So what is Influencer Marketing. It is a collaboration between a brand and a person of interest with a certain amount of Followers. Think cash, think product, think publicity both ways.

Before it all kicked off, we had celebrities advertise stuff. Pridzcts were shoved into movies for us to notice, they appeared on the internet and similar places where famous people would brag about it. We believed them, they were celebrities, VIPs, and we ate each of their words. And they were also such a different world, that even owning the same goodies, using the same moisturiser did not feel like we were any closer to that sparkling image of Charlize Theron or Angelina Jolie.

Then Instagram happened and gave us a platform for people with some to zero anything to become “famous”. That was fun and great in the beginning. Users uploaded nice photos of themselves, especially fashion related and received dozens of likes and followers. That was amazing, because we followers could actually interact with these people, they were just like us. We felt we could be friends.

And since marketing never sleeps, smart brands decided it would be a great idea to jump on the waggon and send these random “real” people products to post about and it worked like a charm. We wanted to trust these people. Everyone was happy.

BUT THEN everyone else started to catch up. Free products and money for uploading photos? Who wouldn’t want the extra cash? All you need is a bunch of followers and nothing else. Girls started to dream to become Influencers, fly the world, post half naked pictures, and live the life of luxury and likes. The posts became more complicated, the photos became much better quality with photographers and evil influencer marketing people working 24/7. It became a real competition. And with that competition the business evolved into a monster that we have today. Did you know that there is a job that actually manages that crap? Sad.

It became a big problem, the kind of problem that I felt like disassociating myself with and deleted all my 40000+ followers. Just listing the issues makes me really unhappy with the whole thing.

Problem 1 – filters

Once the whole thing started to get complicated, competition rose. More pretty users, more girls with loads of money to look good and get surgeries, so THOSE apps started to appear. An app for filtering where you would be able to change yourself so much, you would not be recognised by your friends.

Butt implants? Just give me 5 seconds. New thin nose and sausace lips? Another 10 seconds. Influencers and random people on instagram became completely fake personas that do not even exist in real life and followers look up to those and go under the knife believing they can one day look just like them or even better.

Problem 2 – fake likes and followers

On top of facetune apps, numerous “follow and like” pages and bots surfaced. THAT IS WHEN IT BECAME A VERY DIRTY BUSINESS. In Hungary we have this one instagram persona, who from the beginning was always caught buying likes and followers, but she was also convincing and managed to get herself to work with high end brands just by showing the amount of followers on her account and being really pushy. Yes, its a she. The funny thing is that these brands KNOW that after an endorsement deal she would go and buy likes for the agreed photos. Its a known fact that is discussed by brands that worked with her, but the bigger ones do not care. The smaller ones are obviously extremely annoyed by this.

And she is not the only one out there cheating the system. It obviously takes a certain type of lets say “a little shady”, but the world is filled with those. There are so many accounts that have the follower count only because of the huge amount of bought followers and likes, that it is becoming harder and harder to trust them. All of this to get free dresses from Asia and pose in them. Empty? Yepp. This is also the reason why nano (tiny) influencer accounts are the new hit. Real, true, small, engaged. Quality against quantity.

Problem 3 – engagement rates

According to statistics the bigger accounts’ engagement rates fell by at least a half in the past years. Instagram’s engagement as a whole is falling. One of the reason is probably the fact that likes have been hidden and the other is because we did get bored by these big, fake, happy and rich accounts.

Problem 4 – sponsored content

Currently influencers HAVE TO (but don’t) disclose the fact that their posts are sponsored content. If you randomly check a few influencers/celebs there would be a whooping amount of #ad hashtags. Some of them have one non advertisement post for 5-10 ads, meaning that only 1 photo per 10 is actually more or less authentic. Oh, and supposedly 50% of influencers do not even mark their posts as sponsored until asked to do so. So not only do you get pure sponsorship, but for many posts you would be tricked to believe it is not…

Problem 5 – bad endorsements

How many times did the Kardashian Klan post multiple different diet products. Most of that crap contains laxatives and spreading dieting products by influencers is not only dangerous because those products are unhealthy , but because of the fucked up self image issues followers start to suffer with wondering if they need to diet. I myself have been aproached by all sorts of shit brands that had nothing to do with me, even diet pills. ME..DIET PILLS..ME?? DIET WHERE?

I am sure if you are reading this, you have probably seen those colorful, happy posts talking about their purest everlasting love for Oreos and Hohes C. Vegans posting non vegan products, beaty bloggers showing off yet another eye shadow palette that they do not like, diet products displayed by chicks thinner than a banknote, rich chicks posing with 3dollar bags that they will never fucking wear.

The problem here is on both ends. As an influencer you DO NOT accept everything that comes your way and damage your “brand, and as a brand you DO NOT send products to influencers that do not match your audience.

Problem 6 – controversy

And due to the amounts of accounts out there, these influencers have to come up with new ideas like creating drama. Think shitty Logan Paul posing at the ‘suicide forest’ in Japan, Belle Delphine selling bath water and James Charles being a drama queen. It is really getting out of hand. None of it is healthy, and nobody wants us to be influenced by these people.

Problem 7 – Self worth

Instagram’s existence and the rise of influencers and the marketing behind them caused so many people to suffer, believing in fake lives, fake bodies, fake lifestyles and fake happy. The truth is that most of it is real. Real happy people do not shove their happiness down your throat, real balanced people do not pose for likes.

Unfollow accounts that make you feel uncomfortable. Follow people you know, dogs, monkeys, fun stuff, girls that do not retouch or even wear makeup. Those with real bodies and real souls. Be inspired without feeling jealous or feeling like you need to change yourself in a way you probably can’t. It is great to always try to be the best of you and evolve, but there are limits to this being done healthy.

In short there is a lot of good out there and you need to follow your heart and not your brain to find your inspiration.

KISS KISS BANG BANG

by Zhenya

The post THE EVIL SIDE OF INFLUENCER MARKETING appeared first on DIAMONDS AND SPIKES.