by Written by: Emma Brennan.
In today’s society, we are constantly being marketed to and influenced. The question is however, what makes someone an influencer and how do they gain all this power? Whether you are scrolling through Instagram, Twitter or Facebook you can find posts containing marketed products and influencing opinions. Now with the release of the new app Tik Tok, influencers are starting to use this medium productively too. After having guest speakers Bill Calder and Jenna Galbreath, from WE communications, I feel that I can better answer the question “what makes someone an influencer and how do they gain all this power?”. In order to understand the power and influence behind influencers you need to first look at their following, reach and engagement. These three categories will provide you with data that can help you determine and find an influencer. Therefore, not everyone can be considered an “influencer” just by posting products and opinions online. The data needs to prove it too!
I really like the topic, but I think it could’ve been taken a little further. Yes engagement, reach and following are important but influencers are people with a rising influence. How do they get there in the first place. They must have their own marketing strategies for themselves to give people a reason to follow them and brands to sponsor them. Influencers have become a huge strategy in social media marketing.
I agree with Brea! This is such an interesting topic but there’s so much to talk about. Especially with TikTok, an app that seemingly started with dance videos, now has “creators” with millions of followers. Some of them have performed live on stage with various performers or attended NBA All-star weekend. But why are they so popular? And like Bill and Jenna mentioned in class, are they really hitting target demographics when companies want to advertise on TikTok? It’s a huge platform but who is on it? It’ll be interesting to see how this new social platform will evolve as influencers pop up and how influencers will change the platform itself.
Emma,
This is a very interesting topic and you do make some good points. Looking at engagement and following is super important in determining what makes someone an “influencer”. However, I also think that Kelli made some additional key points in class regarding this topic. While looking at following, engagement, etc. is a good start, influencers are now forced to state when they are promoting or advertising a specific product. I think that this is an interesting modification that can give us some insight on what exactly influencers are paid to do and how they go about making a profit off of solely being an “influencer”.