What Marketers Should Be Asking Themselves During Black History Month
It’s Black History Month and, as usual, you’re going to see a lot of content coming from brand’s looking to uplift Black creators and consumers for the next 25 days. But there is something different about this year: an element of accountability.
In June, when Black Lives Matter protests were taking place across the United States as a result of George Floyd, companies everywhere promised to do better. Seven months later, we must look at the promises we made and determine whether or not we upheld our commitments. At Traackr, we’re pleased to share that we honored our initial pledges to increase diversity and provide employee diversity and inclusion training. We continue to explore how we can do better.
During the course of Black History Month, consider some of these questions as you revisit your pledges and plan for 2021.
Have you upheld the promises you made to your community last June?
If your company is like ours, you likely made a public commitment to increase representation of BIPOC communities in both your internal hiring and influencer activations. How does your current representation compare to several months ago? Are you authentically engaging with Black creators? As Amanda Johnson said in her op-ed; “performative allyship is not allyship.”
Are you paying your BIPOC influencers the same rate as white influencers?
As an influencer marketer I understand the pressure to work within established budgets, but it’s crucial that we all contribute to remeding pay gaps. If a BIPOC influencer is asking for less than what you have budgeted or consider industry norm for their performance, let them know that they are undercharging. Not only will this give them leverage to ask for more from their other partners, but it’ll probably result in some great karma.
Have you made long term changes?
The BLM protests in Summer 2020 forced many brands to take a good, hard look at their practices. Many of which rushed to uplift creators of color and hire them for influencer activations. Have you made an effort to generate long term partnerships with influencers of color? If you haven’t, what has been a roadblock in your progress? How do you plan to create long term change?
Looking for more resources from BIPOC influencers on influencer marketing?
Here are some recommendations:
- What Happens Without Meaningful Diversity by Danielle Prescod
- Fashion Influencing While Black by Amanda Johnson
- Black Fashion & Beauty Influencers You Should Partner with Now by Edwine Alphonse
- How Brands Can Contribute to The Social Justice Movements of Today with TPH by Tarji