From Crown to Megaphone : Cultural influence

Over the years humanity has grown more confident to advocate or fight for their rights and views. Especially with social media, people no longer shy away from cases of abuse or misconduct. It is furthermore inspiring when celebrities or the popular folk stand with us and support great causes. These A-listers are dubbed Cultural Influencers.

A Cultural Influencer is an individual with a highly acknowledged credibility in a specific industry who uses their platform and widespread reach to ignite open conversations about many of the critical issues facing society. Colin Kaepernick (#BlackLivesMatter and AgainstPoliceBrutality), Alyssa Milano (#Metoo) and King Kaka (#WajingaNyinyi) are famous cultural influencers.

Opportunity Agenda, a non-profit social justice communication research lab, unveiled that from 3 of their case studies, there was a notable increase in media attention and focus to issues raised by cultural influencers. Some even increased by double.

It’s great when celebrities use their platform to discuss and bring up social injustices, even if it may risk their career or life. After the release of the hit spoken word ‘Wajinga Nyinyi’, King Kaka faced death threats and backlash from some of the big names he called out. However, he did not shy away from his lyrics, which lead more Kenyans to courageously stand against the social injustices he spoke about in the song.

People tend to support popular people more when the genuinely show concern for social issues and actually try to do something about it.

In today’s world, everything is a marketing strategy. Working with a cultural influencer could be a major hit or miss. There are numerous things one needs to consider, firstly identifying them and understanding what they stand for. This will ensure that what they stand for is what your organization stands for.

Another thing is who the influencer’s audience is. You don’t want to attract the wrong audience even if the influencer is very popular. You might end up losing your current audience in the hope of gaining a non-existent one.

Thus, deeply consider who your cultural influencer is.