“New research claims that social media influencers might have nearly as much clout as a friend or neighbor — and brands know how to harness these new household names,” Marty Swant reports for Adweek.
“According to a joint study by Twitter and analytics firm Annalect, around 40 percent of respondents said they’ve purchased an item online after seeing it used by an influencer on Instagram, Twitter, Vine or YouTube,” Swant reports. “Also, 20 percent of respondents said they shared something they saw from an influencer, while one-third of millennials say they follow a creator on Twitter or Vine.”
“A generation ago, marketers would put household names on the front of cereal boxes, said Twitter VP of market research and insights Jeffrey Graham. Now that online influencers can sell other products to anyone with a smartphone, household names have evolved into ‘handheld names’ — people who are highly influential and well-known based on their social media presence,” Swant reports. “56 percent of users surveyed said they rely on recommendations from friends, 49 percent said they rely on influencers. It’s unclear exactly how much more valuable today’s influencers are compared to the Wheaties boxes of the past, but Graham said that’s largely because advertising is more measurable than it was 30 or 40 years ago.”
Much more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: It makes sense. It also shows the importance of social networking. Things like the defunct Ping and the current Apple Music Connect could be very valuable, if Apple could figure out what they’re missing.
SEE ALSO:
Apple Music Connect: Ping redux – May 10, 2016
Apple pulls plug on Ping dud on September 30th – September 12, 2012
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dan K.” for the heads up.]
All it shows is an increasing number of people that have lost the ability to think and evaluate for themselves, without having to have someone point the way..
And usually the people pointing the way have an underlying motive, whether its to sell you something you may not ever need, to manipulating your opinion on a wide range of subjects from products to politics.
people have been buying Wheaties based on who is on the box (or what, in the case of Bruce/Whatever Jenner) for many decades
In case anyone needed more proof that most Twitter users are stupid idiots. Trusting the opinions of complete strangers who are being paid to endorse products is beyond ridiculous!
That’s dumb. 🙂
I’m going to write how I feel about this news story after I check it with my social media friends.
I want to say it’s a good article, but I don’t want to be the one who was wrong.
Everybody at Twaddle says it’s okay to have an opinion.
That’s my opinion.
Apple just can’t do services right. Time after time after time …..