What is hiding behind influencers on social media

Vol 27, Issue 13, 13 December 2024

Influencers are basically those people who have an audience and promote brands and products to the mass. They also occupy the sphere of personal life, such as sport and beauty. Since 2020, social media influencers have become a career option. Based on StoryBox data, there are 5.17 billion users of social media worldwide; influencers make up 127 million, which is 2.4% of all users. However, the question is, “What lies behind influencers, and why is this career option gaining popularity so rapidly nowadays?”

1. Flawless picture

Obviously, most influencers make only perfect posts, sometimes editing them so much, that they do not seem natural anymore. Of course, their life is not this ideal in reality, but many viewers believe the picture. It often leads to developing unreal beauty and body standards, causing people to compare themselves and feel bad about themselves.

2. Faceless recommendations

Influencers job is mostly to promote products. Even if they hide it behind the personal recommendation or tell that they have been utilizing it themselves, often it is the first and last time of them seeing that product. This is simply an advertising trick that gives their audience an idea of that particular product as their idol’s favourite one. Of course, there are those people that only recommend something they are using or will be using themselves, but it is still not clear if it is true or not. Nevertheless, it brings awareness of the brands and companies and gives them a greater image and position.

3. Hidden advertisement

There are times when influencers do not even mention that the product has been sponsored by a company or a brand. That gives their audience an idea that it is their personal recommendation, not influenced by money. It is easier for a company to promote their product if the clueless audience believes it was not paid.

4. Benefits only

This one is strongly related to the first aspect, where social media icons tell only the positive sides of the product and skip their disadvantages. This is kind of obvious, because companies do not want people to talk bad about their product. However, on the influencers side, it may lead to the lack of trust from their fans and therefore to lack of new offers.

All the mentioned aspects may cause harm to each party: influencers, fans, and companies.

• For fans, it may cause distrust and disappointment in social media influencers. Additionally, referring to the first aspect mentioned, it may lead to establishing wrong beliefs and beauty standards in the audience’s minds.
• For influences, if they are following methods mentioned above, it may cause bad reputation, rapid unfollowing, and distrust from brands and companies. All of these will be really hard to gain back once they are lost.
• For companies, collaborating with such influences may lead to a bad image and a poor position in the market.

To sum up, I would like to encourage all of you to double-check which influencers you follow and do not let yourself be fooled with marketing and advertising tricks. Although there are nice, conscientious influencers and bloggers, it never hurts to sometimes be picky about what and who you choose to stick to.