This rising culture of nihilism and zero introspection among the youths today is also traceable to undue publicity and validation of morally decrepit individuals that we elevate to the status of ‘influencer’.
The annoying clicks from Titi’s iPhone keyboard infuriated me. She brushed her fingers over her phone swiftly, a cocky smile danced upon her lips and occasionally she burst into a slight giggle. “will you quit doing that!”, I lashed out at her, rolling my eyes over furiously to indicate my impotent displeasure. “I’m sorry Fred but I am getting so much engagements from my fans on Twitter, the comments are enormous and I am trying to reply some of them. I want to make my fans feel loved so that they can engage more frequently on my posts and retweet my tweets. You know…” I trailed off. Titi could go on and on for days. “… being a social media influencer is not an easy task, I have devoted months to ensure that my visibility grows. Soon big brands would start reaching out to me. It has begun sef, did I tell you that Tunde Ednut is now following me and Adekunle Gold recently retweeted my post? The money will start rolling in soon and…” I knew I had sparked her stalwart interest. My mind slipped out of its cave and wandered about the fascinating plains of my imagination. The unanswered question persistently clung to the clanking train of my disturbing thoughts. “Who is a social media influencer?” The answer that satisfies this question is not far-fetched. The new and innovative era of efficient communication has expanded so vastly as new media are accrued consistently to make the world a global community. It has been the dream of man to be closer to his kind and to avail himself to information even about events that are not within his scene and scope. The advent of social media platforms, of which most popular amongst is Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, WeChat, WhatsApp and most recently Tik-Tok has triggered a steadfast modification in the life routines of the average person. This shift has caused humans to adjust to several technological advancements, which of course at this very moment they have discovered the inevitable reasons for usage. Several processes have changed greatly, from virtual communications to banking needs, advertising and marketability have all been altered by this wind sweeping change. This is where a social media influencer steps boldly into the game. As marketing and sales patterns are changing, people would only love to use a product or service that somewhat has been endorsed by a known profile. These influencers have become some sort of demigods occupying the virtual space. Many of them concentrate on a particular platform where they strive to grow their followership and develop their niche. Hitherto, I at this moment understood why my dear Titi, drapes a traditional wrapper and makes funny faces at her iPhone camera. Shen also had a special way she said the word “crazy” that she pronounced in an amusing manner that sounded much like “guweyzzzy”. Upon this rather modest premise did she grow followership of almost ten thousand on Twitter and still counting. So you might ask… what does one stand to gain or earn as a social media influencer? Well, I have painstakingly decided to understand and research about this intense topic so I could make up my mind whether to help Titi out or not. Amazingly there are alarmingly evident reasons of taking the giant strides of social media influencing. One of the most glaring grounds is the great expansion of your brand name, face and awareness. As more people get to engage with you frequently on social media. It is certain that they would begin to note the difference and similarities of your brand as in relation with others. And if they find it worth its salt and their attention, they would follow your wall on social media and you would directly gain brand trust and popular awareness. One other reason social media influencers record exponential growth is that they have been able to build a niche that already attracts an audience that has interest in the content that they put out. If a person likes fashion and discovers a social media influencer that creates content on that niche, it is certain that they would follow that person immediately. This is when the gains begin dropping in for the innovative social media influencer who is expected to use the favourable opportunity of influence to boost sale and incur endorsements – this is a proven method social media influencers hinge on. Another glaring advantage is the establishments of salutary partnerships that results from the consistency of developing a profitable niche that is capable of inducing wide followings. These partnerships might be in form of brand ambassadorships with relatable brands, joint ventures, live events and an alarming host of other opportunities. However, it is required of an intending social media influencer to ensure that before they jump into this wide pool that they can swim. Social media influencing in the full and glorious glare of tech advancement is a potential market that boosts of millions of dollars in revenue monthly and is set to hit much more. Therefore, it is safe to say that social media influencers can choose to make a career out of it if they so desire. Notwithstanding, social media influencing does have a lot of misadventure if not properly handled. One of these is keeping your neck from getting entangled in scandals that are capable of ruining the reputation that you have created so far. A good number of influencers fall into this ditch although unknowingly at most times. They might end up getting involved in a virtual fracas with other influencers, make a hate statement or a racist comment or relate wrongly with followers. These points might be picked against you and might as well ruin your social media empire. In the same vein, it might also prove hard to scale or rate your success in the social media influencing system. Most influencers end up entangled with the wrong audience that might at the end not support their niche. They eventually become frustrated and decide to follow another niche that doesn’t appeal to them or halt the whole process entirely. It is also worthy of note that influencers get a lot- I mean a whole lot of backlash and criticisms from followers and rivals alike. This of course explains why my Titi sometimes
In a digital age where everyone has a form of social medium, the influence of some public figures on brands and organisations cannot be overemphasized. The surge in the influence of social media on even the littlest business could be traced to the beginning of the millennium (2000) where brands like Indomie noodles, Coca cola and even telecommunication organisations began to see the need to influence the public to patronize them by putting the face of a public figure in their adverts. A stroke of inspiration, one could say. To the advantage of these organizations, it worked well in increasing their customers and clients. People simply patronized a business because their favorite actor, artist or footballer also purchased that brand. The social media influencers were within the circle of these top three till other individuals picked up social media influencing as a full time job. With the varieties of social media applications increasing yearly from Facebook to WhatsApp to Twitter, Instagram, SnapChat and its likes, individuals began to focus on growing a community or a group of followers within a particular application. A community that has over the time learned to trust their words and actions, learned to just like them for who they are and learned to- in social media term– follow them. It is almost as if when a social media influencer says “jump”, followers simply ask “how high?”. This is because influencers spend a lot of time with their audience building trust and followership. The social media applications themselves have also helped to promote the social media influencers by verifying them (giving them a tick) once they meet certain criteria. One would agree that such verification has earned the trust of the public. With such great influence on a large number of people, we can rightly conclude that social media influencers are a great advantage to businesses, organizations e.t.c. However, with everything that has an advantage, there is also a disadvantage as how the social media influencers use their power is important. ADVANTAGES OF SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCERS Trust and credibility is built quickly. With a social media community that already trusts an influencer, using such individual quickly transfers such trust to a brand or organization. Followers believe in the taste and stand of their social media icon on a situation or brand. This really helps to boosts a brand’s target audience and increase number of clients. Unpopular issues are brought to light. An example could be seen in the increase of the #ENDSARS protests online and offline. Many youths came out or began speaking strongly in support when their social media influencer spoke on it or came out to protest. This issue was unpopular some weeks back. Opinions or stand on various issues that seem unpopular can become popular in less than a minute the right social media influencer speaks on it. Target audiences are effectively reached. Brands and organizations carefully select social media influencers to boost them. An energy drink company knows that the followers of a football star would probably play football and visit the gym regularly and so would need an energy drink. A football star would be selected for such company than an actress and so without much stress of searching for target audience, they leverage on the social media influencer. Same goes for legal matters, food companies, telecommunication companies e.t.c. Great creative content. Social media influencers are creative. Every day, they invent new ways to keep their followers glued to their social media space which includes dropping quality contents. Such creative mind is usually transferred to boost a brand which of course keeps customers glued to the brand by patronizing. DISADVANTAGES OF SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCERS. Success cannot be accurately measured. The influence of these icons on social media affects the accurate measure of a brand’s or organization’s success. With their help, an unknown brand can become popular in the blink of an eye even though the brand is not reliable or just kick started. Such brand cannot accurately say that their improvement overtime, hard work or consistency brought them into the limelight. A wrong influencer can harm. With the same wave an influencer can boost a business is the same wave another can pull down the same. All it takes is for a wrong influencer to be used or such to say a wrong statement. This creates a 50-50% chance when using a social media influencer. Sometimes, it might even be the conduct of such influencer outside the social media world. Exorbitant fees. Social media influencers at first influenced for free or cheap price but with the growing competition between brands, organisations and the social media influencers themselves, fees to employ a social media influencer has increased at an alarming rate. One can say there is little or no hope for start-ups to employ them. With such benefits and yet drawbacks, brands and organizations should first research if a particular social media influencer shares the same vision and target audience before engaging, social media influencers should understand that they hold power over the brands and organizations they represent and should use such wisely and followers should trust their influencer (icon) with wisdom because some brands are not reliable. Osanyinro Oluwaseun, a graduate of Microbiology and currently a master student of Public Health at the University of Ibadan runs a blog on WordPress deejemima.wordpress.com
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