Earning livelihood via ‘secret’ advertising

DPA

A bridge reflected in the water below. A young man standing on a rocky ledge. Maximilian Muench took both photos. He published them on his Instagram page. What’s not to like there?
At first glance they might look like ambitious holiday snaps, but in fact Muench was paid for them by the government of a German state, Saxony, where they were taken.
It’s a way of advertising that lots of countries and regions, from Finland to Canada, are using to attract visitors; paying hip Instagramers with hundreds of thousands of followers, so-called influencers, to post pictures of local attractions.
Muench, alias muenchmax, who’s in his mid-20s, has an online following of 317,000 and has been earning his living by posting pictures of his travels since late 2014.
He’s now been to around 40 countries – mostly paid for by the authorities of the places he visited.
For every picture he posts, the German receives a three-to-four-figure sum, he says.
His speciality is colourful pictures of the outdoors in which people appear only as extras.
He gets thousands of “likes” and lots of people comment that it’s thanks to him that they now know where they’re next going on holiday.
Tourist boards are increasingly aware of how powerful social media can be as an advertising tool.
More than 85 percent of visitors to Germany, for example, get their information online before and during their visit, says the German National Tourist Board (DZT).
“Accordingly, social media has established itself as an integral part of DZT’s digital strategy,” says a spokeswoman, adding that an increasing number of the board’s shareholders – package tour companies and regional tourism ministries – want to take part in social media campaigns.
Social media “influencers” often provide access to a target group that can otherwise be difficult to reach – the young.
Around 90 per cent of Muench’s followers are young people, most of whom rarely or never read newspapers any more, according to Frank Wend, director of public relations at Saxony’s state chancellory.
“As an influencer, he (Muench) has considerable reach,” says Wend. Munich’s profile receives around 1.5 million clicks a week.
And it’s not just influencers but also ordinary Instagram uses who get involved in advertising. Many are happy to hashtag their own photos with marketing slogans – more than 37,000 photos have been hash-tagged with Saxony’s slogans, for example, #sogehtsaechsisch and #simplysaxony.
Agencies like Brandnew in Berlin act as intermediaries for advertisers and influencers. The web platform has more than 31,000 influencers on its books, with more than 5,000 specializing in travel.
An advantage of using influencers is that they “can post authentic content that followers trust,” says the agency.
“It’s less in your face,” says Muench, adding that his followers don’t care whether he gets paid for his posts or not.
“People have certain expectations and when they’re fulfilled, they don’t even notice it’s advertising,” he continues.
And therein lies the problems, according to Niels Brueggen, a researcher at the Munich Institute of Media Science.
“It’s a well-known problem that it’s not necessarily clear if the people who post pretty pictures online are being financed by hotel chains or tourism companies,” he says.
Anyone who picks up an advertising brochure assumes they’re going to be shown the highlights, he says, but on social media the lines are blurred.
“There are no regulations on how this kind of advertising needs to be identified,” he says.
The idea that all tourism advertising will one day take place solely on social media is unlikely however, says Wend.
While social media has grown in importance in recent years, older target groups are still best reached via traditional channels such as print media.
The DZT says content created by influencers is in no way a cheap replacement for traditional advertising – just an addition.