The rise of social media has seen a big increase in the use of brand influencers. In the last two years, “influencer marketing” as a search term on Google Trends has risen by 400%. But working with the right sort of influencer is critical – you must choose one which fits well with your brand and has an authentic voice. Biggest is certainly not always best when it comes to influencers.
Pepsi’s controversial ad from last year is an example of a brand not quite hitting the mark when it comes to influencers. Its choice of model Kendall Jenner to be the face of its unification campaign received a lot of backlash, she wasn’t the right voice for a campaign centred around injustice and diversity and the brand was met with widespread criticism around the inauthenticity of the advert.
Celebrity versus Influencer
These days, the line of celebrity and influencer is often blurred. Some Twitter and Instagram users have become so popular that they are now celebrities in their own right – Zoella, for example, has built a mini-empire and has millions of followers across several platforms. But one issue with her fame is that she can’t always engage with or influence her audience in a meaningful and personal way – she has almost become too big.