It’s All Understood

There is a song by Jack Johnson titled It’s All Understood. I think about the song a lot and how it pertains to social media, brands, and influencers.

The first verse and chorus are:

Everyone laughed at her joke
As if they'd never even heard it before
And maybe they were truly amused
But every word that she spoke was a bore
And maybe it's because they had seen
The previews on the TV screen
Well this part is good and that's well understood
So you should laugh if you know what I mean
But it's all relative
Even if you don't understand
Well it's all understood
Especially when you don't understand
Then it's all just because
Even if we don't understand
Then let's all just believe

I see the content that influencers put out and a great deal of it is thin and easy to digest but not necessarily deep or eye opening. Much of it does not force you to think. It is perfect for generating likes and comments. People want to appear to be on the same wavelength and in the accepted community of these influencers. If you would ever question one of their posts, they have an army of people ready to call you out and question what right you have to challenge such a brilliant and wonderful person.

What if a junior marketing associate with only 60 followers would have written the same thing as an influencer? Would it have been like and shared so much? Probably not. It’s tough to be the first follower. It’s disheartening that there are people out there writing some really killer that we’ll never know about because of the size of their followers. 

I understand becoming an influencer takes many years of publishing and connecting with the right people who can amplify your message. I wish more of us (and platforms) would seek out those with brilliant ideas but smaller followings. When you come across such content, I hope you have the courage to be the first one to like it. We don’t just have to follow the crowd.