If there’s one word in the English language that causes my eyes to roll hard to the back of my head, it’s the word “influencer,” particularly when prefaced by two other words: “social media.”
Though the term has been in use for a while, I didn’t really pay much attention to it until last January, when the owner of a luxury hotel in Ireland outed a self-named “influencer” for asking for a free five-night stay in exchange for some videos and posts to her Instagram account.
The hotelier posted her request on his hotel’s Facebook page and expressed his outrage.
“It takes a lot of balls to send an email like that, if not much self-respect and dignity,” he says. “If I let you stay here in return for a feature in your video, who is going to pay the staff who look after you? ... Maybe I should tell my staff they will be featured in your video in lieu of receiving payment for work carried out while you’re in residence?
He continues: “I would never in a million years ask anyone for anything for free. ... In future, I’d advise you to offer to pay your way like everyone else.”
Soon after, the influencer, 22-year-old Elle Darby, posted a 17-minute-long video on her YouTube channel in which she indignantly expressed her hurt and humiliation at the hands of the hotelier and that she had “nothing but the purest intentions.” The video got nearly 3 million views.
The public spat, dubbed #bloggergate, exploded and wound up making headlines worldwide. The hotelier cheekily sent her an invoice for $6.5 million, estimating that the 114 news articles generated by his actions had given her a potential reach of 450 million people, for $6.5 million in advertising. Mentions in video, the invoice stated, would not qualify as payment.
I laughed.
But though I found the incident humorous, the power of social media and influencer marketing is no laughing matter. Social media has democratized content generation and most significantly, influence. Now anybody, with enough time, effort and creativity, can amass a large following. And since people rely on others for recommendations, influencer marketing will only continue to grow.
The impact on businesses can be profound. If you’re not building your brand on social media by now, what’s holding you back? Time? Lack of know-how? If it’s the latter, we can help. Our story, “Social Media Page Turner,” details a few strategies you can put to use now, and explains the rise of storytelling as branding — what it is, why it’s important and how you can leverage it to benefit your business.
As a whole, the pool industry has been behind the curve when it comes to utilizing social media. Believe me, I get it. We all lead such busy lives, working hard day in and day out to make a decent living while trying to carve out time for our families. Social media seems like just another task to add to your already busy day. But ultimately, the dividends are worth it. Give it a try, and let me know how it goes.
If anything, I promise to “like” it!
