A-list Celebrities Are Out of Your League – Here’s How it Can Benefit You
When Kylie Jenner likes a product, we all like it.
Or at least that’s what we all used to believe. Looking at the millions of likes and followers she sustains, you’d think her sphere of influence is incredibly large. And you wouldn’t be wrong. But consumers these days are getting smarter. When Jenner says she loves the Revlon (or whatever brand name it may be) lip plumper, we all know what she really loves is lip injections and paid collaborations on Instagram.
Consumers are learning that celebrity brand recommendations aren’t as honest as they say they are. #ad has become a quick turnoff to social media scrollers, who recognize celebrity brand recommendations as incognito commercials. Now, potential customers are turning to friends and relatives – sources they trust that don’t have ulterior motives – to drive their purchasing decisions.
So instead of spending unnecessary amounts of money on high profile celebrities for some old-fashioned name dropping, we’ve got some ideas to help make your social media campaigns pop by utilizing the girl-next-door.
The Value of the Good Ole’ Nobody
People these days just aren’t buying it when a multi-millionaire claims to love a product. What they are buying, however, is what their close friends and near acquaintances recommend. If Sally, with 2,000 followers, says she’s been using Aveeno face lotion and feels a difference, more of her followers are likely to walk to the nearest drug store to purchase their own. Sally’s story is more believable and more relatable than a reality show star with ready access to Botox.
The Science of Social Media Podcast released an interesting article suggesting that bigger isn’t always better in the realm of social media. They say “influencers with 10,000 or fewer followers, are getting the best results for brands and businesses.”
In a study conducted by the Mobile Marketer, researchers found that influencers with 1,000 to 5,000 followers have the highest engagement rate at 8.8%, as opposed to less than 4% for influencers with more than 10,000 followers.
Changing Your Tactics Could Lead to Big Results
This is great news for the businesses you work for, who are used to spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on Instagram influencers. Get more bang for your buck by spreading those dollars out among low profile Instagram users who have a lower threshold for collaboration costs.
Forbes reported, “people want to interact with influencers who are real, genuine and relatable.” So while it may seem counter-intuitive to hire a college age ambassador to promote your product, the results will speak for themselves.
The more you can get social media users to talk about your product, the faster your product will fly off the shelves. The Science of Social Media Podcast also stated that “70% of millennial consumers are influenced by the recommendations of their peers in buying decisions.”
So before you go vying for the attention of another Kardashian, take a look at the girl-next-door.
Sarah Jane Divis was born and raised in Washington State, and has been working with social media since her freshman year of college. She is passionate about creating campaigns and social strategies that change the way business is done.
