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updated information of movement. keting are selling trendy products More about Instagram
Therefore, she shifted the focus of related to fashion, travel, fitness and marketing
her Instagram posts to news about beauty. Since the young generation Instagram, with one billion
the movement. is the potential customers of these monthly active users according
Under the influence of the social products, com- pa- to eMarketer’s statistics in 2018,
unrest, media companies have also nies would like is the second most engaged social
been observing a drop in the num- to hire teenag- networking site. More than 70% of
ber of Instagram influencers. ers to be their the billion monthly active users are
Director of Zolar, Doris Kuok, influencers,” under the age of 35, according to
who has been working in online she says. the data from Statista in 2019. Thus,
marketing for 15 years, says the She thinks more and more companies target-
number of teenagers joining the on- that free products, ing teenage market develop their
line marketing industry has dropped the sense of satis- Dr. Wu Shih- advertising channels on Instagram.
chia
due to the social movement. faction in influenc- How to be an IG influencer:
Kuok thinks that influencer mar- ing other people and honorarium 1) Download apps such as SpreadIt
keting ties closely with the social sit- are the reasons that attract univer- and Mingle, which are agencies
uation. “Instagram users follow an sity students to join online adver- connecting influencers and brands.
influencer only when the influencer tising market. “Some students may Details of various products and
has in-depth and constant sharing even become a full-time influencer corresponding remunerations are
on a specific theme, such as food and after graduation,” she says. listed. Users can browse and filter
“The purpose of using influencers items by interest.
“ for promotion is not to turn a non- 2) Click “APPLY NOW”, they can
Creating posts that re- famous product to a famous one,” collaborate directly with brands and
create posts according to brands’
she adds, “Instead, it aims at reach-
late to a wide range of ing the target audience through the requirements.
topics causes the loss influencers’ close social networks.” 3) After submitting sample posts to
brands and getting approval, they
of style and character She adds that the strategy of influ- can share their posts on Instagram
encer advertising is not a matter of
in influencers’ Insta- coverage but the closeness. and Facebook.
gram account
Edited by Ariel Lai
Sub-edited by Tiffany Chong
”

cosmetics. If an influencer shares di-
versified topics, for instance, politi-
cal affairs, information about masks
and sterilizers, as well as commercial
advertisements, followers may lose
interests as they find some content
not suiting their tastes. They may
unfollow the influencer,” she says.
Dr. Wu Shih-chia, a professional
consultant of the School of Journal-
ism and Communication of the Chi-
nese University of Hong Kong, says
both promoters and target audience
of online advertisements are mainly
teenagers. Cheung takes picture at an Instagram-famous cafe in Central. (Photo courtesy of
“Brands that adopt influencer mar- Carmen Cheung Ka-man)