Influencers: The New Age of Marketing

A few years ago, around 2012, we saw a gradual shift in what social media had been in the few years prior. Even 8 years ago, if a person looked up the term “Social Media Influencer,” there either would have been no results or none that could properly explain the term as it is used today. Influencers didn’t just come around; they’ve been present in the social media space gaining thousands of followers from all over the globe since the days of MySpace, Tumblr, and more. But it took years for them to show just how valuable they can be to virtually any business.

Scrolling through Instagram in 2013, Flat Tummy Tea was everywhere. Not only were celebrities like the Kardashians promoting it, but just normal people who had a following. They used their platforms to promote the product and got compensated for their contribution. At this time, if they weren’t a celebrity, this compensation was just receiving the product for free or a very small payment. These women (because that was Flat Tummy’s demographic) made the company profitable enough to be sold for 10 million dollars in 2015, just two years after being founded. There wasn’t a term back then, but these women were influencers.

Since then, we have seen a major shift in how brands allot their budget for marketing. While before, thousands, and even in some cases, millions of dollars were spent per year in advertising costs such as commercials, billboards, radio ads, and more. Now, a part of that budget is being used to promote specifically on social media. There are even brands that have no commercials, no billboards, just influencer marketing. A prime example is the company Revolve, who doesn’t market in any way besides social media. Revolve is a fashion brand that was founded in 2003 but not popularized until recent years due to its current marketing strategy. According to Forbes, “Revolve has targeted Millennial and Gen Z women with trendy clothes that it markets primarily through a network of 3,500 influencers, who have large followings on social media platforms like Instagram. ‘Revolve was a very early player in influencer marketing and is still one of the most prominent names in the space,’ says Evan Asano, founder and CEO of MediaKix, an influencer marketing agency.”

All of this was said to prove the importance of a social media presence in this time period. A small company was taken to a multimillion-dollar business in two years by using social media as it’s only promotion. There’s a lot to be said about the influence of social platforms, rather than something like a billboard. While billboards are still widely used forms of marketing, they don’t provide the same reach that social media can because they sit in one spot, while an online presence can reach people thousands of miles away with just the click of one button. Luna Brand Management not only understands but capitalizes on the use of an online platform. Let us show you just how influential maintaining an active online presence can be for your business.