The age of influence, not so innocent
Kellie Holt, Atomic 212's head of content and creative media, looks at the changing face of influencers in the social media age, and why influencers have throughout human history played an important role in marketing.
The term ‘social influencer’ has become socially unacceptable.
It conjures visions of vacuous young things taking selfies of their filler-filled faces, spruiking products and doing, well, not much else.
Take Netflix’s recent reality show Dubai Bling. Set in Dubai, it follows the lives of the local (and imported) social elite in their pursuit of wealth, social status, and romance. The cast includes social influencer Farhana Bodi (2.1 million Instgram followers) aka “The Marketing Machine” as she is not-so-affectionately referred to by her fellow cashed-up cast members. She is a single mum, an entrepreneur and she hustles – very successfully I might add – putting her amongst Dubai’s social and financial elite.
I say more power to her. And yet she is constantly looked down upon for not having earned her riches the right way – marrying up.
Image: @farhanabodi source: Instagram
Closer to home, Netflix’s first Australian reality series, Byron Baes, last year caused outrage and intrigue in equal parts. And was the media and advertising industry’s worst nightmare come to life on the small screen.
“The stink is so bad, I can’t wash it off!” claimed a presenter on a podcast. “If there’s one group that I detest, it’s bloody influencers, so I can’t stand this show.” Others referred to watching it as a new phenomenon, “hate therapy”.
To date, no second season has been announced.
While social influencers have been on a downward spiral for years in the court of public opinion, even industry types have followed suit. I’ve lost count how many times I’ve heard statements like “influencers are dead” or that there is “influencer fatigue”.
This despite The State of Influencer Marketing Benchmark Report 2022 finding:
– 60% of marketers say influencer-generated content performs better and drives more engagement than branded posts.
– 61% of consumers trust influencer recommendations, compared to 38% who trust brand-produced content. – the market was expected to reach $16.4 billion by the end of 2022 – up from $1.7 billion in 2016, $9.7 billion in 2020 and $13.8 billion in 2021.
It seems today’s social influencers have fallen victim to their own brand-perception issues.
However, influencers (and influence) are as relevant today as they have been throughout the ages. It’s just who they are today (and how they do it) is very different to the past, and will again be very different to who, or what, they are tomorrow.
Influencers are as old as humanity itself
The power of influence goes well beyond today’s association of the “pay for post” model that has seemingly stained the fabric of the term “influencer”.
Great philosophers, conquerors, royalty, religious types and even cult leaders have wielded true influence at an individual, societal and global level since long before the age of Instagram.
Even brand endorsements have ancient origins. Just like athletes today, Roman gladiators and Greek Olympians were commissioned to endorse products – from olive oil to armour– both on and off the field of contest.
Throughout history, kings and queens have provided royal seals – and, by default, their endorsement. And the collective mourning (and steadfast appreciation) of the death of Queen Elizabeth II last year spoke to a universal, global influence which transcended politics, religion and digital media channels.
Speaking of religion, with over 1.3 billion believers influenced by the teachings of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis (19.6 million Twitter followers) gave us one for the history books with his tweet back in 2019 declaring Mary “the first ‘influencer’”.
Influencers can inspire real action and impact
In recent times, we have seen a powerful shift, with the likes of Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg (14.7 million Instagram followers) and American gun violence campaigners Cameron Kasky (358,000 Twitter followers) and Delaney Tarr (482,000 Twitter followers) at the vanguard of a socially responsible movement. This younger generation are defining a new norm of purpose-driven social influence, using their platforms for real-world impact. Adding more depth and breadth to the sphere of influence– it’s cool to care again.
Greta’s latest war of words on Twitter, with right-wing influencer and vile misogynist Andrew Tate, saw her response take the No. 6 spot of all-time top-liked tweets with 3.4 million likes. As for Tate’s response – it got him arrested. Courtesy of a photo he posted with a pizza box, he unwittingly helped Romanian Police locate and arrest him on December 29 on charges of human trafficking and forming an organised crime group.
Even Kim Kardashian (340 million Instgram followers) continues to make her mark on social justice and prison reform. The polar opposite of Greta in looks and lifestyle, Kim K is one of the OG social influencers (and reality queens), revered and hated in equal parts, and a poster girl for the degradation of today’s brand of influencer.
But leveraging her power to have real, positive social impact – and backing it up with a law degree – is an impressive feat, even for the nay-sayers.
On the other end of the scale there’s Donald Trump – we all know how that turned out – and Elon Musk (126.1m Twitter followers) who, with a single tweet, can affect the stock prices of companies in his firing line (a feat which has landed him in hot water with the Securities and Exchange Commission more than once). Now, as the controversial owner of his platform of choice, we can only wait and see how this turns out for Musk, and audiences at large.
My bet? Not great.
Authenticity is an acquired taste
What links all these influencers – from Greta and Kim to Elon and Donald – is their authenticity.
They are who they are and they believe what they believe, unapologetically. You may not like them personally or agree with their stance, they may even repulse you, but you really can’t question their influence on their audiences. But with great power comes even greater responsibility, and in the case of the latter, it’s abhorrently abused.
Consumers may be looking for brands that align to their values and beliefs, but people will always more closely align with this than products. But how much can any influencer content that is paid for be truly authentic? And while there is an underlying conflict in this very notion, it also points firmly to where the future may lie for brands in the influencer marketing space.
The Metaverse and manufactured authenticity
It’s here, it’s happening. The Metaverse is set to play a major role in marketing in the coming years, with early adopter brands like L’oreal, Lego, and Nike already paving the way.
Brands have a unique opportunity to create their own virtual/metahuman influencers; to personify their brand’s values, beliefs and opinions with absolute consistency, clarity and creative control.
What’s more, virtual influencers will not have the same vulnerabilities (and by default, associated risks) as their human counterparts. People are flawed and unpredictable, can your brand afford to be?
Last year, the cult-status, blonde icon Barbie officially stepped out from the 1950s and into the Metaverse. Mattel Creations collaborated with luxury fashion label Balmain to announce a ready-to-wear fashion and accessories collection, along with a set of NFTs – Barbie and Ken avatars styled in head-to-toe Balmain designs, as well as a set of Barbie-sized Balmain pieces to traverse both a digital and physical art collection.
Source: nft.mattelcreations.com
Barbie also has huge followings on other social platforms, particularly YouTube, where she is a seasoned vlogger.
Alibaba Group created their very own brand ambassador, Ayayi, to help brands build followings among China’s digital native consumers. Ayayi has now partnered with over 30 high-end brands, including Mac cosmetics, Louis Vuitton, Burberry and Prada, for campaigns in China.
Conversely, real-world influencers are building virtual versions of themselves. Paris Hilton (21.5 million Instagram followers) – another notable blonde and arguably ground-zero for the social influencer industry – is a Metaverse pioneer. She filed for a trademark with the US Patent and Trademark Office for ownership over “Queen of the Metaverse” – a not-so-subtle indicator of her ambitions.
Paris recently announced she would bring her real world to the immersive virtual gaming world of The Sandbox, where she will interact with her fans, host glamorous virtual parties in her Malibu mansion and no doubt monetise the hell out of it through digital goods and brand integrations.
This is not the heiress’ first move into the Metaverse – late last year she built “Paris World” inside the Metaverse platform Roblox.
At that, you may question how a virtual influencer, something that is completely manufactured, can have any authenticity at all. But let’s not confuse ‘real’ with ‘authentic’.
Final thought
The age of the influencer is far from dead. From its origins in ancient times to the emergence of the Metaverse, influencers will continue to thrive as long as humans exist – and, by all measures, likely even beyond that.
It may not always be a job title, but at their core, true “influencers” hinge on “influence”, not Instagram. And while the core of influencer marketing (influence) will never change, the landscape, cultural values, tools and technologies that shape it, will.
As for when we can expect the next new world of influence to borrow the meme-worthy phrase from one of the original supermodels/influencers – Rachel Hunter and her Pantene shampoo ad (circa early ‘90s) – “It won’t happen overnight, but it will happen.”
Kellie Holt is Atomic 212’s head of content and creative media.
