Why does BCC think that influencers could help with climate change?
Influencers and content creators have the advantage of trust, people follow them and sometimes know more about the influencers than they do about certain of their friends. So they just feel very close to the influencer.
If you admire someone and can relate to that person you have easier access to what that person has to say. In addition to the trust, the influencer also has the power to reach wide and broad audiences, sometimes millions of people.
In my opinion, they are the best output source to create awareness for social challenges – like climate change.
Does BCC think that influencers are willing to stand up for social causes?
Like all humans every influencer is individual, also in the future, there will be a heterogeneous landscape of content creators.
But the Gen Z in particular and many influencers, in general, have always been political figures. It started already 10 years ago when influencers have protested against gag contracts of some content networks which basically exploited the young content creators. After that, you saw influencers standing up against hate speech.
And over time they also addressed topics outside the influencer bubble like sustainability, equality like fights against racism and standing up for LBTQ rights, and of course, they also created huge awareness for climate change and vaccination against Covid 19.
Which influencers stand for socially engaged causes?
In the US Olivia Rodrigo came to the White House and stressed to the public the importance of getting vaccinated. We are talking here about an 18-year-old woman, that’s just incredible.
In our portfolio of Brazilian influencers there’s a 12-year-old boy called Adriel, he stands up for better education in Brazil and became a victim of racism: A user told him to go and work on the field instead of reading books because he’s black. Adriel – again he’s 12 years old – stood up against that idiot and created nationwide awareness for the topic of equality.
In Italy, you have Chiara Farragni and her husband Fedez dominated the news through their campaign for LGBTQ rights and raised millions to support hospitals during Corona.
Also in Germany, there’s a YouTuber called Rezo who reached more than 20 Million people telling them how the current German government has missed addressing important climate change regulations.
Why does BCC think there have been so many people standing up for sustainability, equality and co. just recently?
I think there are 3 reasons: First, the upcoming Gen Z is much more political than the Millenials, the examples I named like Adriel or Olivia Rodrigo are just a few. There are so many more clips on TikTok and co. that generate awareness for these problems.
Second, climate activists like Greta Thunberg have become big also through social media. I believe that Fridays for Future has a huge influence on a whole generation and so also on content creators. They feel like standing up for something is worth it.
Third, social media and influencers are a global phenomenon and we just face many problems that have an effect on the whole globe and these topics are incredibly controversial discussed. The first of these was probably US President Donald Trump – I think everyone had an opinion on him. After that, we face now Corona and climate change. These are not problems of a single country, these are problems of a whole planet.
Will the number of political posts increase among influencers in the future?
In the past months and years, social media and also influencers have become more and more important. I think nowadays there’s a higher chance that a kid knows Charlie D’Amelio or Logan Paul better than for example Julia Roberts. The influencers know that and with great reach comes great responsibility.
Influencers always talk about what matters to them personally. Lately, Corona and climate change have had huge effects on all of us personally, so also on the influencers. Content creators will talk with their fans if they had a loss in their family because of Corona, they will talk about storms and higher sea levels that are caused by climate change.
As influencers become more important and huge global challenges come closer and closer I’m almost sure that the number of influencers that have a political standpoint will increase.
How do brands need to react to that when working with influencers?
Today you need to make background checks for every influencer as an agency. If you are having one influencer in your portfolio that says something close to conspiracy theories that are a threat for your whole team of influencers and for the agency itself.
Like we advise brands to have an always-on influencer strategy, we as agencies also need to be “always-on” monitoring the sentiment of our influencers and being in close touch with them – because only then the brands can 100% rely on an agency.
If a brand is not working with an agency, then they need to do the background check themselves. To do that I would advise building up a whole in-house team for influencer marketing, otherwise, that’s hardly doable.
When we’re talking about the influencer fit, then not much has changed. In the past years, the campaigns that work best is when the values of the brand are the same as the values of the influencers – so communication between the two parties agency/ influencer and brand is key.
If you don’t do that then the results can become much worse for both parties: Trust is the most valuable asset the influencer has. If he works with a brand that doesn’t fit the community he will lose trust, and not only the campaign will become unsuccessful, also the brand and the influencer will probably face a shit-storm.
That’s one of the worst things that can happen to a brand.
So monitoring the influencers constantly and choosing partnerships carefully will become very important in the future.
Bold Creators Club can keep you updated to new features TikTok is testing
Dealing with social media influencers is not always easy. Actually, most of the time, companies and influencers can’t communicate clearly, as there is a lack of a cultural, linguistic, and social bridge that connects both.
When it comes to Latin influencers, this communication barrier is even bigger. Not only because a lot of people in countries like Brazil or Colombia don’t English, but also because these countries are highly multicultural, with cities with completely different styles, slang, social and cultural movements within the country.
In the case of Brazil, this aspect is so strong that there are even completely different cultures within the same city, in big metropolises like São Paulo or Rio de Janeiro.
It is really hard to keep up with the constant changes in the pop culture and in the internet world, so contacting an agency whose job is to always be updated about what the influencers are doing, how is the stability in the country, and more important information for your company, is the best strategy.