5 ms·

People want escapism. Something out of their ordinary lives. Like movies. As someone who is heavily involved in Instagram marketing, I don't see the value for a

People want escapism. Something out of their ordinary lives. Like movies. As someone who is heavily involved in Instagram marketing, I don't see the value for anyone other than dreamers. Which is why my focus is niche, local, and accessible to everyone. In return I send a TON of real customers to places that I choose to promote.

Hnrobert42 8y ago
Why do people trust your recommendations? I’m not saying you are untrustworthy. I don’t know you. But that is my point. Why do people trust “influencers”? I would feel like a tremendous fool even following a stranger’s account, much less going somewhere on their say-so.
- smallnamespace 8y ago
  Well, why can people trust any other people at all? Well, here are some ways: 1. They have an incentive to be honest* (e.g. they would be punished if they weren't), e.g. lawyers, engineers, family members 2. They seem like just honest people, e.g. the Dalai Lama? 3. They say or do many other things that you agree with and your values seem aligned, e.g. politicians, athletes, some corporate leaders 4. They are a lot like you, except slightly different, so you trust them implicitly because you would trust yourself Influencers can hit a bit of all those notes. At this early point, it's probably easier as an influencer to actually find a place that they like and think are good, rather than just taking cash to promote something they don't believe in. Later on that may change. Influencers do have a reputation, if they keep sending people to garbage, eventually those people will notice, so they have something to lose. Some influencers are really good at certain things that people admire (e.g. game influencers), and a lot of influencers go for that 'just a regular person who is your friend and let's go on cool trips together' feel. But note that these same points are potential reasons to distrust, e.g. an influencer who has hit it big and plans to exit the business anyway may find it more worthwhile to start shilling since their future reputation doesn't matter to them.
  - sanderjd 8y ago
    > Well, why can people trust any other people at all? I trust (some) people I know, because I know them.
  - Johnny555 8y ago
    They have an incentive to be honest I think influencers have more of an incentive to be dishonest than to be honest. If they tell a hotel "I'll promote you to all of my followers if you give me a week's stay" and then they go on to tell their followers "This place is crap, stay away", that's going to reduce their future business. If they tell their followers to go to a crap hotel, then they can just say "Oh, it must have changed since I was there". And indeed, by revealing themselves to the hotel beforehand, they've tainted the experience, the hotel is going to treat them differently.
- anigbrowl 8y ago
  Typically because they're attracted to them and want to either be like them or have sex with them.
- oldcynic 8y ago
  They trust them for being being popular. Being popular has become the goal. Aspiring to be famous for something, like being a great musician, no longer seems to be thought a necessary component.
  - pessimizer 8y ago
    That's because under capitalism, salary is confused with talent and pricing with quality. the most famous musicians are not the greatest musicians, the relationship is largely arbitrary
- overcast 8y ago
  I don't promote any food or drinks that I don't love myself. Even when working with restaurants, I make this clear. You can give me all the food you want, but if I don't think it's awesome, I'm not going to talk about it. So that removes any negative criticism, and it makes it greatly in their interest to serve good food. It's ONLY about the product. I'm completely anonymous, very few outside of the industry even know who I am, so I'm not wasting their time with dumb lifestyle pictures of myself. I don't need the money, I'm doing it for the networking, and growing the food scene. My followers recognize this, and is the reason I am the largest in the entire region.
  - microdrum 8y ago
    "You can give me all the food you want, but if I don't think it's awesome, I'm not going to talk about it." That's cool but the old world where if the food isn't awesome the writer will say "THIS FOOD WAS BAD" was probably better.
    - overcast 8y ago
      Nope, provides no value except for spreading negativity. I don't have time for talking about everything I put in my mouth. I'm not a critic.
      - staticautomatic 8y ago
        What are you?
        overcast 8y ago
        Promoter.
        staticautomatic 8y ago
        Is that different from "influencer"?
- pjc50 8y ago
  > I would feel like a tremendous fool even following a stranger’s account This sounds so 20 years ago, when people were afraid to type credit cards or personal information into the internet.
  - code_duck 8y ago
    I have spent the vast majority of my online time talking to strangers. All of you, for example.
- im3w1l 8y ago
  Because you have a history of being trustworthy. I'd assume.
- code_duck 8y ago
  People trust and are totally happy to be manipulated by completely fictitious, entirely fabricated depictions of individuals in advertising and programs on television.
- CyberDildonics 8y ago
  It has little to do with that. The exposure is what counts. Put a picture of a nice hotel and say it's name. Now you have an ad that went out to 100k people. The person is mostly irrelevant, a hotel just wants people to know it exists.
  - dorfsmay 8y ago
    I can't help but wonder the percentage of those 100 k people who are likely to book in an expensive hotel.
    - CyberDildonics 8y ago
      How is that different from any other advertisement?
- megy 8y ago
  You have to trust someone, either the company describing the product themselves, a rating website, or this person.
bonestamp2 8y ago
People also want to feel unique and special. If you can show them something they can have/do that everyone else is not doing or doesn't know about then that has value to them. Even if it's as simple as a restaurant that they already go to, but don't know about something great you can order or experience there.
oliwarner 8y ago
> People want escapism Do they really though? People are told and trained all their lives to want escapism. That their lives could be better if they drank X, drove Y and wore Z. It's a natural side effect of branding and advertising. It's not enough to sell to the people who actually need your product, you have to convince others that they want it too. Consumerism is not a natural human mechanism. It's a hack of commerce and something we've only really been exposed to —in any scale— for the last couple of hundred years.

Hnrobert42 8y ago

Why do people trust your recommendations? I’m not saying you are untrustworthy. I don’t know you. But that is my point. Why do people trust “influencers”? I would feel like a tremendous fool even following a stranger’s account, much less going somewhere on their say-so.

smallnamespace 8y ago
Well, why can people trust any other people at all? Well, here are some ways: 1. They have an incentive to be honest* (e.g. they would be punished if they weren't), e.g. lawyers, engineers, family members 2. They seem like just honest people, e.g. the Dalai Lama? 3. They say or do many other things that you agree with and your values seem aligned, e.g. politicians, athletes, some corporate leaders 4. They are a lot like you, except slightly different, so you trust them implicitly because you would trust yourself Influencers can hit a bit of all those notes. At this early point, it's probably easier as an influencer to actually find a place that they like and think are good, rather than just taking cash to promote something they don't believe in. Later on that may change. Influencers do have a reputation, if they keep sending people to garbage, eventually those people will notice, so they have something to lose. Some influencers are really good at certain things that people admire (e.g. game influencers), and a lot of influencers go for that 'just a regular person who is your friend and let's go on cool trips together' feel. But note that these same points are potential reasons to distrust, e.g. an influencer who has hit it big and plans to exit the business anyway may find it more worthwhile to start shilling since their future reputation doesn't matter to them.
- sanderjd 8y ago
  > Well, why can people trust any other people at all? I trust (some) people I know, because I know them.
- Johnny555 8y ago
  They have an incentive to be honest I think influencers have more of an incentive to be dishonest than to be honest. If they tell a hotel "I'll promote you to all of my followers if you give me a week's stay" and then they go on to tell their followers "This place is crap, stay away", that's going to reduce their future business. If they tell their followers to go to a crap hotel, then they can just say "Oh, it must have changed since I was there". And indeed, by revealing themselves to the hotel beforehand, they've tainted the experience, the hotel is going to treat them differently.
anigbrowl 8y ago
Typically because they're attracted to them and want to either be like them or have sex with them.
oldcynic 8y ago
They trust them for being being popular. Being popular has become the goal. Aspiring to be famous for something, like being a great musician, no longer seems to be thought a necessary component.
- pessimizer 8y ago
  That's because under capitalism, salary is confused with talent and pricing with quality. the most famous musicians are not the greatest musicians, the relationship is largely arbitrary
overcast 8y ago
I don't promote any food or drinks that I don't love myself. Even when working with restaurants, I make this clear. You can give me all the food you want, but if I don't think it's awesome, I'm not going to talk about it. So that removes any negative criticism, and it makes it greatly in their interest to serve good food. It's ONLY about the product. I'm completely anonymous, very few outside of the industry even know who I am, so I'm not wasting their time with dumb lifestyle pictures of myself. I don't need the money, I'm doing it for the networking, and growing the food scene. My followers recognize this, and is the reason I am the largest in the entire region.
- microdrum 8y ago
  "You can give me all the food you want, but if I don't think it's awesome, I'm not going to talk about it." That's cool but the old world where if the food isn't awesome the writer will say "THIS FOOD WAS BAD" was probably better.
  - overcast 8y ago
    Nope, provides no value except for spreading negativity. I don't have time for talking about everything I put in my mouth. I'm not a critic.
    - staticautomatic 8y ago
      What are you?
      - overcast 8y ago
        Promoter.
        staticautomatic 8y ago
        Is that different from "influencer"?
pjc50 8y ago
> I would feel like a tremendous fool even following a stranger’s account This sounds so 20 years ago, when people were afraid to type credit cards or personal information into the internet.
- code_duck 8y ago
  I have spent the vast majority of my online time talking to strangers. All of you, for example.
im3w1l 8y ago
Because you have a history of being trustworthy. I'd assume.
code_duck 8y ago
People trust and are totally happy to be manipulated by completely fictitious, entirely fabricated depictions of individuals in advertising and programs on television.
CyberDildonics 8y ago
It has little to do with that. The exposure is what counts. Put a picture of a nice hotel and say it's name. Now you have an ad that went out to 100k people. The person is mostly irrelevant, a hotel just wants people to know it exists.
- dorfsmay 8y ago
  I can't help but wonder the percentage of those 100 k people who are likely to book in an expensive hotel.
  - CyberDildonics 8y ago
    How is that different from any other advertisement?
megy 8y ago
You have to trust someone, either the company describing the product themselves, a rating website, or this person.

bonestamp2 8y ago

People also want to feel unique and special. If you can show them something they can have/do that everyone else is not doing or doesn't know about then that has value to them. Even if it's as simple as a restaurant that they already go to, but don't know about something great you can order or experience there.

oliwarner 8y ago

> People want escapism Do they really though? People are told and trained all their lives to want escapism. That their lives could be better if they drank X, drove Y and wore Z. It's a natural side effect of branding and advertising. It's not enough to sell to the people who actually need your product, you have to convince others that they want it too. Consumerism is not a natural human mechanism. It's a hack of commerce and something we've only really been exposed to —in any scale— for the last couple of hundred years.