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The Anxiety of Influencers

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21–30 of 192 posts

Re: The Anxiety of Influencers

#21
Hope they have the brains to not burn their income as soon as it hits their bank accounts. This sort of popularity can surely not last more than a few years in almost all instances.

Re: The Anxiety of Influencers

#22
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Family, friends, health, purpose. These are the only things in life that truly matter. Some people get very low emotionally before they realize this.

Some might say fame gives friends and purpose.

Does fame really give friends? It's been my understanding that a lot of famous people are chronically lonely.

Re: The Anxiety of Influencers

#23

What I don't understand is why brands throw so much money at very young influencers. Are they specifically targeting young rich kids who spend big on products/merch? Seems like a small demographic for a $15B projected market...

Younger audience is more susceptible to aspirational brand messaging - just look at TV ads for youngsters from few decades ago. Old farts are no longer trying to fit in, and in their purchases bring up terms like "lasting value" and "consumer reports".

A friend's son, a newly minted teenager a few years back, had a Logan Paul sweatshirt and T-shirt at the top of the birthday wishlist. Never mind that's it's a generic Old Navy casualware with the Logan Paul logo imprinted on it (and marked up accordingly).

Re: The Anxiety of Influencers

#24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the ultimate in product placement. "Someone who looks just like how I want to look is using product X. I need to use my money (or my parent's money) to buy product X so all of the everyone will like me." It's an absolute no brainer for them to do this. It makes more sense to me than targeted advertising from FB/G/etc. These people have subscribers that voluntarily decided to follow them, and are guaranteed eyeba…

I understand the advertising part of it, what I don't understand is who is actually spending the money. The people who follow these sorts of TikTok influencers probably don't earn their own money. I guess parents are shelling out big time?

Every large corporation has an annual advertising/promotional budget. They hire ad agencies and PR firms to handle that work. These agencies would be the people I'd expect hiring/paying the influencers. I'm sure they have a group of young fresh out of college employees that do nothing but scour the web for influencers keep tabs on their followers, the type of content they produce, etc. When a campaign comes along, they fit the prodcut with the influencer and hope for success.

Re: The Anxiety of Influencers

#25
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some might say fame gives friends and purpose.

Does fame really give friends? It's been my understanding that a lot of famous people are chronically lonely.

Really? No, but if someone says friends are important in life, some people will think fame would be a good way to make friends.

Re: The Anxiety of Influencers

#26
post #15
post #9

Well this was always going to happen in an attention economy, the worship of fame for fame's sake. Success has shed the burden of actual achievement, vanity has become a job qualification. Why bother being good at sport or dancing or playing guitar, just be famous. Fine whatever, but it is poison candy for children.

Family, friends, health, purpose. These are the only things in life that truly matter. Some people get very low emotionally before they realize this.

>These are the only things in life that truly matter.

Not really, such lists are typically a function of personal experiences. For example, plenty of people would happily take family out from the list.

Re: The Anxiety of Influencers

#28
post #26
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Family, friends, health, purpose. These are the only things in life that truly matter. Some people get very low emotionally before they realize this.

>These are the only things in life that truly matter. Not really, such lists are typically a function of personal experiences. For example, plenty of people would happily take family out from the list.

I would argue you should make a new family. People who eschew the concept of family live a less fulfilling life IMO.

Re: The Anxiety of Influencers

#29

What I don't understand is why brands throw so much money at very young influencers. Are they specifically targeting young rich kids who spend big on products/merch? Seems like a small demographic for a $15B projected market...

Younger audience is more susceptible to aspirational brand messaging - just look at TV ads for youngsters from few decades ago. Old farts are no longer trying to fit in, and in their purchases bring up terms like "lasting value" and "consumer reports". A friend's son, a newly minted teenager a few years back, had a Logan Paul sweatshirt and T-shirt at the top of the birthday wishlist. Never mind that's it's a generic…

Right, so it is targeted at kids whose parents will buy these things for them.

Re: The Anxiety of Influencers

#30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand the advertising part of it, what I don't understand is who is actually spending the money. The people who follow these sorts of TikTok influencers probably don't earn their own money. I guess parents are shelling out big time?

Every large corporation has an annual advertising/promotional budget. They hire ad agencies and PR firms to handle that work. These agencies would be the people I'd expect hiring/paying the influencers. I'm sure they have a group of young fresh out of college employees that do nothing but scour the web for influencers keep tabs on their followers, the type of content they produce, etc. When a campaign comes along, th…

I meant from the customer side who is spending the money, because kids generally don't have that much discretionary income.
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