Microblogging - the 21st Century marketing goldmine

Credit: shawncampbell, SmedersInternet, chadarizona.

As the name suggests, a microblog is a "blog that is smaller than a traditional blog and contains very short entries" (Collins English Dictionary, 2012). While this seems like a foreign and unusual word, its likely that you are the author of one if not multiple microblogs! Do you use Instagram? Twitter? Then you are a microblogger! The main difference between traditional blogs and microblogs is the limited space allowed in microblogs (usually 140/280 characters). However, this has not limited the potential of microblogs to become one of the most powerful marketing tools of the century.

Humans are impressionable creatures, especially at a young age. Teenagers are notorious for following the crowd. However, adults do this too. If you like a fashion trend? You imitate it. If you eat good food? You replicate the recipe. However, at every age, we are especially prone to copying celebrities. It's understandable. You see a lifestyle you want and so you imitate it in the hopes of achieving it. Cunning as ever, marketing firms have latched onto this human trait, combined it with the quickly absorbed and easily distributed microblog, and monetised it through the birth of the 'influencer'.

An 'influencer' a person who is paid by a company to show and describe its products and services on social media, encouraging other people to buy them. (Cambridge Dictionary 2020). The person may demonstrate the use of the product/service through videos or simply by posting a photo with the product. In order to be labelled an influencer, a steady and large following is crucial - the larger the following, the more influence you have and the higher your appeal to brands looking for promoters. The photo to the left is an example of influencer Sinead Hegarty promoting the fashion brand 'get that trend'. By tagging the brand, the brand is likely to receive traffic to their page which may result in purchases. Brands send influencers free

Credit: Instagram @sineadheg

products and in return they promote them. But new regulations mean influencers by labelling the post with 'AD', 'gifted', 'BA' (brand ambassador) or 'paid partnership' to ensure transparency.

But why has this type of marketing been so successful? Long before 'influencers', reviews and word of mouth were a small part of many companies successes. The product created its own hype. And rightly so. But this was not something marketing firms could change. All they could do was rely on traditional advertisements such as TV and Radio. This was until social media took off. Influencers bring the effectiveness of 'word of mouth' to a new level. At any one time, they can speak to thousands of people. Not only is the volume of people an asset in itself, but an influencer's audience is usually full of similar people with similar interest e.g. fashion, sport or baking. This allows marketing firms to promote their products, through 'influencers', directly to their target market. In addition, the way in which the content is delivered is less pushy and more relatable as the audience will likely use these platforms for their own personal pages. The audience may also have a degree of trust in an 'influencers' recommendations.

Microblogs are leading the way in the marketing world, but will this hyper-monetisation of what once was a social, entertaining platform deter people from using them? Time will tell.

Image Credits:

"Twitter Bird Sketch" by shawncampbell is licensed under CC BY 2.0

"Instagram logo on gradient header"by SmedersInternet is licensed under CC BY 2.0

"Tumblr Icon"by chadarizona is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Instagram @sineadheg

References:

Collins English Dictionary (2012) Digital Edition, Harper Collins, accessed: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/microblog [accessed 18 Nov 2020].

Cambridge Dictionary (2020) Meaning of influencer in English, available: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/influencer [accessed 23 Nov 2020].