It’s the age of ‘influencer’ marketing or so the world will have us believe. Due to the mushrooming of all kinds of social media channels and the varieties of occupations and types of professionals increasing, you have now what is called ‘influencer’ marketing. Basically, it is a wider scope of what was previously known as ‘celebrity’ endorsements.  You now have people who are supposed to experts in a chosen field who either review or recommend products or services based on their ‘expertise’. The proliferation of social media has given an outlet for everybody and anybody to post their opinions and views.

This is a double-edged sword. While it is extremely good that consumers can now have educated opinions or reviews on products or services they wish to buy, it is also a case of some people making or trying to make quick money by getting ‘paid’ for such reviews and opinions. This phenomenon is the biggest in the hospitality industry wherein you see tons of reviews – both text and videos on various holiday destinations and related services like food. Now it has come to a point where a majority of such stuff is either because some of them actually ‘bullied’ establishments into giving them freebies in return for so-called ‘reviews’ or even being fake!

This trend has not even spared the celebrities wherein these days you would be seeing a lot of Instagram stories are filled with pictures from their so called ‘vacations’ which are in fact paid for fully by the respective organisations. These posts are milked to the maximum.  A case in point is the recent exodus of Indian celebrities to the Maldives. If all of you are thinking that it is a coincidence that the who’s who of the Indian film industry landed up there – it is not. Every one of them, depending on their stature, has been paid in full for these vacations so that it all appears on their Instagram. Is it working? It seems to because holiday bookings to this place has marginally increased.

But is it really an endorsement? In no way it is. Just like regular celebrity ads are not a guarantee that the celebrity is actually using the product or likes it, this one too is not. At least with ads you know the celebrities are getting paid hefty endorsement fees. Here you don’t even know what’s happening.

So should you go the ‘influencer’ marketing route? It is best avoided because there are too many people out there trying to project ‘genuine’ liking for a product and service and the credibility levels are coming down rapidly.