What are the consumer-level emotional/intellectual drivers behind the effectiveness of social-media influencer marketing?

Question

I understand [*what* an influencer does](https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9sx7j8/eli5_what_exactly_is_an_influencer_and_what_do/), and roughly what their role in early-21st-century Western society is, but have a _very_ hard time understanding how it functions as a viable marketing tactic. The whole endeavour appears rather paradoxical for me when I consider that it appears to be widely known that much of the content is either staged or outright fake, but is almost always presented with the impression of being genuine and spontaneous.

In short, what causes consumers to actually be affected by social-media influencers?

*NOTE*: I recognize that most of the answers to this question can just as easily be applied to celebrity culture and “conventional” advertising. Though I find these equally baffling, I’m especially curious about what differentiates influencer-based marketing from these older approaches.

In: Other

Answer 1

> it appears to be widely known that much of the content is either staged or outright fake, but is almost always presented with the impression of being genuine and spontaneous.

That’s a tactic that is as old as storytelling – that is, as old as humanity. For most of storytelling, the story is presented as true within some kind of framing device. The story of Dr. Frankenstein is framed as a letter sent by a ship’s captain who meets Frankenstein and gets his life story. The captain writes it out and sends it to someone. The captain says repeatedly, “No, really, this is *totally* a true story!”

It *should* be widely known that the vast majority of reality TV is, if not outright scripted, at least *heavily* edited to create a narrative that otherwise doesn’t exist. In Deadliest Catch, for example, a ship pulling up mostly decent pots consistently doesn’t make for exciting TV. So they cut in footage, often from years ago, showing empty pot after empty pot to build tension (what if they don’t meet quota!?) and then a nice big pot. So even reality TV is presented as *real* even though people *should* know that it isn’t.

So the fact that influencers are “fake” isn’t important. What is important is if they are entertaining and hold an audience. Audiences like authenticity, even if it’s fake, manufactured authenticity.