There’s no denying that influencers play an increasingly crucial role in our lives - we turn to them for the latest beauty tips and hacks, and trust them to provide recommendations and reviews to base our purchasing decisions on. At Klarna we love influencers and have been working with them for years, but increasingly we feel that the relationship between some influencers, brands and audiences hasn’t been working in everyone’s best interests. Transparency is key and we felt that the current guidelines, particularly those around communicating paid relationships between influencers and brands, haven’t quite kept pace with the fast moving world of social media and influencer marketing.
That’s why we created the Influencer Council, to remove all confusion and create a fresh set of guidelines that’s fit for purpose for modern day influencer marketing.
What is the Influencer Council?
The Influencer Council is formed of influencers, retailers, psychotherapists, policy members and advertising regulators from across the country to establish an inclusive voice and build a best practice guide that goes further than existing guidelines. Its aim is to create a framework for best practice influencer marketing, one that benefits all and has transparency at its core.
The first session kicked off in March and over the course of several months, the Council has delved into all things influencer marketing, hearing and responding to a range of different perspectives.
What was discussed?
The Council discussed the many facets of influencer marketing, including where responsibility for disclosure around paid relationships lies, the targeting of different demographics, how influencers and brands can ensure total transparency and ensure that all terminology is clear and, above all, ensure there is no irresponsible messaging or language used in any content. The findings from the sessions were packaged up into an easy-to-read document.
To accompany this, we created a toolkit to include a range of branded stickers, templates that can be used on Instagram Stories, and badges for all influencers to clearly - and visibly - show the nature of a post.
What’s next?
We hope that the guidelines set out in our Influencer Marketing Whitepaper, together with the accompanying toolkit, is widely adopted by influencers, financial services brands, retailers and platforms. Social media has the power to allow consumers to engage with the brands and personalities that they love and as a Council, we believe that the adoption of these guidelines will deliver better protection for influencers, brands and most importantly, consumers across the UK.
Where can I read more?
The Influencer Marketing Whitepaper is available to everyone, whether you’re a retailer, influencer or a consumer. To read more and download your own copy of the Influencer Marketing Whitepaper, head to klarna.com.
