According to a study, an average person spends about at least two hours on social media today. That easily accounts for approximately five years of their lifespan. Following a variety of brands and people have led to an increase in the implementation of influencer marketing.
Influencers have had the advantage of influencing people based on their product reviews and even changing some opinions. As long as they correctly speculate and articulate what their followers want, they have a high rate of relatability. Since it has become easier for an individual to build influencer authority, working with influencers has almost become a common and necessary practice.
Unlike the early days of social media marketing, marketers have realized that their audience isn’t always the ones where they build the community. So it makes more sense that the influencers allow you to filter through the ocean of online content and make a more significant impact on the people who matter the most to your brand.
Influencers with a cause
“With great power comes great responsibility”
Some of these influencers have recognized their power as a responsibility and have not only given back to the society but also inspired others to do so. What are some of the steps a brand has to follow to do a powerful and responsible initiative with an influencer? Here are some go-tos for you:
Are you sure about your content? Choose a path
This is relevant for any general CSR initiative. Does the chosen cause suit your company’s sensibilities? For eg, it makes sense for a school supplies brand to have a pro-education campaign. A good idea for a restaurant chain initiative would be to supply food and other consumables to the less fortunate.
Figuring out your key audience for the campaign would be ideal before you choose the influencer. An ideal influencer for a pro-education campaign would be a pack of parent influencers.
Finding the relevant influencers
Contacting the right influencer agency who understands your requirements precisely would have a huge impact on your campaign. For eg, Greenroom as an influencer agency has worked with multiple brands and provided successful results. Using an agency as a tool to find your influencer would be ideal.
This wouldn’t just help you in spotting the influencer but also a great help with the content.
Engaging with the chosen influencers
Following the influencers will be a great way to anticipate trends and know what your audience is looking for. This will help curate the brand content with a variety of strategies. So, what comes under engaging with the influencers? Do basic briefings on your strategic CSR initiative; Get creative by finding ways to have your influencers contribute to the programs. The more you involve your influencers, the more likely they are to share your story with their audience.
Let’s look at some of the examples of strategic and impactful CSR done by influencers:
Clean and Clear
The brand which is known for its facewash recently launched a campaign #BrightnessforEveryFace. Their tagline “There are the 2000 skin shades in India. And here’s something which brightens them all: Clean & Clean Natural Bright Face Wash!”
Sejal Kumar is a young and popular travel and fashion vlogger with about 419,000 followers. Clean and Clear matched with the YouTuber to create a campaign that combats the Indian version of fair beauty. With over 75% of the Indian beauty products claiming to provide fairness to skin tones, the brand took a very necessary and off-beat path to educate young minds about accepting different skin tones with their campaign #everyFaceIsBright.
Not only was the video a hit, but Sejal shared the making of the video on her platform which gained over 250,000 views.
Craftsvilla
The Indian brand Craftsvilla has recently launched an Instagram campaign #MySareeMyStory which has reached over 2.5 million Instagram users. The brand’s Insta page has also seen a rise of 5000 likes and about 220 engaged and shared posts.
Craftsvilla, the ethnic clothing brand, launched this initiative to encourage women to speak about body shaming. The brand smartly integrated the cause with a show of draping saree that was relevant to its brand as well. About twenty-two bloggers shared the content about this campaign with the hashtag included while wearing a saree.
Also, artists like Jameela Jamil, Mallika Dua have been vocally open about body shaming issues. Even the young superstars of India like Rega Jha of Buzzfeed, Rohan Joshi of AIB fame and Deepika Padukone have been extremely vocal about depression and other mental health issues thus enabling their followers to be more open about it and seek help. Biswa Kalyan Rath, a sensational stand-up comedian has spoken about student suicides by sharing his own story of pressure and low grades.
When influencing is done with compassion, it makes a huge difference.
Your thoughts
Have you ever considered doing a strategic CSR partnership? What has your previous experience been? Do tell us below in our comments section or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to know more.