nfluencers have emerged as a powerful force to shape their followers' mindsets and raise awareness of social and political issues.
During the 2020 elections, the Biden Campaign worked with several social media influencers to reach new groups, particularly younger voters. Influencers like Olivia Ponton, Elle Walker, and Bethany Mota used their massive social media following to spread Biden’s campaign message and urge their followers to vote.
HeadCount, a nonprofit working to get more people to participate in elections, collaborated with influencers on the #GoodToVote campaign. Their concerted effort led to an additional 100,000K voter registrations in 2020.
In the 2022 midterms, United We Dream, the largest youth-led migrant network, worked with influencers who called and texted people, mainly in the Latinx community, to get them registered to vote. UWD said, “these communities are not particularly easy to reach,” and this tactic of working with influencers paid off.
The writing is on…Tiktok. Influencers are a powerful bloc of digital thought leaders, voicing their opinions on civil rights, climate change, and politics. They have a vast potential to galvanize people, spur them to go beyond the digital space, and participate in real-world activities that can lead to meaningful changes. Prompting followers to take activism offline and engage in real life will be the next essential step for many influencers.
What is unique about the power social media influencers have?
Again and again, studies have shown that consumers rely on influencers to make purchase decisions — a staggering 74% of people buy based on what they see on social media.1 One reason is because influencers generally go out of their way to develop trustworthy relationships with their followers, making them a reliable source of information — perhaps with exceptions like cooking chicken in NyQuil.
Both brands and influencers are aware of the power of this relationship and utilize it to sell products and services to audiences in ways companies alone cannot. In practice, though, many influencers conflate raising awareness about social or climate justice with a marketing device. Under the guise of socio-political language, there is a cue to purchase a product.
Do influencers have real power beyond selling a product?
For many influencers, there is little thought or care behind why they champion a cause.
Yet, others are sincerely interested in motivating their followers, changing their behaviors and attitudes, and inspiring them to take action. Influencers can move digital participation into the physical space and translate online clicks and shares into offline activism.
A study from Leuven School for Mass Communication Research, Austria, found that environmental influencers who posted content around “sustainability and climate change strengthen[ed] pro-environmental behavior [and] increased offline participation.”2
Are influencers conversation starters, or can they elicit real-life activism?
In 2017, when the MeToo movement started, the hashtag was used by millions on social media to share their stories. Pew Research found that people across the globe had used the hashtag 19 million times,3 (not including the additional uses of local equivalents, like the French #BalanceTonPorc) which led to judicial and legislative progress.
Dr. Brady Robards, a sociology research fellow with Monash University’s Faculty of Arts, says, “In the digital space you can organize, share a vision and mobilize groups to action. The digital and the physical are tightly meshed. The two aren’t separate anymore.”4
The digital space is an integral part of activism. It will be an even more significant force when influencers do more than merely start conversation and instead push for action in real life to make actual changes.
Why is it critical for influencers to shift online participation to real-world activism?
Young people today want to do more than share and like. They want to take actions that help them tackle two of the most significant challenges of our time — climate and social justice. They want to DO.
Influencers must show that solving even the most gigantic problems starts with taking small steps. A small action is better than doing nothing — and they are the best positioned people to show how dipping a toe into action is doable for everyone.
At Rabble, we believe that everyone will have to become part of the conversation for sure, but in addition, take actions that will help us tackle these colossal problems. If you’re an activist influencer looking to mobilize your network and work collectively to solve climate and social injustice, join forces with us.
Source:
- https://www.business2community.com/marketing/influencer-marketing-statistics-that-prove-why-its-so-popular-02199795
- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/358623254_The_Mobilizing_Power_of_Influencers_for_Pro-Environmental_Behavior_Intentions_and_Political_Participation
- https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/10/11/how-social-media-users-have-discussed-sexual-harassment-since-metoo-went-viral/
- https://qrius.com/can-online-activism-go-offline/
- https://time.com/6227149/democrats-tiktok-influencers-midterms-2022/
- https://www.talentresources.com/post/brand-influencer-activism-on-the-rise
