Influencers are the future, get on board

I want to rant for a minute, because this one feels completely obvious to me and I keep watching people get it wrong.

Here’s the thing I believe flat out: influencers are modern celebrities. But we’re living in a world where the biggest influencer on the planet might get graded as, at best, a “small to mid tier celebrity.” That’s the ceiling we’ve agreed on. And every so often an actual celebrity gets asked about creators and says some version of — they don’t have the clout, they’re not the real thing. And everyone kinda nods along like that settles it.

You need to realize they are the future.

I’ll say it the way I said it out loud: anyone who thinks influencers are not gonna be the Robert Downey Jrs of the world is stupid and crazy and dumb. You need to get on board and accept that this is the reality.

Look at who’s actually on social media. Anyone under fifty does not care about — insert whatever huge actor you want here. At all. We could not tell you a single one of their sponsorships. But the influencers we follow, the ones we’re subconsciously connected to? If they say something, I will buy it. That’s how the world works now.

And this is where the marketing side of my brain takes over, because I’m a firm believer that influencer marketing is the future of, honestly, everything. It might even be a better market than celebrity endorsements ever were. Influencers are individuals, for the most part, so you can probably get better deals. And because they’re even more niche, you get a better spread — you can reach the exact audiences you want instead of one giant general one.

Call it a rant, because it is one. But this is the future, and I’m not hedging it.

Influencers aren’t small celebrities. They’re early ones.