Social media are getting bigger and have become a prominent part of public life, particularly among young people, in Indonesia. Social media have become one of the most important public relations tools thanks to their ability to influence users. Today, many people manage their social media accounts as businesses by collaborating with brands that have earned the reputation as social media influencers.

I notice that social media influencers have an impact on followers. After I joined a public relations agency and embarked on a career as a junior consultant, I came to realize that we often engaged social media influencers as one of our PR strategies. Our clients chose this strategy to build brand awareness and were really satisfied with the results. I also noticed that followers believed everything they said. All they needed to do was to produce interesting content according to individual their style.

Social media are really promising as a business solution. It is small wonder that many people nowadays are trying to manage their social media accounts as businesses as doing it is really simple and fun. During my time at Praxis, I approached several social media influencers as I developed PR plans for clients. I asked them about their rates, and the number often shocked me: IDR 10,000,000/ social media post. What??? 

This sounds like easy business, but social media influencers have a big responsibility. They have “followers” who will see them as role models and will follow every trend they set and every opinion they have. This is why they need to maintain their content as a positive and credible reference for their followers. From the perspective of a PR consultant, we expect to get honest opinions from social media influencers. Once people express interest in purchasing a product or service, their expectations will be met through trustworthy social media campaigns.