The UK government is paying influencers to promote the NHS test and trace service
Powerful but ordinary
The impact social media influencers have – on young people in particular – isbeyond doubt. And their clout is particularly strong now that we’re spending more time at homeonline.
Of course, their power is most readily associated with commercial interests. The rise of the influencer has transformed the beauty and fashion industries beyond recognition. Finding the right star to endorse your product on their Instragram or TikTok feed, can make or break a brandthese days.
They achieve these results by presenting themselves as an approachable“friend”to their social media followers. They have agreater than average potential to influence othersbecause they build aspecial, intimate bondwith their followers by posting content very regularly and communicating with their audience directly. When a fan leaves a comment on an influencer’s post and receives a reply, they feel like they have a relationship with them, which reinforces the influencer’s ability to market products.
In oursurveyof 465 young people, we found that social media influencers’ content and their “authentic” behaviors are linked to consumers’ tendencies to buy products spontaneously without reflection.
Unlike traditional celebrities, who often keep their private lives behind closed doors, social media influencers discuss personal experiences, good or bad, with their followers. They see such sharing as moresincere and trustworthythan content coming from elsewhere.
Beyond these commercial activities, however, influencers have more recently been seen pushing followers to engage with social issues. Audiences are interested in influencers who engage inactivismand who take a stand on issues. This has been particularly in evidence during the Black Lives Matter movement, when fans looked to social media stars formeaningful statements and positionsand even demanded it of them when they were not forthcoming.
Inour workaround relationships between influencers and followers, we have found that many young people are interested in social media stars who seek to drive change rather than just sell products. This, combined with the personal approach, is what makes influencers an attractive prospect for a government trying to reach young people. If someone like Phillips talks about test and trace on Instagram, young people are likely to react and act.
The World Health Organization has been usinginfluencer marketingtechniques in its coronavirus messaging since April. It has gone a step furtherby usinga CGI influencer called Knox Frost to “get accurate, vetted information about COVID-19 in front of millennials and Gen Z”. The computer-generated 20-year-old has been posting to just undera million Instagramfollowers about coronavirus safety and raising funding for the WHO.
In times when the economy is suffering, many might question why the UK government is paying social media stars topromote test and trace services. In reality, spending of this kind has enormous potential to deliver a positive impact. As our studies show, influencers are powerful in shaping the behavior of their followers. Until now, this was mainly done in the commercial sphere to drive consumption, but now we are seeing more positive uses for their high profiles.
This article is republished fromThe ConversationbyElvira Bolat, Principal Academic in Marketing,Bournemouth Universityunder a Creative Commons license. Read theoriginal article.
Story byThe Conversation
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