How influencers make us buy stuff
+ the power of aspiration
Dear Friend,
Do you buy influencer recommended products?
I do. All the time.
From workout leggings to breezy chikankari suits to impractical shoes to airpods to sofas, influencers/creators have helped me discover new brands, rediscover old favourites and made me spend on a few duds. Without a doubt, a significant chunk of my discretionary spending has been driven by influencers on social media.
Why influence matters
I know I’m not alone when it comes to buying influencer marketed stuff. It is driving this impulse to act, and creating this spark of desire that makes influencer marketing a $14 billion business today, globally. In India, it is estimated to be ~₹900 Crores and predicted to grow at 25% CAGR to ₹2200 Crore by 20251.
That’s a lot of money. And not a bad thing.
Influencers are important for driving visibility and growth for newer, smaller brands and businesses, especially women-owned ones. Additionally, influencer marketing has empowered many women & folks from smaller towns to forge their own career paths as social media creators and provide for their families.
What I am curious about though, is how a product - that I wouldn’t have given any notice to on an eCommerce site - becomes instantly covetable when posted by an influencer.
The argument for influencer marketing
When I mucked around the internet searching for answers, I went through a lot of the usual pop-academic material on influencer marketing. The marketing argument for influencers is that they drive sales/revenue through trust, expertise and high-quality content/imagery. And sure, it made sense, but it felt superficial.
It didn’t explain the burning need that one feels when they see their favourite influencers sporting/showing/eating something new. It didn’t explain the immediate reaction to check out, if not buy, whatever it was that made you stop scrolling. Trust, expertise and high quality imagery feel like sugar, spice and everything nice.
But what was Chemical X?
Chemical X: AKA why influencer marketing works
I found my answers - as I always do - in behavioural economics. As it turns out, influencer marketing works because it taps into (cue angelic music) Social Proximity.
Social Proximity is the technical term for emulating the behaviours of people you believe are close to you. This is - quite literally - how influence works in real life. The choices our parents make, the choices our siblings make, the choices our friends make, the choices our classmates make, the choices our colleagues make, all of them affect our own decisions in varying degrees, given our constant exposure to them and the time we spend with them.
When we decide that we find an influencer intriguing enough, we follow them. And when we follow them, we’re exposed to their lives - the lives they share with us, anyway. And what usually happens is that we end up liking them, their personality, their point of view, their interests, their style, and so on. Pretty soon, we connect with them and feel like we know them.
And that’s when social proximity kicks in.
We end up inducting influencers into the circle of people who affect our decision making. You’d totally buy something your best friend recommends right? And of course you’d check out the restaurant your favourite colleague is raving about. Social proximity ensures that we treat influencer recommendations the same way.
The more relatable you find an influencer, the greater their social proximity to you and the greater influence they hold over you. Remember that ‘relatability’ doesn’t always translate to the similar personalities or lifestyles. It’s a pretty wide spectrum. Sometimes it’s their taste you might find relatable. Some other times, it’s their interests. It could even be their body type or skin tone.
Accounting for aspiration
Relatability is powerful, and when combined with aspiration, it pushes us from ‘hmm’ to ‘checkout’. In our heads, influencers are like us, but better. So we believe that if we follow their recommendations, we can also attain this “better” version of ourselves. And the innumerable likes and comments that influencers get, the social proof of their “better” choices, cement it.
In conclusion, spending money on influencer recommendations isn’t a bad thing. It’s like spending on anything else. The same questions - do I need this? can I afford this? - apply. But knowing the why behind our instant reaction to these recommendations will hopefully help us react a little less - and save a little more.
Until next time,
Lavanya
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https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/services/advertising/influencer-marketing-a-rs-900-crore-industry-with-a-rs-2000-crore-future/eyeing-growth/slideshow/86294910.cms
That is why I signed out of Instagram a few months ago. What truly rattles and frustrates is most of the influencers at least in India promote sellers who don’t list their selling price and instead you have to be one of the zillion users who has to msg PP or post a private message asking for the price. This is not a good use of the seller or the buyer’s time and only contributes to being wary of the seller’s credibility. Advertised by Influencer or not, my preference is to buy from some place that has visibility into price upfront.