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Read part 1 - The power of influencers in digital marketing, from fashion to politics

Long before the internet existed, influencers were already there. Their medium was not social media for it has not even existed yet. Consulting company Grin said that “In advertising folklore, it is said that long ago the Queen and Pope used to endorse medicine for the benefit of common people.”

Others might say that Josiah Wedgwood who created and gave a tea set to Queen Charlotte of England back in 1760 was also one of the first influencers ever. This even earned him the title “Father of Modern Marketing.”

Fast-forward to the present day, influencer has grown into an industry. The term digital marketing strategy is synonymous with influencers. Influencer marketing works using endorsements and product mentions through influencers’ social media accounts. This method is believed to work wonders owing to the immense growth of internet usage and digital media consumption.

From 2012 through 2018, both internet usage and digital media consumption increased from 5 hours 37 minutes to 6 hours 45 minutes per person, mostly occurring among Gen Z, along with the shift of gadgets used from computers, laptops and tablets to smartphones.

Digital advertising captured more than 50% of global advertising spending in 2019 (Wielki, 2020). This shows how digital advertising is a useful tool to market products and/or services, and that is when influencers come in handy.

With this efficiency, no wonder many brands use influencer services to market their products. 

For instance, ASUS recently launched a collaboration with Urban Sneaker Society (USS) for the updated version of the Republic of Gamers (ROG) campaign. “The influencers we have in our campaign are the real users of ROG. This, in return, affects our brand reliability and helps increase sales significantly. With the right people in the right channel, we can spread our messages correctly and thoroughly,” said a representative of ASUS.

According to a seller, despite the hefty price tag, there were two transactions for ROG laptops made after the buyers saw the advertisement.

With technology, the power of influencers is brought to the next level because it helps them engage with their audience more. They are now on top of the hierarchical pyramid. However, we know that nothing good lasts forever, even for influencers. This leads us to another question: how do they maintain relevance?

Many respondents in a series of questions TFR posted to social media said that influencers have increasingly become online advertising banners. A lot of them said that they would like to see transparency from influencers - disclosing paid posts, for example.

Others want influencers to be honest with product reviews and responsible for the products they are promoting. In the plethora of endorsements on social media, tech-savvy users or consumers are getting more critical with influencers’ content.

Simply posing with a product is no longer the bare minimum. It might be more efficient if influencers who market the product are also users, which will make their advertisement more valid and not just solely based on marketing key points.

One respondent wrote, “Not everyone with a huge number of followers is considered as influencers.”

The statement does, indeed, ring true. Back in 2013 when Instagram was a new social media platform, 1,000 followers was a huge number. The algorithm also wasn’t as complex as it is today.

In the present day, almost everyone-Gen Z in particular-has one or two Instagram accounts - one for the public and another one, or commonly referred to as the second account, is usually for close friends only. Hence, it fuels the growth of Instagram users. Influencers with 50,000 followers are categorised as micro influencers.

Then enter TikTok, a social media platform for video-sharing. TikTok is taking the rein as a medium to express ourselves by posting videos that are mostly about slice of life. With 850 million users today, TikTok is predicted to reign for a long time.

Before Instagram Story existed, Instagram posts were mainly about perfectly composed pictures of a site, outfits or lifestyle. However, they were somewhat not organic as most of them were not the depiction of reality.

Relevancy is the key ingredient in influencer marketing, and without it, the impression that is bound to emerge is only aloofness.

Video, on the other hand, offers a more organic perspective. Even though they can be tailored as well, videos that show more spontaneity and other daily activities are becoming more popular because they are more dynamic than photos on feed.

The point is that influencers are also humans like the audience. Therefore, their mentions of products are reliable and can be internalised by the audience, which can then be converted into awareness and purchase. This is why TikTok and Instagram Story are now more widely used than the post-to-feed feature.

After analysing the responses we received and the development of social media, we found that there is an increasing appetite for organic content created by reliable influencers. The audience wants something more humane and more organic. Although endorsement deals cannot be fully organic, the audience wants what they see to at least look like it.

The continuity of a social media influencer depends on each influencer and technology development. Influencer culture, on the other hand, will always be there because one of the most humane traits of homo socialis is to fit in the society, and they will do anything to achieve that, including listening to and looking up to influencers.

Even before technology was there to help, influencers - be it celebrities, models, fashion editors, leaders of nations or religious figures - already thrived to spread their influence, to set the trends. There will always be someone to look up to and to listen to.

As Metharani once told TFR, everyone can be an influencer. “We are all influencers because we like to exchange information with each other. It’s because you, as a person, is a media that could influence other people,” she said.

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