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In almost every field and industry, companies get requests like this go something along the same lines as mentioned in this post: "Hey, I have access to XYZ aud
by speby 8y ago
In almost every field and industry, companies get requests like this go something along the same lines as mentioned in this post: "Hey, I have access to XYZ audience and we will be doing event ABC next month. It would be great to showcase/use your product and share that with the group. Your company and your product would be front and center for this group of people. All we need is your product for free."
In the end, all this is is just ad sales: I have alleged access to customers who want your product but don't know yet. I can share your company or product w/ them. They trust me. It will influence them to become your customer. Give me X."
And worse than that, many times those requests come with a price tag on top of providing the company's product or service for free.
And really it's no surprise given how social media works. Now any "idiot" can gain a following or an audience over some set of topics, or philosophy, or style, and gain a following that tunes. I say "idiot" less as a derogatory thing and more as a "every Joe or Jane" kind of thing who persists and is focused. Any following of people that tunes into something, anything, can often be cajoled into seeing or experiencing some mention or ad about an unrelated thing and that causes some %-age of that group to pay attention and some %-age of those that pay attention to potentially investigate further and possibly become paying customers of some company or product they didn't know about before. Certainly not rocket science and definitely not new.
What we're seeing here is merely a temporary fashion/trend that tends to focus heavily on luxury hotels and envious-appearing travel experiences.
- davidmurdoch 8y agoI still see influencer advertising in a better light than a brand's own ads. Influencers, especially the more popular ones, help inform consumers about a product/service/experience. The only thing an influencer has is their followers and most influencers really are careful to not advertise products that they don't believe in themselves.
- bigbluedots 8y agoThe influencers get the product for free, otherwise they would not post. This is not people 'believing in a product', it is people using leverage to sell advertising for which they are paid with the product.
- chris_wot 8y agoWhich leads to this sort of thing: https://www.facebook.com/WhiteMooseCafe/posts/2048406742106598 https://www.facebook.com/WhiteMooseCafe/posts/20484067421065... Which is harsh, but fair.
- testb 8y agoThat's some of the worst information redaction I've seen around. I might even think it's intentional
- propogandist 8y agoinfluencers are very selective with their 'reviews' and may chose to leave out things like data-privacy policies, when reviewing a company that provides you DNA analysis -- which should make you question all the information you get from such sources https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3EEmVfbKNs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3EEmVfbKNs
- mattbierner 8y agoI explicitly don’t trust influencers because all they have are their followers. They often have no credentials or real achievements or original thoughts, so why should I trust them? Especially given that their entire goal is to get people to follow and like them? I see this pattern a lot in coder twitter. The people with big follower counts that are always tweeting about their amazing coding and love of software development are not the ones building stuff. Even if their feelings are genuine, the excessive self promotion is quite ugly and makes me doubt everything they say. They are not people I want to trust or follow or listen to
- shostack 8y agoSimply put, influencers who don't have credentials or achievements may not be the right influencers for your business. Finding people who are well-respected in their space, actively create high-value content for their audiences, and can find ways to organically share a brands message are where the real value lies. Combined with trackable promotions, this can be very effective when executed properly.
- toomanybeersies 8y agoI read a blog post a while ago from a camera tripod company that was talking about this. Apparently a lot of people even sent in emails along the lines of "I don't usually use a tripod, but I totally would if you sent me one for free". Of course, the post went on to say that they don't send them free tripods, because it would benefit nobody. The photography isn't going to magically start using a tripod because they got one for free, and the company wasn't going to get very good exposure from a photographer who has no experience shooting with a tripod.