Cycing Instagrammer Influencers

[Hicky]

Katie is very local to me. I should add I’ve never met her.
Seems nice enough, pushes the vegan aspect a little too much but hey ho…..calls certain well known routes by different names which I find odd. Good luck to her as cycling seems to of given her a sense of direction.

 

[DogmaStu]

Being an old fart, do people actually make a living out of this ? I do Insta for some family stuff, pro cyclists etc

Absolutely they do! However, it is a small minority compared to every plonker giving it a go - like the one you mentioned.

The one's who get the clicks needed for a Marketing Dept. to take notice are generally gorgeous women or real athletes who already have an eager fan base. You need hundreds of thousands of clicks to make a living from it.

It's just another form of Marketing in the digital age. No less of a strategy than TV ads etc.

The issue is can you trust the Influencer? Some will use any means to get clicks which includes lying and 'shock' factor - deliberately being controversial, their real opinion irrelevant. Click-bait.

Some though are genuinely good reviewers who do great work. DC Rainmaker started out this way: Insta, Youtube etc. GCN are Influencers when you watch their Ad content vids. Some retired Pro's do it and get paid by kit sponsors.

Influencers account for a huge amount of Marketing revenue nowadays and can have an enormous effect on what they are promoting. Take photography...on TikTok Influencers went ape about the FujiFilm X100V fixed lens camera. A 'street' camera with retro styling. Result: no-one could buy one for 2 years and they are still, today, back-ordered 6 months. On eBay they sell for 20-30% over RRP.

Marketers love Influencers and pay them accordingly.

 

[MichaelW2]

One lady influencer posted a mock instafluencer video in the style of a cosmetic products review but on the topic of DIY electrical instalation. I only saw the " reaction video" not the original, but it was spot on.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I do have an instagram account but I've never warmed to it so I rarely go onto it.

My advice is, if you suffer from the symptoms of III (Instagram Influencer Irritation) then don't follow them on Instagram. And certainly don't spend time tracking down their rides on Strava. You'll only make it worse.

 

[cyberknight]

Then you hear stories about some who try to get free goods / servoces in exchange for reviews and thankfully they get told to take a running jump.
The joys of having teens in the house is you get to hear about it a lot , the latest scam is a chat room you have to pay for to receive "messages " from a certain band aka chat bots .

 

[Alex321]

I do have an instagram account, but only use it fairly rarely.

But I do watch some of what might be called "influencers" on Youtube, though I rarely let them influence me. Katie Kookaburra as mentioned above is one of those I watch, Ed Laverack (who I have cycled with a couple of times) is another.

 

[fossyant]

Never heard of any of the above, as said I only tracked them down as it looked like a good gravel ride and I thought I knew the area, which I do, as some of the 'shots' weren't really on a track that went anywhere. Shame as they looked good !