Why Do “Influencers” Who You’re Better than.. Still Do Better than You?

I’m gonna be (a bit) snarky on this post, so my apologies in advance if you don’t appreciate snark. But I NEEDED to vent about an issue that’s been plaguing the blogging industry for a while.

Do you ever look at someone with a huge social media following and wonder, “HOW did they get there?”

Guilty.

Nowadays, however, if they have a TON of followers and a very sad/little engagement, I’ll assume they bought those followers, which helps me feel better.

But then there are those “influencers” who make me question almost everything I’ve learned about having an online presence and doing your best.

My mom and I were watching a recent episode of Say Yes to The Dress featuring, in part, the young woman behind “A Girl With No Job.” Claudia, as we later learned** is her name, has “four million followers counting Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, and all that. I’m kinda very popular.”

(**I didn’t even know who she was before that episode.)

As a blogger, I was interested in finding more about her and seeing what in the world made her so popular. The episode showed a few past posts from her feed and I was kinda embarrassed for her as I thought, “THAT is why she has 4M followers?”

(Go ahead and check out her account on Instagram; I’ll wait. Don’t let it diminish your faith in humanity.)

But within a few seconds of watching her, I was kinda hooked. You guys, her fashion sense
may not be on point whatsoever (a few examples), but her confidence and no-BS attitude were infectious. I even remember thinking as a follow-up to my previous thought, “OK so she merely posts dumb memes on social media but she’s entertaining to watch. Like that friend you have who makes questionable choices but still embraces them and is proud about them.”

She seemed refreshing. (Also, quite smart [hopefully], in how she saw a “need” for dumb memes and has been working to fill that need.)

Then I went to her website after the episode ended and it was like the rug had been pulled from underneath me and I was back to “OK SHE has all these followers, gets her 15+ minutes of fame at Kleinfeld, and maybe even gets sponsors (who think a big following is the end-all, be-all)..while I, along with thousands of other better posters, bloggers, and sharers DON’T?! WHY?!”

Here are a few examples from the most recent posts on her blog:

And this one (just the title):

OK, last one, I promise:

Yes, I’m kind of a grammar nut. I used to be a writing tutor (still do some of it on occasion so tell me if you need me!) PLUS I take great care in writing my second language well.

A few common trends among her posts: They’re short–as in, really short, the kind that search engines would balk at. The kind WE as bloggers learn we should stay away from writing.

There are also numerous typos, the kind that would get flagged at a marketing meeting or mocked by thousands on social media (oh, the irony) if a company published an ad with any of them. (When I come across typos like these [or worse] on our sister agency’s posts for our clients, I send them back–Ccing various higher-ups–and have them fix it ASAP.)

Also, her blog posts lack a worthwhile number of comments. Again, poor engagement.

This made me lose my faith in the industry for a bit because I couldn’t help but be dismayed at the paltry potential better (read: good) bloggers had. It’s like advertisers seem to be giving more weight to influencers who don’t care about effective and correct communication.

But then I also realized that perhaps there are different markets and maybe her audience wouldn’t be the one I’m writing to, which is a relief. She’s entertaining but I really don’t want her to be the benchmark by which the rest of us are judged because she’s not a good example at all.

Right, marketers? That’s not all you care about, is it? You mainly value good-quality, genuine, long-form content, correct?

I have big goals for this blog and it’s influencers like this that tell me I need to start executing them pronto.

PS- You should check out her blog; overall, sure, it’s funny. (But try not to laugh at the typos.) Her IG is all right, on the other hand. Apparently, we need to come up with something seemingly stupid with the potential to take over the web to make it “big” but I’d rather focus on something that’ll positively affect and nurture the world.

Are there any bloggers out there who you know you’re better than… yet still manage to do better than you? What other annoying trends have you noticed in blogging?