Influence(r) Marketing

Back in the day, you know, we're talking way back, like the early 2010's, social media gave birth to a new profession, "The Influencer." The idea was, by hook or by crook, to build a massive social following on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook and then leverage that following by charging companies a fee to showcase their products in some way on your social network. The more followers you had, the more you could charge. It certainly made sense for the companies that engaged these people. After all, how else were you going to get in front of all of those eyeballs. Money was spent. The Kardashians were born and becoming an "Influencer" was a career dream for new millennials around the world.

But wait, there was a problem. How did they accumulate so many followers? Unlike The Kardashians, they didn't have a TV show to build their empire off the back of. So, how did they get hundreds of thousands or even millions of followers? Some were legitimate entertainers or thought leaders who were able to expand their base. Some built their following by posting ridiculous stunts or make-up tutorials or wacky pet videos. Some used bots and barely had any real people following them! How were you to know what was real and what wasn't? How were you to know where the value was in spending your money and promoting your product?

The truth is, who knew? So much of the time, money was spent on promotion without giving thought to who you were reaching or even who you wanted to reach! There was barely, if any thought given as to what your most effective message would be and whether any of these "influencers" could deliver that message in a manner that served your goals. Heck, what was your goal?

So let me offer you a different way of considering social media influencers. As long as you have one real person following you, you have the potential to influence. You can tell that one follower that you saw an amazing show on Netflix last night and if they then go home and watch that show you have influenced them. Now begin to multiply that by the number of friends, family and acquaintances following you and you can see how your influence can spread. This is your community.

Here's the thing, these people trust you because they know you. There is an authenticity to how you present your opinion. The chances are that if you bought a new mouse trap and it worked well and then shared your story about the mouse trap on social media, those people will start to be on the lookout for that same brand of mousetrap.

Consider this:

You have a community and you have some influence with that community. You don't want to abuse that influence by drowning your community in self-promotion which is understandable. But, if your community trusts you and trusts the recommendations you make, the same would also be true for other communities. If you have a network of like-minded artists, all with their own communities that they hold influence with, then why not simply make sure that each of you are recommending each other's work? Theoretically that will earn you more followers and more influence and more fans. If that makes sense to you then it should also make sense that there's no time like the present to work on expanding your network and by extension your reach and your audience. Who knows, one day you might be able to call yourself an "influencer". In the meantime, maybe you'll end up with a whole new audience to create for.