Deinfluencing: New TikTok Trend Explained

Influencer marketing is a buzzword in the marketing and digital world right now. Anyone can work towards becoming an influencer which is why it has become so popular. What are the criteria for becoming an influencer?

To start the influencer journey, you will need to determine what your posting angle is going to be. Are you going to be a lifestyle blogger, travel influencer, foodie, personality, or any of the million small niches you could think of? Influencers regularly create and post high-quality online content to entertain, educate, or encourage their audience to behave in a certain way. Thus the term is influencing.

Next up is that you will need to start gaining a following. The higher number of followers you have, the better off you are in making partnerships and collaborations with brands. You can earn an engaging next, too. The more engaged followers you have, the more the social media platform will choose to push your content.

What is Deinfluencing?

Deinfluencing is a new social media phenomenon where users attempt the opposite of influencer marketing. Their goal is to convince audiences to avoid making a purchase they "don't need." The goal is to prevent the overconsumption of products that are either overpriced or poor quality.

Overconsumption has become a hot topic amongst those of us who are on social media channels. Deinfluencing helps encourage us to consider reevaluating our spending habits.

Deinfluencing Blew Up Overnight on TikTok

TikTok is a space where viewers and creators share their ideas and opinions. It's a more open social media platform than Instagram, where aesthetics and grid patterns have been deemed necessary. The phenomenon of influencers started on YouTube, then trickled into Instagram, and has now made its way to TikTok.

But, with TikTok, a new type of influencer is in the mix.

What's interesting about deinfluencing is that it started gaining traffic around beauty products that people were influenced to buy but never used.

A notable scandal recently was centered around Mikayla Nogueira, a makeup artist accused of faking the final results of a product by wearing eyelash extensions in a video promoting a L'Oréal brand mascara. This video worried people worldwide whether they could trust paid influencers to promote their products.

Deinfluencing leads to people getting more educated about what authentic influencer culture can be like. What loyalty do these influencers have to consumers? In reality, they have none and have their best interest, personally and financially, at the forefront of their decision-making.