So What is it Going to be — The Star or the Firefly?
Instagram Influencers are claiming their share of the “Influencer” pie from the biggies. Who’s surprised?
Now picture these two scenarios. First, you are scrolling through your Instagram feed and you come across a post by your favorite movie star with a couple of pictures. She is at her home which is designed in a more than perfect manner. She is sporting Message T-shirts in these pictures and is looking impeccable, just as you would have expected. There is a quote in the caption which is powerful and empowering but does not necessarily have a strong association with the t-shirt itself. The caption ends with a call for action where you are encouraged to tap on the picture and follow the link to check the collection from the brand.
In the second scenario, you come across a post of a 20 something fashion influencer who is in her home too. You can see a 43 inches TV in the background which is similar to what you have at your home. As for pictures, she is petting a pup in one of her pictures, while in the second one she is seen reading the book “Lean In” while leaning on to the sofa, very much like you do at your home. In the third picture, she is sipping coffee from a mug while watching out of her window. The view outside is similar to what you have from house’s window. She too is wearing the same Message T-shirts in here pictures. The caption talks about how this t-shirt is an ideal choice for every lazy yet happy moment at home. The girl looks similar to people you meet or know in your personal life — yourself, your friends, or your neighbors.
“….One, the giant star from a galaxy far away, and the other a firefly, that lits up every now and then, and is in your reach?”
The question then is — Would there be any difference in how Instagram users get influenced by these two different sets of influencers? The traditional big celebrity influencer, and an Instagram influencer? One, the giant star from a galaxy far away, and the other a firefly, that lits up every now and then, and is in your reach?
Recent research by Venus Jin, Aziz Muqaddam, Ehri Ryu which got published in one of the marketing journals in the US, tried to go into the detail of this difference. The difference that traditional celebrities, who have earned their celebrity status through traditional means of TV, cinema, or sports, and Instagram influencers, who have earned their recall through Instagram — have on audience.
The research starts with a premise by breaking down the idea of Instagram for the readers. Instagram as a social media app allows users to accumulate followers and facilitate social interactions between them. Users also connect with different brands and celebrities in the process. These celebrities as mentioned earlier could be traditional ones or the ones that are known only due to their presence on Instagram. For example, Instagram has witnessed the rise of fashion bloggers, who provide fashion tips to their followers. These Instagram influencers are often used by brands to spread messages about new products, brand usage, and trend popularization. The ability of these Instagram influencers to promote unique social interaction and brand usage in relatable setups has attracted hordes of audiences.
The said researchers wanted to find out three things. First, Do users react differently to Instagram posts featuring the same product endorsed by two different types of celebrities: a traditional celebrity vs an Instagram influencer. Second, how did the audience perceive the social presence of these influencers differently? Social presence simply means the human side of the influencer while she is online. And finally, how did the audience perceive the trustworthiness of the two types of influencers.
Researchers argued that Instagram posts by traditional celebrities can sometimes be perceived as robotic or lacking real human emotion. On the other hand, an Instagram influencer who is seen in a more relatable set-up using a dialect or sentences which are used normally in conversation is trusted easily by the audience. Hence, Instagram influencers are considered to have a higher social presence than the traditional celebrities. As per researchers, this adds to the perceived authenticity of the influencers.
An interesting view that these researchers shared was about envy. So jealousy, but of the benign kind. The kind where you are envious of someone who has something you desire but not in a hostile manner. You want that thing, but not in an evil way. This in turn heightens the desirability of what you don’t have. The researchers argued that envy is more common toward people whom we identify with and who are characteristically closer to us . One would argue that on this account too, Instagram influencers are more like us, than the traditional celebrities. Hence, the benign envy is more toward the Instagram influencers than the traditional influencers.
Envy, but the benign kind!
These arguments related to the social presence and envy, and how Instagram influencers fared better on these accounts stood the scrutiny of the experiment conducted by the researchers. The result from the experiment demonstrated that social presence, which was described as the human aspect of an influencer on social media, plays a significant role in an influencer’s trustworthiness for the audience. Hence, the ability to seem authentic and ‘human’ would result in high trustworthiness.
Envy on the other hand, played a significant role in creating a sense of relatability between the audience and the Instagram influencer. When Instagram influencers are found to be more like our own self, living in similar set ups like we do, and facing the similar challenges as we face on an everyday basis, we find them more trustworthy. Interestingly, trustworthiness was not found to be affected by the popularity of the influencer as much as we’d expect . Instead social presence and envy played a significant role in influencing trustworthiness of the influencers. On both these accounts, Instagram influencer scored better than the traditional celebrities.
Businesses and marketing managers must make a judicious call about on-boarding Instagram influencers while keeping in mind the core objectives of the marketing campaign. So for example, when the idea of the campaign is to build trust among the audience or to create a sense of relatability between the product and the customer, it is advisable to on-board Instagram influencers. However, when the idea is about going all out and create mass brand awareness or run national contests or events, traditional celebrities would be useful due to their huge following.
To summarize, social presence and benign envy are critical reasons why social media influencers score better when it comes to their trustworthiness. While this study was conducted on the luxury segment, some segments would respond to use to Instagram influencers better than others. For example, beauty, personal care, and luxury segments can make good use of Instagram influencers. However, it is critical to define core-objectives before deciding on which type of influencer would be most relevant for achieving a particular objective. So next time, when you see a sponsored post on Instagram, ask this question to yourself — “Who would have been a better influencer for that promotion — the star or the firefly?”
