Responsibility is finally rising from brands' own product promises to also become part of evaluating marketing activities implemented in campaigns, and for example IAB Finland has just published its own definition of responsible digital advertising with its terminology. This is a welcome step in the right direction on the broad definition map of responsibility, but from somewhere those of us working in this field need to start our common learning journey. Due to the breadth of the subject matter, IAB has also started its responsibility definition work by initially focusing only on ad distribution and not yet at this stage addressing responsibility in, for example, ad production and content.
In Finland, approximately 25,000 people worked in the advertising and marketing industry in 2019, so we have a lot of power in developing responsibility in our own and our stakeholders' work. The focus at my own desk is currently on social media and especially influencer marketing, whose media spending in Finland has grown according to IAB's latest data by almost 20% from 2021 to 2022!
Greater power naturally means growing responsibility, doesn't it?
What should a marketer then think about the responsibility of their own social media and influencer marketing activities and how to approach this increasingly important topic? I have personally addressed responsible social media and influencer marketing in such a way that companies, influencers, and publishing platforms operate in a responsible and transparent manner while considering the surrounding society. Responsibility can be examined at this point through three pillars, which are social responsibility, economic responsibility, and environmental responsibility.
Social Responsibility
Social responsibility can be seen as the impact of your own marketing activities on the surrounding society and people. Especially in social media and influencer marketing, this social responsibility takes on an important role, which requires that influencers and companies are aware of the extent of their sphere of influence and the responsibility they have towards their audience and society. An advertiser can promote these societal principles by, for example, considering diversity and inclusivity in their influencer selection by choosing campaign faces that include lesser-known niche influencers from the same target group in addition to larger known names. For example, here at Troot we are committed to presenting to our clients as diverse a range of different and different-sized influencer profiles as possible in the name of better representation.
In responsible social media and influencer marketing, companies and influencers also ensure that the content they publish is truthful and honest. Influencers do not, for example, claim service or product promises in their content if they have not themselves tried it and found it to their liking. An authentic connection between the influencer and brand as well as brand match is naturally also part of responsibility!
Additionally, responsible social media and influencer marketing requires transparency in marking advertising and influencer partnerships. Influencers must openly tell their audience in their content about commercial cooperation or for example PR gifts. These help the audience, through transparency, to make informed decisions. In Finland, for example, the Advertising Ethics Council MEN has been doing good work for years for better and more responsible advertising by paying special attention to these commercial content markings.
Under social responsibility also fall the brand safety of platforms and of course the influencers operating on them, as well as for example data security. The first question mark that comes to mind for me is the practices of international media giants, whose platforms host the vast majority of influencer and social content. As for international players (Google, Meta, TikTok), the transparency of operations and for example user data security (and its challenges) are being actively discussed all the time - and rightly so. Content published on local media platforms would seem to be more responsible choices on their platforms in terms of transparency?
Economic Responsibility
Economic responsibility can be seen as the profitability of the advertiser company and its ability to generate long-term economic benefit not only to itself but also to its employees, business partners, and community. From the perspective of social media and influencer marketing, I would particularly like to highlight here the use of business partners, both advertising faces and influencers, as part of marketing processes. There has been much discussion lately about influencer compensation. Fair compensation based on the surrounding society and the requirements of the work done is the heart of everything. By using as wide a variety of different influencers and advertising faces as possible, a company can also through its own activities distribute economic benefit as widely as possible, so that income streams are not concentrated only among a few well-known celebrities (this of course also supports the inclusivity of content).
Environmental Responsibility
Digital advertising has a truly large carbon footprint when measured globally and it is growing increasingly as both advertising and influencer content shift to video format. Environmental responsibility in social media and influencer marketing means that a company deliberately seeks to reduce its ecological footprint through its own marketing activities and for example its carbon footprint on social media channels. An advertiser can, for example, reduce the energy consumption of social media ads through color definitions and image size specifications. In an influencer campaign, we can also optimize the ratio of video and feed and blog content, thus reducing our own carbon footprint, because video is notoriously the most energy-consuming advertising format. The advertiser and influencer can also create shorter video content and ads to significantly lighten their share of ad server and viewer device energy consumption. It is also good to consider the increasingly common distribution of PR deliveries in influencer marketing from an environmental responsibility perspective.
Here were a few thoughts on milestones for more responsible social media and influencer marketing. What thoughts did the topic spark for you?
At Troot, we're happy to help you along the journey towards more responsible social media and influencer marketing! Get in touch business@troot.fi
Sources: Statistics Centre 2020, IAB Finland 2023
