A new type of star has since emerged within social media: the influencer. Many people have written about the following, posting their lives, opinions, and promotions. However, being an influencer is not as easy as it might seem.
So we are talking about hours of work, hours of planning and often we do whatever it takes to get that perfect shot or video. Some are merely content to go through their News Feeds, while others have made it their unlimited calling to film everything in a manner that stands up.
A simply search of Influencers in the Wild on Instagram will show the lengths an influencer will go for the perfect shot. This page, which nearly has 5m followers, posts pics of influencers doing wild things for the ultimate shot or video.
These influencers will go to extremes for the perfect pose in the most unlikely places or the dramatic setups. Apparently, these moments are entertaining to watch, and for some people, hilarious how far influencers will go to get social media attention.
The account racked up followers fast, a testament to the fact that people are obviously curious about the behind-the-scenes of it all. We often see influencers posting about fabulous things but the amount of work that goes into these posts normally is off the charts crazy.
To get the right angle, some influencers will lie on a busy street or sunbathe on the edge of a cliff. Some of these attempts are humorous, some notorious and some criminal but the publicity of it gives them more followers and hence more popularity.
Sure, taking the time for a rad photography shot is self-important, but it really illuminates the immense burden on so many influencers to put on a show for their followers. Those pretty pictures will not bring your brand to the spotlight it is getting to be noticed in a saturated and competitive environment.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve witnessed an influencer do just to capture that “perfect shot”?
“Influencer In The Wild”
* Alien Voice* What Is A Foodie”
“She Gasped”
“Camera Always Eat First!”
That perfect shot is out there…
“Beware Of Moe’s Horns. It Says It Right There On The Sign”
“Risking It All For The Gram”
“Every Day We Stray Further From God’s Light”
“Can’t Bring Her Anywhere”
“Someone’s About To Have A New Dating Profile Pic”
“Some Things Are Better Just Left Alone”
The Reality of Influencer Culture: A Research-Based Perspective
Social media influencers are a new cultural phenomenon, a mixture of entertainment, marketing, and personal branding. Despite the gloss of the curated influencer life on social platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, the story behind the posts contains an unusual amount of creativity, strategy, and often deep personal and professional challenges.
Studies reveal that there is a significant impact of influencers on consumer behavior. Nov. 16, 2022 A 2022 review by Influencer Marketing Hub found that 93% of marketers have leveraged influencer campaigns, citing the excellence of these campaigns to come from the trust and relatability of the influencer. That’s why brands spend billions a year on influencer partnerships because when influencers promote products, audiences see them as more authentic than traditional ads.
But it is never handed to you on a silver platter. According to a report from Morning Consult via LeadingToServe, 86% of the youth expressed interest in becoming influencers but are blind to the workload. Full-time influencers are rarely off, spending anywhere from 40-plus hours a week planning and producing content and editing it all while engaging their audience.
Behind the Glamour
Instagram page Influencers in the Wild, which often captures hilarious, cringe-y, or even outrageous moments influencers are doing to get the content. Those clips certainly have an air of levity about them, but they also underline influencers’ desperate attempts to succeed in a saturated digital marketplace.
This pressure was explored in a study by the University of Copenhagen, which describes how feeling the need to keep up appearances in the social media realm can lead to burnout, stress, and depression. With social media always actively amplifying influencers, they can be doubly hurt as their work invites relentless public (and internal) comparison.
Risk Versus Reward
And while influencers are living for the perfect shot, the stakes are often breakout school shoot level physically. Cases of influencers sprawled out on the road (see below), scaling precarious edifices, or otherwise staging hair-raising stunts, point to a tendency that researchers designate as “performative risk.” According to a 2021 study in the Journal of Communication, it was found that influencers often trade-off being viral versus their safety, with many extremists claiming to act for the sake of their profession.
Such attempts, however, gain fame and fortune along the way, which brings about ethical concerns as well. Social media sites such as Instagram have been accused of promoting an aesthetic over authenticity approach and engendering a spirit of comparison and rivalry.
The Takeaway
This puts influencers right in the sweet spot between the world of entertainment and entrepreneurship, straddling creativity with the complexities of being seen on the internet. As this hilarious Instagram account takes pains to remind us, content creation isn’t as easy as it looks. Below the glossy posts is a chaotic, intertangled web of personal gain and the digital worlds wreaking havoc on Generation Z.
For audiences, having a mindful appreciation of the labor and risk behind influencer culture can help ensure a fairer balance enjoying the performance while remaining critical of the stress and stigma it provides.
“Don’t You Need To Be Somewhere Else Right Now Sir”
“God Did”
“I Have Questions”
“Declassified Footage Of The Evolutionary Process”
“God Save The Queen”
“Verified If You Hold Up NYC Traffic To Get A Pic For Instagram, I’m Not Saying The Driver Should Be Allowed To Hit You. I’m Not Saying That At All. But Maybe A Little Bump?”
“I’m The Lady At The End With The Goggles”
“This Dude Is Really Going All Out For His Linkedin Profile Picture”
“Now Grab The Least Stable Part Of Her Body”
“She’s Filming A Whole Music Video On The Subway, Because The NYC Commute Isn’t Miserable Enough”
“The Person Driving That Car Is An Actual Saint. Didn’t Even Honk”
“Permanent No Fly List Immediately”
“Poor Girl. Looks Like She Was Involved In Some Short Of Shark Attack? Her Pants, Are”
“Mommy Bloggers Are A Different Breed”
“Gotta Teach The Next Generation”
“This Page… Has Peaked”
“Make A Left On Stripper Street And I’m The 3rd House On The Left”
“The CEO Of Going Down The Stairs”
“That Pic Is Gonna Be Fire Tho”
Dating Captions add to the drama by encouraging followers to leave comments and vote for the most outrageous images shot by Influencers in the Wild. You can dive into the weird ways influencers try to attain the perfect shot, sparking arguments about what’s real and what’s staged.
It’s as much comedy as it is a brutally candid picture of what it means to maintain an online presence and as genuine an insight into influence. Now, seeing that influencers will do anything and everything for one pixel-perfect image is amusing at first, but it also underscores their incredible resourcefulness and dedication to creating an idealized lifestyle.
What appears smooth on our screens is frequently a challenging profession filled with nonstop hustle and, occasionally, a touch of insanity.
Leave a Reply