Did you know that up to 95% of young people from ages 13-17 are on social media? Social media is a huge part of our modern society. In fact, it’s a part of our everyday life. For most people, social media is like having food, a necessity that you simply can’t live without. For some teens, the first thing they do when they wake up in the morning  is grab their phone to perhaps check comments received on a recent post, or open TikTok and discover a new popular trend that they might be influenced to participate in. Your feed is based on your likes, interests, and people you follow; though have you ever thought about your motivation behind clicking that follow button on Instagram, TikTok, or any other social media platform? Why Taylor Swift? Or Cristiano Ronaldo? What makes them so special that you decided to follow them? 

Let’s get through the basics. What even is an influencer, and what do they do? Influencers are people who have built a reputation for their expertise on a specific topic, posting regularly on a social media platform and developing large amounts of followers. They also create trends and encourage followers to buy products or services they promote. For example, Alix Earle became a well-known influencer by posting vlogs of her daily college life, GRWM’s of her doing makeup, and picking out outfits. Alix’s partnerships with clothing brands like Revolve or White Fox complement her content as she makes videos trying on their clothing and picking out which would be best for an event she’s attending. She promotes the products she uses in her GRWM videos and additionally collaborates with other companies so her followers are able to get a good deal on the products she uses. Alix Earle builds a trusting relationship with her audience while also selling products. Similar to her, every successful influencer needs a stable source of income and a loyal fanbase that keeps up with their content. They accomplish this by selling us products, communicating ideas, creating trends, or sharing relatable and entertaining content that makes people laugh, feel represented, or feel like they’re talking to a friend. Basically, they can influence us to do something with our money, thoughts, or actions through their content. Influencers don’t always disclose their agendas, but a lot of times it’s clear if you take a moment to think about it. The most effective of the influencers are actually the ones that make it hard for us to recognize that they’re influencing us. They build relationships with us through social media so that we trust them (and the brand) just as much as we would trust our own family and friends. 

You might’ve not even known that there are different categories of influencers. Well, yeah it’s true! It really depends on their content: how often they post and what they post, number of followers, and how popular they are. An influencer that is mostly new to their job and doesn’t have too many followers is called a nano influencer, having around 1,000-10,000 followers. The followers are able to better personally connect and engage with this type of influencer because there aren’t many of them, fostering deeper connections between the influencer and their audience. Nano influencers are highly specialized in one field, which is their main subject for their content. The level above nano influencers are called micro influencers. These are also people who are known for their knowledge on a specific topic, having about 10,000-100,000 followers on a single social media platform. Next are macro influencers who are more accessible marketers than mega influencers. They consist of celebrities who haven’t made it to big time, or people who are successful online experts. Macro influencers normally have around 100,000-1 million followers. And finally, mega influencers. These are influencers with at least more than 1 million followers on one social platform. Mega influencers are already famous before they even become a social media influencer. They mostly gain fame offline, like movie stars, athletes, musicians, reality television stars, etc but some might also gain fame online. Since they reach a bigger audience, their promotions are more costly and they are most likely more particular about what brands to partner with. Believe it or not, there are actually more macro influencers than mega influencers. Crazy right?

So much goes into influencing and being influenced. What makes you want to choose the influencers you follow? You might not be aware of it, but people create a criteria in their minds of how they pick influencers they want to follow.

Interest is a big part of the criteria. People choose influencers who have similar interests as them. It can be based on their content or the actual influencer. People can connect with influencers on topics like fashion, food, travel, books, sports, etc. People always look for something to relate to, no matter what. 

Entertainment is a key aspect. Influencers’ content should be fun, funny, unique, empowering, memorable, etc. These are all characteristics that help gain and entertain followers. It would be boring if the influencer was just droning on and on about how their pet fish died. They should be enthusiastic about what they’re talking about.

Personality is a huge part. The influencer should have a likable and marketable personality, gaining followers by being unique and honest about their life.

 Followers want their influencer to post about their ups and downs in life. They should be comfortable sharing with the online community, because when a person publicly shares their successes and failures, it helps other people talk about it too and feel seen. The influencer should be able to inspire and motivate others as well. Generally, people follow influencers that help them become a better person.

 Credibility is also important. Followers usually check to see how many followers the influencer already has before actually following them. If they don’t have too many, they most likely won’t follow them because no one else is. Credibility doesn’t always mean the influencer is credible and knowledgeable about everything. Followers might only follow an influencer for their content.

Consistency is a major piece of keeping followers. The influencer should post frequently and take their job seriously. This shows that the influencer is up to date with pop culture, current trends, and everything that’s going on around the world. However, posting too much is also not good – it’ll clutter up followers’ feeds and they won’t be able to be up to date with all the posts because eventually, followers could become annoyed and lose interest.

Today, influencers are all over social media–TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook. Their impact can be seen and felt all over, whether we realize it or not, as they have the ability to overtly and subtly influence our everyday decisions. Next time you hit that follow button on any of the social media platforms, think about what impact they’re leaving on you. What makes you want to follow them and why?