A savvy influencer knows the importance of creating an emotional connection and works hard to build fan relationships. Fan communities create a sense of affiliation and belonging, powerful drivers of human motivation. There is nothing like a little drama to activate belonging, picking sides, who’s in and who’s out. It fires everyone up. Adds energy. Creates new stories.
All this conflict (and conflict is always necessary for a good story) expands the sense of this quasi-fantasy, aspirational world in which the Influencers operate and tell their stories. Social media makes it easy for fans to get in and participate through comments, cancelling, re-subscribing, re-cancelling as the arguments and loyalties ebb and flow. This is the new version of daytime soaps for the YouTube audience. So much for The Young and the Restless.
The relationships among Influencers work in the Influencers’ favor–they expand the narrative and widen the audience by bringing to fan communities into contact. When Influencers engage with each other, it lends an air of authenticity to all involved. People routinely judge one person by who they hang out with. The same is true on YouTube.
The emotions can run high in fan communities because fans really do care. The tendency to become emotionally attached to Influencers occurs from frequent viewing and the brain’s natural instincts to interpret virtual as ‘real’ in-person social interactions. An effective Influencer looks right in the camera, makes eye contact, smiles, and shares personal disclosures. These parasocial relationships (one-sided with a celebrity) are not weird or a form of pathology, but a normal response because of how the human brain works–between mirror neurons and our innate desire for social connection. Influencers capitalize on this phenomenon–which is to say, they make money out of fan loyalty.
Read Lindsay Dodgson’s great article on INSIDER Why the beauty community on YouTube is one of the most turbulent and drama-filled places on the internet
Dr. Pamela Rutledge is available to reporters for comments on the psychological and social impact of media and technology on individuals, society, organizations and brands.