Influencers (aka brand ambassadors) are increasingly becoming go-to channels of an organization’s digital, marketing, and communication strategy. Recently, both micro-influencers (smaller number of followers, but highly-engaged influencers) and celebrities descended upon the Coachella Music Festival, attended by more than 250,000 music fans, to push products, services, and experiences.
Wired shared an article about this “sponcon,” or the business of getting paid to share content, as being pandemic-like. Those who want to be sponconners can easily buy likes and followers, looking for a monthly retainer that can range from $1,000 to $20,000 with additional commissions. While companies are investing both resources and money in influencers to amplify their promotions, these efforts may be less effective if they are incorrectly identifying what makes an influencer, per the research on social influence.
In a seminal article written in 1958, Harvard psychologist Herb Kelman identified three processes of how an individual’s attitudes and behaviors are influenced by others in terms of social influence:
- compliance – person wants to receive a favorable reaction or avoid punishment from another person or group
- identification – person wants to establish or maintain a relationship with another person or group
- internalization – person finds the adoption of the attitude or behavior to be intrinsically rewarding.
