Hi everyone! If you follow me on Instagram, then you may have heard me throw around the idea of launching a new series on my blog. Specifically, this series would address various topics regarding social media and reselling. As someone who has been in the reselling community for over 9 years now, I thought that it would be helpful to share some of my thoughts and experiences as to how it relates to social media as a reseller. My hope is that through this series, you will have a better understanding of social media in regards to reselling and will be apply a thing or two from this series into your own businesses’. Today, I wanted to start off this series by sharing an overview on influencing and how it impacts the reselling community.
Last week, I launched a poll on Instagram and asked my followers the question, “Do reselling “influencers” accurately showcase the reality of reselling in their feed/content?” Their response: 60% of them said that they do not.
Why Is That?
In order to better answer that question, we need to take a look into the world of influencing. Let’s start by answering the question, what is a social media influencer? Simply put, a social media influencer is someone who has a significant audience of online followers and is highly credible within a specific industry. These people will then use their social influence to frame opinions, thoughts, and attitudes through the use of social media platforms. Influencers exist within every niche, including reselling, and they are important in helping to shape opinions of the industries in which they are involved in.
Why Influence?
When it comes to people’s motivation behind influencing, there are many different factors involved. Many people who have taken on an influencer role started their social media accounts without the intention of gaining a large following or receiving attention from brands or sponsors. For most people, social media is a place where they can go to fulfill specific desires; some of which include: authenticity, inspiration and charity, creativity, social connection, and support. Social behaviors on these platforms can provide an exchange of tangible (ex: monetary) and intangible (ex: approval, emotional satisfaction, etc) resources between parties which then leads to reciprocity in behaviors (ex: exchanges in conversations).
Although we would like to assume that most people who take on an influencer role have good intentions, that is not always the case. There are people out there who are chasing clout. Simply put, some people are chasing power and popularity on social media in order to achieve fame and influence within a specific community. In order to do this, they may post questionable social media posts in hopes of gaining attention. As much as I hate to say this, people like this do exist within the reselling community and it is important to be aware of that.
Who Are We Following?
Our opinions and attitudes regarding the social media communities that we are involved in are shaped by the accounts that we follow and engage with- good and bad. The beauty of social media is that each account is unique and we can follow different accounts in order to fulfill different desires within us. Some reasons why we might follow specific accounts include: information sharing, relaxing entertainment, companionship, boredom/ helps to pass the time, and information seeking. Age and demographics also affect the accounts that we follow.
Social Media and Reselling
Now that we have a basic overview of social media and influencing, let’s address how this specifically ties into the reselling community. Each reseller has their own motivation behind their social media account; How a reseller’s messaging and/or branding is perceived by others in the community will directly impact their influence within the community. Within the world of reselling, most resellers will approach their social media accounts in one of two ways:
Strategy #1: Trying to Gain a Social Media Following In Order To Make Direct Sales
This strategy is very similar to how large companies use non-reselling influencers to drive sales of their products. Resellers who utilize this social media strategy will focus heavily on items that they are selling and try to drive direct sales through social media exposure. Generally speaking, these accounts tend to be predominantly positive and portray their items as highly desirable and in high demand. These accounts rely heavily on their social media following to drive sales. In order to do this, they will position themselves as someone who is highly desirable and of high authority and produce content that will appeal to as many people as possible.
Strategy #2: Internal Motivations and Social Connections
This strategy is very different than the social selling strategy that I described above. Resellers who utilize this social media strategy are looking to fulfill internal desires and achieve organic social connections. These accounts tend to be not as polished as social selling accounts and are much more authentic in nature. Resellers who adopt this strategy are not as concerned with vanity metrics (ex. follower counts, likes) and are looking to connect and build relationships with others within their niche. Although some resellers may choose to share their products within their posts and stories, it is not the main motivation behind their content.
Although these two strategies are predominantly present on reseller’s social media accounts, they are not the only two; Many resellers will incorporate elements of both into their accounts and some have different strategies altogether.
Before I go, I want to jump back to the poll question that I mentioned at the beginning of this post, “Do reselling “influencers” accurately showcase the reality of reselling in their feed/content?” The answer to this question lies in the reseller’s social media strategy and motivation behind their account. If a reseller wishes to use their social media account as a social selling platform, then more likely than not, you will not get a holistic view of reselling because that is not the purpose of their account; They are simply trying to sell product. In order to get a holistic view of reselling from the influencers that we follow, we need to take a step back and analyze their motivations within the reselling community and if they align with our morals and desires as followers.
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