It seems to me that the target market of these “influencers” is teens with little to no money that spend hours looking at these “influencers” exactly because these pictures are as close as they’re gonna get to that luxury lifestyle.
People who can actually afford this will just go on holidays by themselves with no thoughts about the “influencers” whatsoever, also because by the time you can afford such lifestyles you widen up to the obvious commercial intents of these influencer “recommendations”, making their “review” purpose moot.
In my social circle people who spend days & nights looking and sharing the influencer pictures can’t actually afford any of that even if they wanted to. Those that can afford it don’t give a damn about the influencers.
Isn't the idea to follow people who, for example, travel to cool places that you might not have considered?
Perhaps seeing one of those pictures pop up where influencer X spends a while in a Maldives resort might actually get you interested to go check it out yourself?
My family used to travel a lot and we went to a lot of family-unsafe places at times (like in-the-wilderniss campsites in southern africa where you can't leave the RV because there is snakes and wild animals outside or climbing up several vulcanoes in iceland and I mean 'climb' not 'walk up a slope')
Those are actually cool places.
For example, on average I would assume most women prefer a romantic getaway to the Maldives over climbing a volcano in Iceland. And most people with kids likely won't be going on a month long roadtrip through Africa or South-America.
Because a romantic getaway is far cheaper than Iceland or Africa. It's not because it's outside their comfort zone, it's because they can't afford it. The average woman (or man) can barely take enough vacation days, let alone pay for it.
As for Instagram influencers: who are the people staying in these hotels? Sure, a lot of them are likely to be the sort who read the FT or the Economist, but a good chunk of them are going to be honeymooners, for example, who I'd imagine are exactly the sort who would look to Instagram for ideas. Likewise there are obviously people in their 20s who could afford to stay in these places, and not all of them spend their time on HN. I'd guess Instagram is as good a place as any to reach them.
If you cannot make a decision between the Four Seasons and the Conrad or whatever, some random guys food porn or gush about the bellman may tip you.
Travel magazines have been doing this sort of thing for decades.
Most teenagers can't afford a sports car but if you win them over they could wind up buying one when they are older and able to afford it.
I have seen the reverse backfire with traditional news. They would take all sorts of bullshit youth blaming and stupid moral panics and then wonder why people under middle age don't consider them worth reading or watching for free, let alone paying for.
Influencers do work for that certain demographic though, to an extent. Contiki, who offer group travel packages for the 20-something year old market who just want to go on a bar crawl through Europe or Asia, use influencers a lot to sell their product. They're just in the right price bracket where they can say "look, for only $4000, you too can live this kind of lifestyle".
It's the budget-luxury brands that get the best value for money out of influencers. When people splash out a bit of money, they'll look at the successful influencers and say "I want to be like them", and buy the stuff that they're shilling, trying to buy the lifestyle.
Personally, I wouldn't go on a Contiki tour if you paid me, but there are people who enjoy that kind of travel. There are even travel companies that sell packages specifically designed so you can get as much Instagram material as possible, in an attempt to become an influencer yourself. It's a vicious, self feeding cycle.
Which is why this stuff works for premium mediocre products. Stuff that is more expensive, but still within the reach of the middle class.
But their followers cannot afford 1000 dollar a night hotels. So if I was a luxury hotel, I'd tell them to fuck off.
But if I was a cupcake shop, I'd let each of these influencers eat whatever they wanted for free.
What you say is true of Paris, Aman hotels, some Four Seasons properties, African safaris, most of the Maldives, and a handful of other places and hotel operators.
It's not true of many others, some of which are surprising: Mauritius, Vienna, much of Asia (esp Japan and Thailand), much of South America, most of India, a lot of Italy, and even French Polynesia.
Then again, it's a 5-star hotel, so service will generally be good (and that is worth something in my view).
Alcohol is also factor in some way with many decisions - it probably doesn't come as a surprise to non-drinkers just how expensive a weekly habit can get. It also helps to be able to work on spreadsheets and compound interest calculations whilst staying strictly sober. ;)
Overall in the end, it's still the same old phenomenon; advertising, but carried through a newer medium. TV infomercials, print ads and telemarketing used to be big, but that's passé now.
Perhaps what I find more interesting about the OP is how there are still so many businesses with informal processes when it comes to promotion - even something as a simple as an up-to-date Google Maps listing can sometimes go neglected.
Now, I know for a fact that the feeds to influence buying decisions for smaller, cheaper stuff, such as cosmetics. It is not a long stretch to think that it also works for vacations. However, from what I heard, the brands that are most successful in selling out their stock are in the category of affordable luxury.
In fact, my girlfriend who uses social media a lot more than I do says she knows like dozens of girls from college who are all wannabe influencers. There is a huge social media rat race currently going on which is why Facebook is making 40 billion dollars a year.
[0]: https://www.recode.net/2017/8/2/16081086/instagram-snapchat-...
You have to trust someone.
Following someone, and knowing them are different things.
> like their work
Which often is "selfies in different places"
> and recommend only a few places?
That they convinced to let them stay, visit, or eat for free...
Consider also that the alternatives are heeding the hotel itself or a booking engine or a travel agent. As was said, if you're going to be influenced by someone, why wouldn't it be someone whose veneer of life you'd at least tangentially followed, someone who might typically have similar interests to you (surfing, outdoors, fine dining, etc). It might be an imperfect filter of the products being offered, but at least there's a non-zero chance that they rejected poor offers or didn't write enthusiastically about the ones they didn't love.
I think it's short sighted to write off some of this.
That doesn't mean mom and dad got no money, though.
I happen to know a kid with rich parents and they frequently have to buy him stuff he discovered on instagram -- YEEZY shoes and whatnot.
I'm sure there are enough kids that'll bug their parents about planning their next vacation where some popular influencer were.
You meant to say "rich parents who frequently chose to buy him stuff", didn't you?
I know with those examples they are selling their own products, but I'm sure there are some more Linus Tech Tips style makeup influencers that she follows that impacts her buying decisions with her disposable income.
Their fans?
> Gullible teens with no money?
Probably. But gullible teens with no money have parents who have money and gullible teens with no money grow up to become adults with money. Hence why advertisers want to get to them when they are young. It's well known that earlier you can influence people, the more influence you can have.
"Influencers" is a new word for an old concept - people/institutions with a following.
Lebron James is an influencer. The Atlantic ( and its journalists ) are influencers. Tom Hanks is an influencer. Why do you think advertisers spend so much money on them?
A small thought experiment now, say I run a restaurant and both Tom Hanks and Lebron James go on national television and declare it their favorite place to eat, what happens? I'd say starting the next day I'm going to be flooded with reservations despite the fact that the talents that make them famous have nothing to do with their ability to judge food.
Influencers are influencers because a large group of people act collectively to give them influence. The reasons why people give influencers such influence is varied but as a business owner all that really matters is how much that influence may be worth monetarily.
Why should I trust him on coffee machines any more than some hot girl in a bikini on Instagram?
I think they are doing pretty well for themselves but they never seem to have anything interesting and original to say.
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/04/28/arts/music/fyre-festiv...
But it doesn’t seem to have impacted her career any