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In the late 2000s, companies had a problem with marketing as it was harder to pin down people into their specific preferences. Younger people were also watching less TV and listening to less radio, so the reach for ads became narrower. Then came the rise of internet influencers! But be warned, the influencer economy may also be a bubble. Here’s how it may pop: 👇👇
Why Influencers Work:
1. Trust:
The rise of influencers started off as video bloggers passionate about their specific niche/community. Whether it’s lifestyle, comedy, parenting, DIY, cooking etc. Viewers already trust the advice and content given by the blogger. So, if the blogger recommends a certain product, it’s going to have a huge advantage over the competition. People tend to trust the opinions of their favourite online influencers as much as their close personal friends.
2. Reach:
The heavy lifting is mostly done by the influencers. Viewers are already fitted neatly according to preferences by the type of influencer they follow. Plus, it’s cheaper to reach a wide viewership via influencers. A large company could reach out to 100 million viewers for less than $100k via an influencer whereas an ad on commercial TV would cost millions.
Why Influencers Won’t Work Anymore:
1. Trust:
Yea people don’t trust influencers anymore. Many influencers just promote whoever pays them, all for a quick & easy buck. It’s hard to imagine multi-millionaire Youtubers actually using the product that they recommend. So, the recommendations become inauthentic. Plus, there are influencers out there promoting scams like pump & dump crypto schemes, tainting the overall view on ‘paid promotions’. Companies are thinking twice on working with internet celebrities too as influencers broadcast their daily lives for the world to see, the good and the ugly. It can be a PR nightmare to be associated with a ‘bad’ influencer.
2. Cost:
Nowadays, it’s not as cheap to hire an influencer to market your product anymore. As more businesses rushed in to capitalise on influencer marketing, the competition was there to increase the ask price. Some Youtubers now charge over $500k for an ad on a single video. It’s still cheaper than commercial TV for a similar number of views, but not by much anymore.
The same thing that propped up online influencers may ultimately be its downfall. But it’s a good thing, as a purge, only those that are genuine and passionate about what their promoting will stay. This will improve online marketing rather than companies just throwing money at online personalities and hoping for the best.
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