In other words, she felt the campaign was justified because almost no one had called out a celebrity for promoting drunken driving on social media.
Whether this campaign succeeded in promoting Volkswagen’s and Moozlie’s aims is beside the point now. What struck me was that the comments criticising the campaign were not aimed at the brand. Mabena’s followers clearly wanted her – the content creator, the influencer – to exercise better judgement. Followers remarked that their trust in her was damaged, not their trust or faith in the brand.
Perhaps the fact that this was a paid-for campaign is beside the point. I suspect that some of Mabena’s fans would still have been angry if it had been done in partnership with a non-profit organisation as an advocacy stunt and not a paid one. The point is that your followers might not respond well if they feel that you are building better engagement statistics on content that causes them (or others) distress.
When you do start running paid-for (or even bartered) content on a profile, you cross a line into new territory: your entire profile and everything on it becomes a business and your followers will regard it as such, even if only subconsciously.
Whatever story you tell, any content you create on an influencer platform will be held accountable to a higher standard than your cousin’s private citizen account. The average Joe can freely share their sentiments, opinions, thoughts, feelings and frustrations. They can prank and even outright deceive without facing many repercussions, but when you are building a brand, everything hinges on trust. Whatever you create under the banner of this brand is fair game for far more criticism and judgement and higher ethical standards than a private account that is run only as a hobby.
Where should you set your boundaries?
Let’s say that you run a travel-themed influencer account and you happen to get engaged somewhere: a post sharing this detail will necessarily elicit more engagement. Win-win, you might think! But if you then also happen to go through a low moment in life, like a divorce, be prepared for a fair whack of scrutiny, judgement and even criticism around how that shows up (or doesn’t) in your content.
This is not because there is an objectively right or wrong way of telling your story. You have created the perception that your followers are welcome in your personal life, so you should expect them to feel hurt when you shut that door in their face. Worse still, if you let people in, they might also criticise you for capitalising on something they find shameful. Hurt followers tend to express these sentiments in a variety of ways, many of which will not aid your healing or boost your influencer business.
Be very careful about which doors you open and the terms on which you open them. You determine the boundaries, the tone and the access you grant, but you will ultimately also bear the brunt and often this might not seem fair.
To keep your personal life personal when you’re an influencer is easier said than done, because it is human to want to share your joy. Bouwer Bosch found this out the hard way when his high-profile marriage to Afrikaans actress and influencer Leandie du Randt ended in 2019.
People have never become brands in quite this way before. We’re all still figuring it out as we go, but in hindsight, I’d definitely have stronger boundaries. Going forward I’d be more careful, even though Leandie and I never purposefully tried to use our marriage on social media ... The thing with a break-up or a divorce is [that] it’s shameful and when that shame is a public level of shame, it makes it much harder, but if you share the good times with your followers, you need to suffer through the bad times in full view as well. The weird thing with all of this is, of course, that people tend to announce things on social media that they could more meaningfully communicate with the person directly. Like, when people wish their kids happy birthday on social media or congratulate someone on a public platform. How many of those messages are really about the other person? I often wonder. And how much of it is actually about the person posting it?
For Liesl Laurie, the end of a high-profile relationship also changed her approach to sharing her personal life.
I don’t share the person I’m dating with social media anymore. I share my family, but I always ask them to approve every time before I share them, but I do tell that story. I love spending time with my family and I think it is part of who I am online. But my relationship isn’t part of my social media presence because of the media in the past taking everything out of context when a relationship comes to an end. If media companies are going to make money off my posts and it’s at the expense of my feelings, I’d rather be the one to make money off it first.
So, you don’t want your unhappiness to make someone else money?
Exactly. But it’s easier said than done. Should I be comfortable and ready again – to share my relationship with the world – I will ensure that we benefit from it. I am tired of media companies using my name to sell copies of their publication, when things don’t work out in my life.
Rachel Kolisi made the headlines for calling out women who sent her husband inappropriate messages on social media in 2018 and 2019.
And I stand by every social media move or decision I have made. My Instagram profile is the truest reflection of me and if you follow me, you have a good idea of who I am. I was real at the beginning; there has never been a strategy, and I am proud of what
