Influencer

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Diagram of a social network: The node highlighted in yellow on the left is a possible influencer.

As influencer (from English to influence , affect ' ) are since the 2000s multipliers referred to its strong presence and reputation in social networks use to, for example, products or lifestyles to apply . Marketing with influencers is known as influencer marketing .

expression

Since around 2007, marketing has been used by influencers in advertising in the sense that is used today. The popular science bestseller Influence: Science and Practice , published in 2001 by the American psychologist and economist Robert Cialdini, serves as the basis for the formation of the term . There Cialdini describes six important characteristics for influencing such as social authority, trustworthiness, devotion and consistent behavior. With the spread of advertising-based business models in large social networks such as Facebook , YouTube and Instagram , Cialdini's sales theses gained further popularity.

According to several studies, one can reach a wider audience by targeting and instrumentalizing influential individuals than with conventional widely and arbitrarily dispersed advertising measures. According to an international study, around 4.6 million consumers in Germany are considered influencers. What they have in common is that they identify with the brands they follow on social media and are particularly active and strongly networked on social platforms. If the marketer wins a person who is highly regarded in several social networks and has many “friends” and “followers” ​​there, the product sells through the effective mechanism of word of mouth . Companies use influencers specifically for marketing and communication purposes in order to reach a specific target group on a large scale. In the jargon of the advertising industry, "Influencers [...] are the new supertargets in marketing. As multipliers and opinion leaders, they are at the center of their own network and are actively networked with others. They strengthen the reputation of a supplier, help products, brands and services achieve a quick breakthrough and thus ensure success. "

Influencers can be politicians, athletes, journalists, bloggers , YouTubers , celebrities and actors who are heavily involved in social networks and have a lot of followers. Marketing through the use of influencers exploits the relationship of trust between these leading figures and their mass audience.

In Germany influencers reach several million followers, for example Bianca Claßen ( bibisbeautypalace ) with over 7.7 million followers (September 2021) and the front runners Lisa and Lena ( lisaandlena ) with over 16.2 million followers (September 2021).

The About You Awards have been presented to influencers in German-speaking countries since 2017 .

Categories of influencers

According to the number of followers

Influencers can be divided into four to five groups based on their number of followers, although the boundaries are not clearly defined and the terms are used differently.

Nano influencers
up to approx. 10,000 followers
Micro influencers
up to approx. 100,000 followers
Macro influencer
up to 1,000,000 followers
Mega influencers
over 1,000,000 followers

Depending on the definition, there is sometimes the mid-level influencer category , which then falls between micro and macro influencers.

According to a study, there were more than half a million influencers on Instagram in 2018. This corresponds to 39% of all profiles at that time with more than 15,000 followers. In contrast to the description above, no nano-influencers were taken into account. According to the number of followers, the proportions were:

Share of Instagram influencers (in%) by number of followers
up to 100,000 up to 500,000 up to 1,000,000 to 5,000,000 about it
Micro influencers Macro influencer Mega influencers
81 15th 2 1 1

According to content / target group

In addition, influencers can be classified based on their content and target groups.

Inclusive
People who work for the inclusion of people with disabilities.
Key influencer
Bloggers, journalists or brand ambassadors who have a lot of followers due to their own blog, online magazine or social media profile. They enjoy a high level of recognition and esteem and are therefore considered experts and role models.
Kidfluencer (also child or young fluencer )
Children and young people who attract a more or less large audience as followers in the social media channels and thus become carriers of ideas, mouthpieces for commercial products or mini-icons of the Internet world. As child stars, some of them even earn their families income through their internet presence.
Peer influencer
People who have a certain connection with a company and who have an influence on the purchase decision of others through their personality, expert opinion and experience. This category includes, for example, employees and business partners of a company.
Petfluencer
People who take photos or selfies with their respective pets. It is not uncommon for the photographed animal to achieve a larger following than the person behind it.
Social influencer
People who express their opinions and recommendations about products, companies and brands and thus automatically have a negative or positive influence on the purchasing behavior of other customers.
Sinnfluencer
People who use their voices for socially relevant issues such as social justice or sustainability.

According to intrinsic motivation

Niklas Hartmann divides influencers into 9 different types in his book Successful Influencers Become Influencers:

trendsetter
Trendsetters publish articles that come close to articles from glossy magazines. They introduce their subscribers to a dream world. This type of influencer publishes content on breathtaking travel locations, exciting events and luxury experiences.
Entertainer
The entertainer type takes on the role of comedians and reality television programs on social media. These influencers make their followers laugh and create a good mood. Entertainers are often active on Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.
Activists
Activists take an idealistic stance on social media. They make their subscribers aware of social problems. The topic focus can be on environmental protection, sustainability or self-love. The focus of this influencer persona is on spreading their message in order to empower people or bring about political change.
Experts |
Experts are the best in their field. You publish books, write specialist articles and are interview partners. Exemplary topics are artificial intelligence, stem cell research or digitization. You are often active on LinkedIn to exchange ideas on business topics.
Explainer
Explainers are a kind of "tutor" on social media. They teach their followers topics that are easy to understand. This type of influencer has a high level of credibility. The subscribers trust the influencer's knowledge. Possible topics for explanators are politics, economics or scientific concepts.
Motivators
Motivators encourage their followers to perform at their best. The focus is on fitness or topics of self-improvement.
Mentors
Mentors support their subscribers with personal and professional problems. They show alternative courses of action and help their followers to make changes.
Corporate ambassador
This type of influencer puts himself and his company in the limelight. Company ambassadors hold a leadership position in their company. Furthermore, the influencers contribute far beyond their industry. They take a stand on social issues.
Celebrities
Celebrities have become known outside of social media. They have come into the public eye via television, radio or other media channels. Exemplary professions of this type of influencer are actor, model or director.

Value-based typology

A study by Macromedia University from 2021 examined the distribution of influencers according to a typology defined for this purpose. The type assignment of the 47,000 respondents from Germany, England, Poland, France, Spain, Italy and the USA was based on 33 criteria using a factor analysis . This was the largest study of its kind to date.

Typology
designation Portion (%) description
Posers / Extroverts 22.5 Need for recognition
World improvers / idealists 16.6 Sense of responsibility
Experts | 19.7 demanding and credible in the community
Rationalists 28.3 professionally and financially motivated
Storyteller 12.9 "Self-disclosure" as a motive

As country-specific differences, it was mentioned that in Germany the group of "idealists" is the largest type group with 35.5%, while the group of "rationalists" in Germany is the smallest group with only 19.8%, while in Italy ( the country with the maximum proportion of this group) makes up 34.5% of the respondents.

Criticism and legal situation in Germany

The main criticism against the use of influencers is the spread of surreptitious advertising . In Germany, according to Section 5a (6) UWG, surreptitious advertising is not permitted because every advertising measure must be designed in such a way that its advertising character can be recognized by the addressees. End of January 2019 before the Regional Court of Karlsruhe one from the Social Association competition in accordance with § 3 UWG against Influencerin Pamela Reif raised injunction negotiated allegations of surreptitious advertising. It was decided that the linking of manufacturer accounts by means of social tagging in the Instagram posts was a "business act with a commercial purpose" and therefore had to be marked as advertising. At the end of April 2019, the Regional Court of Munich I decided in the case of a lawsuit by the same association against Cathy Hummels that unmarked "private" contributions were also business activities, but not surreptitious advertising due to lack of payment. On September 9, 2021, the BGH ruled that influencers' commercial content should be labeled as advertising. Advertising labeling is therefore only required if influencers are paid for the application. Free recommendations do not require labeling. The judge also found that there was an "advertising surplus" for content with social tagging.

It is also criticized that the “real” life of the influencer deviates from the dazzling life portrayed on social networks such as Instagram, which results in a credibility problem. Influencer have often been successful without having a professional or school degree, which is why their professionalism is questioned, even in the face of dubious practices and Follower Like -Kaufs. Even those who commission influencers themselves sometimes see the use critically and distance themselves from this practice, as there is a "hardly measurable direct impact ". According to Jörg Schieb , the use of avatars (he also calls them CyberModels ) as influencers has increased. They are an inexpensive alternative to influencers.

Child protection organizations such as the German Children's Fund criticize the fact that the activities of the “kidfluencers” involve child labor . In addition, they denounce the lack of data protection for the children and question the extent to which this activity is actually carried out voluntarily by the children and does not, at least in part, represent emotional abuse by the parents.

literature

  • Duncan Brown, Nick Hayes: Influencer Marketing: Who really influences your customers? Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford 2007, later at Que Corp, ISBN 978-0-7897-5104-1 .
  • Martin Gerecke: Dangerous Posts. Advertising labeling in influencer marketing. In: c't . No. 26/2018, pp. 126-128.
  • Paul Gillin: The New Influencers. Quill Driver Books, Sanger 2007, ISBN 978-1-884956-65-2 .
  • Niklas Hartmann: Become a successful influencer. More followers, reach and income. mitp Verlag, Frechen 2021, ISBN 978-3-7475-0242-6 .
  • Nico Jurran: Click millionaire. How you can make money as an influencer. In: c't. No. 26/2018, pp. 122-125.
  • Ole Nymoen, Wolfgang M. Schmitt : Influencer. The ideology of the advertising body. Suhrkamp, ​​Berlin 2021, ISBN 978-3-518-07640-8 .

Web links

Wiktionary: Influencer  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Influencer who. In: Duden.de . Retrieved February 20, 2021 .
  2. ↑ What is an influencer - simply explained. Retrieved April 12, 2020 .
  3. ^ Robert B. Cialdini: Influence: Science and practice. Allyn & Bacon, Boston 2001, ISBN 0-205-60999-6 . German translation: The psychology of persuasion. Huber & Hans, Bern 2003, ISBN 3-456-84053-5 .
  4. ↑ Annette Mattgey: The typical influencer is young, male, employed . In: lead-digital.de . W&V Verlag. May 19, 2015. Archived from the original on August 26, 2017. Retrieved on April 1, 2021.
  5. ↑ Johanna Leitherer: Influencers fuel purchasing power. In: springerprofessional.de. September 5, 2017. Retrieved February 7, 2018 .
  6. ↑ Anne M. Schüller , Natalie Wander: How to find influencers and win them over. Multiplier or opinion leader - how does digital "influencing" work? In: marconomy.de. Vogel Business Media, Würzburg, May 8, 2012, accessed on March 28, 2019.
  7. ↑ A typical top 10 ranking of influencers in the social network for professionals LinkedIn ranged in May 2013 from Microsoft founder Bill Gates (160,000 followers) to music producer Lou Adler (220,000 followers) to the English author Bernard Marr (36,000 followers). In May 2013 Forbes Magazine published a list of the best influencers across all social networks, including increasingly women.
  8. ↑ Katharina Brecht: According to friends and customer ratings, influencers are the most credible source. In: horizont.net. July 27, 2017. Retrieved November 15, 2017 .
  9. ↑ Christian Stöcker : Influencer: The market eats its children. In: Spiegel Online. May 6, 2018. Retrieved May 7, 2018 .
  10. ↑ MICRO vs. MACRO INFLUENCER. WHO IS MORE EFFECTIVE? In: ALL: AIRT. June 1, 2020, accessed on November 20, 2020 (German).
  11. ↑ Mobile phone sector: From nano to mega - this is how influencer marketing works. Accessed November 20, 2020 (German).
  12. ↑ Instagram - Engagement rate according to the number of followers in Germany and worldwide 2020. Accessed on November 20, 2020 .
  13. ↑ Blake Droesch: Is everyone on Instagram an influencer? ( en ) In: Insider Intelligence . March 5, 2019. Accessed April 1, 2021.
  14. ↑ NDR: Inkluencer: With Instagram for inclusion and against discrimination. Retrieved March 18, 2021 .
  15. ↑ a b c Jana Herzog: Influencer Marketing - Hype or is it a lucrative business for companies and opinion makers? In: hslu.ch/diginect. Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, December 4, 2017, accessed on February 7, 2018 .
  16. ↑ Kidfluencer: Great brand potential with social responsibility and legal peculiarities. In: medienrot.de. June 7, 2019, accessed July 13, 2020 .
  17. ↑ Stephanie Baumgärtner: Kidfluencer - The most successful child stars on Instagram. In: www.lunamag.de. January 16, 2020, accessed July 13, 2020 .
  18. ↑ Mini-Influencer - How Much Work is Children Allowed? In: mdr.de . February 12, 2020, accessed July 13, 2020 .
  19. ↑ Petfluencer: This is how you really cash in with your four-legged friend. In: mdr.de. Retrieved May 3, 2020 .
  20. ↑ Thomas Kochwasser and Franca Garff: The triumphant advance of the Sinnfluencer. In: Zukunftsinstitut.de. Retrieved September 23, 2020 .
  21. ↑ Niklas Hartmann: Becoming a successful influencer: More followers, reach and income. Including tips from top influencers with up to 1.1 million followers. Retrieved December 13, 2021 .
  22. ↑ Castulus Kolo, Florian Haumer, Alexander Roth, Christopher Schmidt: What drives influencers? TERRITORY Influence and Macromedia present value-based typology . Macromedia University, University of Applied Sciences. March 26, 2021. Accessed March 30, 2021.
  23. ↑ Torsten Schöwing: Influencer: There are these types . In: branded articles . New Business Verlag GmbH & Co. KG. March 30, 2021. Retrieved April 1, 2021.
  24. ↑ Ingo Rentz: How Territory wants to ensure a new quality in influencer marketing . In: horizon . dfv media group. March 25, 2021. Accessed April 1, 2021.
  25. ↑ Martin Gerecke: Obligations to label in influencer marketing - are you still judging or are you already advertising? In: Legal Tribune Online , June 24, 2017.
  26. ↑ Is that advertising or not? In: tagesschau.de , January 24, 2019.
  27. ↑ Even the private is business. In: tagesschau.de , March 21, 2019.
  28. ↑ Stephan Handel: Cathy Hummels wins trial of surreptitious advertising. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . April 30, 2019, accessed May 10, 2019.
  29. ↑ Christian Rath: Judgment on advertising on Instagram: Cathy Hummels is right. In: The daily newspaper . September 9, 2021, accessed December 8, 2021.
  30. ↑ Rebecca Erken: Young Influencer: "Instagram created a monster". In: spiegel.de. July 14, 2018. Retrieved August 22, 2018 .
  31. ↑ Manfred Zollner: Influencer . In: Photo magazine . No. 2 , 2018, p. 15 .
  32. ↑ Duisburg influencer unpacks: This is how Instagram is tricked. In: derwesten.de. Retrieved August 22, 2018 .
  33. ↑ Why A&O Hostels do without influencers. In: wuv.de. Retrieved December 6, 2018 .
  34. ↑ Jörg Schieb: Instagram: May it be a little more false? In: blog.wdr.de. July 6, 2020, accessed July 6, 2020 .
  35. ↑ Bianca Pettinger: Children's Influencer: Camera on, data protection off , July 23, 2020, accessed on September 4, 2020.
  36. ↑ Mini-Influencer - How Much Work is Children Allowed? In: mdr.de . February 12, 2020, accessed July 13, 2020 .