Can We Trust Social Media Influencers?

The “influence” that social media influencers have is already quite powerful, but it is only likely to grow in the coming years. According to recent studies influencer marking is expected to reach $15 billion by 2022.

That was the finding of recent Business Insider Intelligence estimates, based on Mediakik data – but the report also noted that the market is one in constant flux, and brands must continue to evolve strategies accordingly to stay relevant.

A bigger concern for consumers isn’t who is doing the influencing, but whether we can trust the influence they have when it comes to marketing products. Currently there is almost no oversight on how influencers operate – despite the fact that they are paid for their “work” on social media platforms.

Trust for influencers may be waning however, at least when it comes to the products that influencers are touting on social media. Influencers need to do their due diligence if they want to remain influential. According to a report from Influence.co, on average 61% of respondents said influences should research the products or services they shared on their platforms.

However, 78% of respondents even said it was appropriate for influencers to share their own products on social media, while 72% suggested it was appropriate for influencers to share products in general – even if they were paid to promote it.

Yet, 62% of respondents agreed that it was unethical for influencers to promote products that they didn’t actually use themselves. Moreover, 82% of respondents said social media influencers should absolutely disclose any history of personal use when promoting a product, while 77% agreed that influencers should also disclose any side effects the products may have.

“Never has Marshall McLuhan’s famous phrase ‘The medium is the message’ been more apropos than with today’s social media,” said James R. Bailey, professor of leadership at the George Washington University School of Business.

“McLuhan asserted that the method of communication was as important as the communication itself in that it determined ‘the scale and form of human association and action,'” added Bailey.

To Trust Or Not To Trust

Even as the studies note that trust is falling, influencers are still wielding a whole lot of influence. Does this mean we should put more trust in them?

“Whether we should or should not, a lot of us do,” said Dr. Leilani Carver-Madalon, assistant professor in the Master’s in Strategic Communication and Leadership Online Program at Maryville University.

“A 2019 study reported in Adweek found that 49.2% of respondents actively ‘followed’ social media influencers and another 13.5% ‘sort of’ followed influencers,” Carver-Madalon added. “This study also found that 49.3% had made a purchase based upon an influencer’s recommendation and that 44.2% of respondents generally trust the recommendations from influencers. The most surprising finding was that 33.5% of respondents felt there was a future for virtual (computer generated) AI influencers like Lil Miquela (@lilmiquela). This surprised me as I would think that there would be little or no trust in a computer generated avatar that was created to be a marketing tool.”

Paid Promotion

Progress is being made – and last month the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released a new publication specifically for online influencers, which lays out the agency’s rules of the road for when and more importantly how influencers must disclose sponsorships to their respective followers.

The “Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers” guide is meant to provide influencers with tips from the FTC staff about the need for disclosure when promoting a product – and it includes examples of both effective and ineffective disclosures. This includes the words influencers should consider using, as well as where in the posts a disclosure should appear.

One key take away from the guide is that this disclosure isn’t optional in the least. The guide noted:

“As an influencer, it’s your responsibility to make these disclosures, to be familiar with the Endorsement Guides, and to comply with laws against deceptive ads. Don’t rely on others to do it for you.”

Failure To Trust

Even with the FTC’s guidelines many people don’t believe everything that paid influencers have to say.

“The question is not so much whether the content can be trusted, but whether the medium can,” said Bailey. “Surely the content can’t be trusted. The content is authored by untrained, often anonymous sources, is based on hearsay, and it rife with swaggering opinion. As such, it is almost entirely unverifiable and un-credible. McLuhan would argue that the medium should be the focus of study.”

The other part of it is the way that influencers spread their influence.

“Electronic devices like computers, tablets, cell phones, and the like, allow contact without connection,” said Bailey. “The medium separates people from one another. It equally allows bullying and deceit. The nature of the medium allows for the intentional or unintentional distortion of the message. It’s a lot harder to lie to another’s face than it is to lie to the disembodied electronic person.”

Influencers in 2020

Even without the FTC rules in place, the days of the celebrity influencer could be coming to an end.

“Word on the street with most millennials is that the whole world of influencer marketing is grayscale and there is no more trust,” said Josh Crandall, principal analyst at Netpop Research. “Situations like Khloe Kardashian’s promotion of Tummy Flat Tea have exposed the back-office relationships that celebrities and other internet stars have with the products they are pimping. When tech savvy youth are scrolling their social media feeds on a constant basis, they are quick to discern what’s fact and what’s fiction. At this point, they have seen so many YouTube videos or IG stories of people hyping a product but who are obviously uncomfortable using it that they tune out most product related posts immediately.”

So what does the influencer need to do to stay relevant in the dawn of the 2020s and beyond?

“Moore, Yang and Kim (2018) found that influencers need to display authenticity, likability and authority to create trust with followers,” said Carver-Madalon.

“Whether or not we trust a social media influencer depends foremost upon their credibility,” she added. “The importance of credibility can be traced all the way back to Aristotle and the importance of ethos.If a social media influencer violates their ethos they will lose the trust of their followers and will lose their influence.”

Better Transparency

One reason the question of trust of influencers remains is the current lack of transparency between influencers and organizations.

“Transparency is key to trust as influencers are required by the FTC to disclose when there is a material relationship between the influencer and a brand,” said Carver-Madalon. “Yet, there is little or no enforcement from the FTC regarding failure to disclose, which happens at an alarming rate in a $4.5 Billion dollar industry, as Bladlow (2018) addresses in the William and Mary Law Review. While some influencers do disclose their endorsements and sponsorships, others do not and this lack of transparency should raise son me red flags.”

But trust online isn’t just about influencers – more and more Americans are now skeptical of everything online.

“Maybe it’s a sign of the times,” admitted Crandall. “People seem to trust information from the Internet less – especially when it involves any type of product placement or advertising. Breaking through the noise with an authentic and truthful message is harder than ever for today’s marketer.”

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