Think about the content you seek out in your free time.
The newsletters you read.
The podcasts you listen to.
The YouTube channels you subscribe to.
The influencer accounts you check in on even if you don’t follow the person because you don’t really need them in your feed, but you like to know what’s going on with them from time to time. (Wait…does anyone else do this? Just me?)
There’s a shift happening, and it’s been happening for a while now.
For years, companies and content marketers have been approaching content creation from topic-first angle. They say, “We’re going all in on X topic to be the authority on this particular subject matter!”
For many, it’s a search engine optimization play.
For others, it’s because of direction from leadership, which, is logical, because if you’re selling something, you should probably create content related to the thing, right? To educate your customers, help them use the product, etc.
Of course this type of content creation still has its place. It’s not going away.
But here’s the thing.
People trust people. People trust recommendations from people they know, even if they only know them in the context of a para-social relationship. And this is how sales are made. This is influence.
A few data points to back this up:
37% of consumers trust social media influencers over brands
28% of consumers discover new products and brands through influencers, with Gen Z most likely to discover products and brands this way (32%)
84% of Gen Z has purchased products in direct response to social media content
Influence is no longer limited to celebrities, to brands with enough money for TV advertisements, and to other traditional media outlets (magazines, movies, radio, etc.)
Social media has made influence far more accessible. And people with influence often don’t restrain themselves to a single theme or category.
Think about public figures like Emma Chamberlain. Charli D'Amelio. Logan Paul. They’ve drawn massive audiences with their personalities and the signature style in which they create. People seek out these creators not because they’re teaching them how to 10X their ecommerce revenue or because they’re experts on email marketing. They seek them out because they like them, they like the stuff they create, and they feel a sense of friendship with those people, even if only in an online context.
The truth of the matter is: The future of mass-influence in the content creation space isn’t going to be niche. It’s going to be parasocial.
Parasocial relationships are one-sided relationships where one person spends emotional energy, interest, and time, and the other party, the persona, is completely unaware of the other’s existence.
Despite the one-sided nature of parasocial relationships, they’re very real.
I mean…have you ever listened to a podcast and felt a sense of friendship with the hosts? Watched a vlog from your favorite YouTube vlogger and felt personally invested, maybe even rooted for the “main character” there?
I bet you have.
Studies show parasocial relationships are voluntary, provide companionship, and are influenced by social attraction. Viewers experience a connection with the media user and express feelings of affection, gratitude, longing, encouragement, and loyalty toward them.
I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately, as my friend Ronnie Higgins, Director of Content at OpenPhone brought up the topic, saying this:
“This trend towards seeking people (not faceless brands or other entities) is driven by the underlying need to connect with other humans. We crave lived experiences and the perspectives shaped by them. It’s much more relatable. I think this current trend is exasperated by the abundance of content. Humanity publishes an unfathomable amount of content each day—something like 375 billion gigabytes of data per day. That's more than anyone of us can ever consume in our lifetimes (or multiple), so we need to rely on social cues to offset the high search and opportunity costs (AKA the time/effort required to find and consume content). It's a shortcut to avoid misinformation or being influenced by an entity with opaque goals.”
The bottom line here: People with true influence don’t limit themselves to a category or topic. They follow their interest and let their personalities lead the way. And that’s the future of content.
Some companies are already realizing this and are acquiring creators/shows/audiences built by these types of creators.
Some Good News, a media company founded by actor John Krasinski, was acquired by ViacomCBS.
Hubspot acquired Sam Parr’s newsletter The Hustle.
There are a lot of examples of big companies buying up personality-driven media outlets as a play to acquire their audiences. The problem, however, is that if the people fronting this content duck out after their payday, the magic often drains away.
Why? Because it wasn’t the content the audience really cared about. It was the host, the creator.
So what can we learn from this?
If you're thinking about launching a new newsletter, a podcast, a YouTube channel, etc., consider not limiting yourself to a theme. Consider NOT talking about what you do for work. Consider being yourself and talking about the things you think are interesting, unique, and noteworthy through your unique lens on the world.
If your company is considering doing the same...maybe take that off the in-house team's plate. Is there an external creator who'd be a better fit? Someone with taste, a unique POV, and proof of product in the audience they've already built?
It might be a better investment, and you'll have a competitive edge.
I think this quote about the future of influence from Brent Leary at CRM Essentials sums things up nicely:
"Millennials and Gen Z create and extend relationships in a completely different way than their parents' generations did, and that impacts who they trust, and how that trust translates into basic activities like learning, shopping and relationship building. It's time for brands to rethink how they connect with customers outside of the traditional or controlled marketing channels. By building out a strong and authentic online presence, businesses have an opportunity to collaborate and leverage creator communities and social platforms that are equipped to provide more genuine buying and service experiences."