Become an influencer Read online

  Katinka Oosthuizen can speak about experiencing deception and forgiving on a public platform like Survivor, which is known for high stakes, back-stabbing and tribe politics.

  Own it. Admit to it. Ask for forgiveness. Don’t try to explain that it isn’t how you meant it, though. I would almost forgive someone anything if they just own who they are and what they do. If you honestly don’t feel like you did anything wrong, stand by that as well, but then prepare for the fact that you might lose people in the process. That’s why you need to be yourself.

  Nashville-based lifestyle blogger and influencer Tiffany Mitchell (@tifforelie) found this out the hard way when she shared photographs of her motorcycle accident on Instagram. Eventually she deleted the photos, but not before screenshots were posted to buzzfeed.com and she had become a cautionary tale. One photo featured a bottle of SmartWater positioned prominently in the foreground, and many critics questioned whether this accident was staged for the sake of undisclosed sponsorship.

  Would this post have blown up in quite the same way if she had simply omitted the photo with the water bottle? Perhaps, but what if the bad taste was actually left by the fact that she seemed to hit the sympathy engagement button? Did she do this, at least in part, to boost the metrics of a professionally run influencer account? Cynical, yes. But, either way, she was so overwhelmed by the negative responses to the post that she deleted it and followed it up with a long and detailed explanation, denying the accusations of commercialisation and product placement:

  When I work with brands, they’re ones I personally enjoy, and I disclose every single sponsorship. Accusing someone of faking or exploiting an accident is extremely serious – because what if you’re wrong? It really happened to me, and I was scared ... When I found out my professional photographer friend, who[m] I’d been shooting with earlier, took photos of everything, I was completely moved. I shared this on my feed with humans who have been on a journey with me for years because I knew they would understand what it meant to me and I understood what it would mean to them. I’m sad that something so true and personal has been treated this way, and disappointed in BuzzFeed for spinning it there. I would just ask that if you’re here because of this, consider that the post I made was something real that happened in my life, that resonated deeply with me and those who have chosen to follow me. That’s what it was intended for.

  Mitchell also instructed an attorney to write to BuzzFeed to demand that the report with the screen grabs of the post be taken down, but the website stood by its reporting on the incident and it is still there. That’s why there is no point in deleting a post that blew up for the wrong reasons, unless the content is defamatory or downright criminal (for example, if it injures the dignity of an individual or a group of people). Apologise, by all means, but nothing you create on the Internet truly ever goes away.

  You need to take a beat to decide if it is more important to you, in that moment, to be right or to win. In many instances you won’t be right and win. Proving that you were right to post what you did will not necessarily result in a long-term win for your business – as much as you might feel vindicated.

  Often, it requires great maturity and some patience to allow yourself to take the momentary hit that being “wrong” inflicts on your ego and dignity, in favour of winning the long game. When you have made a mistake, particularly when working with a brand, apologise if you were wrong and do what you can to rectify matters, if possible. Don’t delete, don’t pretend it didn’t happen, don’t deny that it did, and definitely do not fight with your haters – unless trolling haters is part of your brand position, as in the case of James Blunt’s Twitter account.

  Risky business

  Brands are notoriously risk-averse. Holding extremely outspoken religious, political, moral or ethical opinions will certainly polarise not only your followers, but also the brands who are attracted and those who are repelled by your feed. This seems like a no-brainer, right? Yet, there is another side to this. To some followers, your strong opinions and tendency to court controversy could read as authentic – you are someone who stands up for what you believe and someone who displays integrity.

  Bouwer is open about the fact that his reconciliation-above-all approach has cost him money; it is something he is refreshingly open about.

  When we were busy with preproduction on our movie Thys & Trix in 2017, one of our major sponsors pulled R100 000 in funding from the project because of my outspokenness on the topic of reconciliation. And that was fair game – people can do with their money as they please. But our country is bigger than what happens in the Afrikaans market and that small anxiety corner in our culture.

  The weird thing is that I then got a great gap with the Blue Bulls [rugby team] in 2019 – the same rugby union that used to be known for Steve Hofmeyr singing their theme song. I did a whole comedy-driven content campaign for them during the Currie Cup. They said that their team consists of both black and white people: “We are not bothered by your political views at all.” I actually think my divorce had a greater impact on my career and my opportunities than my political views, particularly over the last year. Liefde Wen [Bouwer’s apparel line with a charitable element] definitely took shots, because people didn’t seem to want to support the purpose of loving your neighbour if it is driven by someone whom they don’t associate with romantic love any more. If my political opinions have some sort of impact on the work and opportunities I get, that’s also okay, though. This country is bigger than one culture. I’m a South African, a Suid-Afrikaner as much as I’m an Afrikaner.

  Joe Scott, the American influencer marketing strategist, says his experience in running global campaigns for Fortune 500 companies has shown that:

  This is most definitely something that varies from client to client. Some brands are trying to boost positive sentiment on social media around their brand. So, it is important that the influencers they work with are not as critical, and more about keeping things light. However, influencers, especially in the tech space, have done remarkably well because of their unbiased, unpaid opinions regarding particular products, such as Marques Brownlee or Jonathan Morrison. Marques gets pretty much whatever he wants as a gift for review these days, but it is known by all of these companies that he will give a fair review with pros and cons.

  Joe has a balanced guideline ready for influencers:

  Feel free to be critical, but be fair. Don’t go on a rant, completely dismantling a brand out of principle. Do your best to be objective with your critique, what you think would improve it, and [what] the redeeming qualities of a product are (if any). If you’re an influencer that will review or critique a product (unless it’s purely humour, in which case the brands you attract will be different anyway), play nice, be honest but fair, and refrain from letting personal vendettas shape the review. This leaves you open for partnerships with brands in the future, without alienating them or your audience should they make an offer you can’t refuse.

  You could even take the opportunity to turn this into future work by leveraging your unique voice. For example, if Reebok contacts you and says they will give you a year’s worth of apparel for free, but you uploaded a four-minute video rant named “Why Reebok is Absolute Trash”, your followers will think you’re fake. However, if you posted a video called “Reebok: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly”, a nine-minute video about what you love, what you dislike, and constructive feedback or solutions, then you now evolve from noise to someone that can influence a brand’s decision-making moving forward.

  This is not only valuable to the brand, but also helps your audience to understand you better.

  As a listener, watcher, follower, I learn more about you and your unique style based on your feedback and solutions. From there, I can decide if your opinion is worth listening to. And if I can give one last bit of advice, it would be for influencers to always create content that presents the audience with takeaways about who they are a
s individuals, and a reason to keep listening. You can’t do that if you’re not expressing anything but criticism and complaints.

  If you hold down a job alongside your influencer pursuits, always remember that what you post in your personal capacity – even on an influencer account you run in your spare time – can serve as grounds for your employer to dismiss you. Everything you do, whether in real life or on social media, reflects not only on you but also on your employer. Including a disclaimer, like the age-old “all views are my own (and not those of my employer)”, in your profile is pointless. If you would not say it from a stage at an industry conference or in a job interview, do not say it online.

  Even if you are reposting something that someone else posted on social media – whether you denounce them for it or not – spreading their offensive material also makes you guilty of spreading offensive material, regardless of whether you created it in the first place. Report them, do not retweet, share or screen grab the content – particularly if you think it might lead to criminal action.

  In summary, things you should generally avoid or be careful about include:

  •Profiting from someone’s distress or a power imbalance, whether this be due to their poverty, their injury or their pain (emotional or physical). You might have the best intentions when showcasing a great cause on your feed, but consider the fact that this might not necessarily be construed as altruism, because your feed is essentially a business. Even when a post is not sponsored, you will be held to a very high ethical standard.

  •Ask your friends and family members for their permission before you include them in posts on your influencer account. Allow people to opt out of your pursuit.

  •Think twice about sharing photos of your children; they might not enjoy the attention a social media following affords them, if not now, then possibly later on in life. You can be a mummy blogger without having instantly recognisable kids.

  •Think twice before you share images of anyone else’s children, unless you have the parents’ explicit consent. If someone is too young to hold down a part-time job, they are probably too young to consent to being featured on your social media stream without their parents’ explicit permission.

  •You can be taken to court for defamation or crimen injuria for what you post or share online. This is the unlawful and intentional undermining of someone’s status, good name or reputation. You can generally only defend yourself against defamation if you can prove that the statement is true and in the public interest. Ensure that you can back up what you are posting or sharing and never provoke hate based on gender, ethnicity, religion, race or sexual preference.

  •Constantly monitor the comments on your posts. As the host of those comments, you are as liable as those who leave them. If you know you are posting something that might attract controversial comments or if you know you will not be able to actively monitor the reaction to a post (for example, you’re boarding a flight), close the comments section below the post.

  The risk-and-reward balancing act that is the life of an opinionated influencer is a fine line to tread. Remember that a highly controversial approach is no worse than the other great sin: being boring!

  Marketers will take great care to supply you with sample captions, set up actual photo shoots, and arrange completely produced videos and experiences that will delight and impress not only you but also your followers. However, marketers will not see the point in spending their budget on content that might as well have been created by a robot or any one of 15 other influencers in the same space. Have fun, be yourself and remember that what’s true for your content is also true for the brands you partner with: you are all there to serve the followers.

  Influencers worth following

  Mike Sharman’s favourites

  Maps Maponyane (@mmaponyane) nails it. He really knows how to straddle the model lifestyle. He sells a triple threat: model, entrepreneur, success story. The quality of his content is always slick. It’s consistently aspirational; he’s not just posing in first class – he is flying first class. He doesn’t dwell on negativity. He’s always positive, consistently.

  Trevor Noah (@trevornoah) is an incredible example because his product became part of this multiverse: the show, social, his book, he’s a great face for ad campaigns. He’s someone we can be very proud of. He stuck to his focus and it expanded into so many touch points.

  Dale Steyn (@dalesteyn) has been great because he balances his personal life. We know he loves fishing and surfing. He’s just himself, just a gewone oke from Phalaborwa. He built this massive Indian following from the IPL [Indian Premier League]. He’s part of a special generation who cashed in on these massive, lucrative contracts. Dale is more human than AB de Villiers, for example. AB keeps his audience at arm’s length. When you compare the two, Dale has always been more likeable than AB. That’s why public opinion turned on AB when those rumours about the Cricket World Cup leaked in 2019 – whether they were true or not. We were much more understanding of taking Dale to the World Cup, even though he wasn’t fully fit. Dale has always been about loving his dogs, loving his fishing, and he loves to surf. AB is only really loved for his performance on the pitch and then chastised for his musical exploits.

  Bryan Habana (@bryanhabana_) understands brands and how to negotiate on a global level. He built a fan base across so many markets. He never allows himself to be embroiled in scandals and he conducts himself the same way on social media as he does in real life.

  Liesl Laurie’s favourites

  Nadia Jaftha (@nadiajaftha) because I like that she seems to be herself. She’s consistently that kind of girl, with a bit of glam, but she seems real and like a normal human being, which is what I like.

  DJ Zinhle (@djzinhle) is a big brand and an influencer at the same time. Very real, very unapologetic about the choices she makes, which is what I like about her.

  Mbali Nkosi (@theembalinkosi) is just exactly who she is. She isn’t trying to be everything to everyone, and she really owns her field.

  Rachel Kolisi’s favourite

  Emily Skye (@emilyskyefit) because she is always so real and I love that she’s really busy changing lives too.

  Nadia Jaftha’s favourites

  I try to be my own person as much as I can, to have my own unique style. That’s very important. The people I look up to all do that.

  Like Lasizwe (@lasizwe). He’s turned his platform, his brand into a series; he has a lot of big deals; there’s a lot of business that goes into it.

  Internationally, I love Emma Chamberlain (@emmachamberlain). She’s raw and real. She says it as it is. She has her own merchandise line.

  David Dobrik (@daviddobrik) also has a few businesses and he is a great YouTuber.

  Mostly people who have taken their social media influence to build some sort of business to sustain themselves in the long run. We’re not going to be able to do this forever.

  I’ve always loved Liza Koshy (@lizakoshy). She started off as a YouTuber and then acted in movies. She now has a talk show and a game show. She does red-carpet correspondent work ... She’s taken her brand to the next level and I really want to do that kind of thing.

  Bouwer Bosch’s favourites

  Ryan Reynolds (@vancityreynolds) because I love how he markets brands. It’s 100% him. Even when I know he doesn’t drink Pepsi, I still enjoy his posts about it.

  Schalk Bezuidenhout (@schalkiebez) is also good in that same way. Bennie [Fourie – Bouwer’s business partner] and I often tease him about it, because his business sense is so honed. He even charged me R800 when I wanted to borrow his car for a shoot. Which is the right thing to do, but I just never would have thought of doing it, if the roles were reversed. He’s so switched on.

  Katinka die Kat (@katinkadiekat) hustles, man. She’s constantly shooting. She’s constantly sharing content that I love.

  Coconut Kelz (@coc
onut_kelz) is cool because she makes fun of everyone. She takes white people out all the time and we love her for it; she gets away with stuff I never thought anyone would be able to do. She’s so young and cool; she has a really great, unique voice. Companies are literally stealing her ideas – that’s when you know you are hot property!

  Wian Magic’s favourites on TikTok

  Loren Gray started on Musical.ly and still does really well.

  Zach King makes six-second videos edited to look like he is doing magic tricks, which I love. He calls his videos “digital sleight of hand”. He has been doing this stuff for years – on YouTube as well.

  Charli D’Amelio is a super-interesting case because she had only one video on TikTok when she blew up and people started following her. She’s like the Kim Kardashian of TikTok, where no one quite knows why she’s famous, but she is. She’s by far the most famous person on TikTok.

  Katinka die Kat’s favourites

  Nadia Jaftha (@nadiajaftha). I enjoy following her. She’s also very young and manages a great balance between glamour and relatability.

  Chiara Ferragni (@chiaraferragni) shares a lot of her personal ups and downs.

  Bouwer Bosch (@bouwerbosch). I love Bouwer’s videos and the variety of stuff he’s busy with: music, production work, his clothing business.

  Maps Maponyane’s favourites

  People who have fun with it get it right. I’m sure most of the people you interview will mention Nadia Jaftha a few times, so I won’t mention her as well.

  Trevor Stuurman (@trevor_stuurman). He’s always true. No matter how left-field it might be, it is consistently reflective of him as a person.