Emphasis on celebrity over authority is blowing up influencer strategy

I’ve recently done a few experiments in influencer marketing that exposed an important shift in how we must view and assess content creators. In fact, today I will contend that there is a significant new dynamic changing the very fundamental nature of influencer strategy.

Let’s start at the beginning and think about what influencer strategy has been, and then examine what it is becoming.

Three types of influencers

If you study influencer marketing as I do, you can boil influencers down to three strategic tiers. Some people say there are 12 or even 15 types of influencers, but I think that is unnecessarily complicated. There are really three types that explain how the influencer strategy works.

At the very top, there are celebrities — entertainers, athletes, media stars. This is how it all started. Arguably the first influencer was silent film star Charlie Chaplin, who peddled chocolate, clothing, and cigarettes.

Today, this tradition is carried on by entertainers of every kind. In fact, it’s more popular than ever.