Influencer (r)evolution

As long products have been sold, some measure of personality-driven marketing has been used to sell them.

An infographic created by NoGRE.com traces the evolution of “influencers,” from Fatty Arbuckle shilling cigarettes in the early 1900s to our current heady days of DJ Khaled endorsing spirits on Snapchat.

The graphic references Josiah Wedgwood, who made the most of his status as “Potter to Her Majesty” to market his wares in the 1700s.

The 20^th century saw the rise of organizations using characters like Santa Claus, Tony the Tiger and Kool-Aid Man (“Oh yeah!”) to pitch products. Flo from Progressive has been foisting car insurance upon us for nearly a decade now.

The influencer trend is quickly becoming a social media arms race, though.

Brands are shelling out oceans of cash to have megastars like Selena Gomez and Cristiano Ronaldo mention their products online. Gomez has a combined follower count north of 170 million on her Instagram and Twitter accounts.

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For companies seeking a more targeted audience, the graphic highlights social media powerhouses Lilly Singh, Andrew Bachelor and Michelle Phan—who are working with Coca-Cola, Jimmy John’s and Lancome, respectively—to co-create branded content on their popular platforms. “Micro-influencers” with smaller yet actively engaged audiences are also increasingly popular targets for marketing campaigns.

What does all this mean for the future of marketing? As the infographic points out, the internet has “democratized influence,” meaning brands no longer need movie stars or a block of TV time to reach a large audience. A teenage beauty vlogger in Sweden might exert more influence than Arnold Schwarzenegger, depending on the demographic you’re trying to reach.

The world of online influencer marketing is new and quickly evolving, so stay tuned for shifting regulations and rule changes. There’s still skepticism about this trend, but it appears poised for explosive growth. As the infographic says: “People rely on people, even people they don’t know.”

Read through the graphic below for a more thorough exploration of the evolution of influencers.

from PR Daily News Feed http://ift.tt/2vcwN9o