Have you heard about Instagram’s latest influencer sensation? His name is Omar, but as of today, there are 256,000+ people who know him as “@JustAConstructionGuy.”
He launched his page last month as a sort of dare from his daughter, and as I write this blog post, his page is growing by hundreds by the minute. When I started writing this, he had 249,000 followers; now just 10 minutes later he’s at 256,000.
If you work in social media or as an Instagram influencer, you know that this kind of growth is absolutely unheard of. There are people who have worked tirelessly for years to grow their fan page and might gain just a few hundred fans per year. As a Genie, it is my full-time job to help brands yield this kind of growth, but sometimes the secret sauce seems to be completely, never-in-a-million-years-would-have-guessed unpredictable.
Apparently, what the world was craving this summer was an unconventional influencer who doesn’t look anything like your SomethingNavys or your GalMeetsGlams. Instead, he’s a middle-aged construction worker named Omar who loves coffee breaks, tacos, and copying the latest Instagram photo trends. Take these photos, for example:
For someone who is so new to the space, I’m amazed at how he seems to be absolutely nailing it.
He’s tagging the right pages, using the right photo editing skills, and optimizing his captions for Instagram. Well done, sir. Well done.
I can’t help but think there’s a teachable moment here. Maybe the world is tired of seeing the same predictable influencer photos time and time again. The pretty and polished thin woman with the green smoothie and yoga mat. The gorgeous blonde posed perfectly on the edge of a mountain, hair flowing in the wind. The breathtaking family photo with the most adorable children on the most beautiful island. The palm trees. The matcha lattes. The flat lays. We’ve seen it all– at least we thought we had until we saw a construction worker create a #TakeMeWithYou photo in front of orange and white traffic barriers. There’s something about it that is undeniably refreshing and unexpected and it goes without saying that I’m not alone in feeling this way.
At Gossip Genie, we’re going to take this teachable moment as something to make note of for our influencer partnerships. It seems the Internet is ready for something different; something a little more unexpected than flat lays and lattes. We’ll start brainstorming. Stay tuned!
