Back to “Influencer Nonsense”
Image created with Artlist under licence.
This summer, we've been quite entertained by all the influencer nonsense. And we're not talking about the hundreds of self-proclaimed influencers determined to show us what an amazing summer they're having, tell us how we should run our businesses, remind us how tough their lives are or demonstrate just how extraordinary they are for simply getting by.
Nothing new. And, to a certain extent, it's all rather tiresome and repetitive. We could name names in every one of these categories and the list would be endless.
But before going any further, it's worth considering a fundamental question: what exactly is an influencer? And, more importantly, how can we distinguish an influencer from a similar, but not equivalent, figure such as a celebrity?
An influencer is someone capable of shaping or changing purchasing habits and behaviour within a community thanks to the credibility they have built with that audience.
The key word is credibility.
It's not about having a large following, but about being relevant and credible in relation to the product, behaviour or category you want to influence. Without that credibility, you may achieve reach, brand awareness or views, but genuine influence is much harder to generate.
A celebrity, on the other hand, is someone widely known because of their profession, media exposure, personal relationships, family background or any other circumstance that has brought them public recognition.
In the digital world, that recognition often translates into a large number of followers. Understandably so: people are naturally curious about the lives of famous individuals. But having a lot of followers doesn't automatically make someone an influencer.
What's more, the two categories aren't mutually exclusive. A celebrity can have enormous influence in one particular category and be completely irrelevant in another. Likewise, an influencer can become little more than a celebrity when promoting something they have no credibility in.
It may seem like a minor distinction, but it's crucial when designing brand campaigns.
Follower Count Is Not a Strategy
When a brand considers working with a supposed influencer, it shouldn't be dazzled by follower numbers or engagement figures presented without context.
Because likes and comments alone don't tell the whole story. What are people actually saying in those comments? How do they relate to the brand or product? Is there a community that listens and takes action, or simply an audience that watches and moves on?
Before making a decision, we should evaluate at least four things:
Does this person fit the brand's narrative?
Are their values consistent with the brand's DNA?
Are their tone and messaging compatible with what the brand wants to represent?
What other collaborations are they involved in, and what kind of environment will our brand be associated with?
These are fairly obvious questions. Yet they're overlooked far too often. And that's when things go wrong.
The problem isn't that more and more people want to make a living creating content. The problem is that brands continue to rely on superficial metrics when making decisions that directly affect their reputation.
A Creator Doesn't Change Just Because They Sign a Contract
This summer, Burger King cancelled its collaboration with El Xokas following another controversy on social media.
It's easy to imagine the brand's initial reasoning: an enormous following, a young audience and a remarkable ability to generate conversation. But did they examine his tone, values and public track record with the same level of interest?
El Xokas isn't fooling anyone. He has a personality, a way of expressing himself and a communication style that are instantly recognisable. You only need to follow his content occasionally to understand them.
That's why the question shouldn't be what El Xokas did, but what Burger King expected him to do. Was he genuinely a good fit for the brand? Or was it simply his numbers that fitted?
What doesn't make sense is choosing someone precisely because of who they are and then, when that personality creates a crisis, acting as though it were an entirely unpredictable surprise. You can't benefit from someone's fame without accepting the risks that come with it.
Something similar happened with Erola Jons and La Vuelta. The organisers brought in the Catalan content creator to produce content and connect with a younger audience. Following the controversy sparked by the tone of some of her contributions, La Vuelta eventually restricted her access to cyclists and certain areas of the race.
A brand can, of course, experiment with new ways of communicating and do whatever it considers appropriate to expand its audience. But it must also accept the implications of how it chooses to do so.
Wanting to reach young people isn't a strategy. It's an objective. The strategy is deciding who to work with, what tone to adopt and which communication codes to use to connect with them without compromising the brand's identity.
Once again, it's far too easy to place all the blame on the creator. Erola Jons used the same tone and style that characterise her content and have helped her build an audience of millions.
The relevant question is different: was that tone appropriate for La Vuelta and the environment in which she would be working?
It was the brand's responsibility to answer that question.
Reach Is Not Influence
We could examine many more examples, but the pattern tends to be the same: brands lose sight of what matters, focus on superficial metrics and place disproportionate value on follower counts without properly assessing whether there's a genuine fit.
Meanwhile, the number of people hoping to become influencers and gain access to what they perceive as easy money will continue to grow. That's nothing new either. And, let's face it, watching their excesses, contradictions and absurd moments can be rather entertaining.
But entertaining an audience, generating awareness and actually influencing behaviour are three very different things.
The conclusion is simple: let's not confuse reach with persuasion, visibility with credibility or followers with genuine audience affinity.
Influence isn't about the numbers. It's about the ability to mobilise a community within a specific context.
And before choosing someone to represent our brand, perhaps it's time to stop staring at the follower counter and start paying attention to the person behind it.
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