Feature Article

Free eNews Subscription>>
April 23, 2020

The Social Media Influencer



The newest and biggest trend to hit in the digital era, and a job that many young people look toward as the dream and as the future, has been the incredible rise of the social media influencer. Their success is measured by their outreach, and their outreach can be measured by the businesses and companies that partner and sponsor them to do the work they do - in essence, they are advertisers and marketers that work remotely to deliver a product to their fans and followers, but for both good and bad the role of influencers has begun to evolve much further than that.

We are moving through a digital era in which communication and information sharing is better than it has ever been in history - if you’d like to learn a DIY skill, you can hop on to any number of websites with a detailed written or video tutorial and get all the information you need, if you’d like to learn how to work remotely whilst travelling and the best places to do so you can read up on life in the Digital Nomad World and gather up all the tips and tricks that others have experienced, and if you want to decide where to go, you can read an infinite number of reviews on what that place does well or not so well and base judgement off of that. But the social media influencer has skewed how we receive some of this information and how we perceive some of these services and offerings available to us.

The good is that often times we see a point-of-view look at what may be the best case scenario - although many of these influencers could be sponsored to visit a location, we get a first hand look through videos and images of what is offered and what it’s really like and can offer a sense of security that a written review may not do justice - where the written word can say that a room is perfect or the view is wonderful, a series of videos that show this from a relatable person are far more effective. It makes us feel like we’re there, like we’re experiencing it too, and from that it encourages us to try for ourselves and have the real experience that we’ve been watching.

The negative is also that this is often a very tailored experience - these influencers are paid or comped to be there, they receive the very best service and the best options available that may not be available to many of us and can often be done under a guise of not fully explaining that a sponsorship is paying for this. A long spell of entitlement amongst social media influencers has many believing that it could now be damaging their partnerships with some of these businesses - the phrase of “you’ll get exposure!” has become somewhat of a trigger word for many in the hospitality or service industry - the expectation of receiving thousands in freebies simply because you have a following is starting to take its toll, and could also be the very same thing that is beginning to hammer the nail in to the casket of the social influencer trend.


 


FOLLOW MobilityTechzone

Subscribe to MobilityTechzone eNews

MobilityTechzone eNews delivers the latest news impacting technology in the Wireless industry each week. Sign up to receive FREE breaking news today!
FREE eNewsletter