Ever wondered why the word 'influencer' keeps on getting the red line every time someone types it on Word? And how come 'blogger' is recognized by Webster and the former is not?
It's quite noticeable how many people in Qatar call themselves an 'influencer' without completely grasping the meaning behind the title that they're associating their names with. And as most doesn't own full-pledged blogs or Youtube channels, they're torn with a content creator's classification that doesn't come with a total recall, thus coming up with a common thinking that maybe 'influencer' is the title that suits them best based on the content that they produce either on Facebook or Instagram.
Well, we can't blame these people... besides the prerogative being an absolute music to the ears, there's something really enticing when someone calls you that way.
With this article, we're giving you a quick tour inside Qatar's small—yet diverse—circle of content creators and by the time we wrap things up, we're hoping to give our readers a better understanding of what an 'influencer' is and how these people work in order to contribute to the country's well-being by doing the chore that they do best.
An 'influencer', by definition, is a person or a group that has the ability to influence (from the name itself) the behaviour and opinions of typical, brand-loving persons.
With the advancement in technology and popularity of various social media channels, influencing someone else's life is as easy as one click of a button. And because most 'influencers' are within the millenial age range, the youth is increasingly becoming unconscious 'influencers' on their parents' decisions, making their influence a trend even among those within the X-Generation age bracket.
Social media has changed our worldview in an extensive manner and over a relatively shorter span of time. Qatar is no different when it comes to embracing this technological change and using it for various purposes such as E-Commerce and more importantly staying in touch with friends, family and other notable people has become a turning point on how locals and expats perceive information on a daily basis.
A big factor why relatively smaller countries like Qatar has this mindset of trusting social media 'influencers' to promote brands is because unlike Hollywood in LA or Bollywood in Mumbai, there actually is no source of entertainment in the country besides Facebook and Instagram. This makes people and fan pages who have a huge following on both channels think as if they deserve a celebrity treatment or status both virtually and first-hand.
Some of the events that have happened in the past with 'influencers' in the limelight include INFLOW last February (dubbed as Doha's biggest 'influencers' event), and ILoveQatar.Net's very own Qatar Social—where innovative minds convened to chill, create, and collaborate under one roof while interacting and sharing new ideas that will revolutionize the realm of creativity on every platform.
We, in this part of the globe, are also blessed with some of the most well-known 'influencers' including hip-hop musician Fahad Al Kubaisi, local actor Adel Al Ansari, one of ArtReview's most influential persons in the world Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, and who can forget to include to the list our very own friendly neighbourhood Qatari Mr. Q who currently has 47.1K followers on Instagram?
If you check these people's Instagram handles, you'll have an idea on the average number of followers that an 'influencer' should have in order to be called one.
Another definition of being an 'influencer' is a social media user who has established credibility in a specific industry. He/she has access to a large audience and can persuade others by virtue of their authenticity and reach. 'Influencers' are ordinary people who have earned a substantial following due to their expertise and transparency.
In order to become one, a person should concentrate on a niche, work hard on how to become better at it, and fall crazily in love with the idea of spreading information and awareness on the product or cause that he/she is tasked to bring justice into with the use of social media tools available within reach.
Absolutely. Bloggers nowadays, apart from their websites, also has their own Facebook and Instagram channels where they promote their blogs by posting teasers which full content can be accessed once their followers decide to click on it. It's an effective way of making sure that their sites and blog posts get enough traffic and engagement, respectively.
Celebrities, industry experts, thought leaders, and micro-influencers also fall under the 'influencers' category.
Maybe the right question to ask is... when is this word going to get recognised by Webster and Merriam? With 'influence' as its root word, maybe the blogosphere isn't that ready yet to handover the glory of being the main source of information on every single topic under the sun neither to Facebook or Instagram. But one thing's for sure: if we wait for a few more years, then the dethroning will for sure take place eventually.
In conclusion, it's not really a big deal whether you consider yourself an 'influencer' or not. At the end of the day, it all boils down to how you perceive yourself based on the content that you're creating. We may not all be influencers, but we're all content creators.
For the 10 tips on how to organically boost your Instagram following, click HERE!
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