It’s no secret that there is a buzz around social media influencers, but not everything is always as it seems. For those of you with access to HBO, we highly recommend you check out their new series, “Fake Famous.” The show revolves around the concept behind influencers and ambassadors and how their passion for a product or service may be misleading.
Did you hear about Instagram models renting staged sets of “private jets” just to portray a particular lifestyle? That’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Although there’s plenty of money to be made as a brand ambassador, understanding the difference between influencers and ambassadors is the first place to start. Tune in with Greg Taylor to learn all about the significant differences between the two and what you should keep an eye out for when scrolling down your feed.
As we mentioned, not everything is always as it seems!
[Transcript]
Hey everyone, thanks for checking out on our bonus episode of the New Marketing Show, catch us on YouTube, Instagram, TV, all the interwebs all that good stuff, we definitely appreciate you. So, you know, being active on social media, I want to talk to you guys today about influencers and ambassadors.
So there’s a great, great, there’s a great new documentary out there said great toys. It’s actually very good documentary out there on HBO called fake famous. If you have HBO or you wait until you get to YouTube, or whatever, definitely check this out.
This is going to dispel a lot of the things, a lot of the questions that you may have about influencers and ambassadors or brands when it comes to social media, you know, it’s super interesting how much of this stuff is conjured up and is fake. And you know how these PJ’s you know, which are private jets are actually, you know, sets that people read that they’re not even on there. And these people are representing brands.
Now, when it comes to marketing, you know, we always talk about being in being authentic, being your authentic self being true to your voice and things like that. And I can’t think of a more inauthentic thing than saying that you’re on a private jet to Turks and Caicos, when really, you’re on a soundstage somewhere, you know, that you’re renting for $25 an hour? I mean, not $20 an hour, right.
Be weary of anybody who is social media famous, anybody who is, you know, famous for the sake of being famous, you know, I think that, you know, all really a lot of us really started pre social media, pre heavy social media, that is, we’d like the Paris Hilton’s. And you know, she set the stage for everything, she was famous for being famous.
So when it comes to like, influencers, you know, I would look at a couple of things, do they really use the product? And one way that you can tell if they really use the product or the service, etc, is, is check out the bigger picture of their Instagram or their Facebook or their Twitter accounts and feeds.
Like, does it look like you know, they live that lifestyle, you know, don’t come at me with like, robe fitness type of, you know, influencer type isn’t that man, that’s a bad example.
Because rogue wouldn’t do that don’t come at me with some kind of janky fitness type of influencer. When I see this guy eating, you know, KFC every day, etc, etc, you know, he’s not living a lifestyle, he’s just using his social influence.
Now, it does work. You know, there are other things, you know, you’ll see when you post Instagram photos that are popular, people will say, DMS for a collab. And they want you to be a brand ambassador.
So what happens when you’re a brand ambassador is typically it is high profiled, when I say high profile, it means in the public affiliate marketing, it’s really all that it is. Because what happens is most brand ambassadors, you know, what they do is, they’ll give you a discount code for you to use. And then you’ll get a commission, if anybody uses your specific custom code to buy their product.
So it might be acme.com/Greg10, you know, you’ll see a lot of that stuff and there’s money to be made there. It’s not like it’s not, you know, one of the it’s not like, terrible thing, but the thing is, is I just know that people are selling products, you know, I happen to be an ambassador for good or sunglasses, but the thing is, they give me sunglasses, they don’t give me any kind of codes. And there’s no commission or anything like that.
So like I I’ve always been, in fact, I have a couple, I have a couple pairs, right here, just their sunglasses, I would wear I would buy and wear In fact, I have purchased them and wore them for years, you know. So just be careful when you see these posts.
Be careful when you’re able when you are, you know, swayed by these internet influencers and just understand that everything is not as it seems, definitely check out hbos Doc, fake famous, it’s going to dispel a lot of this stuff, and you’re going to really get a better sense as to what’s going on. Hey, thanks for checking us out. Talk to you soon.
While I’ve known Greg for years from our time together in the marketing scene, I’ve only recently had the chance to work with Trinity Web Media on a client project. Not only was the team professional and their work spot on, they were amazingly quick to respond and required very little hand-holding along the way. I chalk that up to their past experience and a deep understanding of best-in-class services.
I have hired Greg and the Trinity team multiple times for work on my own websites, and have also hired them to work on behalf of multiple clients. He is simply a pleasure to work with, in every respect. Smart but without the giant ego of some developers, Trinity Web Media works with his clients to achieve their vision in the best way possible — with careful attention to their interests, and thoughtful recommendations based on his expertise. • Susan Baier – Founding Marketing Strategist – Audience Audit