Content by Connie

In the reading “Between Commerciality and Authenticity: The Imaginary of Social Media Influencers in the Platform Economy” authenticity and commercialism are two key pillars of influencing that play hand in hand. An influencer needs to be able to be both personable and authentic to the audience while also working with a capitalist and commercialized mindset. They describe authenticity as having no true one definition. It is a dynamic thing that people are working towards or may already be. Commercial success can stop people from being seen as real but it's also what they are striving for. There is a thin line that influencers need to walk. One of many elements to authenticate is the passion and emotional aspect to how someone is influencing. In chapter one of Hund's work authenticity so once again pitted against the commercialism that comes with influencing. How and why are influencers influencing? Influencing by nature is persuading someone to believe something that you are trying to sell; whether that be an idea, a product, or yourself. There's an element to constructing your authenticity to be able to sell products to the best level. This reading describes historical context involving the sales of social influence and celebrity culture.

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I would describe authenticity as being able to feel seen and known by your audience. Is it believable, personable, and feels like you? There is clearly a very fine line with most influencers. You see it most often when it comes to promoting products. Does it align with the brand that the influencer already built up. For example if it is an influencer that is from the beach and loves surfing and is constantly talking about wildlife and protecting nature and they are promoting sunscreen you would assume it would be reef safe and full of safe ingredients. If that same influencer was promoting something with toxic ingredients or something unrelated to the beach and wildlife you might be confused and it would put their authenticity at risk. 

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The influencer I am highlighting is Keegan Acton. I feel that she represents authenticity clearly in quite a few ways. She is very personable and makes an effort to have a connection with her audience. I find that she will regularly spend time responding to comments and it will feel like in another life you could be friends. She also promotes products that fit within her brand and make sense. She has a set of sheets that she is constantly talking about and will talk about how she has gotten so many people to get them simply because of how soft they are yet how cheap and accessible they are. To the point that she has multiple sets and eventually convinced me to buy them. I can confirm they are truly soft and a great deal. I trusted her to get them and even got them through her link because she feels like someone I can trust. She also has a small business she started; she sells to-do lists. She already had been talking about how much she loved to-do lists to help her with school but she could never find one that was exactly what she needed. Eventually you see her start to utilize the drafts of the product and even now years after the first drop she still will use the to-do lists in her weekly vlogs. That use of the product makes her sound reliable and trustworthy, she clearly uses the product and wanted to make it to solve a need. It wasn’t something out of nowhere that didn’t fit within the brand she had crafted of herself.  By letting us into who she is; a reeses egg lover, swiftie, lover of sunsets, common typo maker, and a person. We feel connected to Keegan. She feels authentic. So when she tries to sell a product you can tell that she actively used that product and that you would like it too. She has done very well at being authentic to an audience. 

 

Some influencers will feel like you know nothing about who they are, or maybe you know too much that it feels fake, their product recommendations feel like they have never once been used, or they actively go against the influencers personal brand. There is a lot of being an influencer and authenticity is one of the most important aspects. It often can make or break a career. You need to be personable, feel real, and almost feel like a friend. If you do it right it can add to your commercial success and fame. 

 

The five indicators of authenticity are trustworthiness/expertise, attractiveness, uniqueness, sincerity, and spontaneity. Together they can help make an influencer successful as an authentic salesperson. I would say that Keegan Acton succeeds at being an authentic influencer and these 5 pillars are definitely key reasons. As mentioned earlier Keegan feels very trustworthy with her recommendations and her expertise. She was a marketing student at ASU in college and as of recent works in the industry. For years she discussed to-do lists and how that was one of her biggest study recommendations and what got her through a week successfully. Eventually you see her start to tease the products. She detailed the whole process in a YouTube video and still actively is using the products. 

 

Keegan fits into the category of the cool girl next door going off to college. She shared a lot of her life. She was a sorority girl but it never felt like she was showing off her friends, her videos were primarily her and if there were friends in the video it was usually other youtubers. She shares enough of herself that you feel familiar with how she is and who she is as a person. Even her instagram bio gives you a hint at who she is. Even her post at the closing night of the US leg of the Eras Tour felt like any other person of this past summer who went and saw Taylor. It had the candid crying pic, the outfit pics, friends, and felt like it radiated joy. It fit in with her brand as a taylor swift lover and you were maybe even excited to see another avid swiftie seeing the 1989 announcement.   

 

Keegan is actually not someone I would place as unique. She went to college for marketing, was a sorority girl for a few years, loves Taylor Swift, is from Arizona, and was best known for her college videos. She fits into a very attainable life. Not too much sticks out. However , it doesn’t feel like she is trying. Her niche currently is monthly planning videos where she recaps her goals of the past month (where she doesn’t necessarily achieve everything), recaps finances and spending of the past month, cleans her apartment, and shares her monthly favorites. She also posts fairly long weekly vlogs that are pretty basic; she goes into an office t-th, goes to therapy, goes to pilates classes, and occasionally will get ready for a date. She also loves a good sunday reset vlog on any and all platforms such as this past weekend's one linked here She seems like a pretty simple recent post grad. 

Keegan falls into the trend that will keep some significant things private such as her relationship for a few years of college or her relationship with her friends and family. However overall it seems like you are watching the majority of her day and seeing her real life. She does have the classic we broke up video that does involve tears however I would say the best example of her sincerity is her monthly reset videos . She has this habit tracker and will clearly share what she might be struggling in or failing at completing or what she's doing really well in. She also shares a spreadsheet and pie chart of her finances just without the actual monetary value. She feels very sincere in what she is doing and is very open overall. In ad disclosures it is very clear that it is an ad but it does feel genuine in that she has used the product and enjoyed it. Keegan primarily posts on her insta story, sunday rest reels, and then monthly dumps. When it comes to spontaneity she has some great monthly dumps  that have a strong variety of picture types. Featuring goofy screenshots of texts to others. She has navigated the perfect photo dump that is all too popular with our generation. You get an insight into who she is and what it would be like to be one of her friends. 

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I wouldn’t say that all of Keegan’s videos have a mission of adding value in the sense of interactions. Her Tik Tok is more evident of this. She has viral videos and every once in a while her videos will do very well but they are typically in the 3,000-6,000 range. Her most recent Tik Tok was her saying 23 things that she has learned in her 23 years of life the day before her 24th birthday. This Tik Tok definitely encouraged people to save the video as it was filled with useful pieces of life advice. It also was a great forum for people to add their own comments of their advice as well as birthday wishes. Another common video that she will post is a time stamped morning routine. This is a great simple way to allow people to see what you are doing and feel connected while giving them to see what techniques you use and what products you use. It is a more personable get ready with me in some ways.  When it comes to narration she will sometimes showcase her 5-9 after her 9-5 2 which is similar to her vlogs in that it gives you an insight into her day and what she likes. This video in particular shows not only her favorite little treats but also her going to therapy, doing youtube work, working out, and some relatable things such as the fact that she didn’t prepare her meal. It gives you an idea of what a 5-9 could look like for someone in the corporate setting. I would say that one of the ways that Keegan has succeeded as an influencer in her tenure is that she is very simple and showcases a relatable and very attainable life while giving you lots of insight into who she is as a person. You feel like you know her and she will make an effort to connect with her fans. She has a formula for her Tik Tok of vlog style videos alongside reset videos while occasionally featuring videos about other interests like Taylor Swift or trends on Tik Tok. One other thing to note with Keegan is that when I mentioned that she has a tenure online it's true. Her numbers on instagram and Tik Tok are those of a micro influencer yet her YouTube is very different, her YouTube has 450,000 subscribers. Although that is not that of a micro influencer I would argue that due to the circumstances she still is one. She was a very very popular college YouTuber with some videos reaching well over a million views. However now that she is 2 years post grad her content is regularly receiving under 15,000 views. Her Tik Tok numbers are not the most successful and her Instagram actually has likes on most posts disabled so the numbers are harder to see. I would say that overall she is that of a micro influencer, she still is regularly posting and is very consistent yet she is not wildly successful in her numbers nor is she doing a large number of brand partnerships and sponsorships. As a follower of Keegans for over 8 years it has been so interesting to see how she has grown and changed. She has set achievable goals for me and sets forth an image of a relatable and authentic influencer.