Influencers are ‘bloody influential’, despite what the media gatekeepers say
In this response to Facebook exec Neil Stewart’s call for an end to use of the word ‘influencer’, Rochelle Sheldon argues that the term has been hijacked to unfairly demonise social media creators.
Whether you realise it or not, you will have an opinion on the term ‘influencer’. It will either make you cringe, sit up with curiosity or it’ll confuse the hell out of you and raise more questions than it provides answers. It’s divisive to say the least; the coriander of social media, you might say.
So when I read about Facebook Asia-Pacific’s head of agency Neil Stewart’s fervent dislike of the word, it stoked my interest. And while perhaps not his fault, Stewart has got influencers all wrong.
Here is exactly what he said during Mumbrella Asia’s Travel Marketing Summit last month:
The one and only time I have agreed with a Daily Mail article was when this breed of narcissistic ‘influencer’ was branded ‘Vapid C*nt’
How sad for you, why are you so threatened?
Isn’t the real argument about whether the consumer wants to be ‘influenced’? They’re not that stupid are they?
It doesn’t really address the criticism, which was what’s the quantifiable evidence that they’ve changed a behaviour in their followers?
Perhaps their sales through links that those they collaborate with can measure. Where are the stats for actual purchases for print and online MSM? Eyeballs of course but how are actual sales measured for those media?
As far as I can tell, the original article took umbrage that an “influencer’s” influence cannot be measured, while the author here argues that there is “oodles of evidence” without offering up any of that evidence.
A few words of advice: show, don’t tell.
My great grandfather smoked til 92YO. doesn’t make cigarettes safe. So just because you can name 1,000 influential influencers doesn’t mean there isn’t a need to vet the crap ones…and follower numbers aren’t the measure. The influencer space is just another media. If you like to earn your fee you’ll vet the influencers for your client or employer and try and weed out the many that bought enough followers online at 2 cents a pop. And wade through the many that simply create the profiles to take your money. we did the same thing with newspapers and magazines. If newspapers weren’t influencers Rupert wouldn’t have received all the hate mail. Stop naval gazing and get back to work.