FORBES SMALL BUSINESS ENTREPRENEURS
The Rise Of Influencers In Media
Jun 23, 2023, 07:30am EDT
By Kat Shee, VP of marketing at GROW and 1/2 of Shee Sisters, lifestyleand golf creators.
Influencer culture has officially taken over the world. And... has kind ofchanged what it
means even to be an influencer. Gone are the days of making it big on a reality TV show,
garnering a fan base for your 15 minutes of fame or eventually launching a clothing line
before drifting offinto the sunset. Now, if you want to be an influencer, you’ve got to earn
it.
As social media continues to evolve, consumers appear to take a greater sense of ownership over
their feeds than ever before. Meaning, they followcontent that they actually want to see regularly
rather than the latest LoveIs Blind or The Bachelor franchise contestant. This could be due in
part toa new generation of users having an “I could do that, too” mindset—with one in four Gen-
Zers saying they plan to become an influencer celebrity. Or it could be because our idea of what
an influencer needs to bring to thetable has completely changed. Now, they’re lobbying in D.C.
(paywall) on behalf of TikTok, landing movie roles for their comedic chops and raking in millions
off any product a brand can stick their face on.
Influencers are taking up a new space in media—and brands need to takenotice for
successful marketing partnerships.
Say goodbye to traditional marketing.
It’s no secret that digital marketing has changed over the past decade. It
seems that when digital ads first started inching their way into consumers’social media feeds
or online publications, brands had the luxury of buyer unawareness. A celebrity they liked
said milk was good, so milk must be good!
Well, as Gen-Z continues to take the forefront of online buying throughdigital channels,
brands have to get more creative. They’re too media literate to be fooled by an unauthentic
sales pitch.
As David Yovanno, CEO of impact.com put it, “With consumers, especiallyGen-Z, becoming
less tolerant and frankly more tuned in to the tactics used in interruptive marketing and
advertising techniques—like pop-up ads and retargeting—creators are becoming more integral
in brands’ marketing strategies... Brands are no longer relying strictly on traditionalpaid
advertising channels, they are tapping creators to create content that is tailored to reach new
audiences.”
Going forward, I believe brands need to shift their strategy from hiringinfluencers to read
what they write to creating authentic partnerships.
Influencers know what their audience wants to hear. If they back your product, they’re going
to create content that resonates with them in a waythat actually drives conversions better
than your brand’s marketing team
—mostly because audiences are too smart for fake sales pitches anymore.
Say hello to partnerships.
So what can brands do? Two things: One, allocate paid marketing funds toinfluencer
partnerships; two, build partnerships with influencers who you trust can replicate your voice
and mission. Remember that influencers know their audience better than anyone. They do the
work to hijack the algorithm, produce content that lands and, most of all, change it up
enough to keep themselves new and fresh in the “for you” pages of the web. Allow them the
space and creative freedom to do this. When your brand aligns itself with an influencer,
you’re aligning yourself with their
voice and their content creativity abilities (and then hoping to grab some of their audience
along the way). Say goodbye to the traditional power dynamic that’s your teammate.
Brands should also recognize and prepare for the change in the power dynamic between
brands and consumers. Consumers can choose what content does and doesn’t perform and
who is worth paying attention to. IfZendaya drinking SmartWater just doesn’t cut it, they can
unfollow or hide the posts with the click of a button. Ultimately, that plays into their
retargeted ads, algorithm and future as a potential SmartWater consumer.Brands must be
conscious of consumer agency and look to their influencerpartners to cater to this behavior.
We've come a long way from flipping through a People magazine and seeing whatever ad they
wanted in there. So trust me when I say, you’ve got more consumer power than ever before.
Your inftuencer can do more.
The role of influencers in media is becoming more prominent. Consumers are weeding
out those who are just made of one viral video in favor of influencers that can write,
perform, entertain and probably juggle, too (who knows!). It’s 2023—brands need to
start embracing the power ofinfluencer marketing and furthermore, the power of
influencers 2.0.
