Lesson video

Hi, there everyone, my name is Ms. Shaw.

Thanks for joining me today.

Today's lesson, we are going to be focusing on Influencers.

So in today's lesson, we're going to be focusing on influencers and what that means.

And also focusing on the definition of paid advertisers.

And being aware that the lives depicted by influencers and the reviews of the products that they give, might not be fully representative of the truth.

This lesson does cover sensitive topics, so therefore, we recommend checking with a trusted adult before starting or doing the lesson with a trusted adult nearby.

Before this lesson, you are going to need an exercise book or paper.

You're going to need a pen, and you're also going to need your brains for thinking.

Hopefully, you've already completed your intro quiz.

Firstly, we're going to be taking a look at what influencers actually are.

And we're going to look at how we are influenced by influencers.

We're going to look at understanding what paid advertisers are and what they do.

And then you are going to cover some key learning points and complete your exit quiz.

So the keywords for this lesson are that influencers are experts with many online followers who can influence purchases.

Followers are users who choose to see all of another users posts.

Likes are the actions taken by followers to show approval.

And paid advertising is where companies pay influencers to endorse them and/or rent space on websites to advertise their products.

Finally, websites are sets of related web pages under a local domain name.

So as a recap from prior learning, two of these keywords were covered in previous lessons.

I'd like you to pause the video here, to have a look through and choose the two correct ones, then resume when you've finished.

So were you correct? Online friendships are those which are made with other internet users.

And catfishing was referring to creating a false identity in order to lure people into relationships online.

Now, the other two which were influencers which were experts with many online followers who could influence purchases.

And paid advertising which refers to when a brand gives an influencer payment for promoting their products.

We're going to look at in more detail in today's lesson.

So in this first section, we're going to look into what is meant by the term influencers and who they actually are.

I'd like you to have a look at this slide, read through the different options and choose which one you think is the correct option.

Pause the video here, and then return to it when you've finished.

So were you correct? It was option three.

Influencers are experts who are able to influence potential buyers of a product or service by promoting them on social media.

I would like you in this next task, to research influencers, who are they and what do they do? And I then like you to produce the list of pros and cons of influencers.

What do you think are the pros and cons of influencers? Pause your task now and then return when you've completed.

So how did your list compare with mine? Well, a social media influencer is a user who has established credibility in a particular industry.

And they can then persuade other people to act based on their recommendations because they have access to a huge audience.

They've got lots of people following them.

So when they post something, they're able to influence those people.

They are authentic because they know a lot about what it is that they're promoting.

And they have the tools to be able to attract many viewers on a consistent basis.

They can also motivate other people to broaden their social reach as well.

Well some of the pros of influencers are that they are more trustworthy of celebrity endorses because they know a lot more about the topic or whatever it is that they're promoting.

So they're an expert in their industry.

They are therefore knowledgeable about the products that they endorse and they can help you make decisions about your purchases too.

So if you're unsure about which brand to choose, for example.

Now the cons are, that quite often, influencers are being paid to promote a product.

So paid advertising, which we'll look at in a bit more detail later.

And they might be endorsing a number of products that are being paid by multiple people to promote and endorse their products.

And it can affect your opinions and your choices.

So you might end up wasting money on something that you didn't actually think was that great because you'd been influenced by one of these influencers.

So in the next section, we're going to look into the ways that we are influenced by influencers.

So in what ways does social media influence what we do? What I'd like you to do here, is to read through the following case study and identify at least three ways that Izzy is being influenced.

So Izzy is 15.

She's fun, she's resilient, she's everybody's best friend.

She likes to keep up with the latest trends and spends a lot of money on the latest hot products.

She follows lots of people on a variety of social media platforms who are all experts or celebrities.

And she's got two part-time jobs, before and after school, in order to fund her purchases, so she's therefore often tired.

Now this affects her mood, and sometimes she feels like she isn't as attractive as the people advertising the products.

Her friends think she's really silly wasting so much time and money and effort on fads.

So I'd like you to pause here to think, how is Izzy being influenced? Oh, how did your list compare with mine? Ways that social media is influencing Izzy in this situation is, is her self image.

So she's unfortunately looking at what everybody else is portraying and often these have been airbrushed and edited to make people look even better than they normally would do in normal life.

It's influencing her opinions about things.

So she's getting maybe a one-sided opinion from a celebrity or an influencer, and she's not able to weigh up the different opinions and different sides of them, which is then affecting her purchasing decisions.

It's affecting her relationships with her friends because it's causing issues with them thinking that she's wasting her time.

And it's affecting her feelings and her mood, 'cause she's often tired and it's making her also feel self-conscious about herself.

It's affecting her ways of learning and how she's communicating with people.

And also the ways that she's spending her time.

So she's been influenced in a lot of ways in this situation.

So what I'd like you to do now is to write this summary about how you think social media could influence your decisions.

In the first paragraph, I'd like you to explain way in which you think social media can influence our decisions.

And I then in the second paragraph, I'd like you to explain whether you think there are positives or negatives or both.

So I'd like you to pause the task, pause the slide here, to complete this task and then return when you've finished.

Through our next section, we're going to look at understanding paid advertising.

So paid advertising means any kind of advertising that is paid for versus owned advertising or any that is earned.

So why do you think companies use influencers to endorse their products? I'd like you just to pause here for a few seconds and think about the reasons why they might want to do that.

First, companies use influencers to endorse their products because they are experts in their industry.

They can reach large audiences.

Consumers are more likely to trust them, and they have an impact on buying decisions.

And they help to build credibility.

Now they're more likely to use influencers for these reasons rather than just having an advertisement for their product pop up on a screen.

So we've all seen them, the little pop ups that come onto your screen and flash up, or you might see a brand coming through on your feed or one of your social media sites, but you don't really know much about it.

Whereas if you've got an influencer or celebrity or anybody who's an expert in their field, telling you that this product is a really good product to use, you're more likely to be influenced into purchasing it, which is why companies like to use influencers to endorse their products.

Read this statement.

Paid advertising is always representative of the truth.

Do you think this is true or false? I'd like to pause here for a second and just have a think about it and think about whether you think it is or not.

I'm hoping you chose false.

This is false because companies are businesses who are trying to sell as many products as possible, and they'll pay for the use of sight space for advertising purposes and they might not have been checked for accuracy.

So we therefore can't believe that what they are saying is actually factual.

So the key learning from this lesson are the influencers are experts who can influence sales and purchases.

There are many ways that we can be influenced online.

Not everything we see being advertised online is legitimate.

And talking to a trusted adult can help especially if we're confused with things or whether we be misled or not.

Now I'd like you to complete the exit quiz to check your understanding of the content of this lesson.

Well done on completing the third lesson in this unit.

Bye for now.