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The NCAA interim policy that took effect July 1, 2021 allows college athletes to receive compensation for the use of their name, image and likeness, also referred to as their “NIL”. These money-making activities must still comply with state laws where the college are located.
The Association had previously banned athletes from receiving payments outside their scholarships and allowances. This practice was supposed to safeguard “amateurism,” the notion that college athletes should not get paid, as they are not professionals.
Before the NCAA change of heart, the Supreme Court had ruled that the Association cannot limit education-related expenditure for athletes. The Court was not convinced of the Association’s stand on keeping the athletes unpaid. Now that the athletes can receive payments for their NIL, companies have quickly flocked to sign them up to promote their products, mostly on social media.
According to Reuters, Walmart
Walmart recently filed trademarks for “Walmart Creator” and “Walmart Creator Collective” which would provide social media consulting for “the promotion of goods and services of others through influencers.” This will be a new competitive support for the company, and a major competitive factor against Amazon
Currently Walmart works with social media influencers to promote groceries and apparel, as well as its loyalty program for Walmart+. Influencers often have a large group of followers on Instagram, You Tube, TikTok and Pinterest. The influencers earn a commission when a customer uses their link to make a purchase.
Social media influencers must make a pact with companies they promote in order to get paid for their effort. Usually, this is the first step in a transaction, according to Matt Gilbert, CEO of Partnerize, a partnership software business. He explained to me that social media influencers usually are the initial step in promoting an item for a company. The influencers often play the role of opener in a sales effort, When the shopper completes their purchases, provided the conversion is attributable to the influencer via a measured click on an influencer's custom link, or a unique code interfered at check-out, then the social media influencer will get their commission as explained to me. Since 2017 Amazon has been actively developing a massive social media influencer team. They have the ability to create their own on-line pages for certain products they recommend from Amazon.com or its marketplace. Amazon has the strongest social media influencer program. The strength of Amazon’s social media influencer program has been an incentive for Walmart to expand their effort.
In addition. Walmart allows third-party sellers to purchase ads from Walmart Connect, the retailers digital advertising business. In 2021 Walmart collected $2 Billion in revenues for its advertising business.
In 2022, influencer marketing will grow to a $16.4 billion industry according to Influencer Marketing Hub, a media quoted by Reuters. This includes efforts by social media influencers, company promotions and other digital efforts.
Most influencers are, as indicated above, are well liked people like the Kardashians, Simone Biles and athletes or entertainment stars. They can amass a fortune because they are liked and because they represent quality merchandise.
Despite the positive image most social media influencer make, The Desire Company suggested to me that there can be a mistrust because of gender age difference between the purchaser and the influencer. They doubt their credibility. Then there are customers who say they purchased a product pitched by an influencer and found a higher quality version of the product after they made the purchase, A third said they never used the product and 25% said the product was defective or broken after they received it. Some the respondent stated that they sent their purchase back.
POSTSCRIPT: The Desire Company comments are all true, customers do return merchandise and may find better quality products after their purchase. However, the point of this article is to highlight the effort major retailers are making to attract shoppers to their site. Retailing has always been very competitive. Much more shopping has been done on-line since the pandemic started and the emergence of more the increasing use of social media influencers is a natural development. Glamour rubs off.
