In Latvia, the most popular social network accounts are not those that show artistic, conceptual photos, but those that show private life. “In Latvia, people like influencers who talk about themselves, reveal their personality and allow them to look into their personal lives. Just like with printed magazines – the most read is the yellow press, which allows you to quietly look into other people’s lives, ”says brand strategist Kristaps Siliņš.
Premiere of LTV1 just now experienced documentary film “Influencers”. Its main characters are popular digital content creators Agnija Grigule and Roy Rogers, but a large part of the film is occupied by experts who share knowledge about digital literacy, the phenomenon of influenza, future scenarios, etc. Brand strategist Kristaps Siliņš in the film talks about why influencers component.
IN SHORT:
Celebrity marketing is nothing new
Interviews with film experts
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-“An influencer is someone you like and want to copy. Probably the first flu is mom. This is nothing new, there were influencers in the ancient Curonian villages as well, there is simply no evidence of them – they did not have “Instagram” and “TikTok”, “says Siliņš about the phenomenon of influenza. Today, “influencer” is a marketing term used by agencies to justify a new trend in advertising, for which the customer has to pay more money. “This is partly true, because digital things need to be understood, so agencies need to bring together analysts, digital experts, young people in a team, but in fact it is no different from celebrity marketing, which has been around the world for hundreds of years,” says Siliņš.
Hollywood stars are a classic of the genre. The advertising and public relations industry was born in 20th century America at the same time as the rise of Hollywood. The development of advertising and Hollywood has gone hand in hand. Movies have been a good marketing channel to promote products, as have Hollywood stars, who are seen smoking a cigarette of a brand, wearing a brand’s dress, thus enticing talent to buy.
100 good influencers in Latvia
Three years ago, there were 300 influencers in Latvia, which had more than 1,000 followers from Latvia, now there are 2,000, and in a year there will probably be 3,000 influenzaes. “If we talk about quality and statistically we assume that at least 5% are good, then at least 100 good influencers in Latvia are. In my opinion, the first Instagram influencer in Latvia was Agnija Grigule. She is a public figure born out of the classic standard of Instagram influencers. It’s not a celebrity who builds Instagram on media awareness, it’s not a classic celebrity – an actor, a musician who has started using Instagram. Agnija was the first in Latvia to prove that with digitally created content “Instagram” can become famous, ”says the brand strategist.
Celebrity marketing has never been the most appreciative genre of advertising. The human factor greatly influences the message. “It is clear that a celebrity can get drunk, cause an accident under the influence of alcohol. And if a huge marketing campaign is already built around this person, it creates unnecessary risks. From the advertiser’s point of view, of course, it is better to exclude the human factor, ”admits the brand strategist. It is always more convenient to create campaigns that can be controlled – designs, clips, proven values, polished, no room for improvisation. “Of course, this is one of the tactics that gives human energy using celebrities, influencers, but it does not make the job easier for advertisers,” says Siliņš.
Human factor
How are influencers chosen in marketing? View data – their statistics, followers and applicability to the product. The most important thing for an influencer to do the work professionally is to have experience, an understanding of how the process takes place, and to be able to rely on discretion and cooperation. The ability to offer creative ideas and unprecedented visual solutions is also important, so the ability to photograph and photograph yourself is also important.
In advertising, it is important that a person is professional and adequate in cooperation. Due to these necessary qualities, everything in Latvia “revolves” around the same influencers.
Therefore, a frequently requested influencer advertises several products at the same time, ”says Siliņš behind the scenes.
The advertising industry needs new ideas every day. You need impulses from the sidelines to get ideas. Working with young, smart people to provide extra energy to the agency. “In that sense, it’s nice to work with new minds! In the long run, what she does, for example, Agnija Grigule with her agency Honeymoon High, will have a very good effect on young people. She gathers young people around her and invites her to develop her talents – to photograph, film, find her talents, motivation. Together they create fashion collections, campaign content. Young people need opportunities to create something seemingly irrational, unusual, it is a field of good experiments that gives energy to the communications industry, ”emphasizes the brand strategist.
A fashion thing – Influencer
Why have internet celebrities often advertised various products and services lately? “Marketing people, company executives often live in confusion, chaos. Wondering what I should do this year with my marketing campaign, where to invest? Panacea at that time is the latest trend. Several years ago, such a trend was gamification – Make all solutions with the elements of the game. These trends are usually nothing new, they are old things named after new words. The same is true of influenza. This is nothing new – popular people are used to sell products, promote ideas, ”says Siliņš. As with diets – a new diet appears, people start following it, then the next diet appears.
This is the time when influencers have this new supertendence. There is an industry that wants to make money on it, and there is an effect, but realistically, influenza marketing is one of 28 things a brand can do to promote business results, but there are likely to be eight other things in parallel. Influencer marketing is just one of the functions. The expert admits that in rare cases there are products that can only be built with influenza marketing, but statistically this is not the main path taken by the average brand.
A typical part of campaign planning is the people’s daily cycle – what and at what times it is customary to do.
Habits are a big part of how ad placement is planned. The person wakes up, the first thing they do is pick up the phone and look at social media.
At work in the middle of the day, open and watch “Youtube”. At home in the evening with the family streaming content. As screens and platforms become more common, there is a growing nuance in the timing of the day and on the site that advertising agencies place content on.
Influencers add instant tags to recordings as advertising or collaboration. Instagram already offers the ability to automatically indicate that content is sponsored. At present, influencers choose to indicate it or not, but there is a tendency for professional influencers to indicate it. “Most influencers do not make money from their activities. Amateurs most often receive clothes and other products as gifts, ”says Siliņš.
Increasingly simple content
The development of social media has been very rapid: in the beginning it was Facebook – it is text and pictures. Over time, people got tired of the texts, realized that they did not need the text, “Instagram” appeared, where there is only a picture and a short text, then came “TikTok”, where video is enough, you can do without text “.
Siliņš thinks that the trend will continue – even more primitive social media will develop. He explains it with habits. We are used to scrolling on social media, but over time we want to be even faster and easier, gaining more and more positive momentum. Namely, see more and more cool pictures in one minute, scroll shorter, with faster transitions. We get used to this content and want more and more returns. Now that social media has been relevant for more than 10 years, we are used to them.
It is in human nature – to want faster, shorter, more concise, more interesting.
Social media algorithms and formats are adapting – to compress information so that happy substances can be released in the brain quickly, ”explains the brand strategist.
Beauty and imagination
How to become famous on Instagram? Kristaps Siliņš believes that it is just like in real life and depends on personal qualities. When a person is born classically beautiful, it is immediately easier to become what others want to copy. If a person is witty or has strong talents, it also helps. “It is interesting when a provocation, a contradiction, a story appears. Its methods are no different in real life. If a person feels cool and interesting in real life, it is most likely good Instagram influencer material on social media as well, ”says Siliņš. In addition, the ability to take photos, the ability to use social media skillfully. Tools available – Instagarm, Youtube, TikTok, but not everyone is capable of becoming famous, only a few succeed.
Instagram is a mirror of real life – people are interested in other people’s private life, interested in content on how to look good, how to lose weight, what to do with children, how to cook. Overall, we are quite predictable.
Working in focus groups with young people, we see that many in Riga want to become video bloggers, internet celebrities, influencers. Want to buy expensive things to live the celebrity lifestyle.
It can no longer be changed, but these dreams can be put to good use in motivating young people to realize that knowledge and skills are needed to achieve any goals. You must also be able to film, program, edit and speak languages in the work of influencers. Looking at it positively, any dreams are a motivator to strive, learn, become professionals. Creating good digital content requires a lot of time and knowledge, ”admits Kristaps.
Influenza loneliness
Influencers receive similar pressure as once musicians, movie stars, but the stars have always been surrounded by a support team – producers, therapists, photographers, copywriters, people who work with them. Influencer is all this team in one person. So they don’t really have anything to talk about. In Latvia, it is difficult to maintain a team around you.
It is psychologically difficult to deal with problems alone. Valuable to talk about this topic, influencers draw attention to the fact that they need support, maybe there is a lot of pressure. Local influencers have to compete with influenza elsewhere.
Those who laugh at the fact that the job of influenza is not a full-time job to try to create a photo that will get 3000 Like Instagram tags.
It is often a long planning, photography, post-processing job, ”explains the brand strategist.
The bright side
The influenza index of the public relations agency Golin Riga was recently published annual survey, which found out how and where young people learned about Covid-19 and how to avoid infection. In it, 45 percent of young people admitted that they learned about the limitations of Covid-19 from Instagram and influenza. “On the one hand, it’s scary to learn about important things from influencers, but on the other hand, it’s good to learn at all! This is definitely an important channel, an opportunity, a way to inform young people, ”admits Siliņš.
About 40% of people under the age of 50 follow at least one Instagram star, according to a Golin Riga study. In fact, we can say that it is not just entertainment for young people. “One thing we see is that big companies, which have to sell business solutions to other big companies and their managers, use creative moves. The stereotype would be to advertise in the business media – on serious channels. The reality is that the chairman of the board also scrolls to Instagram between meetings and watches the same internet celebrities who post funny content. It’s all our common time for nonsense, ”explains the brand strategist.
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