It is time to stop calling Kendall Jenner an “influencer.” Jenner and hundreds of other celebrities with huge social media followings are simply paid celebrity endorsers — nothing more, nothing less. That’s why the FTC is cracking down on their failure to disclose payments they receive from marketers to participate in paid promotional campaigns that happen to occur on social media.

And it’s not just the reaction of regulators that is giving this kind of “influencer marketing” a bad name. Increasingly, consumers themselves are reading about marketing boondoggles such as the infamous Fyre Festival that used the social media accounts of paid celebrities to persuade thousands of people to sign up for a failed concert.

While this may work for some brands, others are beginning to question its efficacy. But in either case, paying celebrities to post about your brand on social media has nothing to do with authentic influencer marketing.

Marketers gain much more value from the organic recommendations from the “influencers next door.” These are the neighbors, friends and acquaintances that people rely on to recommend what movies to see, which restaurants are worth a try, which retailer has the best sale, or which new technologies are worth adopting early. These everyday influencers are on social media, but they also make powerful recommendations over the backyard fence and at the water cooler at work. These are the highly valuable consumers that marketers should deliberately enlist in their efforts to introduce new products and innovations.

Read the full MediaPost article, here.

For more information on TotalSocial™ or to request a demo, visit https://totalsocial.engagementlabs.com/

For sales contact us at: sales@engagementlabs.com

For media inquires contact us at: media@engagementlabs.com

About TotalSocial^TM

Want a better understanding of the online and offline conversations around your brand? Are you a journalist who wants to use real data to measure the brands you’re reporting on? Are you a company who wants to gain further insights into your brand's marketing strategies to develop effective campaigns to reach your audiences?

Request a demo today and learn more about TotalSocial by emailing sales@engagementlabs.com

For media inquiries please contact media@engagementlabs.com