How Can Brands Use Influencers To Promote Sustainability?
Emphasizing corporate social responsibilities is not just a fad but a necessity for businesses prioritizing their audience’s attention. This is because consumer loyalties are shifting rapidly to brands that can effectively differentiate themselves from the competition. That said, promoting sustainable practices in your products and marketing takes the top spot in setting your business apart in your industry in 2024.
People love to hear about the biodegradable fibers you use in your new product or the pollution you helped reduce by recycling your production waste into eco-friendly products. But it is different from what they want to hear but rather who they want to hear it from. And in a time where self-promotion and overselling happen all the time, it is the opinions of reliable, sustainable Influencers that consumers trust the most.
The Influencers who promote Sustainability are advocates of eco-friendly lifestyles. From bringing attention to time-sensitive climate issues and constantly motivating environmentally conscious practices to recommend alternative green product solutions, they use social media to reach, educate, and inspire a dedicated audience. They are also opinionated about specific brands, which can make or break any business – hence, it is wise to have them with you rather than against you. This is where sustainable influencer marketing comes in.
Sustainable influencer marketing is a journey from raising awareness to compelling action using relevant opinion leaders who are convinced of your contributions to the environment. The entire process involves using content to highlight critical processes in your organization. This includes your product lifecycle, marketing, brand stories, future objectives, etc – that contribute to sustainability. Effective, sustainable influencer marketing campaigns are best executed by the leading influencer marketing agencies, as therein lies the advantage of easy Influencer access, trained professionals, and vital resources.
Sustainable Consumer Behaviour in Influencer Marketing
More Surrounding AwarenessÂ
Consumers are judges, juries, and executioners as they form an immediate opinion about your products or services based on their perceived impact on the environment and their preferences. This can be in your favor (or not), and if it is the latter, the possibility of consumers switching your business for a business they deem to promote sustainability is high. Sustainable Influencer marketing is a tool to educate your target audience about your commitment to sustainable practices.
Consumers Prioritize Consumer Opinions
Sustainable Trends, such as using recyclable streetwear or buying more from a particular brand, pop up frequently. When Consumers see fellow consumers doing something, they quickly jump on the trend and shape their interests. Consumer’s interest in your products skyrockets when they see your products incorporated into a popular trend, and sustainable Influencers can be your trendsetters due to their massive influence within their communities.
Innovation Affects Sustainable Consumer Behaviour
People subconsciously are drawn to sustainability but are held back by their current lifestyles. However, even existing consumers who do not subscribe to the sustainability concepts can demonstrate changes in opinion when your brands start incorporating eco-friendly practices in product development, social responsibility, and marketing. Consumers take pride in seeing their favorite products contributing to environmental preservation. They are even more open to recommending your products or services to their connections.
Types of Influencers Promoting Sustainability
In sustainable influencer marketing, you get to work with Different types of Sustainable Influencers who hold different perceived values for your organization.
They could be Influencers already working with you for a long time, new influencer recruits, potential influencer partners, or past collaborators. Carefully segmenting them based on their familiarity with your organization, content relevancy, and partnership duration is a step toward sustainable Influencer marketing that helps you extract maximum results from limited brand resources.
- Potential influencers: these are the Influencers you “THINK” can be vital for your business. They do not know about you yet, so you need significant time and resources to convince and recruit them.
- Recruits: recruits see potential in your brand, hence the partnership agreement. The task is to sustain their interest, making these Sustainable Influencers feel like part of your organization. Give them office tours, provide product freebies, or invite them for staff gatherings and exclusive brand events.
- Past collaborators: Sustainable influencers have worked with you in the past, and since you need their services yet again, you need a catchy proposal that incorporates what went right before and minimizes what did not. Of course, you may need to approach them multiple times before they accept your proposal.
- Long-time partners: From understanding your brand operations to delivering compelling narratives about your production services to targeted consumers, your long-term sustainable influencers are fully invested in your brand’s growth. You should use your time and resources to maintain their trust rather than recruit potential or past partners.Â
Effective sustainable influencer marketing campaigns
Using customer Lifestyle for sustainable influencer marketing (Lauren Singers X The Woodmark company)
Taking instances from consumers’ lives to drive an important message and tying that message to a brand’s sustainable initiative is a form of an effective sustainable influencer marketing campaign.
Lauren Singer’s collaboration with the Woodmark company (a non-profit organization and an authority on wool, natural, renewable and biodegradable fibers) explains this perfectly. The Influencer asked her audience to name the fabrics used in their garments and their impact on the body and environment – in her Instagram reel. She used the point to highlight the lack of transparency from clothing brands and how Woodmark is making sustainable purchases easier for people with their #filterbyfabric initiative.
The campaign encourages clothing brands to give their customers the option to buy clothes by filtering through fabrics of their choice. Lauren Singers ended the post with a compelling call-to-action to visit The Woodmark company’s website.
Sharing brand stories (Aditi Mayer X Coachtopia)
Fashion results in a lot of waste, and the goal of Coachtopia was to show how they are solving this issue through their docuseries titled “The Road to Circulatory.” The Sustainable Fashion House invited the renowned sustainability activist Adity Mayer to their Chennai establishment, where the Influencer went behind the scenes to document the people championing the journey of turning fashion waste into beautiful products – which can be used and recycled repeatedly. Aditi Mayer interviewed the staff, highlighted the raw material, examined the production process, reviewed the products, and stressed Coachtopia’s determination to practice sustainable fashion. This sneak peek ended with Aditi Mayer encouraging her followers to watch the complete docuseries – she even hosted the first episode.
Content and Giveaways (Aakash Ranison X Ecokaari)
Contests generate massive exposure for sustainable brands and Influencers like the partnership between Aakash Ranison and Ecokaari.
On Ecokaari’s third anniversary, the Sustainable fashion company partnered with popular sustainable Influencer Aakash Ranison to host their contest and giveaway. The participants were asked to perform three essential tasks.
- Share a comment about the people who inspired them to adopt a sustainable lifestyle.
- Tag 2 or 3 friends and encourage them to participate in the competition
- Share the company’s content In their stories with mentions of the brand.
The contest began on 1st October and ended on 10th October, with the winner’s announcement on 15th October. Five winners received a copy of Aakash Ranison’s book ‘I Am a Climate Optimist”.
To sum up
When done correctly under the expert guidance of a top influencer marketing agency, sustainable influencer marketing can deliver outstanding results for your business in the long run, by having sustainable influencers promote your brand’s eco-friendly and conservation practices, you can build credibility for your business in a world that is getting more cautious about its actions.
