In the age of digital transparency and eco-consciousness, influencer marketing has evolved to reflect a greater emphasis on sustainability and ethics. To shed light on this growing trend, we spoke with Manjul Wadhwa, Founder and CEO of Anagram Media Labs and Inflyx, who shared insights on how conscious consumerism is shaping influencer partnerships and the broader marketing landscape.
- Consumers are increasingly choosing products and services based on their values and self-awareness, rather than impulsive decisions influenced by ads. How have you seen this trend of conscious consumerism and demand for sustainability and ethical practices shaping influencer partnerships?
Answer – I’ll answer this one with a question of mine – who decides how a business is run? Of course, management, employees, and investors shape a lot of it but the most influential stakeholders are the consumers. Balancing the equation of growth lies in a mindset shift where brands assess their actions from the ground up to mitigate the differences to the maximum limit.
We are witnessing all over social media how consumers now don’t just buy shampoo to cleanse their heads. It’s above and beyond that. They’ll look for maybe a vegan-friendly brand or one that labels itself as free from toxic chemicals and cruelty to animals.
This faction of aware and questioning consumers is reshaping all of marketing and it does so to influencer marketing as well. Brands select and form relationships with influencers who believe in and voice the values of their target consumer group.
Consumers have reestablished new standards to assess whether what they’re buying fits their checklist or not. I’d further like to emphasize that some buyers can be quick and add their picks to the cart in a whoosh but many are now inclined to win their impulsive buys with careful and analytical decisions.
This shift manifests seamless partnerships with influencers who genuinely care and practise ethical choices. This is how brands can make their message hit home for consumers and invest them in the brand for longer.
- Are brands actually improving their messages at the core of their personality or just hopping on the bandwagon of sustainability?
Answer – If we were to walk into a supermarket right now, I’m sure we’d find at least a few products with “environment-friendly”, “sustainable” or a similar label.
With these messages popping at every corner, consumers are bound to ask if they’re receiving what they’re being promised. To ensure brands don’t lose their reputation by deceiving their consumers with empty words we call, “Greenwashing”.
Yes, there are brands who are mimicking the phenomenon of sustainability to grab a place for themselves in the market but consumers are ready with their binoculars. They smell inauthenticity from a mile away and are searching for concrete actions.
Influencer marketing can play a significant role in helping brands communicate their sustainability messaging authentically. By partnering with influencers who genuinely embody eco-conscious values, brands can reach audiences that prioritize sustainable consumption over just consumption.
However, for these partnerships to be effective, brands must ensure that their sustainability claims align with their actions. Influencers in the sustainability space are particularly discerning about the brands they work with, and they expect a genuine commitment to environmental responsibility.
- Does it matter if influencers genuinely care about the products they advocate to their audience?
Answer – The first thought that came to my mind is if I would buy from a brand that sells coffee grounds suggesting good aroma and great taste through marketing or one that clearly displays it ethically sources its coffee and simultaneously helps the coffee farmers with resources to
The nature of influencer content is evolving. Audiences are gravitating toward relatable and less polished content that addresses real-world issues, including environmental concerns.
If you want to build a brand for the future, trust in genuine storytelling over traditional marketing aesthetics that reflects the influencers’ and brand’s commitment to sustainability.
- In this transitioning state of the creator economy, what process should brands follow to make their content resonate well with their audiences?
Answer –Change is inevitable. This inclination and shift is because of shifting consumer preferences and perceptions. From commodities to content, consumers buy and watch what sits well with their values.
Brands can sustain this and other transitions in the creator economy if and only if they are proactive in providing what the consumers are asking for. They want your commitment to sustainability, act on it and improvise your product and policy to match it.
Don’t just sugarcoat things or replicate their ideas, listen to your audience, follow up on their demands and help them resolve a pain point with your service and presence. That’s how you’ll be true to your brand and survive the marketing needs of the ever-evolving creator economy.
- With audiences scouting for authentic and transparent content, can brands meet consumer expectations? What course of action should influencers and brands follow?
Genuine interest and trust can’t be bought or manufactured. In an economy where consumers crave transparency and honesty, brands and influencers can’t just be partners for a campaign but have to nurture a long-term relationship that matters enough to be replayed on the audience’s screens.
Branding and marketing don’t stop. Ever. You have to constantly, time and again, revive and re-tell your story to your audience. With consistent and real storytelling, you can get the audience to interact, engage, and spread the word about your brand.
So, brands and influencers must prioritize real connections over random influencer collabs, and proactively involve content brainstorming to inject their unique voice and style.
They must understand their target audience’s values, interests and experiment with diverse formats of content to discover what resonates most. Brands and influencers should engage in transparent dialogue, show their commitment to improvement and strengthen trust with their audiences.
- In your opinion, what are the risks for brands and influencers who fail to adapt to the growing emphasis on sustainability and ethics?
In any industry, brands must upgrade their ideas and personality along with the industry. If a brand doesn’t follow in these footsteps, it is bound to fall behind. Influencer marketing isn’t a trend now, it is an integral part of the marketing playbook.
Brands might still be able to attract customers if they don’t follow ethics or adopt the sustainability move but they’ll have to put up a fight to retain customers. People don’t see sustainability as a fad and it has already altered purchase patterns and will keep on doing so.
Creators can’t afford to ignore sustainability either. To maintain their connection with their audience, they must serve their interests. Not every consumer is a conscious consumer today but the rate of choices based on an environment-friendly approach can not be ignored.
- Are there any guardrails in place to measure how sustainability efforts in influencer marketing campaigns impact the company’s credibility?
Since the phenomenon of sustainability and ethical influencer marketing is still in the making, it is growing out of a disorganized sector. There’s still time before there will be guardrails around sustainable and ethical influencer marketing.
But there sure are existing metrics of influencer marketing that can be applied effectively to the campaigns set on the ground of sustainability. Calculating engagement rate over views on posts and conversions over engagement are some of the common ways to measure the success of a campaign and its impact on the potential audience.
- How is the influencer marketing industry as a whole responding to the demand for more sustainable and ethical partnerships?
The industry is readily welcoming this demand for transparency. As brands mould their identities at the core to accept and reflect a sustainable approach, the influencer ecosystem is also ready to portray the raw and real side of brands and their personas.
Brands and influencers recognise that they must depend on authenticity to build consumer trust. Influencers are genuinely prioritizing sustainable practices and don’t use them just for show.
As social media users and consumers grow to scrutinize and analyze the actions of brands and creators they love, this alignment with social responsibility and ethics is enhancing credibility and forming strong partnerships.
- What initiatives or collaborations do you foresee becoming standard practice to address these consumer concerns?
Whenever there’s a motion favouring one idea, there are some unwanted elements. Since the motion of today’s consumers is sustainable and ethical brands, the industry has to establish some standard practices to separate what’s real and what’s not.
Brands and influencers will need to be more transparent about their sustainability practices and any potential conflicts of interest. It will be essential to disclose partnerships, sponsored content, and determine its environmental impact.
Brands will have to prove their commitment with seals of approval from centralised authorities. This will certify brands and their credibility to their consumers.
Influencers might connect to display a network and screen partnerships that reinforce their eco-conscious audience’s values and concerns. Brands could tap into these pre-vetted pools of influencers to run more impactful campaigns.
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