The Right Influencer

By: Muneera Alsubaie | Community Supervisor | Another In Kingdom

The era of social media influencers is in full effect in Saudi Arabia. With different messages, different focus points and different personalities shining through; the most successful ones are the ones that are cutting through to viewers of different ages and backgrounds.

While artists, celebrities, musicians and athletes in the Kingdom have very significant followings and do play a major role in the influencer scene, we are referring to influencers who started from zero and gained popularity based on their passion, personality and content. Their contributions across various social media channels are unique and give a different spin on things like satire, cooking, beauty and fashion. They compose music, sing or produce humorous skits. They are spontaneous, interesting and draw from moments in their day-to-day lives; generating a connection with viewers.

To them, a hobby has become a primary source of income and while there are many influencers who are unfortunately willing to “sell their souls” for X riyals per Tweet, there are many of them which are protective as to which brands they are willing to associate to.

During the pandemic, many of them have focused on positive messaging, encouragement and motivation. These are the influencers who are tending to stand out from the crowd, generate higher engagement and creating two-way dialogue with viewers.

It is these types of influencers that brands need to start considering; removing the focus from number of followers or artificial promotional content and putting it on positive content that reinforces a common objective of staying safe, making the most of the circumstances and having faith that the future is bright.

Influencers who have put all their efforts on creating and publishing content that is: In line with the times, creates awareness on social issues, encourages positive thinking and achieves an appreciated engagement are the ones that brands should align themselves to.

Remember, if you have a make-up brand (for example) you don’t need to put your efforts on find a beauty focused influencer, you need to find an influencer has an impressive engagement rate when talking to people of your desired attributes and having two way (verses one way) positive dialogue with them.