Limited influence of influencers

I read the story Rise Of The Influencer (SundayLife!, Jan 4) with great interest.

I am a social media entrepreneur. Working with institutions and companies of all sizes over the past seven years, I can tell with certainty that paid posts by bloggers still constitute a tiny proportion of reach for brands.

Traditional media and digital advertising with celebrities generate far more reach for advertisers.

Social media is an effective way for companies and governments to build a presence, engage influencers and develop brand equity.

The best way to do this is not to pay for writing false testimonies, but to engage people online who are passionate to speak about what they believe in.

Influencers, on the other hand, have the constant pressure to deliver good quality content.

Vast data collected over the past seven years by my company on a global scale has consistently shown that the moment the number of posts or quality of content decreases, the reach of these blogs, Twitter and Instagram accounts falls.

Ashwin Reddy

This article was first published on Jan 10, 2015.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.