by Stephane Chabas, CUD Media Specialist

BEFORE THE DISCUSSION

As a team, we agreed to meet at least one hour before the event itself; therefore, the majority of us were present at 1:30/ 2:00 PM to make sure that the debate was going to begin and end as planned.

Indeed, we had made sure that the lighting was correctly oriented on the places where the moderator and the influencers were sitting, we communicated with the sponsors of the food, beverages and flowers to bring their products one hour earlier in order to dispose everything in correct manner.

We made sure that the microphones were working, that the backdrop was placed as requested and that the photographer, the videographer, the social media expert and that the event management were there.

The moderator, Ines Ben Saadi, and Soukaina Benlardi, the speaker that had to introduce the event rehearse several times before the beginning of the event.

Mohammed Alansari, Gaia Cianci, Nashwa Ali were working on promoting the event till the time it started, while Iman Karmostaji, Zein Mudarres and Katrina Inyutina were welcoming the students in the Red Theatre.

Doctor Ghada, Ines Ben Saadi, Katrina Inyutina and Gaia Cianci were making sure that the influencers had their own VIP parking and welcomed them to the room next to the theatre that we booked in order to make the influencers sit before the event started. The room was also provided with food from our sponsors and beverages, such as the coffee offered by Iman Karmojstaji and water offered by the university.
We made sure that it smelled pleasant with the bakhoor brought by Katerina Inyutina, so that the university was comfortable and welcoming enough to make our influencers feel special. 

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DURING THE DISCUSSION

The event started around 3:10 and not at the exact timing that we planned, due to gathering of the audience and the influencers on stage.

We proceeded with a small introduction to welcome everyone in the audience and the social media influencers. The brief introduction explained what the event was about and the topics that we were going to be focusing on.

After that, the event was moderated by our colleague until 5:00 PM; she guided the discussion by asking questions to the influencers. 

 

The topics that were discussed during the event tackled the history of the influencers, how they started and what made them want to work in such broad industry. These topics helped the audience know the influencers better and to have a clearer idea about how different people can be and how not all influencers are perfect as social media shows us, rather they are just regular people like us. This helped create some sort of bond between the audience and influencers.

 

After getting to know the profile of the influencers and how they started, the moderator started to go deeper into questions. Some of them were taken from the survey conducted earlier to understand what the audience wants to know about influencer marketing and the people working within this industry, some of which were about the profit, the opportunities, and how influencing affects their personal life, and whether they agree that social media is toxic.

Most of their responses were very positive at how they view social media and how influencers use it in a way that actually can benefit them and the audience, rather than just promote products and services for money and post false content. Moreover, the influencers explained that they simply enjoy connecting to the audience through humor and sharing real life experiences regarding products, services, or even as simple as life advices, so that the audience could get inspired.

They also explained that they do depend on it for profit, and the influencers advised the audience that if this is what they want to do for a living, then they should be very flexible and able to always be consistent with the content they share, as social media is 24/7, it does not sleep. Therefore, people all around the world are on it and they thrive and have an urge to consume, receive new messages and create new trends.
However, it can lead to a sort of addiction which is another issue and matter, that as addressed by the social media influencers, can have bad consequences on people’s mental health.

The social media influencers expressed that even they sometimes suffer from being too attached and influenced by the content on their phones that comes from social media platforms and that they do go offline when they feel like they need to refresh and not miss out on the rest of the world and what is happening around them in reality.

The influencers agreed that they have managed to only use social media for a couple of times a day and the rest is for them and their families, making sure that their day is always balanced and not full of stress due to what type of content should be posted and how many times daily. Saif stated that as long as the content is positive and has a really strong message, it will reach out and it will influence positively others, regardless the number of posts published daily. Even one post a week is fine if it has a major effect.

The influencers agreed that media are the future for advertising marketing.

In particular, when the moderator asked if being an influencer is what they want to do for a living. Our two food influencers stated that being popular on the Internet makes you earn enough money to live, but this is not what they mainly want to do in life; indeed, one of them is a public relations practitioner at Hill+Knowlton, while her friend in an assistant dean in the business department of a university in the UAE. As a consequence, they became influencers more for a hobby, not for a living. Meanwhile, Layan pointed out that we never know when Instagram is going to die like Facebook and other social media platforms, therefore, it is always good to have a backup plan for the future.

 

Each influencer had their role in the discussion. Saif wanted to motivate the audience and create a positive and inspirational atmosphere, Layan was talking about the beauty industry and how social media influencers affect it, Leanne about the fashion field and Namrat and Nancy discussed about the food and beverages industry.

 

Saif’s message, indeed, was that whatever we say on social media has a powerful message, so we have to be careful of what we write because it can change a person’s life in a positive or negative way. Moreover, he encouraged people to believe that we do not need an influencer because we are our own motivation. In fact, influencers should not pretend on social networks or change their character to be more popular. They should be themselves. 

 

The influencer agreed that fitness is another industry, together with fashion, beauty and food, that is constantly increasing. 

Regarding the influencer marketing, they said that it is here to stay because people do not trust advertising or print media anymore, they prefer looking for recommendations provided by peers and young adults just like them. This is why social media influencers tend to affect a young audience more than any other age groups and this is why they should spread positive values, such as education, moral behavior and a healthy lifestyle.

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END OF THE DISCUSSION

By the time the moderator has covered all topics of interest, it was time for the audience to ask what ever questions they are curious to find out the answer for. Some students asked about their opinion regarding other influencers who affect negatively younger generations by  turning them into people that seek being perfect in appearance rather than real genuine human beings. The influencers answered that people should only follow influencers that benefit them and help them learn, grow and think positively, while ignoring the decisions other people make about choosing who to follow, because in the end each and every person knows what is good and what is not good for them.
Social media is a very broad industry that has a diverse community, in which we will have to choose what to accept or reject by going with what works for each of us.
An example on that was given when an audience member stated that she liked reading as a hobby, the influencer then stated that she should focus on learning from authors on social media and focus on following them as they are going to help her in her future career; whereas, if she focuses on other people and on the reason why they are following influencers that have a negative effect, she will just be wasting her time. The influencers also stated that the most important thing when being engaged in such industry is to always be kind, and be your true self because that is what people relate to, rather than pretending to be someone you are not, which does affect negatively both the influencer and the audience on the long run.

 

The event then ended by thanking everyone who was present in the audience and the influencers for participating, and most importantly our professor that gave us such opportunity to express the way we view how an event should be held. After that, we gathered on stage and gave the influencers flowers and an appreciation certificate, thanking them for their time and effort to attending the event and for their engagement with the audience. Then, we proceeded to take pictures and to eat the food provided by our sponsors.
The class members gathered in the study class next to the theatre to discuss with the influencers about the event. Finally, we accompanied them to the parking and greeted them.

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Here are the questions of the discussion panel.