Selling brands while staying “Authentic”:The professionalisation of Instagram Influencers.

Abstract :

This paper highlights a unique relation between influencers and brand users on social media. The

influencers curate the content of your brand marketing according to the aspirations of your potential clients and reposition it in a way that serves both your organisation and your audience. The extent of trust between the two determines the success of your marketing strategy.

This follows into a paragraph regarding sponsored posts shared on social media through influencers, who need to strategise` and present the available information according to the expectations of the general users. The Instagram influencers, for example, develop a personalised trustworthiness with their followers. They have to appear authentic yet pursue the objective of marketing as expected by the brand owners. The final discussion point is the creating and repositioning the available content and its importance in a professional landscape.

Keywords: Influencers, personal branding, user-generated content, instagram, professionalisation, curated identity, sponsored content

Introduction

You log in to Instagram and see your favourite movie star, expressing their love of Nutella with a pancake in their hand. Later you scroll through Twitter and discover one of your mates tweet a snap with their Starbucks Latte. The above mentioned both of the strategies are examples of influencer marketing, however the pivotal difference between both is that the first one is produced by an advertiser/brand and the second one isn’t. It is so hard to distinguish between a genuine endorsement and a paid one due to content rich platforms , hence making Influencer marketing one of the most used strategies by brands, corporations and media agencies. Influencer marketing is basically virtual word of mouth, and shoppers are significantly more confident and respond to a message that comes from a close friend or over a sponsored advertisement that comes from a brand. Influencer marketing has gained popularity due to the phenomenal results observed by the advertisers (Lou & Yuan, 2019).

Studies have shown that this non- conventional marketing strategy has the ability to trigger 11 times more return on investment than any other forms of traditional marketing annually (Woods et al., 2016). Social media platforms such as Instagram, Youtube and Facebook are popular amongst the youth, and have gained popularity to the existence of user-generated content, the content published on these platforms is not only produced by corporations, but today the youth is also actively producing content according to their niche and social media following (Valkenburg & Taylor Piotrowski, 2017). In the current era of creativity and innovative marketing, User Generated Content (UGC) is considered to play a key role in creating reality based trustworthy content for persuasive marketing.

Forbes Magazine declares Social Media Influencers as new brands who promote a product on the basis of their own popularity and reliability gained over a period of hard struggle (Weinswig, 2016).Followers cluster around these influencers on the basis of shared interests and similarities. Social media provides a strong platform to ordinary users to find other people with similar interests and cluster (network) as a strong voice or hub of interest others want to join. The individuals who follow and engage with the blogger or follow their social pages, are very important to the influencer as an influencer’s can turn into a web sensation very quickly and become viral today through the dynamic association and support of their devotees or subscribers who save, repost, comment, share and like there pictures.“Attracting followers requires a strong emphasis on networking, engaging with the audience, and remaining relevant and attractive, with the idea that one’s online identity will be consumed by others” (Vear, 2020).

Personal Branding and Curated Identities of Social Media Influencers :

As ordinary people, influencers show their real -life interests in their Vlogs, IG-TV Reels, to attract more audience with shared interests and cluster them around their performances. This fan following converts them into a brand which gets the attention of millions. In this way, they create a “hub of marketing” for other brands and get lucrative “Brand Deals”. In fact, they create markets for new brands through their cauterization and networking techniques and in turn make money from the brands which they promote. “In this process, they “premise their accrual of influence on entrepreneurial gumption” (Vear, 2020).

Influencers use their entrepreneurial talent to make their living. Such marketing collaborations are based on sponsored content that an influencer creates, recommends or shares testimonials to divert traffic to an affiliated link. Social media influencers are generally experts of attracting an audience through their exotic digital identities. Such accounts mostly focus on fashion, beauty or fitness with posts designed and created for this purpose. It is a full-time engagement with a lot of dedication, creativity, understanding of the market, networking skills. A personal connection is then created between influencer and follower. This is done through promoting brands through their posts, making the products seem relatable to the average consumer (Glucksman, 2017).

In return, the influencers get various incentives such as payment, free products etc. However, they bear the pressure of following a certain lifestyle in order to maintain that fan following. They are supposed to “walk the talk” through social media posts, brand affiliations, healthy outer appearance and balanced diet etc.

It also brings the question of authenticity and the amount of personal information needed to be provided to the fans, whether it is plastic surgery, use of certain cosmetics or edits of the body. Should their viewers know everything about them? Usually, this trust is broken if such influencers start giving a commercial touch by posting pictures of certain diet products or sponsored posts with recommendations.

Influencer Mafia and Sponsored Content & The Fame :

Brands utilise sponsored posts on social media to connect with their target market, the brand selects an influencer whose instagram insights and content aligns with their brands interest. It is usually an influencer’s who has a high fan following and is creating content in the same niche as the brands. Influencers collaborate with multiple brands and sign up as ambassadors/endorsers. Endorsements, and Ambassadorship programs require a high degree of trust between the follower and the influencers (Torres et al., 2019)

For example, most skincare brands utilise fair skin, acne free, influencers to show case their skin care regimes or certain make up, these types of promotions involve not only sponsored products but often gift the influencers the product. However, the true reality that everybody has a different skin, and the outcomes that influencers depict may usually involve the use of professional editing apps such as Face Tune, Photoshop etc or their own skin maybe the result of Botox and fillers etc.

One such controversy was raised when globally known celebrity Jennifer Lopez launched her skin collection, with the claim that her skin has been this perfect only due to her mother’s beauty cute olive oil, and that she uses natural oils over synthetic oils in all her creams and has never done any facial treatments. This campaign created a lot of controversy over social media, with speculations being that Olive oil in no way played an integral role in that clearing Jennifer’s skin and the truth is still hidden. (Askinasi, 2020). Social media users are often trapped by brands in this vicious cycle hence it gets really difficult to uncover the real truth behind the quality of the product until one has consumed it themselves. One of the most effective tools used by brands to reach to their target market is through sponsored posts, it has now become an integral part in the marketing strategy of businesses. However, due to awareness and access to information, at times customers may also lose their interest in an ambassador, as they may consider non credible as till now there is no true way to decipher whether an ambassador is giving his own reviews about the product or is doing a sponsored post.In a nutshell, Influencer led marketing, has a “bubble popularity” which could burst anytime. It has pros and cons. Influencer marketing seems to have less commercial and more personalised approach which has more potential than any traditional marketing .

On the contrary, the marketing strategies could be jeopardised by the influencer mafia, which may be irreversible due to their strong market penetration. Hence, this marketing should be led by the brand strategist themselves to be able to determine the marketing dimensions and related outcomes. A number of examples include one such of Jason Wong, the founder of Doux Lashes, he was surprised to see the levels to which influencers have gone to promote the brands for free. “ Normally influencers did one post for one product” but now they post two or three posts for one product, to demonstrate a continuous stream and make it look as a sponsored content. Aspiring influencers will post multiple products / brands for free, however as soon as they gain a certain number of followers they charge per post , and often charge for even opening a product on their live stories categorically on Instagram. For instance in Pakistan, an influencer with a following above 50k charges around 10-20k PKR per post while an established influencer with a following above 100k normally charges 40-50k per post on instagram. It is important for brands to determine and utilise proper tools to determine the ROI, they would gain after spending such hefty amounts on influencer marketing. UAE influencers are also known to charge above 3000-8000AED per post or campaign which may include content creation, story repost, etc.

Intensified Expectations from Social Media :

Social Media amplifies the expectations of viewers, it is very difficult to decide what should be posted and what not and what message would be perceived in what manner. This exerts a constant pressure on the life of an influencer. They are always expected to share every information about them, yet they are criticised for not being genuine always. However, the pertinent question of what should be posted and where to draw a line remains unanswered. Creating and maintaining a certain digital identity appears to be a tricky business of being an expert of pleasing people yet avoiding “fake” personality which creates a harsh reaction.

References

Askinasi, R. (2020.). Jennifer Lopez denies using Botox after followers criticize JLo Beauty. Insider. Retrieved February 14, 2021, from https://www.insider.com/jennifer-lopez-denies-using-botox-jlo-beauty-skin-care-response-2020-12

Glucksman, M. (2017). The Rise of Social Media Influencer Marketing on Lifestyle Branding : A Case Study of Lucie Fink I . Introduction II . Literature Review. Elon Journal of Undergraduate Research in Communications, 8(2), 77–87. https://www.elon.edu/u/academics/communications/journal/wp-content/uploads/sites/153/2017/12/08_Lifestyle_Branding_Glucksman.pdf

Lou, C., & Yuan, S. (2019). Influencer Marketing: How Message Value and Credibility Affect Consumer Trust of Branded Content on Social Media. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 19(1), 58–73. https://doi.org/10.1080/15252019.2018.1533501

Torres, P., Augusto, M., & Matos, M. (2019). Antecedents and outcomes of digital influencer endorsement: An exploratory study. Psychology & Marketing, 36. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21274

Valkenburg, P. M., & Taylor Piotrowski, J. (2017). Chapter 6: Adolescents. Plugged in: How Media Attract and Affect Youth, 78–95. http://yalebooks.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/Media/9780300228090_UPDF.pdf

Vear, A. M. (2020). DigitalCommons @ UMaine The Influencer Experience : Identity Performance , Commodification , and Agency in YouTube Influencers. https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4357&context=etd

Weinswig, D. (2016). Influencers are the new brands. Forbes. October. https://www.forbes.com/sites/deborahweinswig/2016/10/05/influencers-are-the-new-brands/?sh=466ea4c67919

Woods, S., Woods, S., Advisor, F., Childers, C., & Ph, D. (2016). TRACE : Tennessee Research and Creative # Sponsored : The Emergence of Influencer Marketing # Sponsored : The Emergence of Influencer Marketing. https://trace.tennessee.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3010&context=utk_chanhonoproj#:~:text=A%20joint%20research%20study%20found,advertising%20annually%20(Kirkpatrick%202016).