I learned a new word today

“Wiseacre”: A person with an affectation of wisdom or knowledge, regarded with scorn or irritation by others; a know-it-all. 

This is a word that applies to most influencers on social media, to be honest.

There are a lot of people–usually younger folks– who have this obsession with looking rich & successful. These wisacres put on a show to give viewers the impression that they are more successful than they really are.

These kids see all these people on TikTok, Instagram, Twitter throwing around their lifestyles and want to do the same. To add to their status, wiseacres give life and business advice–advice that they are unqualified to give.

Danish Qasim succinctly captures the problem. His post is about influencers in the Muslim community but the phenomenon is the same in the wider business/entrepreneur space:

“An influencer culture has no concept of intellectual ethos. The quickest people to appropriate a trend become leaders. They are content creators, so being active and keeping an audience engaged is the goal. Influencers know they are in a trendy and fast paced world so they ‘bite size’ information. They are in a game of likes and shares. Muslim influencers can gain a following through slap stick humor, lip synching, outlandish or provocative takes on marriage, and then appeal to our sentimentality for sages of the past and we fawn over it–oblivious to the aesthetic incongruence of seeing a hikam [maxims] of Ibn Ata’illah placed between a “Don’t Worry” post and yesterday’s cheeseburger. It’s instant ilm [knowledge] for the button generation.” 

Now, this isn’t to say influencers bring nothing to the table. The women tend to be quite pretty and the men tend to be rather charismatic .

There’s nothing wrong with these advantages. If you’ve got it–flaunt it.

But looks and charisma will only get you so far.

A lot of these wisacres are learning that they can’t get ahead without learning the fundamentals of marketing and business. If you are one of them , you probably noticed a spiral in your sales.

But don’t despair. Everyone has a learning curve.

We here at the Sublime Persuasion Porte have your back.

I’d like yo hear some funny influencer fails from you. Have you seen anything that fits this pattern?