I think this is a great idea and—as a newish member here—am surprised it’s never been attempted.
Some additional thoughts...
1.
While the terms “celebrity” and “influencer” can sometimes be used interchangeably (and crossover does exist), the marketing world often views the two personas as distinct. There has been some research on the differences between the “celebrity endorsement” and “influencer recommendation” with influencers often delivering better results. This is supported by micro influencers often getting higher engagement rates than much larger influencers and celebrities.
You can use this tool to not only explore the engagement rates of different Instagram influencers, but also the cost of partnerships. Here’s a quick comparison between Justin Bieber and The Physics Girl :
Justin Bieber
Followers: 233M followers
Posts: 7,122 posts
Estimated Cost Per Post: $463,948 - $773,246
Engagement Rate: 0.18%
The Physics Girl
Followers: 146,489
Posts: 716
Estimated Cost Per Post: $439.89 - $733.15
Engagement Rate: 3.51%
Even with the lower engagement rate, you’re still going to get massive exposure through Justin Bieber. However, audience match and behavior should still be considered when estimating CR (conversion rate):
Is the cause/message likely to resonate with the celebrity or influencer’s audience?
Are members of the audience likely to take action around the cause/message?
2.
This idea of “niching down” can also be applied to the cause area or organization. In other words, instead of a celebrity or influencer endorsing EA, they could instead promote specific EA-related causes or charities e.g. global poverty and health or Giving What We Can, AI alignment or The Future of Life Institute, etc. EA, as a cause area and philosophy, has a bit of a learning curve attached and some/many people might not want to put in the work—losing them as potential advocates along the way.
On the other hand, a specific cause or charity is likely easier for the uninitiated to understand and support. Some examples of messaging (celebrity voice)...
EA—I support Effective Altruism—a social movement and philosophy focused on maximizing the good you can do in your career, projects, and other life decisions. Learn more and see how you can get involved as well! (link in bio)
Global poverty and health—I believe helping people in low-income countries is the best way to focus my philanthropic efforts. See why I give and how you can get involved as well! (link in bio)
Giving What We Can—I just took a pledge to give 10% of my income to help fight global poverty. Find out how you can get involved as well! (link in bio)
Each of those blurbs could be punched up, but I tried to keep the last lines as close as possible for a more apples-to-apples comparison (subjective as that may be). There are pros and cons to each but, generally, the more targeted, clearer, and specific a message, the higher its engagement and CTR (click-through rate). Still, you’d want to test variations across audiences, cause areas, and CTAs (calls to action).
All of that said, I think celebrities/influencers promoting EA would be mostly good. My guess is that going more granular with aligned influencer audiences would produce better quality and longer lasting results.
I think this is a great idea and—as a newish member here—am surprised it’s never been attempted.
Some additional thoughts...
1.
While the terms “celebrity” and “influencer” can sometimes be used interchangeably (and crossover does exist), the marketing world often views the two personas as distinct. There has been some research on the differences between the “celebrity endorsement” and “influencer recommendation” with influencers often delivering better results. This is supported by micro influencers often getting higher engagement rates than much larger influencers and celebrities.
You can use this tool to not only explore the engagement rates of different Instagram influencers, but also the cost of partnerships. Here’s a quick comparison between Justin Bieber and The Physics Girl :
Justin Bieber
Followers: 233M followers
Posts: 7,122 posts
Estimated Cost Per Post: $463,948 - $773,246
Engagement Rate: 0.18%
The Physics Girl
Followers: 146,489
Posts: 716
Estimated Cost Per Post: $439.89 - $733.15
Engagement Rate: 3.51%
Even with the lower engagement rate, you’re still going to get massive exposure through Justin Bieber. However, audience match and behavior should still be considered when estimating CR (conversion rate):
Is the cause/message likely to resonate with the celebrity or influencer’s audience?
Are members of the audience likely to take action around the cause/message?
2.
This idea of “niching down” can also be applied to the cause area or organization. In other words, instead of a celebrity or influencer endorsing EA, they could instead promote specific EA-related causes or charities e.g. global poverty and health or Giving What We Can, AI alignment or The Future of Life Institute, etc. EA, as a cause area and philosophy, has a bit of a learning curve attached and some/many people might not want to put in the work—losing them as potential advocates along the way.
On the other hand, a specific cause or charity is likely easier for the uninitiated to understand and support. Some examples of messaging (celebrity voice)...
EA—I support Effective Altruism—a social movement and philosophy focused on maximizing the good you can do in your career, projects, and other life decisions. Learn more and see how you can get involved as well! (link in bio)
Global poverty and health—I believe helping people in low-income countries is the best way to focus my philanthropic efforts. See why I give and how you can get involved as well! (link in bio)
Giving What We Can—I just took a pledge to give 10% of my income to help fight global poverty. Find out how you can get involved as well! (link in bio)
Each of those blurbs could be punched up, but I tried to keep the last lines as close as possible for a more apples-to-apples comparison (subjective as that may be). There are pros and cons to each but, generally, the more targeted, clearer, and specific a message, the higher its engagement and CTR (click-through rate). Still, you’d want to test variations across audiences, cause areas, and CTAs (calls to action).
All of that said, I think celebrities/influencers promoting EA would be mostly good. My guess is that going more granular with aligned influencer audiences would produce better quality and longer lasting results.