Marie Cayrel (@marie_cay, 31.4K followers Instagram) is a French content creator committed to advancing feminist and LGBTQI+ issues and discourse. She founded OVW Agency after recognising a need in the market for an influencer talent and marketing agency to represent content creators that promote social engagement and inclusivity. In this interview, Marie Cayrel discusses the mental health and financial pressures faced by diverse and inclusive content creators, and offers advice for brands looking to harness their power for the benefit of society… and business.
There have always been people committed to using their accounts for social causes and who want to monetise their audiences. I really see a shift in brand demand [for engaged content]. It's always been more complicated for committed creators to get paid collaborations, but it's something that's happening more and more. Brands want to focus on more social issues, they want to position themselves with creators who have opinions, who make their voices heard on social networks.
We're also seeing greater demand for expertise in the market. Socially engaged content creators are being asked to speak at conferences, at round tables and deliver company training on issues like ecology, feminism, etc. And they are getting paid for it. It’s a much more positional approach from the brands rather than pure product promotion.
It's still more complicated for social justice creators. Those that have the same number of followers, the same potential for visibility; you still see that compared to a lifestyle or fashion talent, remuneration is lower.
Brands want to be engaged [with social issues], but not too much. They don't want to be too divisive and lose part of their audience. This is despite there being a much stronger consumer demand for brands to take a stand on these issues. For the moment, the business side is still very divided.
There's a little bit of both. Quite a few brands are being created that are committed to creating social change, and which are not afraid of associating themselves with creators who take very clear positions. But there are also the big groups which are almost obliged to engage in social causes because the consumer demands it, but which are run by people who are not engaged with the issues. Their hearts are not in it, and they don’t particularly want to do it.
OVW helps brands to integrate social engagement into communications. There's one thing I know for sure: you can't be committed if you don't want to be. It has to be a very personal process. As long as the people who run these big groups don't want to be inclusive, and if they don't realise the impact of inclusivity and committed communication on society in general, they won't do it properly and it will be opportunistic.
When you're engaged with social issues, you're exposed to a lot more hate, a lot more virality on posts that isn’t the case on other accounts. 100% of the creators our agency represents have faced online harassment, insults, threats. There is a real issue of mental health for creators of socially engaged content. We are looking into how we can provide psychological support for our creators. We also want to offer our talents legal expertise so they can make informed decisions about whether to press charges in cases of cyber harassment, for example.
There is also the question of remuneration. Within the agency we have content creators of different levels of commitment to issues; there are those who are very active, and others who are engaged but who also share content that is lighter, a bit more lifestyle. Those who attract the fewest brand collaborations are those who are the most strongly committed to a cause.
I'm part of the team that says ‘better late than never’, especially when the situation is urgent, as we have seen recently in France. It was very important that these creators spoke out. It’s also brave because when you're not used to doing it, you're not used to the hatred that can come with it. There are plenty of other smaller, lifestyle content creators who spoke out recently and who received dozens of death threats.
Creators who want to get involved in social issues, even though it is not their core target, should take a step-by-step approach. You need to get to know the lay of the land, and to see how you’ll react to the potential backlash from the other side. You have to see whether you’re capable of dealing with the hatred. Talk to people who are used to speaking out on social media, other creators of engaged content, or specialised agencies. They'll be able to support you.
There have been two big events in France that have really shaken up the sphere of influence around these issues. The Met Gala Blockout movement pushed many well-known creators who had really spoken out, to take a stand on the Palestinian question. The problem with movements like Blockout is that they force content creators to take a stance on issues they don't necessarily understand.
There's also a real issue around militant burnout. Quite often we have committed creators, who for several weeks or months, don't feel like talking about social issues. This pressure from communities can sometimes push content creators to get involved in subjects when they weren't necessarily in the psychological state to do so. I don't think the communities are really aware of the toll it can take.
The European and legislative elections in France also really stirred things up. Social media users want and need content creators to get involved. Not necessarily all the time, but to take a stand on the most serious issues. I'm hopeful that these two events will change the game and push brands to engage more.
Kolsquare is Europe’s leading Influencer Marketing platform, offering a data-driven solution that empowers brands to scale their KOL (Key Opinion Leader) marketing strategies through authentic partnerships with top creators.
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