The Truth Behind Social Media Influencers

You wake up and the first thing you do is grab your phone to check your Instagram feed. Immediately your eyes are drawn to perfect influencers that you followed on a whim. Their hair lays just right, the sun highlights their cast, and they have the perfect outfit that’s way out of your price range. Their Instagram feed is flawless, with seemingly no effort at all. You may feel a hint of jealousy and wonder how can someone be so perfect? They seem to only travel, have brand deals (that include free products), and haven’t worked a day in their life.

Little do we think that this is their full-time job- to create a brand and persona that creates the perfect, put together aesthetic.

Courtesy of @juliahengel on Instagram

Julia H. Engel or better known as Gal Meets Glam has done brand deals with companies such as Tiffany & Co. and Chloe.Recently, she started her own clothing line now available at Nordstrom. However she shares a surprising insight into her daily life:

“Our team, for both the blog and the Collection, use Slack daily to communicate, share files, and keep our workflow going…We use it to help plan out all of our shoots, keep our content calendar organized, organize our buys and production of our dresses, plan trip itineraries, and accept job applications.”

From her feed you’d probably never guess she has a team working for her blog and personal brand. From her Instagram feed many would guess that her husband follows her around and takes the perfect photo every time. However, similar to many PR professionals, she runs her Instagram like a business, using spreadsheets, databases, and calendars to keep herself accountable for her work.

Courtesy of GalMeetsGlam.com

In an interview with Forbes, Engel revealed that although things may look picture perfect there are many challenges she’s faced over the years. The biggest one being failed strategies and decisions. She details some of the tasks on her daily to-do list, as she works 7 days a week for herself:

“A typical day consists of answering emails, running social media, meetings and calls, working with brands, styling looks, shooting content, writing copy, searching for inspiration and many other things in between like travel, location scouting and planning out our calendar months ahead.”

Turns out her days are not so spontaneous, carefree, and laid back as one may of thought. In reality these influencers work way more than the average 9-5 and blend their personal and professional lives together on a daily basis. Without influencers opening up about their career, one may wonder why they haven’t obtained such a lifestyle.

According to a study by Adweek, 75% of brands use influencers as part of their overall marketing strategy (Luttrell pg.149). Brands carefully select influencers who embody their target audience with the hope that the audience will believe using a particular product can lead to such a carefree and perfect lifestyle. So, it makes sense that these influencers always seem to have a plethora of products on hand and in their posts.

So, before you feel that pang of envy while scrolling through your Instagram feed, ask yourself “How many pictures did it take to find ‘the one’?” or “Is their life really as carefree and perfect as they make it look?”