{"id":62115,"date":"2024-06-10T08:00:13","date_gmt":"2024-06-10T12:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businessesgrow.com\/?p=62115"},"modified":"2024-06-03T10:48:05","modified_gmt":"2024-06-03T14:48:05","slug":"new-influencers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businessesgrow.com\/2024\/06\/10\/new-influencers\/","title":{"rendered":"The new influencers beat traditional advertising effectiveness"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ernie

Pilot Ernie Meeks is one of the new influencers building trust for brands<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

By Aaron Hassen, {grow} community member<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The most difficult job in marketing today is determining how to effectively connect with our customers in a fractured media landscape. Fortunately, we have informative research and experts like Ed Keller to guide us on where to turn next … and that might include a surprising crop of new influencers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here’s a little story to set up the findings of Ed’s research.<\/p>\n

\"100I was reading the news, and an article from The Dallas Morning News<\/em> jumped out at me. The article, <\/span>The new social media influencer? Pilots and flight attendants,<\/span><\/a> tells the story of Southwest Airlines pilot Ernie Meeks<\/a>. Ernie was disappointed when his daughter, who had dreamed of following in his footsteps, considered dropping out of pilot school. Meeks was determined to change her mind, so he created videos for YouTube and Instagram highlighting his daily routines as a pilot. <\/span><\/p>\n

After a year, his subscribers had grown to 57,300 on YouTube and 130,000 on Instagram … and his daughter decided to remain in pilot training school. But rather than quit, Meeks expanded into podcasting, and his show is now fully backed and sponsored by his employer, Southwest Airlines.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why would an airline invest in an employee’s social media presence? How does this connect to modern marketing realities?\u00a0 The answers are found in Ed Keller\u2019s latest research, <\/span>Unveiling Influence: A Suzy Report on The Impact of Creators on American Consumers’ Lives<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Known for his groundbreaking studies on Word-of-Mouth Marketing, Ed Keller is the CEO of the Keller Advisory Group and Executive Director of Market Research Institute International. Recently, Ed turned his attention to the new influencers and their impact on consumer behavior. If you\u2019re like me, the findings will excite you.<\/span><\/p>\n

27 million creators … and counting<\/b><\/h2>\n

The Keller Advisory Group worked with research firm Suzy to conduct a nationally representative study of over 1,100 consumers ages 16-54. The study focused on the impact creators and influencers have on consumer attention and purchasing behaviors. Keller had <\/span>previously surveyed thousands of creators<\/span><\/a> to get their points of view. This time, he decided to take a look at the other side of the equation, which of course is most interesting to brands and marketing and advertising professionals like me.<\/span><\/p>\n

Keller defines a creator as someone who self-identifies as one and makes money creating. An influencer is someone who posts content on social media regularly and has a significant following. Often, these individuals are one and the same, so I’ll be using the terms interchangeably in this article.<\/span><\/p>\n

The study estimates there are 27 million paid creators in the U.S. or 14% of all consumers ages 16-54. But all creators are not alike, and the breakdowns are important:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n