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
From a public relations perspective, influencers are seen as individuals with a high level of credibility among a certain audience. Influencers produce valuable content that audience members consume, like, and consume more of.
When an organization uses an influencer, the goal is to show the organization’s product/service used in an organic fashion by a credible individual. A good example is a cooking influencer posting a recipe that features a fish from a particular fish provider. Audience members see the influencer use the product/service well and think, “I can do that!” and then do.
This doesn’t always work.
When using influencers, it’s important to make sure the product they’ll be promoting matches the content they regularly create. If an influencer only creates content about video games, it doesn’t make sense for them to suddenly start talking about shaving products. It makes the marketing inorganic, awkward, and ultimately ineffective. Organizations that work with influencers that don’t reflect their brand are lazy and are only interested in shoving their product in your face.
It also may be ineffective if the influencer isn’t actually an influencer. This is basically all the really attractive people who post video of themselves but don’t actually contribute anything valuable. Yes, they are fun to look at, but no one is really listening to what they have to say. Anything they promote won’t really be taken seriously.
Finally, it also depends on the audience. Anyone can consume what an influencer creates, but not everyone gains the same amount from that content. If you don’t care about cosmetics, you don’t really care about what a beauty blogger has to say. However, if you care about traveling, you’ll be more likely to listen to an instagram influencer when she/he talks about that cool hotel in NYC that they stayed at last month.
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