Why do we follow fans on Instagram? | Tech Reddy

I follow fans on Instagram and for the most part, I don’t know why.

Some people I follow because I like their personalities, like Tefi and Aiden Arata, others I follow because I like their work, like Rayne Fisher-Quann and Mona Chalabi. I follow some producers because I watched their YouTube videos in high school and I want to see what they’re doing now, like Arden Rose, Claire Marshall, and Estée Lalonde. Then there are people like Taylor LaShae and Stilla, who I follow because they have balls and I have balls and I like to see hot guys with balls.

And I do all of these things knowing that many of them make me look crazy. According to the documents presented by The Wall Street Journal’s Facebook Files, most people worse worse they see celebrities and influencers in their Instagram feed because they compare themselves to the influencers they see. This is true. I compare my work to Fisher-Quann and Chalabi; my laughter with Tefi and Arata; my goods to Rose and Marshall and Lalonde; and my ability to stare hotly at LaShae and Stilla’s Dora the Explorer haircut. Facebook’s internal research has shown that social comparison and body image issues are important for all Instagram users.

“Social comparison is worse on Instagram,” internal Instagram articles submitted by the Journal read. “It’s supposed to be a real life, but by celebrity standards. Spying and gossiping can be a never-ending rabbit hole. Celebrities have more to say, but celebrities have more to say.” friends on social comparison.”

Even if you don’t go into social media with the dark side of those platforms affecting you, it’s not hard to see the internal reaction to having followers. They may feel bad, eat too much and buy too much. According to a study from Sideqik, 66 percent of social media users say that purchase decisions are driven by fans and 64 percent say that fans help them find new brands, Forbes said.

So what do we do?

There is one study from this year It shows a strong correlation to loyalty, consumerism, creative excellence, and envy. This will go. I think Tefi is honest; I would like to buy a used tire by Lalonde; Chalabi’s performance is inspiring; and I envy LaShae.

“The current study identified consumer motivations for compliance [social media influencers] on Instagram and examine its relationship with important consumer behavior attributes (i.e. trust in [social media influencers] posts about the brand and frequency of purchase [social media influencer]-brand recommendations) and wealth,” the study reads. “Based on research data, the findings revealed four motivations for following followers on Instagram – loyalty, customer, creative incentives, and envy – have different effects on trust and repeat purchases. “

The study also found that materialism is “significantly correlated” with four other measures, many of which act as “key mediators underlying the effect of materialism on purchasing behavior.” Another study from 2020 It was determined that quality content plays an important role in whether users continue to follow influencers online and users trust influencers.

In addition, we are looking for community, and we think that we can find it by following fans – this is the purpose Ingrid goes west. We are always lonelyand we don’t connecting to IRL groups away.

“If you don’t follow these religious structures, which guide you and determine who you are, what you end up with is people always looking for meaning,” said Stephanie Alice Baker, a senior lecturer in in social work at the University of London, told Mashable in an earlier article. “You always need someone to give them this meaning. And this is where you find a lot of celebrities and influencers to fill this void.”

This area of ​​research is very useful for marketers and marketers because influencers hold a “clear value” for marketers, says the 2022 study. We follow influencers because they want to. we like them – we buy from them because we trust them.

Colin Campbell, an associate professor of marketing at the Knauss School of Business at the University of San Diego, told Mashable that when we create these parasocial connections with influencers, the bond becomes so strong that it becomes one of the most profitable ways to buy goods from us. . Users often forget that we’re actually selling something, because we think of influencers like we think of friends and family members, Campbell said.

“Most people trust other customers and trust friends and family members more than they trust dealers,” Campbell said. “What’s interesting about influencers is that it’s kind of a combination of those two things. So people either forget about getting paid or don’t think about it because influencers are so good at going out and talking. you’re doing it for yourself, they’re just recommending products they think are amazing.”

According to the Advertising Research Foundation, “people have different motivations for engaging with and buying from influencers, including entertainment, motivation and job search.” This is very good for the reason we are following the fans in the first place.

Knowing the void we’re trying to fill by following influencers – and how marketers can take advantage of that void – is an important message to follow, but it doesn’t make it any less lonely, and or make us less wealthy. For that, we all need to hit some grass.