Why De-Influencing is still Influencing

You’ve heard of "influencing," but have you heard of “de-influencing”? A new TikTok trend is circulating the internet, inspiring a frugal, minimalist lifestyle.

Since the beginning of 2023, TikTok creators have started a new trend tagged as “de-influencing”. 

De-influencing is believed to represent a return of agency to consumers. And as of writing this post, the trend has already gathered more than 100 million views. 

Instead of influencing viewers to buy a certain product, influencers will tell viewers they do not need to buy the product at all, and urge followers to decrease consumption and hoarding of products. 

De-influencing is apparently about limiting consumption and addressing the economic crises and environmental damage caused by overconsumption. For example, instead of buying six foundations from different brands, de-influencers will only recommend one, most often a cheap yet high-quality item.

What makes de-influencing popular?

One reason for the popularity of this fast-growing trend is that it makes consumers believe they regain more autonomy over their purchases. Influencers now motivate their followers to think twice about their next impulse shopping spree.

They now dare to share their honest opinions about brands and why a higher price tag does not necessarily mean better quality.

De-influencers will even openly criticize products and instead suggest cheaper and better options. Even they are aware of the inflated prices for most basic products, such as food and gas, and therefore do not wish to burden their followers even more by promoting expensive and excessive products.

The theory follows that people want to spend their hard-earned money more meaningfully, and de-influencing inspires the concept of being happy with less.

Today’s audience can easily see through sponsorships and is looking for authenticity in influencers. Moreover, users prefer to see a balance between organic and paid content, instead of paid-only content.

The irony of de-influencing

The de-influencing trend has unintentionally become a way for low-cost brands to shine through. Consumers are encouraged to save money and buy less, which is why low-cost alternatives are seeing greater growth opportunities.

And ironically, these de-influencers are promoting cheaper alternatives without being part of paid sponsorships.

How might brands be affected by this trend?

De-influencing may now force brands to change their tactics, and they might be more wary of future paid partnerships with influencers.

They may also turn more towards micro-influencers, who are more closely connected with their audience, compared to big influencers whose profiles are overflowing with sponsored content.

To avoid the negative effects of the de-influencing trend, brands need to listen to feedback from their consumers and be cautious of their marketing strategies without having it backfire on them. This also requires synchronizing communication between marketing channels.

It's also worth noting that the #deinfluencing hashtag was mostly used by millennials and Gen Zers respectively, implying that brands should rethink their marketing tactics for the coming generations.

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