The market follows the influencers

MARKET INFLUENCERS - The world of social networks is increasingly present in the life of most of us, the generation of Boomer to the youngest. If practically everyone has at least one social page, not everyone recognizes the influence they have in our lives. To understand how great their strength is, just think about the importance that many brands are giving them. Most companies are starting to choose their ambassadors based on the number of social followers and are investing more and more in advertising on online sharing platforms rather than on commercials. People who are chosen to advertise on social media manage to earn enough money to support a family and build around a real profession: the influencer.

Who are the influencers? 

With the term influencer we indicate all those with the power to precisely influence the purchase decisions of others. In the case of social media they usually turn to a specific market segment, different for each of them. The strength of influencers, compared to the advertising we are used to, points to the relationship of trust and closeness between the character and the audience.

Their working position is so well established that it is already possible to divide them into categories according to different criteria:

Number of Followers

• Mega-Influencer
• Macro-Influencer
• Micro-Influencer
• Nano-Influencer

By type of content

• Blogger
• YouTubers
• Podcaster
• Social

Level of influence

• Celebrity
• Opinion leader

Regardless of categorization, they have managed to attract attention thanks to the quality and originality of the content they publish in their channels. The number of followers is important, but also their ability to communicate. This is because what really matters to a company is that the number of followers turns into income and if you are not able to interact effectively with the audience that follows you this does not happen.

Data showing how much the market is driven by influencers

There are many companies, from the most well-known to the emerging ones, that invest in influencers, because they have tested that so the promotion of their products or services reaches a considerable number of people. In addition, the direct access from the social channels of an influencer to the e-commerce site allows to obtain more effective analytical data on the market interested in the products. This is something that may seem secondary, but for brands it is fundamental. These data allow the company to receive important information for the preparation of future campaigns so that they are more targeted.

But let’s go back to how the market sees influencers and considers them. This is possible thanks to the survey carried out by the Observatory Influencer Marketing (IOM) carried out by Ipsos. The data collected, referring to a sample of a thousand Italians aged between 16 and 54 years, say that:

• 68% of Italians follow social influencers, a percentage that rises to 82% in the age group between 18 and 24 years;
• 65% of users are very active on social media;
• 40% of people on social media also use their spaces to share advertising content;
• 38% of users often comment on photos and social posts;
• 74% of women follow on social media the official channels of brands and celebrities, known faces of the entertainment world and web stars;
• 49% of users follow on social networks characters less known to the general public but, however, they regularly deal with issues of interest.

The Ronaldo and Coca-Cola case as an example of market impact by influencers

The market not only benefits the influencers, but can also suffer because of them. This is the case of the episode of Cristiano Ronaldo at the European Football 2020. The term influencer associated with the name of CR7 is not wrong, because he too has long started to support their sponsors with social campaigns. For those who were not aware of it, during his first conference to the Europeans he found himself with two bottles of Cola-Cola. Once seduced he promptly moved the bottles and looking at the journalists in front of him took another bottle of his and exclaimed: "Water".

His gesture cost Coca-Cola a lot, in fact the next day he lost about 4 billion dollars in market value. The price of the shares of Coca-Cola has fallen, in fact, from 56,10 dollars to 55,22, a decrease therefore of 1,6%. In the following days, there were answers from other players even a bit 'playful gesture of Ronaldo, but the brand, albeit with a slight recovery, has not yet returned to previous levels.

Influencer audiences need to be better protected

The influencer public must be more protected.It is not for us to judge whether the behaviour of CR7 has been correct or not, but what interests us is to study the case of influencers. Their profession is seen by the new generation as a real aspiration, like the model, the actor, the doctor etc... In fact, as there are many companies that rely on influencers, there are as many that form them, to have new generations more prepared to do this work.

How the professional figure is formed, however, is just as important that the public is formed, because in these cases it is much easier to fall into scams or be subject to concealed advertising. In fact, any type of advertising also that social must be reported in a clear and evident, to give way to the visitor to be fully aware of being in front of a marketing campaign.

Is the influencer really the profession of the future or will it soon be replaced? We’ll see.

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