The internet tends to replicate the physical world as we know and perceive it. Nowadays, there are online versions of almost everything that we need. Influencers are not excluded from that list. Social media influencers have taken a portion from the celebrity influencers who used to affect the purchasing decision of many.
Before social media gained popularity, film stars and celebrities influenced the purchasing decisions of millennials. Now the social media influencers have taken over that job. Their increasing popularity has even made big-screen stars collaborate with them to promote their movies.
What Is An Influencer?
An influencer is an individual who can affect and manipulate the purchasing decisions of many people with the power of their authority, position, and connection. They usually have a follower base in a distinctive niche with whom they maintain regular contact.
What Is A Social Media Influencer?
Social media influencers are those influencers who have built a particular fan base on a specific niche that they have knowledge or expertise over. 4.48 billion people, 57% of the global population, use social media in 2021. So they are bound to follow some social media influencers.
The social media influencer posts regularly about their niche platforms and generate large traffic in their social media posts. Most of their followers follow them earnestly and attentively. They get very positive support from brands as they create trends making the sales for certain brands increase.
Type Of Influencers
One can categorize the influencers into different sections. There are mega influencers, macro-influencers, micro-influencers. The different types of influencers flourish in other social platforms with different types of content. For example, influencers make Youtube Videos, podcasts, Tik Tok videos, social posts, etc.
Influencers’ Impact On Youngsters
Positive Impacts
- The social media influencers are more relatable than the dazzling movie stars. People find them more authentic and trustworthy while making purchases modeled after them. People feel closer to the social media influencers as they are not so far away from the general people, and they maintain constant engagement with their audience.
- The reason for their immediate response now and then made a follower base that follows them religiously.
- The social media influencers have a firmer grasp of the youngsters because the youngsters are mostly active on social media. The older adults, however, feel less affected by the influencers when making any purchase.
- Different business brands now prefer social media influencers to the conventional big screen actors for product marketing. Since social media influencers have a significant impact on youngsters, the brands like to capitalize on that. The influencers can easily blend the brand advertisements in their content and make it more acceptable.Youngsters tend to research before purchasing any product; if research shows that their favorite influencer is endorsing it, they are likely to buy it.
- Some of the influencers relay different perspectives about specific topics to their audience. The audience gets acquainted with different worldviews and extends their knowledge.
- Some influencers share authentic content and product reviews to help their audience be safe, healthy, and save money.
- Specific influencers promote environmental awareness, ethical values, body positivity, financial awareness, and other positive ideas.
Negative Impacts
- Social media influencers can be misleading at times. Sometimes some social media influencers create content without mentioning whether those contents are sponsored or not. They might promote inappropriate products just for money and mislead the youngsters.
- Some content creator-cum influencers often get paid to promote misleading subjects for political parties, causing a significant chance of misleading the youth.
- The youngsters also follow the eating habits, lifestyles, and behaviors of their favorite influencers. If the influencers have any lousy habit by chance, the youngsters are likely to copy that. This is a harmful effect that an influencer may cause on youngsters
- Youngsters feel very intimidated by the awe-inspiring content that the influencers create. The youngsters often waste their precious time and money trying to remodel their so-called idols or social media influencers.
- Some influencers tend to define perfection from a narrowed perspective. They have the perfect tag for the body, looks, attitude, lifestyles, and many other things. Their tendency to narrow down perfection creates low self-esteem, insecurity, inferiority complex, and materialistic notions, and mental health issues.
Great Responsibility
If you remember the words of Uncle Ben, “with great power comes great responsibility.” In that case, you will agree that social media influencers have a big responsibility to lead a generation in a positive direction. However, youths these days are aware of the wrong sides and the positive sides of social media stars, and they can make the proper judgment.
