Th3 Core

Well, at least the travel destinations now sometimes recognize that there IS an internet. I spent 10 years trying to beat that into their heads.  I owned the type-in and they'd get all frothy about some damn 4-color brochure --99% of which ended up trampled in the car floorboard.  I didn't get anywhere with getting the destinations (mostly the attractions) to show an interest until I hired locally- or nationally-recognized print publication writers.

>skew toward young and childless and stay-at-home moms

I wrote a guideline for my writers to use to set their 'voice.'  It said something along the lines of 30-ish, 2 kids, probably white, researching for the family in order to recommend, have heard of the destination but have only been as close as I-95.

<added>
Oh yeah, "and have a dog."  I was ahead of the curve on that one.

>shift

Who's picking that up, Trav? Your print salesmen?

Are You Ready for the Nanoinfluencers?

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/11/business/media/nanoinfluencers-instagram-influencers.html

I have the opposite problem - I run a big science fiction/fantasy reading community. I've repeatedly try to touch base with publishers to get them to send review copies of books, so we can promote them. Barely ever is anyone interested, and whenever someone does it only lasts a few months and then they've moved on to a new department or company without telling us.

At Cannes Lions, street signs warn against influencer content — Quartz
https://qz.com/1649148/at-cannes-lions-street-signs-warn-against-influencer-content/

>>Influencers can’t even influence anymore

General influencers are garbage. But some niche specific ones that are experts in their field? That is a different story.

2 cases in point:

1. A pastry chef I follow said the cheesecake pan she used to recommend wasn't made anymore but there is a different company making a similar one. Guess what went in my cart? I was ordering some pizza pans from the company anyway so now I will have a new cheesecake pan too. I don't have any plans to make a cheesecake any time soon but when I do I will have the proper pan for it.

2. I needed a new brush for my grills. A friend of mine who cooks barbecue at a local restaurant recommended on on his IG feed, I bought it based on his recommendation, and it is now hanging on my grill.

So if it someone a person follows closely in a niche they are passionate about recommends something I still think the influencer thing works. If it is just a Kardashian saying "go buy this crap" I don't see that really working. Neither of these people would categorize themselves as influencers but they sure did influence my buying decisions.

Also, a friend of mine recently asked if anyone had bought anything because of an "influencer". Quite a few people piped in saying yes, they had but he kept coming back with "that isn't an influencer, that is someone you know" or "that isn't an influencer, they are a product reviewer". So there are a lot of definitions of "influencer" out there. Depending on your definition it can either work or it sucks.

And in the links in that article

"I’ve been telling people I’m vegan for ten years, but really for the last four or five I’ve been including animal products and I’m too scared to tell people."

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/j5ymak/rawvana-vegan-youtube-influencers-quit-veganism