Introduction

May is Mental Health Awareness Month in the United States. It is a month centered around spreading awareness about the mental challenges millions of people across the country and world are dealing with. As much as most people don’t want to admit it, social media likely plays a significant role in mental health issues for many people.

There is a lot of research showing that social media is linked to depression and loneliness, particularly for teens and younger audiences. There is a lot of negativity and toxicity on social platforms, and many people can’t delineate the differences between social media and reality. However, this doesn’t have to be the case.

Many people use social media as a force for good. It can be a place where people foster connections, build friendships, and spread kindness. Social media platforms weren’t invented to be negative places; they were always intended to bring people closer together.

Part of the responsibility lies on brands that market on these social media channels. If you want to run influencer marketing campaigns on social media, you must do your part to try and be a force for good.

Let’s look at four ways brands can use influencer marketing to make social media a better place.

Focus on Positivity

Social media channels are often such negative places. Whether it is the filters and flexes of Instagram or the arguments and insults of Twitter, a lot of social platforms have a serious negativity problem. If you want to stand out to people, center your influencer marketing strategies around the type of content that will make people smile.

Create posts that are positive, upbeat, and happy. While the social influencers will ultimately be the ones posting it, provide a script for them that centers around positivity and kindness. Avoid negativity with your content, and put something on people’s newsfeeds that they’ll be happy to see.

Work with a Diverse Group of Influencers

One thing that will help make social media a better place is making it more of an inclusive place. There are a lot of great influencers on social media from varying backgrounds with varying follower counts. Rather than work with the same mega-influencers that receive all the brand endorsements, build a social campaign centered around diversity, inclusion, and spotlighting creators.

A micro-influencer is one of the types of influencers that sees the most engagement. Working with smaller creators with a reputation for being positive and appealing is a great way to improve your bottom line while making social media a better place.

Highlight What Sets Your Brand Apart

Something that plays well on social media is storytelling. It is a medium where people come for entertainment, and finding a way to tell your brand’s story is critical to influencer campaigns. If you are trying to be positive on social media, you can focus on what sets your brand apart, particularly in regards to your world impact. This is a strategy employed by countless companies around the world.

Talk about your mission, contribution to the world, and why your brand was created. If you are an environmentally conscious brand, a brand centered on social awareness, or a charitable brand, this is an advantage in social media marketing. Tell your story and spotlight the good your brand is doing or intending to do, and this will lead to more positive stories on people’s feeds.

Be Honest and Open

One way that social media is playing into the current mental health crisis is the lack of transparency. Cliché as it may be, many people struggle to understand that what they are seeing other people post is only their best moments and best pictures. This leads to feelings of loneliness, body image problems, and more. However, if people were more transparent on the platform, more open and honest, then it would be more reflective of reality. As a brand using these marketing channels, one of the best things you can do is be honest, transparent, and open.

This could mean many different things, depending on the type of user-generated content you are getting posted. For some brands, it’ll be partnering with influencers that reflect the look of the average person more than the typical social media celebrity. For others, it will be opening up about the real-world struggles that birthed the product or service you’re selling. What matters most is that you aren’t selling a false reality, and you are doing your part to make social media a better space for all.

To take your social media outreach to the next level, partner with an influencer marketing firm. Influence Hunter is a top influencer marketing agency with high-level experience connecting brands to top-notch influencers and developing customized influencer marketing strategies. Contact Us Today to find out how we can help your business.