GringoView: The run-away influence of influencers

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – (Opinion) I was recently dumbstruck by a ‘New York Times’ piece about a social-media-famous water bottle and its potpourri of ‘influencers’.

Celebrities major and minor were all seen drinking from this bottle, collecting various designer editions of it rather like we used to collect Havaianas, and telling their millions of social followers why they couldn’t even think of gulping their fill-ups of Fillico Jewelry Water (from Japan and only US$1390 per liter.) from anything other than an Adventure Quencher Travel Tumbler. Everyone who was seen drinking from any other bottle was clearly missing the boat.

I began to wonder, who are these influencers mentioned ten times in that one NYT article? I discovered there are so many of them that one speculates that all they have to do to become rich is to influence each other?

Are we suddenly (or were we always) influenced by these influencers, whether we knew it or not? And what is the solution to the mystery of how you get to walk on the proliferating number of red carpets and scale all obstacles to climb to the top of the social media pyramid where, by influencing people to buy a new lipstick or string of beads, you can rake in megabucks?

If you have a millisecond of doubt that we are living in an era where everything is about marketing, try this double talk, out-bloviating even cliché-driven ‘Mad Men’.

It comes from ‘Influencer Marketing Hub’, the trade digital spot for the US$16.4 billion influencer industry: “these individuals are not merely marketing tools, but rather social relationship assets…”

Do you think a friend‘s nine-year-old son whose greatest desire (this week) is to enjoy the fame and fortune of being an influencer, sees himself as a social relationship asset?

Or that the good-looking, obviously sincere, personal beauty blogger who drops a product name about as often as my insatiable Golden Retriever chomps on any edibles in sight or smell, is really only doing it for the money? That takes all the spontaneity of discovery away.

Even if only 45% of the world’s population of 3.4 billion people interact at least occasionally (and probably more often than they care to admit) with social media, you’d imagine that they all can’t be influenced so easily. That said, inevitably, at least some look up to influencers to guide them with their decision-making.

If brands are prepared to part with 10 ‘big ones’ per laudatory post from the top influencers to their million followers, they must figure it makes lots of dollars and more than a little sense. If a brand finds the route to the influencer’s followers better and more cost-efficient than paid advertising, who are we to argue with them?

And we all have to admit that if you can become a celebrity, even if it is only because you masochistically survived a couple of weeks acting like an idiot on a reality show or went dancing with the stars, that should give you instant credibility as an influencer on a wide range of subjects.

Less followers, obviously less moolah. But if you are a shiny bright twinkling star like Kylie Jenner with 310 million followers, you can pocket up to US$1 million for a single sponsored Instagram post and average US$400,000 for just any old post.

And you don’t even have to be literate enough to create it yourself. There are lots of super talented ghosts out there eager to work for the crumbs from your table.

Cristiano Ronaldo not only has admirable genius on the football pitch but by offering inside news and views of his private life exclusively to his 443 million followers, he has climbed right to the top of the Instagram charts.

No need to shed a tear for fellow footballer, Leo Messi who only has 328 million followers. When you can earn US$100 per post for each ten thousand of your followers, you need a lot of zeros on your calculator to sum up the monetary joys of being an influencer and star in this mad world.

Keep this in mind the next time someone on TV or social media recommends what brand to wear, what new gadget to buy, or even which candidate to vote for. They might just be trying to influence you.

You know you don’t have to fool all of the people all of the time. With 1.5 billion people out there, you don’t even have to fool all that many to score big and have your influence felt.