According to Linqia, 2016 is the year influencer marketing went mainstream, with 86% of marketers reporting they already worked with influencers.
Social media being the playground of influencers, it is more crucial than ever for social media managers to understand how things work.
Fortunately for us, Bloomberg writer Max Chafkin ventured in a very interesting experiment:
The plan, which I worked out with my editor and a slightly confused Bloomberg Businessweek lawyer, was this: With Saynt’s company advising me, I would go undercover for a month, attempting to turn my schlubby @mchafkin profile into that of a full-fledged influencer. I would do everything possible within legal bounds to amass as many followers as I could. My niche would be men’s fashion, a fast-growing category in which I clearly had no experience. The ultimate goal: to persuade someone, somewhere, to pay me cash money for my influence.
In this skeptical but honest article, you will learn about:
- The good, bad and ugly tricks (some) influencers use to build their audience — and how much it actually costs to become one.
- The real role of agencies in the influencer marketing business.
- “The Ladder of Influence”, or how much an Instagram influencer can / should get paid based on his number of followers.
Credit: Bloomberg
For social media managers, this article is a direct access to the backstage of Instagram influencer marketing and offers useful insights for those on the other side of the fence, who need to hire influencer talents.
Definitely a must read.
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