The Micro-Celebrity Economy: How Influencers Impact the Restaurant Industry

By: Victoria Mazzella

Capstone in DCIM Spring 2016

Introduction

In the 21st century, anyone with Internet access has the ability to have a voice, make a

statement, and attain fame. In fact, many Internet celebrities (or “micro-celebrities”) have grown

to the stature of A-list stars in the eyes of millennials. Internet celebrities, specifically from have

become household names with the ability to influence their fans tremendously, and what we see

now is the micro-celebrity in mainstream media. With this shift in celebrity culture, a shift in

branding occurs. For decades, we have seen traditional celebrities promoting consumer goods

and services and now micro-celebrities are joining the A-listers in this branding space.

The micro-celebrity has changed celebrity culture in ways that extend much further than

who we see on TV and in magazines. It is a millennial trademark that is a result of self-branding

through social media. No longer is social media merely a way to socialize with friends and

family. It is also a creative outlet for self-expression and can be viewed as an extension of the

self. Millennials are both the cause and effect of this fairly new celebrity economy that requires

participants to create and rely on their individual brand.

Micro-celebrities are “micro,” in that their fame is not a result of the big screen. Mainly,

they exist on social media. In terms of success, the conditions of success for micro-celebrities

differ from those of the standard A-list celebrity. Micro-celebrities are not measured by the

success of their albums and films or the number of Grammys or Oscars. It seems that the success

of micro-celebrities is determined by factors such as “relatability” and authenticity.

Micro-celebrities are famous for being themselves and have the responsibility to

consistently maintain that brand for their followers. There is a balancing act that happens in

which one has to maintain him/herself as a brand and appease followers but still be true to

themselves in order to remain authentic. This idea of authenticity is especially important when a

company decides to utilize micro-celebrities as ambassadors and spokespersons for its brand.

Today, there is a micro-celebrity that represents any specific audience imaginable and

that celebrity becomes the connection between a brand and that target audience. This allows

brands to target specific audience groups for certain collections or campaigns and there are clear

opportunities for financial growth. Reaching out to an influential micro-celebrity allows for more

specific targeting at a much cheaper cost. Even President Barack Obama worked with a team of

YouTubers to create original content with the goal to market Obamacare in 2014 (Spangler,

2014).

While there are many successful micro-celebrities in industries such as music and

comedy, I specifically study those in the food/restaurant community that run personal blogs and

Instagram accounts. Social media has played a huge role in the growth of the “foodie”

community. Facebook newsfeeds are flooded with video recipes, #food has more than 190M

posts and #eeeeats has more than 2M posts on Instagram, and everyone is looking for the next

best spot for the trendiest dishes. Food trends are more apparent than ever before and showcasing

a trending restaurant on Instagram is equivalent to showcasing a designer purse.

In this paper I look at what happens when the self becomes a brand, and how restaurants

are utilizing this as a way to market their goods and services. This phenomenon also extends

beyond branding, as there is a new market for consumer loyalty and the connection between a

consumer and a brand. There are ethical questions to be considered, such as how we understand

friendship and how we receive advertising messages. The purpose of this thesis is to explore this

shift in terms of how micro-celebrities distinguish themselves from mainstream celebrities, their

relationship with followers, how they maintain their brand, and how they work with restaurants. I

propose to answer questions regarding what this shift says about society, and what this shift

means for the future of marketing.

What is hypothesized is that the model of business in which micro-celebrities work is

much simpler than traditional models of media, celebrity, digital reputation, and immaterial labor

proposed in the past. Micro-celebrities appeal to the emotion of consumers, who ultimately have

the upper hand in this digital economy. I believe there are certain moral values that must be

upheld by both brands and micro-celebrities in order to successfully market to consumers.

Research Design: Influencer Interviews

For this research I conducted 3 interviews with social media influencers within the food

category and at different levels of “celebrity.” Each influencer utilizes different social media

platforms as well. I asked questions in terms of personal views on micro-celebrity, personal

experience as a micro-celebrity, and experience in working with restaurants. Some of these

questions include, “What is micro-celebrity to you?” “How do you see yourself as a micro-

celebrity?” “How do you balance your online brand with your personal life?” and “What is your

experience in working with outside brands?”

EatingNYC

EatingNYC is the brainchild of restaurant publicist and food writer Alexa Mehraban. She

is a born and raised New Yorker who started a food-writing career for Guest of a Guest and then

her blog in 2014. Now, she works at Tacombi restaurants doing restaurant communication. Since

the start of her blog, she has garnered a following of more than 150,000 Instagram users.

NYCFoodGals

NYCFoodGals was started by four friends (who wish to remain nameless) in their mid-

20s living in NYC’s midtown east and upper-east-side. The Instagram account started when the

four girls first moved to the city but since then has gained more than 155K followers and a

clothing line featuring t-shirts with quotes such as “Fries Before Guys” and “Eating is My

Cardio.”

Food and New York City

Food and New York City was started by Melissa Ponce de Leon, originally a beauty and

fashion blogger and YouTuber. Melissa focuses her Instagram on any and all things lifestyle

related and YouTube specifically on fashion and beauty, but focuses her blog on recipes and

restaurant reviews. She currently has more than 51K Instagram followers, 37K Twitter followers,

87K Facebook likes and 189K YouTube subscribers.

Findings:

It has become quite clear that for social network sites self-expression is a business. Sarah

Banet-Weiser (2012) coined the term “lifecaster,” one who consistently and constantly

narrativizes the self, as a lucrative career option. However, there are specific qualities that are

required for one to pursue “lifecasting” as a career. After conducting and analyzing each of the 4

interviews, it was found that responses could be divided into 3 categories: authenticity,

relatability, and labor.

Authenticity

In the contemporary US, building a brand is about building an affective authentic relationship with a consumer, one based -- just like a relationship between two people -- on the accumulation of memories, emotions, personal narratives, and expectations. (Banet-Weiser, 2012) Authenticity and branding go hand in hand. We live in a generation where people no

longer accept fake offerings from slickly marketed phonies; they want real offerings from

genuinely transparent sources (Gilmore & Pine II, 2007). All four ladies discussed the

importance of authenticity in creating an online brand for consumer consumption. It is a topic

that has been discussed a lot in both the context of branding and celebrity. Even William

Shakespeare addresses authenticity in Hamlet with Polonius’ famous monologue,

This above all, - to thine own self be true; And it must follow, as the night of day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.

In this, we find two standards of authenticity: 1. Be true to your own self and 2. Be who you say

you are to others. Marwick & Boyd note it as a display of the hidden inner life, complete with

passions and anguish (2011), and a locally, temporally situated social construct that varies

widely based on community (2010). When simplified, it comes down to what is real versus what

is fake.

In 2006, Time Magazine made “You” Person of the Year, as the growth of social media

during that time allowed for a type of communication and self-branding possible that was not

available before. Time noticed that the amateur contributors of these social networking sites

“have kind of just-plain-folks authenticity that the professionals just can’t match” (Gilmore &

Pine II, 2007). This concept still holds true. Micro-celebrities start out as just an average social

networking contributor, which sets the stage for “plain-folks authenticity” at the start. However,

it is important for a micro-celebrity to maintain that.

While authenticity may seem as if it comes naturally, there is a lot to consider when

building and maintaining the self as a brand. It is first and foremost important to establish your

identity as a brand.

All bloggers created a brand with a specific identity in mind. NYCFoodGals stated that

their brand happened organically. They wanted to document their food journey living in New

York City and gained a following.

We started the Instagram page when the 4 of us moved into the city together. We all share a love of food. We love trying new restaurants and keeping up on the food scene so

NYCFoodGals became our way of documenting our foodie adventures. We were lucky enough to gain followers who share our food obsession.

Simply, the four friends were “plain folks” who documented their experience in the New York

City food scene and members of the Instagram food community liked what they saw.

Melissa created her blog because she felt that her audience favored her food-related posts.

She realized her already strong following of fashion and beauty lovers had an interest in her

where she ate in New York City.

I did it because people loved my food posts. I like sharing that with people and sharing my restaurant and New York City experiences. There are so many restaurants in the city and it can get overwhelming for people.

Melissa noticed that her food-related Instagram posts were receiving some of the highest

amounts of engagement. Followers were asking where she was and tagging friends expressing

the desire to go to that restaurant and New York City. Melissa knew that for people traveling to

NYC, looking for places to eat be an overwhelming process with so many options.

Each of the 3 bloggers interviewed expressed how they want their personal brand to

impact others, which proves that authenticity is not just dependent on how that person or

business acts, but also dependent on how it is received by others. This could be compared to

Gilmore & Pine II’s outline of another type of authenticity, influential authenticity (2007). This

genre appeals to personal aspiration and betterment of the self, and collective aspiration. In the

context of businesses, or in this case micro-celebrity appeal, it answers the questions “What

aspirations can individuals can you help fulfill?” and “What shared aspirations among customers

can you help achieve?”

It’s all about creating your own brand, own values, aesthetic and voice, and sticking to that. I want to be a reliable source for people visiting NYC looking for restaurants- fine dining to more casual restaurants. I want to appeal to a large demographic and being a voice people trust.

This attention and concern for consumers and fans is important in building a connected, engaged,

and loyal following. In her interview, Alexa was clear about the personal and group aspirations

of having pleasurable experiences.

Two factors important in determining authenticity are skill and knowledge. Since micro-

celebrities and social influencers are noted as “experts” within their genre, these two traits are

important as they serve as validation behind the title. For example, you wouldn’t trust anyone

with medical advice as much as you would a doctor. Alexa attributes her knowledge to her

career.

I started my blog for fun in January 2014 while I was a food writer for Guest of a Guest and one thing let to another. I also worked in the restaurant industry as a publicist for the agency Bullfrog + Baum and now I work at Tacombi restaurant group doing restaurant communications. I’m familiar with the industry and am constantly exposed to new places, chefs, and dishes.

Another important factor related to authenticity is transparency. It is important for micro-

celebrities to be open and honest to their followers. It is extremely important to disclose when a

post is sponsored or when products discussed are sent for free. In this industry, you can’t have a

restaurant post without a restaurant. However, the context in which the restaurant is promoted

matters. There are three types of online content:

Organic Content: This is uncompensated content in which an influencer mentions a brand of his or her own accord. The motivation can be that an influencer has an experience -- positive or negative -- and feels compelled to share with followers. This type of content can also be for the followers’ benefit. For example, an influencer can post a photo of his or her meal and followers are interested in knowing where it is from. While it is not sponsored by any brand, the influencer mentions the restaurant for the followers’ knowledge. Earned Content: This type of content is through the work of a brand. A brand may send a press release or invite the influencer to dine. Sometimes, restaurants will host press nights specifically for writers and bloggers. The influencer does not receive any monetary compensation and may decide whether or not to write about the restaurant. Paid Content: This option is when the restaurant pays a celebrity to post on its behalf. This type of content is usually presented in the form of a sponsorship or partnership, and

is usually contractual. Typically, this type of content is a feature solely on that restaurant packaged as either a YouTube video, long blog post, or series of social media posts.

This has been a widely discussed topic for the millennial generation. We see a concern in the

documentary film, Generation Like, that brands are pushing consumers everywhere and

especially on the digital space. Brands, according to the documentary, are exploiting kids who

want to be Internet famous. However, while the Federal Trade Commission recommends

disclosure of paid content, influencers are morally obligated to their fans to disclose such

information regarding earned and paid content. We can see an example of transparency in

Alexa’s recent blog post discussing Conrad Hotels. In her post, Alexa explicitly states that it was

sponsored by the hotel.

One of the main differences between traditional celebrity endorsements and micro-

celebrity endorsements is the authenticity behind it. For the most part, consumers realize that

while Selena Gomez is a Pantene spokesperson, she does have a personal stylist and she may not

actually use Pantene. Micro-celebrities do get some criticism for brand pushing, especially now

when there are so many people who are social-media famous. However, interviewees discussed

their method in working with outside brands and attribute how influencers work with brands to

achieve success.

When you are a blogger, restaurants will invite you in. I will only go to restaurants I am interested in prior to the invitation, or after doing some research and feel intrigued. But you don’t have to go to every restaurant that invites you! – Alexa

I get shocked sometimes when certain brands reach out to me because I’m like, ‘Why the hell are they even reaching out to me?’ I’ll have super expensive restaurants reaching out to me and I’m like, ‘You can clearly tell that I don’t write about that.’ So it makes no sense for them to reach out to me when that’s not what I am. – Melissa

Before being transparent to their following about earned and paid content, each interviewee talks

about being transparent and honest with the brand in question. Gilmore & Pine II list 5 different

authenticity axioms. However, axioms 4 and 5 can be compared to this type of transparency.

Axiom 4: It’s easier to render offerings authentic, if you acknowledge they’re inauthentic.

Axiom 5: You don’t have to say your offerings are inauthentic, if you render them

authentic.

What these axioms are essentially saying is if you acknowledge something is inauthentic, it is

easier for it to come off as authentic and you don’t have to say your offerings are inauthentic if

you present them as authentic. By being transparent with what content is earned and paid, you

are still able to maintain authenticity. As Generation Like states, there is no such thing as “selling

out” anymore.

It is important to find a balance in sharing organic content versus paid content. In

Generation Like, YouTube superstar Tyler Oakley stated it is important to provide genuine

integration whenever it works, but minimal integration because consumers can always tell if a

YouTuber is pushing a brand.

Finally, motivation is key in determining micro-celebrity authenticity. When an

influencer loves what he/she does, it impacts work ethic and is reflected in final product and

attitude.

It’s important when you’re blogging and YouTubing that you really love it. It’s important to be a nice person because brands will love working with you and people will want to follow you. It’s important to be genuine and authentic to who you really are and do it because you like it. – Melissa

Trying new food trends and restaurants is genuinely our hobby. Our Instagram page is a pat of our personal lives. Even our clothing line is a fun way to express our love of food and connect with our followers – NYCFoodGals I genuinely love it so much, even with my long days of work. It’s not always easy. It’s time consuming but l love it. – Alexa

Relatability

Relatability and authenticity go hand-in-hand- an influencer can’t really be relatable if

they are not authentic. You establish your brand identity (or niche), you are authentic to your

brand, your brand determines your audience, and thus, your audience feels a sense of relatedness

to you.

You have to engage with people on Instagram and get involved with the community. It’s so important to build a relationship with your audience. – Alexa

Having a clear brand identity and a niche is especially important in building relationships with

the audience. With social media, virtual friendships are more apparent now than ever and users

can become friends with people all over the world. The ways in which micro-celebrities

communicate with their followers mirror any type of online relationship/friendship. Many people

have “friends” on Facebook and followers on Twitter/Instagram whom they do not know. These

online relationships with random people are very similar to the relationships people have with

micro-celebrities but intensify as the term “celebrity” gets added. We consider these micro-

celebrities to be real people rather than unreachable celebrities. What results is a parasocial

relationship in which fans respond to the celebrity as if he/she was a personal acquaintance

(Marwick & Boyd, 2011). It is an unwritten requirement for success that a micro-celebrity must

interact with his or her audience regularly. The Internet and social networks are utilized to

regulate our social lives, and interaction is determined by who is online, leaves us messages, and

engages with our profiles. Micro-celebrities engage directly with the followers on the same

platforms in the same way you communicate with real-life friends. Since communication must be

consistent, views of friendship change.

Establishing a niche also helps influencers easily determine their imagined audience. For

example, we understand that Melissa’s audience consists of people who are interested in fashion

and beauty as well as food.

Labor

Finally, the topic of labor was widely discussed in my interviews. As previously stated,

micro-celebrities now work within a compensated media environment. They are being treated as

traditional celebrities in terms of partnerships, sponsorships and endorsements; no longer is

contribution unpaid. Micro-celebrity is now a business and must be treated as one. Therefore,

quality of work is important.

It’s very time consuming. Qualities such as good photography and great writing in both posts and even captions are important. I want my followers to associate me with these qualities. – Alexa

The relationship between brands and consumers needs to constantly be made and remade

(Banet-Weiser, 2012). Consistency in both communication and in content is key when building

and maintaining a following, which is why each interviewee emphasized how important it is to

treat it as another job. People always want to see new and interesting content, and consistency

keeps followers loyal and engaged. Interviewees explained how much time they spend on their

personal brands and whether they stick to a schedule.

It’s like a second job. I generally post twice a day; once around breakfast or lunch and once around dinner. I link people to the blog and my SnapChat. I try to engage followers by driving different parts of my brand. – Alexa We post on Instagram 2 times a day and are always going to new places to try out. Because of how our blog is set up, we’ll update it if we find a new place we absolutely love. – NYCFoodGals

I will post on my blog 2-3 times-a-week, I post on Instagram twice a day and Twitter maybe 2-3 times a day. –Melissa

For the most part, each blogger pays for every dish they post themselves and does all of the work

in maintaining her brand on her own. If they do have help, it is mostly in the form of family or

friends. Hiring help can get costly and, according to Melissa, photographers can charge up to

$60-$75. In fact, each blogger utilizes their iPhone cameras more often than not.

The hard work that goes into being an influencer only validates the importance of

motivation. Micro-celebrities don’t start as micro-celebrities. They start as average social media

users that have to invest the time and money. It is apparent that this is a passion for all of these

interviewees, and that passion drove the will to make the commitment.

Conclusion

Consumers understand and expect more than just a tweet promoting a brand. They want

to experience a product before purchasing it and micro-celebrities provide that. Interactivity of

watching a video, speaking to micro-celebrities on social media, an in-depth blog post on a

product allows for consumers to experience a restaurant. The restaurant industry is service and

experience-oriented and with the food community booming like never before, it is apparent that

consumers value experience more than tangible products.

It is also apparent that consumers value authenticity and transparency. Andrew Wernick

argues that the intensification and generalization of the processes of promotion and marketing

produces a ‘promotional culture’, and era of ‘spin’, where what matters most is not “meaning,”

“truth,” or “reason,” but ‘winning’ attention, emotional allegiance, or market share. This has

dramatically changed as the terms he describes no longer oppose each other. Now truth and

reason are what causes winning attention, emotional allegiance, and market share. Gilmore &

Pines II state that people no longer accept fake offerings from slickly marketed phonies; they

want real offerings from genuinely transparent sources. Consumers no longer want just quality

but they want the real deal, and they want authentic experiences. They respond to what’s

engaging, personal, memorable, participatory and authentic. Both influencers and brands

inverted noted that consumers are smart enough to decipher what is authentic versus what is not

and expect to be told so. The relationship with consumers has to be constantly and consistently

maintained, which is why micro-celebrities have to balance their content between organic,

earned and paid. In Generation Like, YouTuber Tyler Oakley stated that while his followers

understand that pushing brands is part of his job, it needs to be kept at a minimal and only where

it fits in his brand- followers know when a brand is being pushed.

I definitely believe that the micro-celebrity will not die in this consumer-driven economy.

Without consumers, there is no business and as consumer expectations are higher than ever

before, I do not see them ever settling for less. For as long as consumers want to be involved, and

people want to engage in immaterial labor, there will be micro-celebrities.

An aspiring micro-celebrity must be prepared for the slow start and be willing to invest a

lot of time and money with no income. It takes consistency and high-quality content to build a

following. One must genuinely love doing it, which is why I find both Hern and Generation

Like’s speculation of motive to be inaccurate.

Individuals generally craft reputation via the self-brand because they hope this work will eventually find its realization in the general equivalent – money; the celebrity industry works ideologically to valorize this hope. And, as the cursory look through the role of feeling-intermediaries above has shown, even where the motivation is the social good, the result remains monetary accumulation. (Hearn, 2010)

Hern questions the role monetary accumulation plays in motivation. She suggests that when

money is the motivation, it diminishes the quality of the relationship between producer and

consumer. The documentary firmly believes that the goal behind this generation “like” is fame.

We see this with the example of the “BabyDouchebag,” who changed his content from

skateboarding to pranking and crude behavior to earn money on YouTube. However, he has not

posted a video since March 2015. It was expressed in both the micro-celebrity and business

perspectives that if the goal is to be famous it will not be successful –consumers know. In terms

of micro-celebrity, selling-out is no longer simply considered to be exchanging morals and

values for money. Selling-out can be rethought of as inauthenticity. Consumers understand that

making money and promoting specific brands is part of the job. However, it is when a micro-

celebrity shifts the balance of content to more earned/paid, is not transparent and honest about

content, and aligns with companies that are not on-brand with the influencer’s personal brand,

that he/she is viewed as “selling out.”

Leo Braudy (1997) wrote that reputation and fame are marked by a contradiction between

uniqueness and acceptance, distinction and commonality, and the desire for transparency

between what one truly is inside and what others see and celebrate. This is no longer the case as

transparency, authenticity, and relatability are required for success in the digital space.

Uniqueness is required in order to be accepted and distinction allows for communities to be built,

which is why brand-identification and finding a niche is important.

We are living in a food culture that is like nothing we have experienced before.

Consumers want unique experiences and unique products, such as the rainbow bagels from The

Bagel Store in Brooklyn, the extravagant milkshakes from Black Tap in SoHo, or the rolled ice-

cream sundaes from 10Below Ice Cream in Chinatown. By utilizing influencers, restaurants have

the ability for word-of-mouth advertising to spread like wildfire and food has the opportunity to

become trendy.

As we transition to this new type of economy, and more and more brands shift to

influencer-centered marketing, there will definitely be more to study. It will be interesting to see

if there will be a time where micro-celebrities are the sole brand-endorsers, if micro-celebrities

still uphold the same values, and if there will be a massive increase in the amount of micro-

celebrities or if there will be different factors for success that arise.

Resources

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