Influencer-driven campaigns were supposed to change the game; however, the game is still the same. Social Media influencer-driven campaigns are basically a numbers game; they lack the so-called “influence” and mostly they do not connect with the audience.
I don’t know about the other side, but the urban market doesn’t entertain cheesy copy-and-paste campaigns and promo content, unless there is a prize involved or pre-existing hype around it. Influencer-drive campaigns lack organic reach, and this is because the content is pre-developed by the client, account manager and copywriter – by the time it reaches the influencer, the specific post has a dedicated #Hashtag, a video or a picture and the brand’s handle(s). This affects influencers because it turns what should’ve been an easy tweet-and-get-paid gig into a job, where you need to think of the best way to communicate the campaign.
Account Managers and their bosses were supposed to use Influencers in a strategic way to “influence” perception of a brand or existing campaign of a brand without people noticing. Influencer-driven campaigns should work like product placement in movies. Account Managers should identify people with the right storylines and strategically communicate branding through them without making it OBVIOUS. Swa jumpa when the agency behind the campaign opts to pay for the tweets to be “promoted” by twitter.
Account managers and their bosses pay influencers, and then spend on the various social media platforms to promote the influencer’s content, to an audience outside the influencer’s following. WHY? And why are most social media influencer-driven campaigns done in English? Who decided on replacing actual influencers with celebrities? When will it be made public that white influencers take home more money for doing the same work as everyone else?