spread to a wider audience.
Even though this type of marketing has been a thing for years, due to the current Coronavirus pandemic, the use of this tactic has increased. This is because now, more people “spend considerably more time online than previously”(“The State of Influencer Marketing 2021: Benchmark Report”). This is a great way to get company’s known because if more people are online, there is a better chance of people seeing ads.
Nicole Bruder Part 2:
ReplyDeleteWhat I also think is important are the people that companies pick to represent their brands on social media. I think it is so important to be diverse with the people picked so the consumers can feel like they are being represented. When you feel represented by a company, it is easier to see yourself using that product because you can relate. But when a company is diverse in who they hire, they need to treat their employees/influencers fairly and equal. When picking influencers, companies need to be aware of the demographics they need to attract with their campaigns. Ashley Viens wrote an article about who is using social media the most. Vien states, “Gen Z is the first group in history that has never known a world without the internet,” and that their “daily activity on social media is 2 hours 55 minutes.” Given that they are on the internet most, companies should want to skew their campaigns to their liking. Monique Thomas wrote in her article about Black voices in the influencer marketing world and the impact Gen Z has on all of it. Thomas claims that since Gen Z is “the most racially and ethnically diverse generation,” and that they are “drawn to brands that are inclusive.” Many people and influencers feel as though more companies should take accountability for their lack of diversity through their influencer marketing campaigns.
With all of this, I do think that it is a good idea to use TikTokers, YouTubers, and other influencers to promote your company. I think it is a fast way to increase the popularity of your business because people can see the people they look up to and can relate with using your product. With all good things, do come some downsides. While using influencers can be seen more as a positive thing, you have to understand that you cannot control the actions or words of other people. Many influencers can be unpredictable and get into scandals easily. If they are associated with any brand, this may make people think negatively about that brand. An example of this is the Olivia Jade college scandal. The brands she was associated with, completed dropped her when the news came out so that they could not get backlashed for continuing their work with her. Overall, I think that it is a strong marketing tactic to use popular influencers to get the word out about your brand. Given that social media is so popular, you need to use what is current to stay relevant.
Works Cited
“The State of Influencer Marketing 2021: Benchmark Report.” Influencer Marketing Hub, 15 Feb. 2021, influencermarketinghub.com/influencer-marketing-benchmark-report-2021/#:~:text=Coronavirus%20has%20accelerated%20that%20growth,of%20%249.7%20billion%20in%202020.
Thomas, Monique. “4 Black Voices on Diversity in Influencer Marketing.” Later Blog, 4 Feb. 2021, later.com/blog/diversity-in-influencer-marketing/.
Viens, Ashley. “This Graph Tells Us Who's Using Social Media the Most.” World Economic Forum, 2 Oct. 2019, www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/10/social-media-use-by-generation/#:~:text=Generation%20Z,55%20minutes%20spent%20per%20day.
Kasey Kerrick
ReplyDeleteAs the use of social media has been on the rise over the past years, brands and advertisers have opted to use social media influencers in order to target certain audiences. This type of marketing is on the rise to grow to $13.8 billion in 2021 (The State of Influencer Marketing). Companies tend to use things like brand ambassadors, sponsored posts on social media, and affiliate marketing in order to get their product known to the public. Brand ambassadors hold a long-term partnership with a brand and it tends to be the most effective (Luenendonk). An example of a brand ambassador is Messi with his partnership with Pepsi. His job is to improve awareness or create a better bran for Pepsi though his social media channels. Companies will also use sponsored posts on Instagram as a short-term strategy. An influencer will create a post in which he or she is promoting a product or service through a picture, video, or blog. The last most popular strategy is affiliate marketing. This is more commission based and it motivates influencers to create better content and in turn drive up sales (Luenendonk). Even though 90% of survey respondents believe influencer marketing is an effective way to market (The State of Influencer Marketing), there are many pros and cons by using influencers to promote products.
The pros to using influencers are the following. It was found that brands tend to give away free product samples rather than giving cash to their influencers (The State of Influencer Marketing). This is an advantage for businesses because they do not have to directly give paychecks to their influencers which helps them get their product out to their desired audience without going over budget. When dealing with partnerships, in particular YouTube, sponsored videos by channels with more than 7 million subscribers can earn about $300,000 for a video partnership (Luenendonk). Because over 1.8 billion people log onto YouTube every month, partnerships are a great way to get your product known. Because of the possible income an influencer could make, partnerships become the main source of income for YouTubers (Luenendonk).
There are also many cons when dealing with using influencers to market products. Most brands will base their deal with you based on the amount of followers a user has. However, it is difficult when taking into account fake followers. The amount of influencers purchasing followers have been on the rise and if partnering with an influencer who has fake followers, one’s brand will not get as much attention (Council). Also, the influencer market is becoming extremely saturated. It is very easy to become disengaged with an influencer if they are constantly promoting brands. When choosing influencers, brands need to be extremely careful with the type and amount of promotional content an existing influencer is taking part in (Council). Ultimately, utilizing influencers to target a certain audience is a great strategy form brands to use, however they have to be on the lookout for the risks it can pose.
Luenendonk, Martin. "Earning Power: Here’s How Much Top Influencers Can Make on Instagram and YouTube." Cleverism 24 Nov. 2020,
"The State of Influencer Marketing 2021: Benchmark Report." Influencer Marketing Hub 15 Feb. 2021.
Council, Young Entrepreneur. “Council Post: The Pros And Cons Of Influencer Marketing For Your Brand.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 17 Dec. 2019, www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2019/12/17/the-pros-and-cons-of-influencer-marketing-for-your-brand/?sh=7fe2c2bb5ed0.
Chris Giorgio
ReplyDeleteBrands and advertisers are using social media to promote products and services new more than ever before. The use of influencers to advertise and promote is on the rise, in a quote from a blog on Later the author states “In fact, 63% of marketers intend to increase their influencer marketing budget in the next year”. The article also mentions that the influencer marketing industry is on track to be worth around 15 billion by 2022. These numbers are only getting higher and the industry as a whole is rapidly growing.
These influencers can be anyone,” they can be fitness gurus, gaming addicts, beauty bloggers, fashionistas, foodies, travel experts, etc.”, as described in a CBS Money Watch article. This becomes a plus and a minus for the influencer. The positive side is that your content and fan base is in a narrow and specific category. The CBS article also mentions that this creates a more personal connection with the content creator and viewers. For example, gaming influencers can promote to their viewers, controllers or keyboards or any other gaming related products. It becomes a minus because this is all that they can promote. Unlike celebrities or other famous TV personalities or even athletes have a wider range of what they can advertise for. The influencer is sort of locked into a certain category and has limited mobility in ads.
These advertisements are also extremely expensive for influencers. In the same CBS article it mentioned ads costing near $20,000 for each post. Another negative about spending all this cash on influencers is some people might not see the advertisement. If I do not follow them on social media or, just happen to not go on my phone for a while, I could miss it on my feed. Unlike TV ads they are played multiple times on different channels.
TikTok is the newest social media platform and is taking over at a rapid speed. This app is also filled with influencers that are extremely popular on the app. I have the app and I do not follow the influencers, but sometimes they pop up on my “For You Page” and I end up seeing them anyway. Challenges and viral trends are all over the app and companies are trying to take advantage of it. In a pixlee article, they mention having Dixie Damelio trying to start a challenge using a Coppertone product and telling everyone to do the challenge with a #CoppertoneGlowupChallange. This ad received 15.1 million views after she posted it and who knows how many people followed along with the challenge. Another viral trend was the TikTok Feta pasta trend which according to refinery29, caused stores in Finland to sell out of feta cheese. I saw this trend everywhere and I even tried it and it was amazing. Just goes to show the power that social media and influencers have over the public.
Works Cited
Luenendonk, Martin. "Earning Power: Here’s How Much Top Influencers Can Make on Instagram and YouTube." Cleverism 24 Nov. 2020,
Carbone, Lexie. "Top 8 Influencer Marketing Trends Coming in 2021." Later 5 Dec. 2020.
Contributor, Pixlee. “3 Reasons Why TikTok Is Pivotal for Influencer Marketing.” The Pixlee Blog, 15 Sept. 2020, www.pixlee.com/blog/tiktok-influencer-marketing/.
Wang, Lydia. “Is Feta Cheese Really Sold Out Thanks To This Viral TikTok Pasta Dish?” Is This Tiktok Pasta Causing Feta Cheese To Sell Out?, www.refinery29.com/en-us/2021/02/10308754/feta-cheese-tiktok-pasta-recipe-ingredients-sales.
Katie Dansereau
ReplyDeletePART 1
In the beginning, social media was a personal, informal platform for people to connect with others through. However, as social media like Instagram began to explode, the opportunity to use it’s informality in order to gain the trust of audiences became apparent to advertisers. “The State of Influencer Marketing 2021: Benchmark Report” highlighted some of the key insights of current social media influencer marketing. Notably, the influencer industry is set to grow to a 13.8 billion dollar industry in 2021, following the significant impact influencers held during the ongoing pandemic (Influencer Marketing Hub).
The main appeal of influencer marketing is the informality and organic feel to their content. As noted in “Top 8 Influencer Marketing Trends Coming in 2021”, an important form of influencer marketing is video content, as it provides a way to speak directly to social media users, whether it be through content like Instagram Reels or TikTok videos. Influencer Elizabeth Gilmore notes that she finds that “the more authentic, in the moment, and less ‘curated’ the better” in regards to influencer video content (Carbone). Influencers are trying to earn their audience’s trust, so it’s crucial that they are believable in terms of the brands they are supporting. In light of the pandemic and months on end of quarantine, authentic and unpolished content is becoming more and more popular. In fact, according to influencer Rohini Mauk, “the days of a perfectly manicured feed are slowly dying out” in favor of creating deeper connections with followers through value-driven content (Carbone). 2020 was somewhat of a turning point in this direction, as influencers could no longer maintain a “perfect image”, since society itself essentially shut down for the better part of a year. The newfound authenticity has only improved the effectiveness of influencer marketing, as followers can relate and trust the influencers they follow more than before. Another interesting development in influencer marketing is the success of nano and micro influencers, as noted in “Earning Power: Here’s How Much Top Influencers Can Make on Instagram and YouTube”. Nano influencers and micro influencers are seen as more approachable, in contrast to celebrity influencers like Kim Kardashian (Luenendonk). These smaller influencers have great engagement due to the authentic nature of their posts, but they typically don’t reach a large number of people. Overall, in 2021 we will see a more realistic side of influencers, as they post more video content and ditch the heavily-edited aesthetics that have been prevalent for years. Brands will want their influencers to be as convincing and relatable as possible to gain support from their followers.
Katie Dansereau
DeletePART 2
As aforementioned, video content is a major part of influencer marketing right now. TikTok is an amazing way for brands to reach a massive audience, as there are 600 million active monthly users on the application (Hunt). According to Sarah Bricker Hunt in “Is TikTok Marketing Right for Your Brand?” fewer brands have dipped into TikTok marketing in comparison to social media apps. TikTok also has a massive pull with Gen Z users, as they make up 60% percent of their user demographic (Hunt). There is also massive potential to go viral on TikTok, meaning that a brand could explode on the platform if marketed properly. However, TikTok is primarily a younger generation’s platform, so brands miss a significant part of the population by advertising on it. Youtube is also a great platform for video content influencing, as people tend to religiously watch their favorite creators’ videos. Youtube feels much more authentic, as influencers can promote brands through clothing hauls, vlogs, or recommendation videos. Instagram, in contrast, typically feels much more curated, but that has begun to change after 2020. However, it can be difficult for Youtubers to gain new popularity, whereas it is much easier to grow on platforms like Instagram or TikTok.
Carbone, Lexie. “Top 8 Influencer Marketing Trends Coming in 2021.” Later Blog, 10 Dec. 2020, later.com/blog/influencer-marketing-trends/.
Hunt, Sarah Bricker. “Is TikTok Marketing Right for Your Brand?” Business 2 Community, 24 Feb. 2021, www.business2community.com/social-media/is-tiktok-marketing-right-for-your-brand-02388644.
Luenendonk, Martin. “Earning Power: Here's How Much Top Influencers Can Make on Instagram and YouTube.” Cleverism, 24 Nov. 2020, www.cleverism.com/earning-power-heres-how-much-top-influencers-can-make-on-instagram-and-youtube/.
“The State of Influencer Marketing 2021: Benchmark Report.” Influencer Marketing Hub, 15 Feb. 2021, influencermarketinghub.com/influencer-marketing-benchmark-report-2021/#:~:text=Coronavirus%20has%20accelerated%20that%20growth,of%20%249.7%20billion%20in%202020.
Morgan Tencza
ReplyDeleteWith the rise of social media over the past few years, a lot of companies have become more reliant on influencers to push their products than the traditional advertisement route of commercials and ads. The companies that rely on those influencers tend to be more online driven to begin with, with more emphasis on their own social media presence and online stores. There are so many positives of using influencers. For example, they are more relatable to their fans, as the fans who follow, follow for a reason. In addition, influencers allow companies to reach out to different demographics and showcase more diversity by handpicking the communities they share their products with. In the Later Blog article, Lexie Carbone discusses how diversity and inclusion will be a main focal point in influencer marketing in 2021. Carbone concluded that, “The goal for 2021 should be to build diversity and inclusion into all aspects of your business — including influencer marketing — to create effective change and illustrate your brand’s values,” (Carbone). With everything that happened in 2020, it is important to showcase all levels of diversity whether it be race, disability, gender, or size. People want to see themselves represented, to be able to be inspired by others who look like them. One company that has proven to emphasize diversity within the past year has been Gymshark. In the past, Gymshark was highly criticized for lack of inclusiveness in their models and social media posts. Being an athleisure company, they were prone to posting athletic consumers and the ‘ideal look’. However, over the past year, Gymshark has included a vast diversity on their social media pages and through their influencers. One of their ‘controversial’ influencers and model, Aaliyah, was showcased on their page representing their brand with hairy armpits and an unibrow. This blew up across social media, mostly with positive energy. Gymshark responded to hate from the post with, “we will be featuring a lot more body positivity from now on… Fitness comes in all forms and we’re pleased to be able to feature diverse models on our feed,” according to a Yahoo! article (Tarbert). With companies focusing on diversity and inclusion, using influencers of all backgrounds will allow for that to be easily achieved.
Part 2
DeleteAcross all platforms of social media, we see companies utilizing influencers in similar ways. Often times, the company will provide their products or services for free or at a discounted price if the influencer talks positively about it to their audience. However, according to Cleverism, influencers can make a lot of money representing various brands (Luenendonk). Companies are growing their influencer marketing budget rapidly year over year. With the different types of influencers available, companies are able to pick and choose various markets and representation their want to fit their brand, allowing for expansion into more diversity and inclusivity. With the influencer market growing exponentially, it is no surprise that brands will soon shift to relying more on social media advertisements through influencers than spending for airtime or pop-up ads.
Works Cited
Carbone, Lexie. “Top 8 Influencer Marketing Trends Coming in 2021.” Later Blog, 10 Dec. 2020, later.com/blog/influencer-marketing-trends/.
Luenendonk, Martin. “Earning Power: Here's How Much Top Influencers Can Make on Instagram and YouTube.” Cleverism, 24 Nov. 2020, www.cleverism.com/earning-power-heres-how-much-top-influencers-can-make-on-instagram-and-youtube/.
Tarbert, Kristine. “'Here for It': Gymshark's 'Inclusive' Post Sparks Huge Response.” Yahoo!, Yahoo!, 11 Nov. 2020, au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/gymshark-diversity-black-model-aaliyah-armpit-hair-post-viral-response-225500329.html.
Nick Melanson
ReplyDeletePart 1
Long gone are the days where brands advertise solely though radio or television. Social media is now in, and it makes sense. Last year alone, “over 3.6 billion people were using social media worldwide, a number projected to increase to almost 4.41 billion in 2025” (Tankovska, Statista). It makes perfect sense for companies to begin advertising on social media. The sheer number of people that the company can reach vastly outweighs the potential of any 30 second ad slot of radio or television. But how do they do it?
I actually have experience doing this. I served as the marketing and social media manager for a holistic health and wellness company last semester, and social media marketing was exactly what I did. We had a few tricks up our sleeve to make sure that we marketed to our niche audience. On Facebook for example, we would join selective groups with the company page. These Facebook groups were filled with mothers and people who were interested in our line of medicine, meaning that we could post in this group and directly communicate with potential customers. It was great. We would create posts centered around our services and then share it to thousands of people who we already knew were interested in our business. They in turn would interact with our post and drive-up interactions. Another trick we used to target our audience was using selective hashtags. We would research hashtags that were related to not just our content but our practice as well. We would then use these hashtags on our posts to clump our content in with similar content to reach a selective audience. We would use hashtags about everything – from our location in #Fairfield, to the category of our topic such as #Cognition for example. Then, anyone who was searching for posts with those catch phrases in it would likely stumble across our posts.
Nick Melanson
DeletePart 2
These ‘tricks’ aren’t just inclusive of what we were doing, but these practices can be found everywhere. Nearly every brand has some sort of structure or book of tricks that they use to reach their selective audience. Targeted ads, video production, and brand identity are all keys to strengthening a company’s social media presence.
Using social media stars like those found on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube is an effective media strategy, but they also carry with them some serious potential minuses. First off, if an influencer promotes a company’s product, that product is now immediately tied to them. If that star gets in the media for anything negative, your company is immediately linked. Take Reebok for example. In 2013, rapper Rick Ross, who is sponsored by Reebok, wrote a line in his popular song “U.O.E.N.O” about drugging a woman with molly. Ross almost immediately faced immense backlash, so much so that Reebok chose to cut ties with him. The press was bad for Reebok, naturally, as one of their star sponsors was in the media for all the wrong reasons.
On the flip side, sponsoring stars can go tremendously well for companies in reaching their audience. Adidas is a tremendous example of this, as in 2015 they decided to start partnering with social media influencers to promote their products. Adidas partnered with a line of influencers, including Selena Gomez who at one time was the most followed woman on Instagram. The campaign was a smashing success, as “this social media strategy helped the sports brand increase their sales by 24.2% between January 2015 and January 2016. During the same period, their top competitor, Nike experienced a 9.1% drop in sales” (Barker, Shane Barker). While partnering with influencers on social media can be dangerous, the payoffs for companies that take the risk can be huge.
Works Cited:
Barker, Shane. “15 Examples of Brands That Nailed Their Influencer Marketing Campaigns.” Shane Barker, 21 Jan. 2021, shanebarker.com/blog/influencer-marketing-examples/.
Crook III, Lawrence. “Reebok Drops Rick Ross over Lyric Apology Fallout.” CNN, Cable News Network, 12 Apr. 2013, www.cnn.com/2013/04/11/showbiz/reebok-drops-rick-ross.
Tankovska, H. “Number of Social Media Users 2025.” Statista, 28 Jan. 2021, www.statista.com/statistics/278414/number-of-worldwide-social-network-users/#:~:text=Social%20media%20usage%20is%20one,almost%204.41%20billion%20in%202025.
Yuzdepski, Zachary. “28 Best Social Media Marketing Tips to Make Your Life Easier in 2018.” Vendasta Blog, 20 July 2020, www.vendasta.com/blog/social-media-marketing-tips-expert-roundup/.
Emma Frisbie
ReplyDeletePart one
Social media influencers are an essential asset for brands and advertisers everywhere. Not even ten years ago, the career “social media influencer” didn’t exist. Now, they’re everywhere. According to “Earning Power: Here’s How Much Top Influencers Can Make on Instagram and YouTube”, “social media influencers are becoming one of the most utilized channels companies use to help their product or service reach the desired audience” (Luenendonk). Reaching a target audience is easier than ever because of influencers.
Social media influencers are so popular right now due to their effectiveness. They have the power to reach thousands of followers directly in their feeds. There are many different types of influencers. The article “Social Media ‘Influencers’ Add a New Twist to Advertising” states that, “influencers can be fitness gurus, gaming addicts, beauty bloggers, fashionistas, foodies, travel experts, etc” (Meltzer). The one commonality social media influencers share is a large follower count. To be an influencer, you need at least 10,000 followers on any platform.
An Influencer Marketing Hub report states that “90% of our survey respondents believe influencer marketing to be an effective form of marketing” (Influencer Marketing Hub). Brands and advertisers use influencers because they're extremely effective. It helps them get “personal” with their audience. They seem like “real” people compared to celebrities, whose lives are often luxurious and unattainable. These influencers are “just like you and me” and a level of trust is created. Brands are matching the goals and ideals of their product with the influencer, creating a more realistic reaction to the product.
Emma Frisbie
DeletePart two
Ryan Detert, CEO of Influential says that "Six years ago, we received $5,000 budgets, if we were lucky. Now, this is a $5 billion- to $10 billion-a-year business” (Meltzer). Influencers on platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram have grown exponentially. A plus to using these influencers is the engagement they receive with their posts. In a Forbes article, Colbey Pfund states, “think about engagement as the percentage of the influencer’s audience that actually interacts with their content, rather than simply following them or scrolling by their content” (Pfund). Unlike A-list celebrities, social media influencers thrive on follower engagement more than followers. This is definitely a huge benefit of social media influencers, especially with younger generations. In my opinion, it takes more effort to advertise to younger generations. They aren’t going to buy a product just because a celebrity uses it. Influencers create trust with their audience.
A definite downside to influencers is the amount of them on social media. Sometimes it’s hard to scroll through a platform without seeing tons of influencers promoting products. I think this is something the influencer business should be wary of. People are not going to stay engaged forever. In “The Pros And Cons Of Influencer Marketing For Your Brand” it says, “…the influencer space on social media is becoming incredibly saturated. At some point, audiences will become disengaged, or less engaged than they once were” (Pfund). Another minus to influencer marketing is confusing the audience. With so many influencers on social media, it’s hard to decipher whose opinion is real and whose is a paid opinion for a brand.
For now, I believe that influencers will play a big part in the success of many brands and advertisers. But, as more and more influencers come about, the more saturated the business becomes. This success might be short-lived. Influencers might leave as quickly as they entered.
Works Cited
Luenendonk, Martin. “Earning Power: Here's How Much Top Influencers Can Make on Instagram and YouTube.” Cleverism, 24 Nov. 2020, www.cleverism.com/earning-power-heres-how-much-top-influencers-can-make-on-instagram-and-youtube/.
Meltzer, Lauren. “Social Media ‘Influencers’ Add a New Twist to Advertising.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 8 Feb. 2018, www.cbsnews.com/news/social-media-influencers-brand-advertising/.
Pfund, Colbey. “Council Post: The Pros And Cons Of Influencer Marketing For Your Brand.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 17 Dec. 2019, www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2019/12/17/the-pros-and-cons-of-influencer-marketing-for-your-brand/?sh=16ede60b5ed0.
“The State of Influencer Marketing 2021: Benchmark Report.”
Influencer Marketing Hub, 15 Feb. 2021, influencermarketinghub.com/influencer-marketing-benchmark-report-2021/#:~:text=Coronavirus%20has%20accelerated%20that%20growth,of%20%249.7%20billion%20in%202020.
Corey Kremberg
ReplyDeleteOver the past 20 years, branding and building companies has changed tremendously. With the birth of social media, doors were opened to what was possible when trying to target an audience and construct a company. In the 2010s, a popular term called “influencer” was rebirthed through the world of social media. In fact, according to The State of Influencer Marketing 2021:Benchmark Report, there were 240 new influencer marketing-focused platforms and agencies entered the market over the last 12 months. This is a giant leap from 2015 where there were still almost 200 new platforms to be used. This isn’t just a small percentage of influencers either. According to the same article, smaller influencers (less followers) actually have more engagement rates than some of the biggest ones out there. This is a positive note meaning that companies with a smaller budget can take fair advantage of individuals who may not have that checkmark; but still get some good engagement with their advertisement. This is why more than half of the companies who budget for influencer use will be increasing their payout over the next year. One of the biggest apps with the most success with this strategy is Instagram. According to Earning Power: Here’s How Much Top Influencers Can Make on Instagram and YouTube, influencers on Instagram make around $100 per 10k followers. You may wonder why companies would even pay random teens and adults on social media for products. The best way to understand this, is if the person has a pull, they can persuade their following to use whatever product they talk about. Prices can range too depending on the engagement they receive on posts and the type of campaign the company wants to run on the influencer’s page. The same thing happens on YouTube as well. YouTube channels with more than 7 million subscribers can make as uch as 300k for a video partnership. While YouTubers may only receive a few cents per 1k views, partnerships can turn into a real time job. This is a strategy that not only benefits the company, but the user as well. This is why when TikTok hit the mainstream stores, companies began going crazy! A whole new generation inspired by dancing, dark humor, and comedy sketches. However, an article called The Pros and cons of TikTok Advertising discusses the negative side to TikTok as well. Compare to its competitors (Facebook, YouTube, Instagram) the ads are more expensive. To put this into perspective, influencers with more than 5 million impressions can cost up to 50k per day. This can be beneficial if you are targeting the right audience. However, a problem with TikTok is that older audiences aren’t as dominant on the platform. This means if your product is targeted towards people over 30, brands may want to consider where they spend their money. It is easy to think that spending more money on a popular app means a better turnout for you. Yet, growing a business relies on targeting the right audience and spending your company’s money right. Nevertheless, I think there is an option in this new age of promoting for any business with any idea.
Citations:
The editorial unit. “The Pros and Cons of TikTok Advertising.” The Upcoming, 20 Mar. 2020, www.theupcoming.co.uk/2020/03/20/the-pros-and-cons-of-tiktok-advertising/?cmpredirect.
Pernille. “The State of Influencer Marketing 2021: Benchmark Report.” Influencer Marketing Hub, 15 Feb. 2021, influencermarketinghub.com/influencer-marketing-benchmark-report-2021/#:%7E:text=Coronavirus%20has%20accelerated%20that%20growth,of%20%249.7%20billion%20in%202020.
Luenendonk, Martin. “Earning Power: Here's How Much Top Influencers Can Make on Instagram and YouTube.” Cleverism, 24 Nov. 2020, www.cleverism.com/earning-power-heres-how-much-top-influencers-can-make-on-instagram-and-youtube.