Author Topic: Influencers  (Read 6807 times)

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Influencers
« on: 06 June, 2019, 01:48:33 pm »
How on earth do they work? I realize this is only one step away from asking "Who is Johnny Depp?" but bear with me as I attempt to enlighten my particular cavern of ignorance.

The cause of my puzzlement is 'Mrs Hinch', an Instagram influencer currently being investigated by the Advertising Standards Authority* for failing to disclose that some of her influential endorsements were actually paid for by Proctor & Gamble. That all makes sense, bar the slight surprise that the ASA appear to taking some action, but what I don't understand is how her influencing gets found. If it were fashion or just an area in which fashion plays a big role, or any sort of comparison purchase, it would make sense to me. I can see it working very well with bikes and cycling products. Search for "best bikes for audax" and find, say, "Mr Pumpy's audaxing YouTube channel" with reviews of bikes, lights, bib shorts (with pad odour retention test), tyres and so on. Sponsored by Trek and Assos, while "Arabella's Amazing Audax Adventures" are sponsored by Specialized and Marmite. Or whatever. All clear.

But who the hell googles for reviews of Flash and Febreze? This is what baffles me. Still, the only thing I know is that I know nothing and others know even less. So, explain and enlighten...

*What, still an authority rather than an agency?

Cudzoziemiec Postings Inc currently sponsored by Tetley tea, Duerr's marmalade and stilton. Others sources of balderdash and horsefeathers may be available.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Influencers
« Reply #1 on: 06 June, 2019, 01:58:49 pm »
But who the hell googles for reviews of Flash and Febreze? This is what baffles me. Still, the only thing I know is that I know nothing and others know even less. So, explain and enlighten...

OTOH, J Random Millennial, when faced with, say, a pile of pingfuckits that used to be a working freehub, is naturally inclined to search for a YouTube video showing how to put it back together.  Well, presumably they'll take the same approach to cleaning the mould off the grout for the first time (when they finally gain responsibility for some grout that isn't maintained by their parents).

Also, you know the radicalisation algorithm?  The one that sees you watching videos about SCIENCE and computer games and three clicks later you're watching flat earth conspiracy theories and misogynist propaganda?  Seems possible that it may lead you to Frish infomercials if your interests are interior design and impractical shoes, or something.

(Presumably Instagram influencers work like YouTube ones.  My only exposure to instagram is via friends who use it to share their art, and their general bitching about censorship.)

Redlight

  • Enjoying life in the slow lane
Re: Influencers
« Reply #2 on: 06 June, 2019, 02:10:18 pm »
I have recently had to explain this to my 11yo, who has taken to watching things on You Tube and occasionally talks about wanting to be like 'so and so', who he sees making lots of money by being on You Tube, and referring to the products they endorse.  Although I am sure all/most comply with the letter of whatever rules are in place to admit that they are being paid to plug products,  I suspect that they go as far as they can to give the impression that they genuinely rate or use the products they are paid to plug, in the knowledge that their potential audience is very impressionable.

I've always been puzzled by the concept of celebrity endorsements. For example, much as I admire Richard Thompson's guitar playing, reading that he used XXX strings would not make me go out and buy them.  The same goes for cycling kit. I don't care what Geraint Thomas wears - I'm not trying to win the Tour de France.

Similarly, I've told him to take online reviews with a pinch of salt. 
Why should anybody steal a watch when they can steal a bicycle?

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Influencers
« Reply #3 on: 06 June, 2019, 02:16:42 pm »
Also, if you apply the "who's the customer" reasoning, it would appear that the 'influencer' thing is mostly about convincing marketroids that you're a viable way of advertising their product, rather than actually convincing an audience to buy it.  Hence the emphasis on number of views/follows/likes.  (How many of those are from bots left as an exercise for the reader.)

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Influencers
« Reply #4 on: 06 June, 2019, 02:18:01 pm »
Okay, I can see the algorithm idea. You start off watching 'How to prepare for your first PBP' and the next but one is either a satanic orgy in a bus shelter or three old men comparing beer labels. Yes, that could lead to Flash v Cillit Bang. Not convinced by googling the grouting though.

@Redlight yes, definitely, but I'm puzzling over finding the endorsements on subjects that are fundamentally unattractive.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

essexian

Re: Influencers
« Reply #5 on: 06 June, 2019, 02:25:10 pm »
It gets worse IMHO when parents use their children to review items and make a considerable amount of money out of it:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/apr/24/its-not-play-if-youre-making-money-how-instagram-and-youtube-disrupted-child-labor-laws

At the age of six I was mostly interested in falling out of trees and trying to learn to read!

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Influencers
« Reply #6 on: 06 June, 2019, 02:28:16 pm »
Not convinced by googling the grouting though.

Some people genuinely love buying cleaning products, though.  IME mostly as a displacement activity from actual cleaning.  You know the type:  Cupboard full of barely-used products, always ready with a specialist wipe for every occasion, and mouldy grout in the bathroom.

Also, there's the whole "life hacks" phenomenon.  I mean, if someone makes a video containing 5 genuinely useful tips, 8 things so obvious you'd wonder why anyone would make a video about them, 2 gratuitous product placements, and 5 things that make you think "Okay, but why would anyone want to do that in the first place?", chances are that many people will watch it all the way through.  I've watched a couple of those myself, having been lured in by the revelation that there's a proper way to fold a fitted sheet[1] or whatever.

Remember the flylady phenomenon that went round the interweb[2] a few years ago?  Never understood the popularity of that.



[1]  No, I can't remember how to do it.  My preferred technique is to bundle it up into a ball with the elastic holding the outer wrap in place.  I do remember how to fold a teatowel so it looks a bit like a plucked chicken, a skill which has failed to come in useful on countless occasions.
[2] Spillchucker wants to replace this with "spiderweb" which is missing the point somewhat.

bludger

  • Randonneur and bargain hunter
Re: Influencers
« Reply #7 on: 06 June, 2019, 02:32:24 pm »
It isn't a new thing really or confined to 'millenials'. A 'creative agency' I know was once contracted to find a way of communicating with lorry drivers, because poster campaigns and whatnot were not getting the message through.

The creative bods researched the ground and found out that a lot of truckers watch trucker vlogs (i.e. youtube channels) and so they reached out to them trying to promote their safety campaign through them.

It isn't complicated, it's just finding people who are paid attention to by a given community and getting them on board with your messaging. It needn't even involve money or nowt.
YACF touring/audax bargain basement:
https://bit.ly/2Xg8pRD



Ban cars.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Influencers
« Reply #8 on: 06 June, 2019, 02:34:46 pm »
I should also note that I've bought at least three products[1] after seeing them in Big Clive's videos.  Not that I think he really counts as an 'influencer' in the traditional sense.  He just makes entertaining/edumacational/ASMR[2] videos about stuff, and occasionally some of that stuff (or, more likely, the tools he's using to destructively review it) is actually decent for something.

I can't remember the last time I saw a mainstream television advert for something and thought "I could do with one of those".  Well, not since 1980s plastic tat, anyway.  (Yes, I'm aware that this isn't the main way that advertising works, but it's surely an effective one.)


[1] None of which are the Cliff QuickTest™, which you'd think he was sponsored by if you didn't know better.
[2] Come for the explosions and the death-daptors, stay for the innuendo and soothing Glaswegian tones.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Influencers
« Reply #9 on: 06 June, 2019, 02:36:44 pm »
At the age of six I was mostly interested in falling out of trees and trying to learn to read!
I was more interested in trying not to fall out of trees!

Remember the flylady phenomenon that went round the interweb[2] a few years ago? 
No.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

essexian

Re: Influencers
« Reply #10 on: 06 June, 2019, 02:40:00 pm »
At the age of six I was mostly interested in falling out of trees and trying to learn to read!
I was more interested in trying not to fall out of trees!


I was a strange child.  :facepalm:

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Influencers
« Reply #11 on: 06 June, 2019, 02:40:02 pm »
Remember the flylady phenomenon that went round the interweb[2] a few years ago? 
No.

Oh, well done.  I got thoroughly bored of people proudly polishing their sinks and so on.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Influencers
« Reply #12 on: 06 June, 2019, 02:46:59 pm »
Remember the flylady phenomenon that went round the interweb[2] a few years ago? 
No.

Oh, well done.  I got thoroughly bored of people proudly polishing their sinks and so on.
Sounds somewhat euphemistic...
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Influencers
« Reply #13 on: 06 June, 2019, 02:50:55 pm »
It isn't a new thing really or confined to 'millenials'. A 'creative agency' I know was once contracted to find a way of communicating with lorry drivers, because poster campaigns and whatnot were not getting the message through.

The creative bods researched the ground and found out that a lot of truckers watch trucker vlogs (i.e. youtube channels) and so they reached out to them trying to promote their safety campaign through them.

It isn't complicated, it's just finding people who are paid attention to by a given community and getting them on board with your messaging. It needn't even involve money or nowt.
Truckers are obviously interested in what other truckers are doing and how the new Scania Megamax performs over the Stelvio, presumably there's a similar community of cleaning product fans. A sort of subculture of shininess and scouring agents.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

ian

Re: Influencers
« Reply #14 on: 06 June, 2019, 03:02:21 pm »
...
The creative bods researched the ground and found out that a lot of truckers watch trucker vlogs (i.e. youtube channels) and so they reached out to them trying to promote their safety campaign through them.
...

Presumably, they watch these while driving...

Influencing is just a more modern version of product placement, which always strikes me as glaringly out-of-place. I'm not sure who runs out to the shops because they saw it in a movie. The particularly pernicious thing about influencers, of course, is that they often target the young and impressionable who perhaps lack my cynicism.

FifeingEejit

  • Not Small
Re: Influencers
« Reply #15 on: 06 June, 2019, 10:54:21 pm »
...
The creative bods researched the ground and found out that a lot of truckers watch trucker vlogs (i.e. youtube channels) and so they reached out to them trying to promote their safety campaign through them.
...

Presumably, they watch these while driving...

Influencing is just a more modern version of product placement, which always strikes me as glaringly out-of-place. I'm not sure who runs out to the shops because they saw it in a movie. The particularly pernicious thing about influencers, of course, is that they often target the young and impressionable who perhaps lack my cynicism.

It's a more subtle response that running out to the shops mid-film.
You saw a can of Pepsi being drunk in the film you just saw, and your wandering through the supermarket and reach the fizzy juice, which do you buy? If you're not a died in the wool coke drinker then seeing the Pepsi in the film might be enough to make you grab it instead.


bludger

  • Randonneur and bargain hunter
Re: Influencers
« Reply #16 on: 06 June, 2019, 11:11:55 pm »
The fact that you reach for 'the coke and Pepsi divide' is pretty strong proof that it does work. If it didn't work it wouldn't be one of the world's most valuable industries. The most valuable asset Coke and Pepsi own is that you know that they exist.
YACF touring/audax bargain basement:
https://bit.ly/2Xg8pRD



Ban cars.

ElyDave

  • Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society member 263583
Re: Influencers
« Reply #17 on: 07 June, 2019, 06:23:52 am »
but I can categorically state that I have drink neither in the last year, despite knowing they are there.

it can be extremely lucrative as an influencer  this guy, https://www.mrwhosetheboss.com/ is my nephew, works in the area of tech, mostly phones. Samsung flew him to Barcelona for a weekend, gave him phones to play with and payed him a ridiculous amount to do so.  knowing what he does though hasn't made me buy a new phone, but if I do, I know who to ask.
“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.” –Charles Dickens

Re: Influencers
« Reply #18 on: 07 June, 2019, 06:28:35 am »
I'm not against influencers.

If we didnt have them we would have missed out on watching flabby proto-facist Carl Benjamin get ideas above his IQ level, stand as an MEP and in the process get utterly owned over and over again by Jess Phillips, a milkshake and a some mackerel

FifeingEejit

  • Not Small
Re: Influencers
« Reply #19 on: 07 June, 2019, 11:07:48 am »
but I can categorically state that I have drink neither in the last year, despite knowing they are there.

and I can be sure that I'll look at which is cheaper unless theres some sort of tempting offer on that makes paying slightly more appear worth while.
But #Fifer

Re: Influencers
« Reply #20 on: 07 June, 2019, 11:18:28 am »
interesting this phenomenon. I was discussing it with someone who pointed out that if eg Tailfin get their rack on a YT channel with eg 26k viewers, it may be more effective than taking out advertising in Cycling Plus/Weekly etc. So someone like Mark Beaumont is a sure fire way to promote a new light/rack etc whilst someone who does every audax available but doesnt vlog it is going to have to 'manage' with what they have. Adam Watkins bemoaned the lack of Tailfin support but came up with his front rack/basket on the GWR audax. Looks great if you haven't seen this hack. celebrity endorsment has always been there but it's trickled down to people who are savvy about the internet.

Mr Larrington

  • A bit ov a lyv wyr by slof standirds
  • Custard Wallah
    • Mr Larrington's Automatic Diary
Re: Influencers
« Reply #21 on: 07 June, 2019, 12:16:01 pm »
Audax as a gateway drug to detergent-based solutions to coffee-stained environment?

(Surveys chaos of Great Hall)

Nope, not buying it.
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

FifeingEejit

  • Not Small
Re: Influencers
« Reply #22 on: 07 June, 2019, 01:19:33 pm »


The Baked Beans endorsement may have been significantly more successful than the one of the Simplex Motor Company.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Influencers
« Reply #23 on: 07 June, 2019, 03:11:28 pm »
Audax as a gateway drug to detergent-based solutions to coffee-stained environment?

(Surveys chaos of Great Hall)

Nope, not buying it.
Bizarrely, today I saw, clamped to the rack of a bike parked in the car-and-bike park of a film production company, a bottle of water and a bottle of washing-up liquid (hippy eco variety).
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

bludger

  • Randonneur and bargain hunter
Re: Influencers
« Reply #24 on: 07 June, 2019, 03:14:56 pm »
but I can categorically state that I have drink neither in the last year, despite knowing they are there.

It doesn't matter. They've got the important work done: you know they exist, you discuss them with other people, the sale cycle is 90% there.
YACF touring/audax bargain basement:
https://bit.ly/2Xg8pRD



Ban cars.