Image Source: Pexels
Yeah so the pandemic is still in full swing and the virtual world and its glitter is helping you stay alive while slouching on that sofa (hey! wake up)
Social media influencers gained much attention as the screen time increased during the lockdown. Let’s bust some commonly held myths regarding these netizens!
Influencers love money – they won’t do it for free!
So a common perception is that social media influencers won’t let their platform be used for marketing purposes unless there is some monetary compensation involved. It is believed that money is the motivational factor behind every promotion.
HOWEVER, that is not the case. The thing is content creators build a loyal following and a genuine reputation among their followers. A research carried out by GroupHigh concluded that about 70 percent of the content creators go for monetary compensation for running advertisements on their blogs, product trade and affiliate partnerships. The reality is that these creators only accept compensation from brands with services and products that coincide well with their personal branding and readership.
Influencers or LAZY Millennials?
Millennials are usually thought of as lazy and lousy as they are used to taking selfies with the oh-so-yummy delicacies. This paints a picture in the mind of the viewers that “oh! They don’t have to do much. they just put up a picture and make money.” That is not entirely the case, trust me!
Image Source: Pexels
In reality, millennials are some of the most hardworking people. According to a confirmed source, 25 percent of them work 50 hours every week while 73 percent work for 40 hours every week. Influencers themselves create content as a side-hustle alongside a full-time job. Yes, that means their weekends are also about writing captions, editing or doing photoshoots. (Wow. Impressive!)
The influencer’s follower count is not important- You have my word!
So you think the greater the number of followers, the greater the success of the influencer. Well! Doesn’t ring true here. Arii, an Instagram influencer having over 2 million followers online, could not sell 36 t-shirts to her bunch of followers. Oops!
The best metric for assessing an influencer is to see the engagement of the followers with the influencer. For example, do people comment on the posts frequently? Are these comments meant to strike a conversation with the influencer? At times micro-influencers having a count of fewer than 10,000 followers are deemed more trustworthy when it comes to the trust and confidence of the audience.
Hmm – pretty intriguing!
