Influencers continue to be a part of many brand marketing strategies. With a tight-knit community of followers, social media influencers have been able to foster authentic connections and trust among their audiences. Making their platforms a great environment to raise awareness around ongoing world issues and even promote a charity close to their heart.
Yet in today’s environment where politics and social concerns are increasingly polarising, many prefer to stay silent to avoid the risk of a backlash. However, this also comes at a price, with many influencers being call out for remaining silence on important social issues, being labelled as “out of touch”, as a result.
So how can content creators show their support to a particular cause, while not alienating a part for their audience?
The power of influence
Trust is the foundation of the influencer-audience relationships. Audiences support influencers on the premise that they are receiving honest, trustworthy recommendations in return. An influencer showing their support to a particular cause can be incredibly powerful, when done authentically
On the surface, influencers can be thought to have the sole purpose of establishing trends and even driving consumerism but their influence spreads much wider than this. They have been and are continuing to shape opinions and open up discussions around mental health, environmental, social and political awareness.
Brands are increasingly discovering that consumers expect them to follow in the same footsteps, by standing for something bigger and supporting social issues, as long as it is done in a meaningful way. According to recent research by HypeAuditor, 74% of influencers we surveyed claimed that cause-related content resonates well with their audiences. This sets a whole new criterion for meeting marketing needs.
When it comes to deciding which causes they want to support, our research shows that influencers are most concerned about mental health awareness (53%), environmental sustainability (46.3%) and health and wellness (45.5%). Often influencers will want to work with charities that align with their own interests and concerns.
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Standing for a cause beyond the bottom line
Through expressing concern for topics that resonate with audiences, influencers are able to raise awareness while providing support for their loyal followers. However, despite the fact that most influencers (74%) agree that cause-related content resonates among their audience, only 34% of creators have partnered with charitable organisations.
In most cases, the lack of influencer-charity collaborations boils down to financial aspects. While some influencers are happy to prioritise the altruistic nature of collaborating with a charity and focus on the positive impact, others approach these collaborations from a self-serving perspective. According to our survey, 18% of content creators would prefer to receive financial compensation for their time, effort and influence when collaborating with a charity.
By giving priority to their business bottom line, rather than showing support voluntarily to a charity close to their heart, influencers run the risk of looking unauthentic to their audience. This selfish approach can be detrimental to content creators, especially as paid collaborations need to be clearly labelled as such in most countries.
As such, influencers should always remain authentic to what they believe and only show support to causes they care about. This is especially important as followers will steer away from any creators if what they post is not genuine enough.
Purpose-driven collaboration
Influencer marketing can be an extremely effective way for charities to engage with their target audience. With thousands of influencers tailoring their content to best suit the interests of their followers, charities are able to work with influencers who can spread the message to the right people.
More recently we are seeing that charities prefer to collaborate with influencers through video content or even by organising charity fundraiser events, with a significant 53% of influencers opting for this approach. This is different to the more traditional route of larger celebrity campaigns; influencers are able to speak directly to their audience and explain their thoughts around the topic in an authentic way.
Influencer–charity collaborations can be complex. However, at a time when charitable giving is under pressure, charities can benefit hugely by working with influencers. With thoughtful, purpose-driven collaboration, both charities and influencers could benefit from improved social engagements successfully and authentically earning the attention of their most effective audiences.
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