There is an influencer in South Africa that can no longer be ignored by brands and businesses; an influencer that can expand a brand’s consumption, yet not expendable – the Instagram influencer.
The Expandables are South African beauties that are rising to become influential in various circles of life, using Instagram as a point of contact to pull daily surprises that are backed by a lifestyle of business transactions, as they enjoy life.
Instagram, the seventh largest Social Media network in the world, owned by Facebook (the largest), and sister to WhatsApp (the second largest), has created what is called The Instagram Economy out of the daily lives of the Expandables.
Unlike many social media networks, Instagram asks you to create a specific type of user account – Personal account, Blog, Public (thematic community), Internet shops and offline shops, Business accounts (cafes and restaurants, touristic agencies, manufacturing, etc.), Brand accounts, Celebrity accounts, Bots, Landing accounts, Video accounts. Out of these types of user accounts, the magic of pictures, videos, animations, and conversations gave rise to the Expandables and an economy now valued at over US$1 billion (2017).
The Expandables are rising beyond their sympathy markets, to not only gain daily confidence and support within their local communities, but are stretching forth into new territories of brand diplomacy, representing brands, products, and services in exchange for a monthly retainer. Mmabatho Makgoale is one such expandable.
Meet Mmabatho, a 22-year-old from Limpopo, a social science graduate from Brooklyn City College, an Afro-centric beauty – natural, no make-up, no weave, yet accumulating 44,000 followers whom she influences via Instagram.
Before we continue with Mmabatho and Instagram Influencers, allow me to digress awhile and talk about “The Audi S8” and the new normal for luxury goods, services, and brands in the world and Africa.
On their South African website, the profile of the new Audi says “Get in. Buckle up. Start the engine. Wherever you’re heading, enthralling driving dynamics will power you there. For as you know, the world is your oyster when at the wheel of your Audi S8. You decide the direction. The driving style. The pace. And you enjoy the satisfaction of knowing you have plenty in reserve. More than enough to get the very best from every drive.”
With just by these words alone, one literally taste the feeling you get being in the Audi S8. Audi being a brand that has stood strong in the world of luxury car brands like Ferrari, Porsche, Range Rover, BMW, and Mercedes, the Audi S8 has space for consumption amongst both the aspiring and the affluent of South Africa.
Audi and other market intelligent, are daring brands that make it possible for the aspiring to acquire a taste of affluence, and the Expandables like Mmabatho bring a connection for brands to new markets, whilst consolidating territory.
The Financial Times wrote, “Influencer marketing was then becoming relevant to the industry as a more mature — and wealthier — audience took to social media; at the same time, luxury goods companies introduced more accessible product categories for younger users. The rise of influencers is linked with fundamental changes in the economics of the luxury sector and the technology of the wider world. A 2017 study by consultants Bain indicated that millennials already make up 30 per cent of luxury consumers.”
Read more in Cabanga Magazine.
