In today’s digital age, influencer marketing is quickly becoming the most authentic way for brands to share marketing campaigns that truly resonate with consumers. But, what about diversity in influencer marketing? Why is this important?
Diversity in influencer marketing increases authenticity, creates stronger brand loyalty, improves staff satisfaction and retention, increases return on investment and builds a positive brand reputation. It forms a well-rounded approach to problems faced by a wide range of consumers from a real-life point of view.
In this post, we will be exploring what diversity in influencer marketing means, why it is important and how it can have a positive impact on society. We will also be taking a look at the benefits of brands using a diverse influencer marketing strategy, the challenges involved and how brands can get it RIGHT.
What Does Diversity Mean?
Diversity, in the context of influencer marketing, refers to the inclusion of individuals from various ethnicities, cultures, genders, and backgrounds. It goes beyond just representation and encompasses the idea of embracing different perspectives and experiences. By incorporating diversity into their influencer marketing strategies, brands can showcase their commitment to inclusivity, increase brand loyalty and a stronger brand reputation in the long run.
Diversity is important because it allows brands to tap into various perspectives and experiences. By partnering with influencers from diverse backgrounds, brands can ensure that their marketing campaigns are more relatable and authentic to different segments of their target audience.
Why is Diversity Important in Society?
In society, diversity promotes equality, understanding, and acceptance. When individuals from different backgrounds come together, it fosters a rich and vibrant community where everyone’s voices are heard and valued. By embracing diversity, society can break down barriers, challenge stereotypes, and create a more inclusive environment for all. It allows for the exchange of ideas, perspectives, and experiences, leading to innovation, growth, and a stronger sense of unity among individuals.
What Does Diversity in Influencer Marketing Mean?
Diversity in influencer marketing means actively seeking out and collaborating with influencers from various backgrounds, including different races, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, abilities, and socioeconomic statuses. It means ensuring that the voices and experiences of marginalized communities are represented and amplified.
By embracing diversity in influencer marketing, brands can create a more inclusive and authentic representation of their target audience, fostering a stronger connection and resonance with consumers.
Why Are Diverse Influencer Marketing Campaigns Important?
Diverse influencer marketing campaigns are important because they have the power to challenge societal norms and promote inclusivity. By featuring influencers from various backgrounds, brands can showcase a range of perspectives and experiences, allowing consumers to feel seen and represented. This helps to build trust and loyalty and encourages a sense of belonging and acceptance within the target audience.
They can also help brands reach new and untapped markets. By partnering with influencers with a strong presence in specific communities or niche markets, brands can expand their reach and attract a wider audience. This can lead to increased brand awareness, customer engagement, and, ultimately, business growth.
For example, lots of businesses are missing a massive opportunity by not targeting their disabled consumers. The Purple Pound, which refers to the collective spending power of disabled consumers and their families, is estimated at £274 billion just in the UK.
This shows that embracing a diverse range of influencers can have a positive impact on society whilst improving business performance.
How Diversity in Influencer Marketing Can Have Positive Impacts on Wider Society
Influencer Marketing is a smart business decision for brands, and in the same way that everyone should be represented in TV ads, there should be a diverse range of creators in every brand’s social media campaigns.
When brands collaborate with influencers from diverse backgrounds, they can showcase a more accurate and inclusive representation of society. This can lead to greater acceptance, understanding, and empathy among consumers and contribute to a more tolerant and inclusive society.
By amplifying the voices of marginalized communities, diverse influencer marketing campaigns can help break down barriers and create opportunities for underrepresented groups.
The Benefits of Brands Using a Diverse Influencer Marketing Strategy
Brands can benefit greatly from using diverse influencer marketing strategies. Often, tapping into a wider range of perspectives and experiences can lead to more innovative and creative campaigns. Plus, by collaborating with influencers from different backgrounds, brands can gain fresh insights and ideas to help them stand out in a crowded marketplace.
Using this form of marketing can also have a positive impact beyond a brand’s own efforts; it creates a ripple effect towards a more inclusive society.
So, let’s take a look at five key benefits of using a diverse range of influencers…
1. Increased Authenticity
When consumers see creators who reflect their own identities and experiences, they are more likely to connect with the brand on a deeper level. Furthermore, by involving them throughout the whole process, you’ll be making sure that your campaign radiates authenticity!
2. Stronger Brand Loyalty
As brands authentically engage with influencers from diverse backgrounds, they demonstrate their commitment to inclusivity and representation, which creates a stronger sense of brand loyalty amongst consumers. This is highlighted when targeting younger generations, as it has been shown that those aged ‘18-25 years old take greater notice of inclusive marketing when making purchase decisions.’
3. Higher ROI
Diverse influencer marketing strategies can also lead to a higher return on investment (ROI), as they have the potential to reach a wider audience and generate more engagement. By tapping into different communities and demographics, brands can attract new customers and expand their reach. This can then translate into higher sales and revenue for the brand.
4. Improved Staff Satisfaction and Retention
It is not unusual to see a positive impact on staff satisfaction and retention when a company embodies diversity and inclusivity. When diversity is prioritised within marketing efforts, it sends a message to employees that their voices and experiences are valued. This can create a more inclusive work environment, leading to higher job satisfaction and lower turnover rates. A company may also attract a diverse range of talent through these types of influencer campaigns.
5. Better Brand Reputation
Diverse influencer campaigns can enhance brand reputation and credibility. When brands are seen as inclusive and representative, they are more likely to be trusted and respected by consumers.
The Challenges of Diversity in Influencer Marketing
Whilst there are many benefits, incorporating diversity in influencer marketing also comes with its own set of challenges. One of the main challenges is ensuring authentic representation and avoiding tokenism. Tokensim is when something is done to give the impression that people are being treated fairly, rather than genuinely valuing their opinions and perspectives. It is important that brands do not simply use diverse influencers as something to tick off their checklist, but instead to genuinely embrace their perspectives and experiences.
One way to avoid tokenism is by building long-term partnerships with influencers. Instead of working with diverse influencers on a one-off basis, brands can develop ongoing relationships that allow for authentic storytelling and representation. This not only helps to build trust and credibility with the audience but also allows influencers to have a genuine impact on the brand’s messaging and values.
Another challenge can be finding the right influencers from diverse backgrounds who align with the brand’s values and target audience. This requires thorough research and understanding of different communities to ensure a genuine connection and resonance between the brand, influencer and audience.
A final consideration is the risk of unintentionally causing offence or perpetuating stereotypes, which can cause criticism and backlash. Whilst a brand may have good intentions, they must have a deep understanding of how minority groups wish to be represented. This can be achieved through education around social/cultural nuances and sensitivity training. By actively listening to feedback and continuously learning, brands can navigate these challenges and create impactful and inclusive influencer marketing campaigns.
If you want to represent a specific community, make sure you’re involving members of that community in every step of the process. As we always say at Purple Goat, ‘Nothing about us, without us’.
Brands Getting Diverse Influencer Marketing Right
Brands that successfully navigate the challenges of diverse influencer marketing can create impactful and inclusive campaigns by understanding the importance of genuine connections and resonance with their target audience.
Here at Purple Goat, we have supported multiple businesses around the world, in creating inclusive influencer marketing campaigns.
Some of those examples include:
During this campaign, we sent two travel and lifestyle influencers, @lifeofpippa and @wheelie_good_life, on a three-night trip to the iconic North York Moors. These influencers created exciting content about the accessible activities, accommodations and attractions available at North York Moors. Using the above diverse Instagram influencers was a huge success, with 1,688,125 impressions and 573,453 engagements.
During this campaign, we selected 27 influencers across Goat and Purple Goat, to share their favourite money management features within the app, and explain how easy it is to save and budget with Starling Bank in a way that resonated with their audience. This campaign was a huge success, creating 94 pieces of content and achieving 2,379,724 impressions and 929,517 engagements.
We worked with 5 influencers who are known for creating fun and engaging content. The ‘Tech Hack’ influencers shared interesting tech hacks they use, and ‘Currys No Worries’ influencers shared the Quiet Hour and ShopLive services Currys offer.
The campaign was extremely effective, achieving over 5 million impressions and 1,642,017 engagements. This shows that the information shared and the authentic content style used, resonated well with community.
How Brands Can Ensure They Are Being Diverse and Inclusive In Their Influencer Marketing?
Brands can take several steps to ensure diversity and inclusivity within influencer marketing, including actively seeking out influencers from diverse backgrounds and building long-term relationships with them. This supports congruent storytelling and allows an influencer to build a trusting relationship with consumers over time. Other steps that businesses can take include:
Ensure You Have a Diverse Workforce
A diverse workforce enables a brand to approach problems faced with various perspectives and solutions. This can support marketing teams in having a broader understanding of social/cultural issues and ensure that target audiences are being represented as closely as possible.
Diversity in the workplace also creates an environment in which employees feel safe to express their opinions; this gives birth to innovative and forward-thinking ideas.
Hire a Specialist Influencer Agency
Hiring a specialist influencer agency can also be a valuable strategy for brands. Through using an agency’s knowledge and network, brands can tap into a pool of diverse influencers who can authentically promote their products or services and increase positive brand perception and loyalty.
Here at Purple Goat, we can find the right influencers who can create honest and natural narratives for your brand.
Conduct Inclusive Market Research & Gain Customer Opinions
Brands can conduct in-depth research and collect customer opinions to understand the different communities that they are targeting; this will help to build genuine connections in which brands can authentically represent and engage with their audience.
By actively seeking feedback from their target audience and understanding their preferences, brands can tailor their influencer campaigns and overall services and products, to be more inclusive and representative.
Embrace Negative Feedback
Brands who view negative feedback as an opportunity for growth and improvement, are more likely to succeed when it comes to inclusive influencer marketing. By actively listening and addressing concerns raised by their audience, brands can demonstrate their commitment to inclusivity and make necessary adjustments to their influencer campaigns.
This not only shows a willingness to learn and adapt but also builds trust and credibility with their diverse customer base.
The Future of Diversity in Influencer Marketing
The future of diversity in influencer marketing continues to evolve, and with the disability community being ‘one of the largest minority groups‘, it is likely that brands will continue to weave more people with disabilities into their influencer marketing campaigns.
Brands may begin to explore innovative strategies, such as partnering with micro-influencers from underrepresented communities to amplify diverse voices and perspectives. Or, start monitoring data and analytics more closely to measure the impact and reach of diverse influencer campaigns, providing valuable insight for future marketing initiatives.
Concluding Thoughts – Diversity in Influencer Marketing
Diversity in influencer marketing is quickly becoming an essential part of a brand’s success. By embracing diversity and partnering with influencers from diverse backgrounds, brands can tap into new markets, connect with a broader audience, increase brand loyalty and build a strong brand reputation. Diverse influencer marketing enables consumers to connect with authentic content and see how products and services can have a positive impact on their everyday lives.
As inclusive influencer marketing becomes more prevalent, it is possible to create wider ripples of social change and acceptance within society. Stereotypes can be challenged and barriers broken down, as a wide range of voices and perspectives collaborate to portray accurate representations of previously misunderstood communities. Diversity in influencer marketing also allows for voices to be amplified and consumers to feel seen, heard and understood, allowing for a stronger connection between brand, influencer and audience.
Challenges will arise when creating influencer marketing campaigns, however, the benefits, more often than not, outweigh the challenges, and if carried out with research and intent, these types of campaigns can be hugely successful. There are many ways in which a brand can ensure that they are being diverse and inclusive, but if you need a little help – we’re here for you!
Here at Purple Goat, we specialise in adding authenticity and the all-important human touch to marketing campaigns through a range of diverse influencers. As the world’s only social-first, disability-focused marketing agency, you can rely on our expertise and lived experience to improve disability representation and drive increased business results!
If you would like to find out more about out Influencer Marketing Services, simply get in touch!
