Critical Communication

After the rise of social media in the late 2000s, there was a photo frenzy. Transitioning from physical to digitals photos meant that there was a serious influx of images being uploaded to the internet. 

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There was a wide range of quality of pictures. Selfies, #ootd, pet, interior design, travel, and food pictures entered the scene as some of the most popular uploads.

 

This trend created a new form of marketing-- Social Media Marketing, or SMM -- That completely changed the way marketers promoted products. 

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Public relations and marketing agencies began specializing in social media. Bloggers and other consumers were able to review products and showcase the reviews in aesthetics that were visually appealing to other consumers. These bloggers then became opinion influencers and there was a spike in sales after a blogger talked about certain products.

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These opinion leaders became known as Social Media Influencers, SMIs or just called Influencers, and became a huge force that marketers could either join forces with or continue with traditional marketing tactics.

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This essay is an analysis of research done to see if it was worth the investment for marketing agencies to "buy-in" to Influencer Marketing, or if traditional ways were still the best way to promote products.

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Download the PDF version of the paper here.