Influencer success follows a staged ladder from fake popularity to brand integration

Evidence

In the idealized life cycle of an influencer, “success” appears to come from working hard or understanding the logic of platformed attention. Begin by generating popular content—a start that might involve a high level of fraudulence, investing in fake followers, bots who comment on posts, gaming the system of algorithmic visibility. If an influencer gets popular enough, with enough videos going viral, with enough followers (real or not), they might get paid by a platform, receiving a tiny, partial share of the profits from advertising shown in conjunction with their videos. If their popularity expands further, the influencer may get offers from brands, generating sponsored content, doing product reviews, presenting personalized ads—opportunities that may be paid but more often are compensated with free promotional goods. Then, if one is exceptionally popular, brands may desire collaborations, putting the influencer’s face and name on their products. The influencer may become the face of a specific brand. — Grant Bollmer, Katherine Guinness, The Influencer Factory, 48

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the influencer life-cycle stages: content, platform pay, sponsorships, collaborations, brand-face.