First things first: what is an Influencer?
Oxford Languages define an influencer as “a person with the ability to influence potential buyers of a product or service by promoting or recommending the items on social media”. Up to 72% of Gen Zers and Millennials likely follow at least 1 such influencer on social media. ‘Opiate of the masses’ is a term Karl Marx used to describe religion, referring to the dulling and numbing effects of opiates to imply that the focus on religion, and ‘salvation’ in the future or one’s next life distracted people from, and sustained them through, their reality of poverty and oppression.
This question arose to me one day after I had laboured over the filming and editing of a tiktok, which to my disappointment amassed less than 100 views when posted. I hadn’t particularly enjoyed the process of editing, nor even creating the footage. I am much more content to live in the moment and marvel at a beautiful sunrise with my eyes than through the lens of my smartphone, attempting to capture its truly glorious colours (impossible) from multiple angles. Why then had I recorded over 3 hours of short form video on my iphone over the past fortnight and spent my work breaks cutting together various shots to the beat of Ellie Golding’s ‘Lights’ – where many of the shots featured for only 0.8 seconds? Why was it important to me for my videos on TikTok to garner thousands of views?
The answer is that I believed a successful TikTok account to be my easiest ticket to financial freedom and the autonomy that I am seeking in my life.
Apparently I’m not alone. Various research has found that 1 in 4 Gen Zers in America and 1 in 5 children in Britain aspire to be an influencer, with as many as 54% of Gen Zers and Millennials saying they would become an influencer if given the opportunity.
The financial factor:
Research may say that human beings are not really motivated by money at their core, but there’s no denying that in most modern societies, money is required to put a roof over your head, food on your table and power in your home. Money matters. And influencing is a job where success really, really pays. According to Forbes magazine, top influencers increased their wealth 200% in 2021 vs the prior year, with the D’Amelio superstar sisterhood raking in 27 million USD. The D’Amelio family successfully raised 6 million in funding for their namesake company to launch a multitude of brands, and even debuted a Hulu reality show, seemingly poised to follow in the footsteps of the billion dollar Kardashian family.
Such financial success seems rapidly attainable. Bella Poarch posted her first Tiktok on 10th April 2020. A mere four months later, a TikTok post of her lip syncing “M to B” by Millie B launched her on a trajectory to the 3rd highest following on the app, and a pay package worth $5m the following year. British influencers Madeline Argy and Grace Keeling, who have 1m and 1.5m followers on TikTok respectively, discussed on Grace’s podcast the extremely quick rise of Madeline from her first posting only 19 months prior to the podcast, with even Grace visibly shocked by the speed of Madeline’s growth. According to the Influencer marketing hub, an individual with 1m followers can earn $10,000 per single post.
An easy gig?
On top of the steep trajectory to financial success, influencers get rich by posting on social media- an activity 4 billion people are undertaking for free. Both Madeline and Grace’s content revolves around recounting funny, embarrassing and self-derogatory anecdotes from their lives. Molly Mae, arguably the UK’s most famous influencer worth an estimated 6m, has hours of youtube content consisting of her on holiday, shopping with her boyfriend and even tidying her house, creating the impression that her ‘work’ is actually just her living her life, on camera. Little wonder that close to half of GenZers and Millennials expect influencing to be ‘fun’ work, with 60% of Millennials motivated by the flexible hours to become an influencer.
Above all else, ‘influencer’ lifestyle appeals to the masses because it’s simultaneously open to the masses and aspirationally elite. Unlike singers or actors plucked out from auditions by a boardroom of execs, influencers emerge from the attention economy, chosen by everyday people with a smartphone, which constitutes about 82% of the worlds’ population. If you can get others interested in your content, success will follow -not elitist. If you get that success, you can rent a mansion in Beverly Hills, buy a sports car or charter a yacht in the south of France- aspirationally elite.
So, worry not that real wages have fallen in the past decade, inflations growing at almost unprecedented rates, wealth disparity is growing, the rental markets in crisis and it looks like you’ll be living at home well into your 30s – sustain yourself on the aspiration that, with a few more posts on social media, you too could be buying your dream home this time next year.