Easily Bought and Easily Influenced in The World of Social Media

Devon Stephen

Ds708914@ohio.edu

As social media users, we have a sort of responsibility to ourselves to understand that so much of what we see online is altered or altogether unreal. To avoid spending time comparing ourselves to people on social media, or buying products that may not meet their claims, we have to understand that the world of social media is separate from the one in which we live.

On Instagram, celebrities and influencers have photoshopped bodies and, if it means making some coin, use their photos to promote brands or products they may not even use. There was a social media-celebrity uproar in 2016 when the Federal Trade Commission created a regulation that said influencers and celebrities must disclose in their posts whether they were paid for an ad. Disclosing a paid promotion on Instagram or other social media sites can be as simple as including “#ad” or “#paid” at the end of a caption or post. More recently, celebrities and influencers are adding a Paid Partnership label above the photo, where the brand is also tagged.

Khloe Kardashian promoting Flat Tummy Co by using
the Paid Partnership label above her photo

Without the ad disclosure, knowing which celebrity promotions are genuine or biased can get confusing. When Khloe Kardashian posts a photo of herself promoting Flat Tummy Tea, her 99.4 million followers might see her fit figure and conclude that the brand she is promoting is responsible for her look. Several million quick taps on the @flattummyco handle and boom—Flat Tummy Co just made major cash. Without the hashtag or partnered post clarification, do consumers even know what they’re really paying for?

James Charles promoting Sugar Bear Hair vitamins
with the #ad disclosure in an Instagram Story

Now the issue with trusting promotions on social media extends farther than celebrities. Social media marketers called “influencers” are who the public turns to for pre-purchase advice and reviews. James Charles, a 19-year-old beauty influencer with 15.9 million Instagram followers has used the story feature on the photo-sharing app to promote brands such as Sugar Bear Hair, a gummy vitamin brand. In a story promoting Sugar Bear Hair, James placed “#ad” in the top left corner to let his followers know the promotion was paid. However, Charles has also posted content that left followers wondering and leaving comments about whether he was being paid to promote certain products. In his YouTube video “Pinkity Drinkity Makeup + Pupdate!” the influencer used a Starbucks drink as inspiration to create a makeup look for his 16.2 million subscribers without stating whether the video was sponsored.

Aside from the obvious monetary benefits for influencers when it comes to marketing products online, it’s also no wonder why brands want these social giants to back their companies and products. According to the Forbes article “How Social Media Led To The Rise And Fall Of The Fyre Festival”, the fest that never happened was only able to gain such large-scale recognition and excitement because of the way its creators used influencers to market the event. Fyre Festival’s promotional video featured some of the world’s most prominent models, including Bella Hadid and Hailey Bieber. Tech entrepreneur Billy McFarland and his business partner, rapper Ja Rule, paid around 400 influencers and celebrities to post an image of an orange tile to their Instagram accounts with hashtags relating to the festival. Once the social media marketers with millions of followers supported the event, it sold out almost instantly.

Unfortunately, the festival never happened. The creators were so focused on making the idea huge, they didn’t handle any logistics. When ticket-buyers showed up for the festival, nothing they paid for came to fruition. Early arrivers found themselves stranded on a remote island, according to the Forbes article.

One way to ensure people can trust ads—no matter how ambiguous—they see on social media is to place responsibility on brands’ PR teams. PR managers should make sure any influencer their brand or account partners with is honest in their reviews and promotions. If it were to come out publicly that Khloe Kardashian doesn’t actually drink Flat Tummy Tea, or that James Charles doesn’t really use Sugar Bear Hair products, or even that the models who endorsed the Fyre Festival didn’t plan on attending, the brand looks equally as dishonest as the social media marketers. For that reason, employing a PR strategy that includes a commitment to partnering with honest influencers is should be a top priority for brands who market themselves or their products on social media.