The History of Influence through a psychological lens

Your friend put up a video of them having a fun time at a restaurant. Your uncle recommends a doctor to go to for your common cold that just doesn’t seem to leave. Your co-worker tells you that a movie she went to was one of the best she’s seen this year. An internet friend you have posted an aesthetic picture of a Coca-cola can on their Instagram. 

Interested? It’s only natural. Throughout the history of humanity, people have always been influenced to do things. It’s something that takes place in our subconscious – the minute someone we trust tells us something, it gets planted in our brains. And that seed grows into a tree till we try it. But, it doesn’t end there.

As someone who struggles every single day with crippling indecisiveness, other people’s opinions and suggestions are a boon. The only place where I feel like I can decide something is Subway, and that’s just because they have simplified decision-making so much. I’m just saying, it’s not wrong to get influenced by people. Because honestly, sometimes you need it. Also, there’s the added benefit of being included in the same experience as people. You get to talk about how the restaurant was, how the doctor gave you just the right medicine, how the plot twist of the movie was unexpected, and you can post a picture of a Coca-cola can on your Instagram too. This sense of belonging is a fundamental human feeling that all of us would love to experience; wanting to be included in things is another deep-rooted reason for why we are so easily influenced.

Today’s influencers on social media

Now, keeping all that in mind, this is the part where I segue into the influencers of today, with the whole cliché paragraph about social media and how it has changed all our lives. And how the internet has given birth to a whole new segment of people who have the power to influence a big group of people without even having to be a movie star or a pop singer. The influencer industry has been around for a while now, but it has never changed so drastically as it has with the advent of social media. 

Traditional media and marketing methods – making a radio ad, having a billboard, TV ads – are all going obsolete. And that’s because of a general shift in the consumption of digital media over traditional methods. Another major benefit includes the significant decrease in the amount of money spent on digital ads and a simultaneous increase in the return on investment (ROI) from them. But one thing that remains constant throughout all advertising are the use of influence, and influencer marketing.

It all began from 105 BCE in Rome, where the world’s first influencers were the gladiators. They were advertised in posters all over the streets, and sometimes even endorsed the occasional wine bottle. Since then, with Santa endorsing Coca-cola, movie stars, music artists, sportspersons, and more have joined the roster of influencers. Fast forward to now, where we have YouTubers, TikTokers, Redditors, Instagram models and influencers (and other made up words). These people are the face of the next generation of influencers. 

The rise in influencer marketing can be mainly credited to the necessity for brands to regain consumers’ trust. 80% of Gen Z and millennials report that an endorsement from a social media influencer would have an impact on them. Further, around 70% of teenage YouTube subscribers say that they trust influencer opinions over traditional celebrities. Influencer marketing is very beneficial to undertake as a brand in today’s environment. In the next section, we will go through some more advantages that it brings.

Advantages of Influencer Marketing

Here are some of the advantages of influencer marketing:

• Reaching the right audience: It is an effective way to reach critical audiences on social media. Brands can segment their audiences and use the psychology of influence by choosing appropriate influencers. The brand can target the right people and it helps the messaging of the brand reach them. 
• Increase brand awareness and following: It can expand the brand awareness and reach through a large audience that trusts the influencer and can generate conversations around the brand. This in turn will bring in more followers on the brand’s socials.
• Better return on investment (ROI): Many businesses can get better returns from influencer marketing, including large corporations and new startups. 
• Crack new markets: Brands may not even have a social presence, but when they collaborate with Instagram influencers or YouTubers, they start taking up space in consumers’ minds. 

But there’s a catch. There always is. You should know by now. And there’s always two sides to a coin, so, here are the challenges associated with influencer marketing.

Challenges that come with Influencer Marketing

Though influencer marketing seems too good to be true, an influencer has to be careful about the way they market things. 

Here’s the catch that many influencers get wrong: the line between subtly selling a product and telling their followers, “OMG this Dyson hair dryer is the best.” Here are some ways I recommend you do it. Maybe if you were a fashion influencer, you could say, “Here are 5 amazing hairstyles where you have to dry your hair,” and subtly include the Dyson product throughout the video. Maybe if you were one of the quirky, funny influencers you could say, “You know what rhymes with ‘my son’s spare tire’ and dries your hair? That’s right, it’s Dyson’s hair dryer!” Maybe that was a bad example. Who knows? I’m no quirky comedy influencer.

But here’s the crux of it; as an influencer, or as a brand collaborating with an influencer, it’s important to know that organic videos that just seem like any other content piece a certain influencer would put out is the only way it will be accepted well. Otherwise, you run the risk of making it seem like ‘paid’ and ‘disingenuous,’ and with today’s social media audience, that does not sit well. 

Another big thing brands get wrong, and this is connected to the previous point, is the kind of influencers they collaborate with. It has to seem like the brand and the influencer are aligned in terms of what they have to say. There needs to be some real reason why the brand is collaborating with a certain influencer. 

Conclusion

Influencer marketing can be tough. It is a hit or a miss. You could be an influencer with 2.5 million followers starting your own t-shirt brand in hopes that your loyal followers would buy them – and it turns out only 36 of them (not excluding your family members and friends) bought it. Or you could be one of the thousands of others who actually do get it right.

 

People’s minds are like a piece of sentient clay. They can be moulded, but if you tell the piece of clay you are moulding it before you do so, they don’t like it. Subtly gaslight the piece of clay into thinking it wants to be a certain shape by reaching out to a bigger piece of clay and paying them to tell the smaller pieces of clay.