Glam Africa: The Revolutionary Edition (2019)

FEATURE STORY
BY MALITHA FERNANDES
The Decade of
INFLUENCER
MARKETING
IS NOT A TREND,
It’s Here
to Stay!
It wasn’t too long ago that I would wake up in the
morning and the first thing I would do was brush my
teeth. Now, the first thing I do is check my phone,
browse through my social media then brush my
teeth before I carry on with my day. While there’s
lots of speculation around social media being a
boon or a curse, I believe social media has taken
over our lives and has caused a drastic shift in
our consumption. Although one might think they
are just casually scrolling through social media,
in reality they are unconsciously being targeted
by one endorsement scheme or the other. And to
add to it, what makes it incredibly hard to resist
these endorsements is the fact that they look very
appealing, almost as if they've been tailor-made to
suit your lifestyle.
When you come to think of it, endorsement isn’t
all that new at all. From radio networks to satellite
television, marketers have long found effective ways
to communicate brand messages to consumers.
Whether we see them on the billboards while
we are driving down to work, or hear them while
tuned in to our favourite pop music station, we are
constantly surrounded by advertisements and brands
that are trying to catch our attention. In recent times,
however, we have seen marketers make a big shift
from traditional media to digital platforms such as
Instagram, Twitter and Youtube. Netflix has taken
over television, Spotify has taken over the music and
podcasting realm, while social media has become
a very prominent part
of our daily lives. Not
only has social media
exploded, but there
has also been a huge
shift in the way users
view the purpose of
social media platforms.
Recent statistics show
that the number
of social media
users in the UK is
about 45million (
approximately 67% of
the total population),.
out of which 77%
actively engage by
posting, sharing, liking
and commenting on
posts. Just think about
it, can you remember
the last time you went
a day without checking
one of your social media accounts? Unless you've
recently been on a social media detox, I'm willing
to bet that the answer is a resounding 'no'.
In recent years, the abundance of active users
across various social media platforms has given rise
to influencers - ‘regular people’ who have become
online celebrities by creating content for social
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