South African influencers- how people have cashed in by turning social media into a marketing platform

There are a number of reasons that social media influencers are so important to many companies marketing strategies, writes Cheyenne Pillay.

Social media has become a way to share your life and experiences with friends and strangers alike. From days at the beach to work events, logging onto social media networks such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter will give you a peek into the daily lives of millions of users worldwide.

Some of these users have now found a way to cash in by becoming what is known as a social media influencer, and as of right now, South Africa, alone, has thousands of them.

Social media influencers do exactly what the name suggests, they influence. There are many types of influencers, such as beauty, fashion and technology influencers, and the amount of brands queuing up to work with them is growing by the day.

Influencers marketing, which is the use of social media personalities to market products, reached around $2 billion worldwide in 2017, and is estimated to hit around $10 billion within the next five years, according to Cape Town digital content strategist, Clerissa Visser.

Aside from small local businesses leaning on influencers for marketing, bigger brands such as Dove, Revlon, etc are continuously adding bloggers and influencers to their PR lists, and on any social media network, you regularly see influencers reviewing or advertising various products and services.

For categories such as beauty, the influencer market is booming. Mass services such as Beauty Bulletin and Ruby Box act as a form of middle man in connecting beauty influencers with beauty brands.       

It is a common assumption that in the coming years, it will be a common occurrence for more and more influencers to emerge and make substantial incomes through digital content creation and marketing, especially with new tools and forums being created to assist them.

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