Marketing execs believe deeper relationships, understanding influencers can avoid potential backlash in politics

Instead, six of the influencer marketing and agency execs Digiday spoke to believe that if marketers understand and vet the influencers and creators (and their audiences) that they work with, they could retain those partnerships even during election cycles. They believe this strategy can help mitigate any backlash — of any kind — that marketers fear.

“It’s almost impossible to be completely apolitical, because sometimes saying nothing is also a statement,” wrote Brandon Solis, head of social at Havas New York, in an email. “What we do when working with creators and influencers is try to understand the 360-degree version of who they are and this goes beyond what is being posted on social channels.”

It’s a politically fraught time that follows an intensified fear of backlash from marketers — they’ve seen what a negative response to working with an influencer can do for a brand with Bud Light.

“The creator space has always been complex,” said Arianna Coxe, account director at ad agency Barbarian. “It’s not a straight media buy. These are individuals that you’re hiring to be [a] spokesperson for your brand…. My number one filter is understanding the audience expectations from this creator, their core followers, expectations of content from these creators.”

The pressure for marketers to get influencer marketing right is likely to only continue — come the end of 2024 marketers are expected to have spent $8.14 billion on influencer marketing, according to eMarketer data, which noted that spend is up 16% year-over-year. As budgets continue to grow, so too does the pressure associated with that spend.

“If you do not understand the individuals that are choosing to consume content from this person, it could flop,” Coxe said. “It’s so much more complex than just traditional digital social advertising where you can control the eyeballs that are seeing the content. You really need to put yourself in the mindset of [the consumers] first.” 

Avoiding any sort of surprise — whether that’s the content from the influencer or how a brand shows up — will help brands avoid the backlash they fear, explained EP+Co’s chief strategy officer Chris Plating, pointing to brands like Ben & Jerry’s or Patagonia which have had consistent values. Plating suggested marketers ask themselves: “Does the outcome have a predictable impact for your consumers?”

While these strategies can help avoid backlash, marketers still need a Plan B in case something goes awry. “You’re working with human beings,” noted Danielle Wiley, founder of influencer marketing shop Sway Group. “They can post something that’s suddenly offensive. They could get caught up in a hurricane and not be able to do something. When you’re dealing with humans, there’s a certain lack of control that you have.”

Rather than being caught flatfooted if or when something goes wrong Wiley advocates for brands to have a system in place to pivot on the fly. “I think that’s more important than ever,” she said.