02571: Social Media Non-Influence

content-marketing_cover by Hurca! 
So another negative story about a social media influenccer is going around after a luxury hotel declared on its Facebook page that it was banning all such bloggers from their hotel. It does feel like the hotel reaction was a little strong as they had decided to go public with the request made of them, but it is kinda bonkers to ask for a free 5-night stay during a peak period like Valentine's Day.

A lot of times when one encounters stories of this nature, there's a lot of mention of how many fans they have on this or that social media platform. It theory this seems very important and supports their "case' in such matters when they ask for this or that.

But more than fans, how often do you hear of a social media influencer promising a definite return on investment? When they push a video out to their thousands of fans, what kind of conversion rate do they commit to? And that's where the problem lies. A lot of times inflencers focus on accumulating a large following but not many know how to present their fan base with an appropriate business case for what they can offer.

And in that sense it is odd how social media influencers, despite being a creation of this digital age, feel a lot more like traditional marketing methods. In digital most platforms offer your highly nuanced targeting based on interests or demographics and measurable results for your campaigns. Traditional media like billboards, TV and radio just have educated estimates as to their potential reach but can never really track all conversions that resulted from the ad. It's mostly the same case with a lot of these influencers as they have to hussle a lot in the hopes of returns.

But these days the big name social media influencer is becoming less appealing and smaller micro-influencers tend to feel more interesting as the cost outlay tends to bbe lower and their more niche audiences can result in interactions that feel more "genuine" someow. And it's the smaller influencers who work a lot harder for less as they're still focused on trying to established a larger social media following to help improve their "credibility" as influencers.

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