Over the years, Evans on Marketing has posted nearly 40 times on influencer marketing. Including twice last week. But we never have discussed the anti-influencer. Thus, do YOU recognize anti-influencers.

Last week’s posts: Twenty-Two Influencer Marketing Tips and Tastemakers Are More Important Than Ever.

 

Influencer Marketing Overview

As Jenn Chen notes for Sprout Social: 

“Influencer marketing is a type of social media marketing that uses endorsements and product mentions from influencers. Individuals with a dedicated social following and viewed as experts within their niche. Influencer marketing works because of the high amount of trust that influencers have built up with their following. And recommendations from them serve as a form of. social proof to your brand’s potential customers.”

To read more from Chen, click the image.


 

This Segment Really Exists — Do YOU Recognize Anti-Influencers

The under-written-about topic for today involves the effects of the anti-influencer. Lots of food for thought. 🙂

For excellent insights, we turn to a new article by Alex Stone, for the NY Times:

“What do Crystal Pepsi, Watermelon Oreos, Frito-Lay Lemonade, Coors Rocky Mountain Sparkling Water, Colgate Kitchen Entrees and Cheetos Lip Balm all have in common? The obvious answer is they are all failed products.”

“What is less obvious is that they may also share a fan base. A quirky subgroup of consumers who are systemically drawn to flops. And whose reliably contrarian tastes can be used to forecast bad bets in retail sales, real-estate, and even politics. These people are known as ‘harbingers of failure.’ [aka anti-influencers]”

“If we aren’t sure what makes harbingers tick, we can still learn from them. For one thing, they may help us understand why many products that debut to strong sales and positive customer feedback wind up tanking, a problem that has long confounded marketers.”

To learn more, click the image below.

Do YOU Recognize Anti-Influencers
Image by Brandon Celi for the NY Times.

 

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