I am not the type of person who generally follows an influencer or really is persuaded into purchasing a product because of an influencer. However, about five months ago, I was scrolling through TikTok to get meal ideas as I am on a weight loss journey and I stumbled upon an influencer who was making healthy ice cream. This is my weakness as I love ice cream and love to eat it every night. Well, the influencer whose name is Courtney was using a product called the Ninja Creami. I watched every single video that she had created with this product and I immediately knew that I had to have one. The next day I purchased the product and I am truly in love with the machine. It allows me to make healthy ice creams, sorbet, gelato, smoothie bowls, and really any frozen treat.

This influencer was very effective in promoting the brand. I did not feel that they were promoting the brand. They were showing me how to make ice cream, she just happened to be using the Ninja Creami. Courtney persuaded me to buy the machine just by giving her honest opinion and sharing many recipes through her videos.

One of the benefits on influencer marketing is their ability to build trust with the consumer. "Sixty-one percent of consumers trust influencers' recommendations, according to Influencer Marketing Hub. The key driver in influencer marketing is authenticity. Followers believe this person more than company advertisements," (Hetler, 2023). Another benefit of influencer marketing is the increase to brand awareness, "influencers create content featuring your products, awareness of your brand will inevitably grow among their followers. This is especially helpful for new ecommerce businesses that don't have an engaged audience. It's also a fantastic way to create hype around a new product or collection launch," (Memon, 2023).

A risk that is associated with influencer marketing is that when an organization uses an influencer they are risking their morality conflicts. An example of this is when Logan Paul made a video showing a forest in Japan known as the suicide forest. He and his friends actually showed the body of someone who had gone to the forest to commit suicide. This caused a production company he was working with to lose a deal with a streaming service and they ended up suing the influencer for several million dollars (Iurillo, 2019). Paul's lack or morals cost the company several million dollars and he lost several influencers deals with giants such as YouTube.

 

References 

Iurillo, O. (2019, July 11). 6 dangers of influencer marketing. Social Media Today. https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/6-dangers-of-influencer-marketing/558493/

Memon, M. (2023, July 4). 14 influencer marketing benefits that'll help boost ecommerce sales. Dash. https://dash.app/blog/influencer-marketing-benefits

QUESTIONS:

• Ask a question about your colleague's experience with a brand introduced through an influencer.
• Offer an insight you gained from your colleague's appraisal of how effective the influencer they described was.
• Provide an additional perspective on your colleague's identification of the benefits of influencer marketing compared to other forms of marketing.
• Share your perspective on the risks that brands face when collaborating with influencers and/or the example your colleague provided of those risks being realized.