Influencers operate on trust

This level of influence only comes with trust.  Their audience needs to both like and trust the person they are following to value their opinion.  This is even more so when talking about vegan influencers.  We need to know that the person we’re watching shares our ethics, has credibility and will honour the relationship they are building with us.  We don’t want to find out they have been secretly drinking dairy milk all this time whilst telling us how cruel farming and slaughtering animals is.  We don’t want to find out that the money they are making is being used to support unethical practices, nor do we want to feel that they see us as just a group of people to sell to.

This is a fine line to walk for many growing influencers.  As they build an audience, the amount of time they need put into creating content and interacting with that audience has to increase – and they need to make a living somehow.  People think that YouTubers make lots of money from the adverts that show before their videos, but this is only trickle-income at the best.  An average YouTuber will make about $0.01 per person who watches an advert before their video. And to receive that $0.01, the user needs to have watched the whole advert or, at least the first 30 seconds of it, to count.  If you skip an advert after three seconds the YouTuber gets nothing, so they need to turn to other revenue streams such as promoting products.  It’s not until your videos are getting millions of views that you can make a living from YouTube advertising, and this remains out of reach for most niche influencers.

Influencers are looking for a mutually beneficial deal with companies and that doesn’t necessarily mean that money has to change hands.  If you can provide them with a product for free that they would usually have to buy, then some will happily feature your brand and send some customers your way.  I know vegan influencers who are brand ambassadors for clothing companies and vegan pet food companies just in return for a supply of new t-shirts and food for their companion animal.  Vegan bodybuilders will promote plant-based protein shakes in return for a new box turning up every month.  Most vegan influencers will also reserve a proportion of their onscreen time for charities and worthy causes that they want to get behind – not for money, but because they believe in their mission.