#11 - Influencers Part 1: COMPARISON CULTURE

Influencer Gabbie Hanna fakes going to coachella

• Quote:

  • In the closing remarks of her video Hanna said 

  • "Social media, for the most part is just a very curated and manipulated version of reality. Just don't base your life off of the few posts a week from your favorite influencer living this glamorous, colorful, saturated, hip, trendy, amazing life. Because the whole time I was living my best life at Coachella, I was really, uh, for the most part, sitting in this editing chair." 

(Mashable)

• MySpace was “first--but Facebook came in and captured the entire market

  • ***I looked it up after the Podcast--and MYSPACE DID *NOT* HAVE A NEWSFEED***

WHAT I SAW HAPPENING WITH SOCIAL MEDIA THRU FACEBOOK

The upside to breaking down the barriers to entry for attention

• 1. Corporate control taken away

  • Who does what or who people decide to consume for entertainment

  • Freedom to share talents, gifts and the unique things about us that make us different

  • Freedom to exchange ideas and opinions

• 2. Social Media is the most powerful tool to keep us literally and visually connected and aware of the strongest and even smallest relationships from throughout our lives...HOLD ON WITH THIS ONE

The downside:

• The rat race for: 

  • Attention

  • Validation

  • Network competition 

Instagram

• Aforementioned “FILTER VANITY”

  • Like counts, less posts, more curated, etc.

    • More on this in a bit

Twitter

• “Let’s run it up” or “Now that this is trending, follow for follow” “Now that this is trending, check out my ____ and run it up.”

TikTok

• TikTok “Like for follow” “make Me TikTok Famous” “#Viral”

...Just look at how social apps have evolved over the years

• First MySpace

• Then Facebook

  • Facebook statuses moved to twitter

• Then Twitter

  • “Group text” concept

• Then IG

  • Filter Vanity

• Youtube was always around, but a bit different

  • Vine

  • Then TikTok

    • Married the concepts of IG with Vine

Comparison Culture --Lauren Geall in Stylist -- Affecting how we view the world and our value in it

Sean Parker -- Napster & Facebook’s first President

• Social Validation Feedback Loop

  • Likes and Comments give “Little Dopamine hit”

THIS ALL AFFECTS THE GEN Z’s & MILLENNIALS MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE 

• These trends have affected every demographic and generation--but the children of its grip are undoubtedly the Gen Z’s and Millennials, who are collectively already more relevant and important to societal direction than the older Gen X and Baby Boomer generations.

• Gen-Z & Millennials taking over the workforce

• Management Recruiters International

  • By the year 2020, 50 percent of US workforce will be Millennials

    • Gen Z is already making their way into the force as well, I’ve seen stats that have them in the 5-10% range of the workforce

      • Sue in accounting is gone

Instagram Stats

AS OF JANUARY 2020

• Over 1 Billion Worldwide users

  • Around 121 million in US alone

• 65% of users between 18 & 34

• 63% of all users access IG daily

  • 28 minutes per day average across all users (including non-daily)

The overall vibe of “Look at me” leads to competition, which leads to attention--and the focus ends up on numbers.

• Likes, comments--and FOLLOWERS.

THE OLD DAYS

• To go outside your network, there were things like “Like-4-Like” & Follower-For Follower Movements that favored the best curated aesthetics and looks

  • Luke Cervino

  • Still done today via “Comment Sticking”

• Or Viral Moments (Murad Osmann “Follow Me To”)

Spread massively

• Propped up those with:

  • Pre-existing social clout

  • Looks

  • Crazy backstories

  • Knowledge on a key cultural activity

  • Etc.

    • All to garner more attention than the average person.

Influencer Sub-Categories Formed

• Fashion

• Food 

• Lifestyle

• Fitness 

• Beauty

• Travel

• The Distribution of Follower Accounts Statistics 

  • Compiled by a Brand Insights Company Called “MENTION”

• Over 1 Billion IG Accounts globally

  • Just over 10% have at least over 10,000 followers (the usual threshold for “micro-influencer” status)

  • Between 1 and 2 percent of accounts have at least 50,000 followers

  • And 3-400,000 accounts have over 100,000 followers

    • At 400,000 accounts, that means approximately 0.04 accounts out of a billion actually become macro “influencers”

      • And these days, many would say you need 500,000 or 1M for them to consider you “legit”

        • The Logan Paul’s and Amanda Cerny’s of the world

Brands are throwing money at influencers

• Brand Concept

  • Sell via “real people” who have followers’ “trust”

    • The ultimate “testimonial advertising”

  • According to DMI’s 2018 data:

    • 86% of women use socials for purchasing advice

    • 49% of consumers depend on influencer recommendations

      • Keep in mind--2018 DATA***...remember that.

  • US influencer marketing spend is already in the billions per year--and some estimates see the annual industry spend increasing to over $10 billion within the next couple of years.

The Psychology Behind Why We’ve Developed Trust in and Reliance on Influencers — Bradley Hoos in Forbes

• The Psychology of Influencer Marketing (Forbes -- Bradley Hoos)

  • Cultural Conformity

    • THE HALO EFFECT

      • Tiger Woods

  • We have a sense of power and control in choosing them

  • Informational Social Influence (We want to be like them)

  • Personal Connection

  • A Desire to Help Others