Social Media Stars Are Making Millions On Brand's Insecurities!

What every brand covets is an educated consumer with a predisposition to buy their products and/or services. Unfortunately, very few brands and their agencies have a solid plan that works for customer acquisition via social media. Sure, sure, every social media agency will tell you about the one client they “blew up” their client’s Facebook or Instagram numbers. But on average, most digital agencies have limited success, can’t replicate the success they have and are very much in the business of new client acquisition versus client performance.

That is harsh. And time and time again I hear from clients, friends and acquaintances about social media agencies selling a big pile of crap! The sell sounds so easy breezy and attainable. The reality is, it almost never gets done. If I had a dollar for every brand manager who has shared how much they have spent on creation of content and after their budget of “several hundred thousand dollars in fees, retainer and actual expenses, we have 200 likes and virtually no sell-through”.

XANAX PLEASE!!!!! I mean it is gut wrenching stuff because what that person is telling me, is in the near future someone executive from the company may come to their office and ask them to “bring your playbook, the coach wants to speak with you” moment. Another wards in the vernacular of the great Donald Trump, YOU’RE FIRED!

So what do entrenched brand managers and their agencies do when desperate? They go to the easiest route to acquire a large audience, social media stars. Now some are terrific at delivering on expectations and demographics.  But candidly those are few and far between. Social media stars with over 2.5 million followers are making a premium because they know that there aren’t a ton of options in that 2.5-10 million follower range who aren’t actors, models, musicians and/or athletes and therefore wildly expensive!

The question is, does it make sense to have 25 social media influencers with 100,000 followers or 1 with 2.5 million?   That is an internal discussion and one that must be had with some serious vetting of the influencers you are considering. Additionally, someone needs to investigate who else the social media star(s) that you are considering are posting for and how often. As soon as a fan base smells they are being sold out, they herd away from that influencer like they have an online virus!

Never put yourself in a situation where you are filling in the gap or outsourcing your social engagement with potential and/or past clients to a social media star just because their numbers seem too good to be true. Because like most things in life, when that happens, it usually is! Buyer Beware!

Social media is really a people to people medium not a brand to people medium. This article written by Peirs Copper illustrates this very well! Building a community of like minded consumers is way more powerful than acquiring a social media star’s fan base. If this doesn’t make sense, start sharpening your resume up, because you are about to use it again!