IS INFLUENCER MARKETING A SUSTAINABLE CAREER?

IS INFLUENCER MARKETING A SUSTAINABLE CAREER?

by David Wamambo

This post is based off a thread I first posted on my Twitter and Beauty Boois recommended that I also share this on my blog. Beauty is an artistic content creator herself and do check out her work by clicking this link: linktr.ee/beautyboois 

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THIS IS A NEW FIELD FIRST OF ALL...

The biggest concern I have with this line of work is th manner in which it is grossly misunderstood locally. First of all following is not influence, it’s REACH. An effective influencer has what we call a SOV/ Share of Voice that fuels itself through their expertise. What they should fuel is their POV/ Point of View. So for me when someone claims to be an influencer when they only exist significantly on one social media platform, I get quite worried.

Influencer Marketing is relatively a new field & a few of us can predict what this field will look like in the next few years. I always wonder, will the trends be the same? Will we still look at influencers for inspiration? Is TikTok going to vanish like MySpace? What if someone hacks YouTube or Instagram and accounts are deleted and people lose their accounts, follower and content. This is possible remember the #WannaCry ransomeware attack in 2017?

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IS THERE SOME FORM OF JOB SECURITY?

Well with that said, this is going to be quite a brutally honest thread. Let us start with answering this question, is there a sense of job security in this field. The answer is no one nows if their jobs are secured. That alone shows you there is absolutely no security. Income fluctuates between months and a lot of companies never actually pay their Influencers because most influencers do not have agencies or managers or people with skills in reading and negotiating contracts on their behalf.

In the same vein I have so much respect for individuals that have made this their full-time job. Now that we have established that the issue of job security is uncharted territory, let's look at the three possible outcomes I have realized over the years. Eventually an unfortunate influencer, either is plunged into emotional & finial turmoil because the industry can be rough. An unsuccessful influencer either becomes irrelevant as their POV becomes weak due to either poor social consciousness or it is unwelcome by their audience.

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WHAT DOES SUCCESS LOOK LIKE?

For the fortunate influencers, they eventually evolve from being influencers to lifecasting. Because their careers were very fortunate to give them high paying gigs their lives became interesting & now we're just following to admire. Technically their POV has been suffocated.
Successful influencers have managed to transform their brands from being influencers of brands but have grown to influence social discourse. Hint hint, from PUMA to Goodwill Ambassador of UNHCR.

Other successful influencers, have become entrepreneurs and are now competing with brands they used to do influencer work for. So my last point is that, if you are venturing into #influencermarketing, be sure to have a goal beyond the next gig. like any other career the desire should be to impact your community positively and create a strong legacy.

I hope this post was helpful. Do share with anyone interested in influencer marketing or personal branding. Feel free toDM me if you have questions on my Twitter @davidwamambo or my Instagram @davidwamambo_