Mathew Payton – In Motion Special
Millions of followers and dollars are earned by social media influencers every day. As easy as becoming one may appear, careful planning should be considered beforehand.
Half of the world’s population owns mobile phones, so it is likely that many Daytona State College students use social media regularly.
“Digital media is kind of the new oil,” said Hector Valle, DSC Director of Instructional Resources and Training. “Now technology and digital technology specifically has become a new driver of our economy because it’s everywhere.”
Valle is incorporating social media into DSC online classes and is playing a lead role in redesigning them. His role at DSC is an example of the rise of important positions being offered in this field.
Independence defines the Internet and audiences are shifting their gazes to individual creators and away from marketing corporations. According to Forbes Magazine, corporations will pay a YouTuber $300,000 for a video partnership if they have 7 million subscribers and an Instagram user $5,000 for a single post if they have 100,000 followers.
“Instagram is a really good advertising program, it’s how you get people to follow you, it’s how you get work,” said DSC student Madison Pate. “Without getting into why advertising in general is bad or good or whatever, I don’t think there’s any bad or good to it, it’s just what’s in right now.”
The reason why social media is dominating over traditional advertising is that of the trust audiences have towards an individual compared to a corporation. Influencers often relate to their audiences by talking to them about products rather than selling them.
Companies need to hire employees for their own social media marketing as well. These jobs are different than being an influencer, which is more like a freelancing position.
“It’s going to be a small percentage of people who go independent and make it big and that’s something the new generation needs to understand,” said Valle. “You can do both, if you can land a good career you can still work on your independent stuff and that’s what I would suggest to any student is really try and find that career.”
Being a hired employee means having ensured income while still being involved in what interests you and it does not mean you cannot try both options at the same time.
Becoming a media sensation is often accidental as evidenced by Valle’s acquaintance Philippe Morgese and daughter Emma Morgese of Daytona Beach Shores, who found fame online. The duo found themselves on the top page of message board site Reddit after Phillipe created a post about hair techniques for his daughter. The duo brought in audiences who related to them, building an emotional connection between the creators and their fans.
Fame is not all chance though and following trends can provide a better chance at finding it. Personas are another keystone of the Internet, allowing users to warp their personalities and lifestyles or change them all together when presented to the eyes of their followers.
Personas may affect society in a positive or negative way and it is important to understand the power of a trusting audience. Audiences may come to view their influencers as role models so setting a good example is important, but it does not always ensure income.
Audiences tend to gravitate towards conflict over community in social media and influencers have taken notice. Personas engaged in conflict tend to lose authenticity from the influencer’s real feelings, but it is a way to ensure income.
“You can absolutely get those more authentic personalities, the more real things,” said Dr. Pearl Galano, DSC Associate Professor of Political Science. “Alternatively, it could go the other way. I imagine with more time we might see it go that way where people start to cater to the same things that traditional media caters to which is conflict, violence, things that bring eyeballs to the screen.”
Galano studies the ways in which social media affects politics and how politics affects social media. For politicians turned political influencers, personas may not be used at all and the conflict between them and other candidates would be real. Despite these flaws, social media is still benefiting society by informing it.
“I think it’s pretty good for society because it lets everyone stay informed about things,” said DSC student Raymond Chen. “If they stay informed it helps people to know what’s going on in the world so they can do stuff about it.”
Creating a persona may not be authentic to who you are but it may be needed for secured income or for protecting your mental health. Valle decided to use social media to create content but not to tie himself into it, letting his work be shared, but not his personal life.
Valle once used the social app Facebook without a persona to connect with others, but he had to delete his account after he became addicted to it.
“It was one of the best decisions I ever made,” said Valle. “It allowed me to have more authentic connections with people.”
There are many ways to become a social media influencer, some positive and some negative, some profitable and some not. Caution should be taken when creating a persona because the power of social media can have a worldwide impact.
“The Internet, social media, all this stuff is a tool like anything else,” said Galano. “It’s how we as the people choose to use that tool.”
Working in social media is not easy and this should be considered before investing time into it. Whether working for a corporation or with one, the profession should be treated as it is, a real job.
“You’re going to end up working like 80 hours a week to make something go live,” said Valle. “If you don’t take time to plan then you’re planning to fail.”