Celebrities vs Influencers
When it comes to brand / influencer collaborations, I think there is a general misconception that the more followers and status someone has, the more influential they are and the more they’re going to promote your product. The ultimate goal would be to have a celebrity promoting your stuff, right? All that fame, how could they not sell it?
Well, I reject that.
When it comes to influencer marketing, it’s not all about fame and followers. It’s about attainability, relatability, and trustworthiness.
We see it all the time - an influencer who was once loved for being super relatable blows up into a huge celebrity, and suddenly they’re not so loved now. Not in the way they were, at least. People are no longer so interested in what they’re wearing, or what makeup they have on their face, because who can afford it? We could never attain what they have now.
A prime example of this is the rise of Emma Chamberlain. Once was a young girl making relatable YouTube videos in her home. With an amazing sense of (affordable) style and a self-deprecating humour that many appreciate, it wasn’t long before she became someone with huge influence over the internet.
This of course led to a well-deserved peak in her career. But, as we’ve seen so many times before, that kind of new success doesn’t come without a new lifestyle. Her style became not-so-affordable anymore, and her messy makeup tutorials were replaced with Vogue BTS clips of her getting her makeup done before the MET. Her new lifestyle? Not so attainable anymore.
Sure, her Louis Vuitton outfits are incredible, but not really influential anymore. Very few people are looking to her for fashion inspiration anymore, because who can afford what she’s wearing? Looking at this from a marketing standpoint, should we really be paying these celebrities the big bucks to promote our stuff, when nobody cares what they’re wearing or using, and nobody thinks they can afford it?
If we’re wanting to influence, we should be looking at the under-dogs. The ones who don’t have as many followers, but the followers they do have are ride-or-dies. The ones with small but mighty tight-knit communities who interact with each other and share experiences. The ones who are excited for the new opportunities they’ve never had before. The NORMAL people.
It really comes down to quality over quantity. Smaller content creators may not have as many followers, but the audience they do have are engaged and interested. They’re the ones who are going to buy your product. Why? Because they can attain it. They see it being used by an attainable, relatable, trustworthy (remember what I was saying?) influencer, and they feel like they can have it, too.