Influencer marketing and its role in social media is changing, and probably for the better.

Social media continues to be a major and growing player in influencer marketing and correlated sales. Considering the success of celebrity endorsements across various digital platforms, it’s clear that social media and its various celebrity influencers have a huge impact on how and why consumers buy their products. A 2017 insights report by Gartner L2, a business intelligence firm that measures the digital performance of brands, found that, on average, 70 percent of tags across various industries had associations with Instagram influencers.

These numbers cannot go unnoticed. They are huge and play a big part in the marketing game, but at what cost?

Think of the famous Air Jordan 1 “The Ten” sneaker design by famous fashion designer Virgil Abloh. You may remember that it gained its mass appeal thanks to the influx of celebrities who promoted the shoes on social media for the world to see. Such prominent celebrities included Travis Scott, Drake, Bella Hadid, and Naomi Campbell, among others. These endorsements attracted consumers, creating massive success through major influencers with millions of followers.

It is true that influencers have a huge impact in driving sales and producing results. We can see this in the global success of brands like Nike and Adidas, which have endorsed the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Kanye West, LeBron James, and a host of other world-famous influencers. There is no sugarcoating the fact that influencers play a very important role in the success of the brand. This is because influencers can connect with people in a way that sparks passion and curiosity, something most brands simply can’t do on their own.

But is there so much that celebrity influencers can do? Are celebrity endorsements always a surefire way to get consumers to convert? As the social media and digital space continues to grow and evolve, it seems consumers are slowly turning away from the big endorsements celebrities typically receive and looking for something more: meaning.

The marketing and consumer space is a constantly changing and growing wheel of give and take. Endorsing celebrities for specific brands and paying them to endorse a product doesn’t work like it used to. As brands begin to watch, consumers have become savvy to celebrities endorsing just about anything.

Today, what consumers want is an influencer they can relate to, an influencer who develops meaningful and authentic relationships with people.

“Tea [people] The ones that have the most impact are the authentic ones, and the micro-influencers are usually much more authentic than the big celebrities. Today’s consumer knows that big names get paid to use particular brands, and when compensation is added, the authenticity of the endorsement is called into question,” says Matt Powell, sports industry analyst at The NPD Group Inc, a firm of market research.

Consumers respond well to influencers who engage with them, show that they share the same common interests, and also show that they really care. When consumers see that authentic connection, they engage with it. This is why influencer marketing is increasingly shifting towards influencers with high fan engagement.

Sales conversion is not always guaranteed with the power of influencers. What drives conversions and engagement are meaningful interactions that create genuine connections with a brand. These connections engage with people on a deeper level that shows a common interest, drives engagement and exposure. This type of connection goes beyond simply promoting or selling a product, and is typically found among micro-influencers with smaller but highly engaged niche audiences. These types of micro-influencers connect with consumers on a personal and emotional level: “If you can emotionally connect with people, that’s a consumer for life,” says Barney Waters, president of K-Swiss.

This exact approach can be seen in the 2017 marketing campaign for K-Swiss. The brand uses influencers with niche audiences that have high engagement. “Fame alone is not enough. You have big-name celebrities, but if they don’t have a strong social commitment, it doesn’t really matter. It’s like a billboard in a forest. Consumers have a higher expectation. They want to know who you are and what do you stand for,” says Waters.

Waters has her own strategy when it comes to influencer marketing, and it’s simple: She wants to connect with consumers on a more personal and up-close level. How is that? Creating shoes that relate to and are designed for young professionals. This different approach is one that he took in 2017 and is very different from other brands.

So yes, it’s a fact: influencer marketing is changing. And today, influencer marketing is shifting toward more meaningful engagements.

Mike Froggatt, the director of Gartner’s L2 intelligence team, says that when a celebrity associates with several different brands, engagement suffers. Froggatt also claims that micro-influencers are up to eight times more likely to endorse or engage with a product than mega-influencers. So who is winning here? The micro-influencer with a niche audience and high engagement, or the influencer with millions of followers but low engagement?

“If you look at Kim Kardashian West or Justin Bieber, they have a huge audience that is extremely diverse, where a large part of that audience is not strongly connected to them. But if you look at these smaller people, they tend to have a lot more influence over their audience,” says Gil Eyal, CEO of HYPR, an influencer marketing platform. Eyal also states that there seems to be confusion between fame and influence.

“Most of the market is doing [a] mistake. have a list of [people] instead of seeing who’s going to be really effective,” Eyal continues.

Another great example of the growing shift towards micro-influencers is the world famous shoe manufacturing company Vans. Vans supports influencers who have real, authentic connections to the brand.

“We want to continue to ensure that we stay loyal to our consumers and highlight the diversity of members of the Vans family who have an authentic connection to the brand,” says April Vitkus, Senior Director of Global Brand Strategy and Marketing at Vans. An example of this is Natalie Westling, a skateboarder and model who had been a fan of Vans for a long time before signing an endorsement deal with the company. When the brand approached her about partnering with an influencer after learning of her longtime devotion to the shoe company, she appeared in a global campaign to celebrate the Sk8-Hi sneaker.

At the end of the day, it all comes down to how a brand uses influence to their advantage. Influencer marketing only works if used the right way. Whether it’s a world-famous name like Kim Kardashian or Taylor Swift, if a brand isn’t connecting with and resonating with its audience on an authentic and emotional level, most consumers are likely to notice.

It’s time for brands to rethink their influencer marketing strategies and consider what micro-influencers can do for a brand’s success, and it all starts with authenticity and engagement.