It happened fast. One day our favorite lifestyle social media influencer was posting photos of herself wearing Gucci sunglasses, holding a Chanel handbag at an exclusive offshore resort. The next, she was posting photos of herself at home, linking to Amazon.com attire. The COVID-19 pandemic almost immediately impacted advertising spending as brick and mortar operations came to a standstill and people clung to their wallets.
Social media influencers, known for curating bright, lively and designer-filled lives found themselves with far fewer sponsorships and a dilemma. They could continue to feature their designer dresses, take a break from sponsored content or partner with less expensive brands.
The question facing social media influencers is how to authentically incorporate advertisements that are in tune with the relative despair of their audience? Will people react positively if they begin to offer clothing suggestions from Amazon.com? Or move slightly outside their typical lifestyles to feature soap sold at Walmart.com?
This is a balance that is tricky to achieve. On the one hand, the influencer survives on advertising. On the other hand, she doesn’t want to alienate her followers who are suffering, scared and not likely to be splurging on Louboutins this summer. One influencer went so far as to note that she would not be linking to her favorite finds in the Nordstrom.com annual sale — a mainstay of social media influencers offering their picks to help customers navigate the retailer’s yearly event — because it was not the time to be spending money unless you really loved something. (And she hadn’t loved anything in the sale, apparently.) It seemed authentic.
Then, in the middle of the pandemic crisis, there was the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. Many social media influencers, regardless of their past and carefully cultivated personas, posted a black square on one of several of their social media accounts in support of the movement. The looming question, do they actually support or care about the movement or are they simply hopping on the bandwagon? Some influencers seemed to receive praise for their support while others suffered a mix of comments and responses from their followers.
One user wrote under the black square post on the Instagram account of a lifestyle blogger, “So curious how you could fathom to make a statement about standing with Black people, when there has never been a single person of color on your page or website — ever. Truly reprehensible and cowardly.”
It is clear from the comment that the influencer, in this case, had been seen as engaging in a bit of social activism that was not perceived as authentic. They had become a sell-out in the eyes of some, regardless of the intention behind their post in solidarity with the movement. An empirical question would be whether this interaction on Instagram was detrimental to the brands the influencer advertised, or to their own personal brand. Perhaps a better question for brands would be if the perceived authenticity of an influencer and his/her posts impacts the brands they advertise?
The COVID-19 pandemic and BLM movement are relevant social issues of the moment and ignoring them seems impossible. People are suffering financially and emotionally. Influencer content will need to begin to reflect that reality. Influencers will have to navigate the balance between remaining relevant and appeasing the brands they work with. A wise strategy for influencers would be to portray themselves as “honest and relatable.” Back to the lifestyle blogger example, if the blogger admits they have never been engaged with or contributed to the issue and says they want to use their voice to contribute to social good by getting the BLM message out through their network, then their content (message) may better resonate with followers.
The advice: be mindful about what you say, make it more relevant, and be authentic!
Eunjin (Anna) Kim, Ph.D., is an assistant professor at USC Annenberg. She is primarily interested in the persuasive power of storytelling in advertising. Other research includes branding and message strategy, persuasion knowledge and digital media effects.
Heather Shoenberger is an assistant professor at Belisario College of Communications at Penn State University.