For the past five years at least, brands have relied far too heavily and spent far too much money on Influencers who simply have a large social media footprint. The practice has been a financial sinkhole for many brands that mismanaged it. Operating margins have gradually gotten smaller over the same period of time. Influencer marketing began as a cheaper alterative to traditional marketing techniques and became a crutch as marketing budgets shrank but ended up being a waste of money as frugality became more important than ever.
Now, lets consider the cause of the problem before the solution. Two major factors contributed to the decline in the effectiveness of conventional Influencers. Firstly, the luster of their faux celebrity wore off as their audience’s social media presence grew (this excludes celebrities who use social media but achieved their celebrity outside of social media). The first wave of Influencers were early adaptors of social media and they figured out how to take advantage of the system to establish the concept of social media influencing. A critical mass of followers existed from where your follower count would snowball. In the early days of social media, the number of followers a user had was a measure of validity. When we were all new to social networks, it was easy to assume that the more followers someone had, the more interesting they were. Savvy users were quick to parlay this phenomenon into personal gain as brands took notice of the new avenue for brand exposure. The simple transaction of “pay me and/or give me free stuff and I will promote your brand on my social media” became an entirely new division of brand marketing. Once there was money to be made and swag to be had, the stable of Influencers swelled exponentially. The market became saturated and competition became intense so Influencers began to cheat the system and inflate their perceived audience. Simultaneously, social media users became jaded by high follower numbers and like counts and those were no longer metrics for success in the eyes of shoppers. We now live in a world where only social media platforms and influencer marketing specialists give monetary value to followers and likes in the fashion realm. Simply put: being an Influencer soly for influencings sake no longer holds the prestige to drive sales.
The second major factor is product itself. A decade ago, the Fashion Industry was entering the era of Fast Fashion as companies raced to produce and sell goods as quickly as possible. The consumer became hooked on a constantly fluctuating wardrobe. The traditional four-season line system became six, eight, ten and eventually one continuous stream of new goods coming to market. This coincided with the rise of Street Wear where many disparate genres melded together and shock and awe became the only goal. People standing around outside fashion shows were receiving more attention than the models in the show. Fashion became disposable and style became amorphous. Influencers thrived in this environment where consumers were constantly looking for something new to wear and didn’t have to spend much money to get it. It’s easy to take advice solely from social media when you’re not spending much money on it.