What the Deinfluencing Trend Means for Influencer Marketing

The hashtag #deinfluencing has gained 600 million views on TikTok, sparking a conversation about overconsumption and frankly getting popular because its authentic. Creators are telling the truth about everything TikTok made them buy and encouraging people to think before they buy. For example TikToker Alyssa Stephanie made her video “Here are all the things I will deinfluence you from buying,” garnering millions of views, savagely butchering reputed hair brands and ditching the pricey hair oils and Supergoop sunscreen. Clearly more than an influencing trend, its a definluencing trend that is trending!

The authenticity works, and before brands get to the shackle of being deinfluenced, it is important to revisit how influencers can focus on being authentic in their long form videos and livestreams.

An authentic influencer shares personal experiences, stories, and opinions that resonate with their audience. They are NOT aspirational, as celebrities were in the 90s and 2000s, pre-social media. They are more accessible to their followers, communicating in a way that feels genuine.

Authentic influencers maintain consistency in their content and messaging across all platforms. This is not just in their tone of voice, but in their visual setup, in the way their background or home set up is, in the style they maintain. As such, they also refrain from endorsing products or services that don’t align with their values or interests. This ensures that they are never susceptible to the deinfluencing trend, as they work more consistently with what they like.

Trustworthiness is a hallmark of authentic influencers. They are honest with their followers, properly disclosing sponsored content, and only promote products or services they genuinely use and believe in. They also focus on what they like about the product, odd product hacks that they’ve used it for, what they use it for (occasions, holidays, families, etc.) and also, simply, what they don’t like about the products/brands. It is akin to a 4 star review, versus a 5 star review, and that’s what makes it authentic. Influencer marketing is only when brands identify influencers who represent the affluent and fashionable lifestyle to which they want to be associated, particularly in luxury. The fundamental backbone of the deinfluencing trend was in fact that users either lost faith, trust or didn’t enjoy the functionality of the products, so it is important to foster trust from the onset.

Authentic influencers actively engage with their audience by responding to comments, messages, and other forms of interaction. They cultivate relationships and foster a sense of community. They often will host livestreams, go live, or bring the audiences virtually into their homes to meet with families and loved ones. This formulates a connection that is crucial for influencer marketing. We have seen that in many livestreams with buywith, repeat influencers bring in the most value to a brand.

Influencers like Emily (@smalltowneme) and Jessica (LolaMarie7) have repeatedly worked with buywith and have been able to engage in a fantastic, humorous and authentic way with their audiences in their niches of home and crafts, and fashion and beauty, respectively. For us at buywith, they add the most value to the brand!

Authentic influencers demonstrate a genuine passion for their niche and possess in-depth knowledge about the topics they cover. This could be visual – having a consistent look and feel. It could be just delivering on knowledge about a topic they love – be it beauty, fashion, lifestyle. They are driven by more than just financial gain, genuinely caring about the content they create and the community they’ve built. This, again, comes to the forefront in livestream shopping, where audiences are used to what an influencer is going to present, which we see in our repeat influencers.

To learn more about how buywith works with content creators from our community to drive conversions with livestream shopping, click here.