An Instagram star with 2 million followers couldn't sell 36 T-shirts

2+ million bot followers... most likely fakes.
Bots don't buy stuff.

A really good explanation for those who want a little dive: https://twitter.com/JuiceboxCA/status/1133091655333007360

stuff which looks cool ≠ stuff which gets results

should have sent some cold emails 😂😂😂

I have been following a famous tech thought leader on Instagram. But, I also saw that the group of people that follows her isn't really interested in any tech content she provides. When she launched her coaching program, I mostly saw that it was a flop, even though she has +300K followers. That's why I am not really active on Instagram.

A startup I worked at used a well-known influencer marketing agency for a campaign and I wasn't really convinced; they priced their influencers with two metrics: follower count and "engagement" which was measured as (total likes+total comments)/total posts which feels like an inadequate way of measuring influencer value compared to, say, a more sophisticated algorithm to predict conversions - or even better, actual conversions, which they didn't keep any data on.

I suspect that the economics of influencer marketing usually don't make sense when you measure the click-through rate you'd need to be ROI positive. That might just be my experience though.

To be honest, Instagram is my least favorite online platform and from what I've read, it's also the most psychologically destructive of the big ones.

https://www.psychalive.org/worst-mental-health-instagram-facebook-youtube/

Love this. People put so much weight into their follower list...

Would you rather have 200k colt like followers or 2m random followers...

Great story thanks for sharing

"..while others suggested the news is a sign the influencer bubble is set to burst."
If only.. 🥳

Yeah super interesting, I mean it's a bit different if you're literally hoping to be an 'influencer' - I know some people who make a good living from work/sales generated via instagram, but they're artists and it's a legitimate way to share and promote their talents. If someone is maybe hoping that followers who only follow them cause they post loads of selfies are suddenly going to be convertible leads then it might be a bit optimistic. That said, less than 36 sales on 2 million followers is shocking 🤦‍♂️

-It is a very bad thing to run out of airspeed, altitude, and ideas all at the same time.