Influencer marketing is a big area of focus for a lot of businesses, brands, and organizations. We have realized this fact for the last few years, but we have also seen it’s ugly side of the new strategy. There have been cases where people have come up in the wood work and say they are influential because:
- They have a certain number of followers;
- They get on the main stage at conferences as a keynote speaker;
- They list themselves as consultants, but they do not share what they actually have done;
- They get opportunities because of what they say they do, but not actually have done it;
- They talk a good line about being influential, but their work doesn’t reflect this.
Personally, I have been concerned with this issue as well and we have seen cases where people are getting these opportunities, but not have earned it. They have not done the work that comes with the impact they have made with their expertise and insights.
We have seen a lot of posts related to the closing of Klout like from Mark Schaefer, and now with Jason Falls. I am good friends with Mark and Jason, and I feel both have provided some great points here related to the state of influencer marketing, and what the impact is moving forward with this area of specialization.
However, Jason’s post made a very personal impact on me by him stating that we should be looking at impact over followers when it comes to influence.
My reaction was:
Thank goodness someone FINALLY said this!
Can I get an AMEN to what Jason Falls shared in his post?! I also appreciated seeing Jason share his own takes on some actions he has taken to separate himself from others who do not follow the influencer guidelines and views he does. I think this is always an option to have here, and it is good to have this perspective out in the open.
This was actually something Jason did share w/ my #FrebergSM class earlier this year and he discussed how there are influencers who are only on the stage about social media, but they are not the ones who are actually doing the work in social media.
I see this becoming a growing issue across all fields, even academia. There are certainly people who have deemed themselves to be “influential” who have not done the work, have stories to share about what they have done to make an actual impact, research, networking or have the experience to back this up. Social media in many ways has opened the flood gates for anyone to create the illusion they are influential, when in fact we are not.
I cover this extensively in my social media book for Sage because this is an issue students and young professionals need to be aware of. We can get wrapped in a lot of different directions, but we have to be true to who we are and understand while it is tempting to have x amount of followers, it’s not worth compromising your integrity and reputation.
This is something you see happening everywhere it seems in social media.
Like all industries, if you become a thought leader or person who is doing interesting things, you get your fans, but you also get some detractors who want to either become you or take you down. This is one of the things that is not discussed a lot of times in the field, but it happens and it is unfortunate. How you respond and act on this is what matters.
At the end of the day, you have to stay true to your ethics and values as a person. As a professional, you have to set some ethical guidelines on what is appropriate behavior and actions you want to associate yourself with. If you see someone acting not in your best interests or making you a target to take down, then it is time to invest your time elsewhere and separate yourself from the situation. If you see an influencer doing things you feel are unethical or unprofessional to the field, take a moment to distance yourself to them. Life is too short to work with artificial people who do damage to the profession and your network.
I do think these are elements that will not resolve over night, but I do think we are becoming more aware of the situation of influencer marketing. We need to bring forth more codes of ethics to the equation and educate the field in what it truly means to be influential – and I think Jason is on the right track on how to address this. We have to look at actual impact – the actions, behaviors, and responses to what we are doing and saying – and not focus on these vanity metrics (another element I cover in my textbook). If we had more people like Jason voice these concerns and insights, we can perhaps help the field evolve and overcome this potential ethical crisis we are having in the industry.
There are the sayers and the doers, and at the end of the day – we all want to make an impact as doers.
Let’s all actually DO the work we SAY we are doing in social media. This can be done by showing the impact we are doing.
Hope you all are having a great day!
Best Wishes,
