How Social Media Influencers Have Changed Modern Day Marketing

Source: How to Find & Develop Relationships With Social Media Influencers

The economic principle I’m exploring is that people generally respond to incentives in predictable ways.

 The question I'll be answering in this blog post is: how have social media influencers impacted modern day marketing?

 The article published in Forbes written by the CEO of Gadget Flow Evan Varsamis discusses how social media has impacted marketing in a new light. “Are Social Media Influencers The Next-Generation Brand Ambassadors?” demonstrates this economic principle by arguing that technological advances provide critical data, social media influencers must have a niche theme online, and how marketers need to have an attractive profile that is regularly updated. 

 First, Evan Varsamis explains how marketing has changed as technology has improved. He explains that “Authenticity has always been a prevalent concern in the marketing industry. Marketers and industry experts conduct vast research and surveys to figure out the right level of influence they can have on consumers using advertising. Before online media took over, finding your niche audience through offline advertising was quite daunting. Now things are getting easier thanks to the internet.” The advances in recent years has shown huge accomplishments for the marketing industry that were prior unthinkable. I cannot imagine how hard it would be to reach an audience and find out statistics without the data that can be found via the internet.

 Second, Varsamis describes what it takes to be a social media influencer. This type of marketing is more than just posting to get out to certain audiences. Instead, “social media influencers need a lot more than an audience to be successful. Whether they’re on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or YouTube, social media influencers need a niche theme in order to make it brand influencer-worthy.” He is explaining that there is some deep-level thinking that goes into being a social media influencer. People that are influencers must come up with ways and have advertisements that help their viewers connect to them on a personable level.

 Third, the CEO of Gadget Flow describes some rules that marketers must use in order to use social media influencers to effectively. He explains that “Your influencer should have the ability to share a personal bond with their followers and display your product in a way their viewers will connect. This is where the sincerity comes in.” He later goes on to explain that people must “make sure to check the frequency of posts and the number of comments they receive on their content, check whether their profile is engaging enough, and if they share “an Instagram ad with [their] influencer, make sure to include [themseves] as a paid partner so [they] can view the campaign statistics.” These essential tactics will allow an easier, more engaging approach for modern day marketing. One of the key things that must be kept in mind for marketers to be successful is to be flexible with the advances that are happening because technological advances play a vital role in how marketing will play out.

 In my next blog post I will research the question: How does psychology play a role in marketing?