Business Diaries

I love clothes. Love love love them. So not surprisingly, I love shopping.

What you wear emits social signals and can be a great tool for self-expression. This is why I follow Chelsea Deboer. (You may have heard of her from the 2009 MTV episode of 16 and Pregnant.) The MTV show success is what prompted the Teen Mom spin-off that premiered later in 2009.

I follow her on Instagram for (honestly) fashion inspiration. But she also posts about a lot of health and nutrition products, home decor, and kid’s clothes. At the heart of it though – I’m a mom, and she’s a mom. I like clothes, and she likes clothes. I have always admired her parenting style and all of the ways she has been challenged over the years and yet consistently showed up for her daughter as a positive and light-spirited mom.

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Right now, she has over 6.6 million followers on Instagram. ¹

Teen Mom 2 premiered in 2011 and is literally still going. (Not to be that guy… but she’s obviously not a teen mom anymore.) Yet people still watch the show and particularly Teen Mom OG and Teen Mom 2. Even if the show gets cancelled, Chelsea Deboer has built such a versatile image, that she would thrive even without it. Brands like Lauriebelles, Savvy Giveaways, and Profile Sanford endorse the Teen Mom 2 star, who is forecasted to have a net worth of about $26.34 million. ^{4, 1}

Influencer marketing is unique in that it takes advantage of this sort of allegiance that an individuals’ followers have toward their personal brand. The incredible reach that influencer posts have among one of the most sought-out target markets (millennials) is amazing. Depending on the popularity of the influencer, these posts can yield a few million views with minimal effort, and in a short period of time, too.

“When Logan does a branded campaign, you can see how many millions of people have watched it, where they’ve watched it, what age they are and their demo. Furthermore, it’s more than just the views. You can see their engagement. You can see people are continuing to talk about a video afterwards. And they’re sharing. I don’t know how you could even put a price on that.”

Paul Cazers, an agent with CAA, talked about the immense power of social media influencers during a 60-Minutes interview.

However, it’s worth noting that while the consumer reach can be far, the brand needs to be ready to live up to expectations. “You can reach an audience of millions, and you can target a specific band of demographic. It sounds excellent, doesn’t it? Let’s not forget that it also allows millions to publicly and openly vent their opinion and anger.” ⁷ These posts go viral fast, especially if you have the right influencers showing off your brand.

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The Fyre Festival is a possibly one of the greatest representations of the power of influencer marketing. 

To pique the interests of major influencers and artists, they used some of the world’s top supermodels, including Hailey Baldwin, Emily Ratajkowski, Bella Hadid, and Elsa Hosk, among others, to pose on yachts and sandy beaches on an island in the Bahamas to gain traction. “The Titans of the modeling industry,“ as Brett Kincaid, Creative Director for Matte Projects, described them. ⁸ 

The supermodels sparked so much hype among their followers solely by being all together in a group, that eventually Mcfarland and Ja Rule had around 400 celebrity and macro-influencers posting a simple orange tile on Instagram with the hashtag #FyreFestival. These influencers were so successful – within 48 hours, they sold 95% of their tickets. ⁸

Their marketing campaign flaunted a musical line-up featuring top artists and luxury accommodations – all on a private island known as Saddle Back Cay, in Exuma, Bahamas. Attendees were promised a VIP experience and, “VIP flight to the Bahamas, gourmet food, famous stars, luxury villas to stay in and more, which justified the ticket prices adding up to $10,000.” ³

Unfortunately, Mcfarland’s team had promised so much in so little time, that when the festival’s date rolled around; time, money, and a lack of festival-planning experience proved to be against their favor. To make matters worse, the owner of the island in which was featured in the original advertisements, kicked them off after seeing the first video promotion – forcing the Fyre team to frantically search for a new island to host their now super-hyped event.

The owner of the island wanted a new reputation for it, since it had been previously known by locals for drugs and crime. He specifically instructed Mcfarland’s team not to use the name Pablo Escobar, which they used in one of their first ads. ⁸

The team was left with 6-8 weeks to pull off the event as advertised. When they couldn’t pull it off, the festival became known as a complete hoax.

Attendees started tweeting real-time photos and comments describing the “disastrous” event. ³ One person posted a photo of a sad-looking cheese sandwich which immediately went viral.

Clearly, this didn’t end well for Billy Mcfarland, who is now a convicted felon and recently released from prison after serving 4 out of his 6-year sentence. ⁶ Nonetheless, it goes to show the power of influencers, and just how far and how fast they can reach the right audience.

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How are they pulling this off?! What are their strategies?

Trust.

One of the reasons that social media influencers are so successful is that they’ve already built trust with their followers. They are familiar faces to their followers which makes them more trustworthy than any TV advertisement or social media advertisement. According to Sprout Social, people are 30% more likely to trust a brand based on authentic, less produced videos from their most admired influencers that they follow versus polished, highly produced videos. ⁵

Loyalty.

Because they have built this trust with their fans; they’ve simultaneously established brand-loyalty as a bonus. They have the ability to reach a wide net of people through their platforms and posts, and they know exactly how to speak to their audience and appeal to their emotions and values. To put that into numerical perspective; 46% of social media influencer followers say that they follow the influencer because they feel a personal connection with them. ⁵

Simplicity.

Influencers endorse brands that align with their own. Their posts are casual, in order to keep from offsetting their own. For example, Chelsea Deboer promotes Profile Sanford because her vision aligns with theirs.

This is one of the main ways that influencers maintain their connection to their fans. According to Mintel’s 2022 Social Media Influencer’s report, “Quickly digestible content is easiest for consumers to watch and best for brands to share quick messaging.” ⁵

What role do these influencers play in marketing?

For starters, they raise brand awareness. It doesn’t matter if you’re an established company looking for a little extra reach, or a brand-new up-and-coming company; influencers can reach a target audience and then some. And because their followers trust them; they are more likely to trust your brand too. Look at the Fyre Festival, for example. Billy Mcfarland had a goal of growing a multi-million-dollar company and he had a vision for his audience: high class celebrities. The problem was, Mcfarland had limited connections amongst that audience. These are exclusive artists we’re talking about – and they certainly weren’t going to Fyre Festival based on his word. It was only after their peers’ posted images of the never-before heard of festival that they decided it was legit (or so they thought). ⁸

Influencers also have this matchless ability to create buzz among their followers, which can easily draw media attention. “Countless online journalists and writers have said that Twitter, Facebook and Reddit are their go-to places when looking at what is trending in communities and what they should be writing about,” said Laura Crimmons, Communications Director for Branded3. ⁷

By using influencers, marketing managers can easily find out what their product or services’ main selling points are. “Businesses can find out how their customers and the public in general are talking about their brand in
real time.” ⁷ This means that brands can find out instantly whether they need to adjust their strategies or amplify them according to their feedback. ⁷

Lastly, using influencers is more cost-effective than traditional advertisements. “On average Social Media Advertising is 3x more expensive than Influencer Marketing.” ² Low production costs and higher engagement equals higher return on investment (ROI). Not to mention the fact that you can realistically track your campaign’s progress in real-time. “The intricacies of search functionalities within social platforms have the ability to further enhance your targeting,” Jack Cooper, Digital Marketing Specialist. ⁷

How does the use of marketing perspective impact the relationship between the company and consumer?

Marketing perspective – listening and responding – pretty much decides how your message is going to be received by your audience. Every marketing strategy will emit a different response from the audience. By listening to consumers and responding to their needs, a company’s image is more likely to be perceived as genuine, which is essential for any company. Who wants to buy a product or service from someone who they don’t trust? Not me.

The different perspectives of those involved in a marketing campaign will teach the company the whos, whats, wheres, hows and whys of their audience. Again, using Fyre Festival as an example…

Remember how I said the owner of Saddle Back Cay Island specifically asked Billy Mcfarland’s team not to use the name Pablo Escobar? Well, they of course used it anyway as part of their marketing strategy…

They were kicked off the island as soon as the owner saw the ad. The owner had envisioned that Fyre Festival would be the solution to a deeply engrained bad reputation among locals who associated Pablo Escobar with negativity. Mcfarland’s team chose not to listen – because to them, Pablo Escobar could be an exotic Bahamas local who once owned the island, and their tactic was simple: come to the festival and live like Pablo Escobar for a weekend. ⁸

If they had listened to the different perspectives of those involved in the campaign, it’s very possible that the event might have turned out at least half of what it was hyped up to be.

Relationship management is an essential part of maintaining meaningful connections between the company and consumer. By using the right marketing perspectives, companies can benefit from customer loyalty and long-term connections.

The takeaway

Brands are in constant competition with each other to attract consumers and keep them coming back. To make that happen, it’s necessary to have not only compelling content – but trustworthy sources, making influencers a powerful tool for your campaign’s success.

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References:

1 Chelsea DeBoer Net Worth and Earnings (October 2022). (2022, October 1). Net Worth Spot. https://www.networthspot.com/chelseahouska/net-worth/instagram/

2 East, E. (2018, March 8). 4 Reasons Why Influencer Marketing Is Very Cost-Effective. Retrieved October 8, 2022, from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/4-reasons-why-influencer-marketing-very-edward-east/

3 Hassan, B. N. (2021, March 3). What happened at Fyre Festival 2017? The US Sun. https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/2441660/what-happened-fyre-festival-2017/

4 https://www.instagram.com/chelseahouska/

5 O’Donnell, F. (2022). Social Media Influencers – US – 2022. Mintel.

6 O’Neill, J. (2022, May 19). Fyre Festival fraudster Billy McFarland released from prison early. New York Post. Retrieved October 8, 2022, from https://nypost.com/2022/05/18/fyre-festival-fraudster-billy-mcfarland-released-from-prison-early/

7 Ryan, Damian. Understanding Social Media : How to Create a Plan for Your Business That Works, Kogan Page, Limited, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/snhu-ebooks/detail.action?docID=2006876.
Created from snhu-ebooks on 2022-10-08 19:41:19.

8 Smith, C. (Director). (2019). FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened. NetFlix.

9 Whitaker, B. (2016, December 14). The Influencers. CBS News. Retrieved October 8, 2022, from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-kim-kardashian-logan-paul-social-media-influencers/