How to Avoid Getting "Gwyneth'ed"

In today’s marketing world, dominated by social media, leveraging celebrity influencers has become an increasingly popular strategy for brands aiming to boost their products or services’ visibility and appeal.

The allure of associating one’s brand with the glamour of a renowned celebrity is undeniable. However, the promise of tapping into the fan engagement of millions of celebrity followers can often be a mirage, and–the resulting paid-for content may not turn out quite the way the brand envisioned.

Most recently, Gwyneth Paltrow, famous actress and celebrity influencer, posted sponsored content on her TikTok for a probiotic company, Seed, that got some attention for its lack of enthusiasm or care for the brand.

The TikTok video included the typical sales pitch delivered quickly, almost lazily, with the background noise of her teenage son making coffee—probably not the “authentic content” a social media manager dreams about, right?

So if you’re worried about partnering with celebrity influencers, take a minute to consider your alternatives before throwing down the money for a possibly cringey piece of content.

Here’s a few things to keep in mind so you don’t get “Gwyneth’ed”:

1. Creators who voluntarily opt-in to a brand’s campaign are much more trustworthy.

When creators find and represent brands they connect with and truly value, that is when they are at their best as marketing partners. These types of creators can set the foundation for a true brand community–a network of advocates who can build your brand awareness in a natural and trustworthy way. However, here’s the dirty truth about fandom: It must be earned honestly. It can’t be bought, and you can’t convert someone into a fan overnight just by wanting it badly enough. You have to work with people who love you already or you have to cultivate a relationship over time, with praise, perks, public shoutouts, free product or any other tools at your disposal.

At Current, we’ve built tools to help brands to build creator relationships first, and run campaigns second. Most of our creators have been using a brand’s products and communicating with their teams for months before they are tapped to join a tentpole campaign. This avoids the type of catastrophes that happen like with Gwyneth Paltrow’s instant-serve, mercenary-style content.

2. Focus on finding brand fans vs celebrities.

The problem with only using celebrities is, more often than not, they’re not an actual fan of your brand. Finding genuine brand fans is a simple and surefire way to put your brand in the best light on social platforms.

Current’s programs embrace the “everyday creator,” with partnerships built on free product or sales commission offers. This value exchange works because these creators believe in the brand, already love using the product(s), and want to share their perspective with their audience–not because they’re getting paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to do it.

3. Find the creators who will talk most credibly about your brand.

A creator who can talk credibly about your brand is one who shares your brand values, has used your product well/for long enough to truly describe its benefits, and is a true partner with your brand in driving awareness. Also, the creator needs to produce the type of content in which your product(s) can naturally fit. As obvious as that sounds, this is where a lot of celebrity and macro creator partnerships go awry. Don’t ask your social star to plug your air fryer if they never feature food or cooking content on their feed. Your brand needs to fit into topics, themes or formats a creator already likes to feature, and that their fans already expect to see.

This is where Current’s prospecting tech comes into play. Current’s prospecting tech optimizes for relevance–we don’t start from a place of who has the most followers or engagements, but rather who can talk most credibly about your brand to their audience. We can pick this up from keywords, common hashtags, and similarities to creators who already tout your brand across social.

Current’s Tech Helps Brands Avoid Getting “Gwyneth’ed”

Finding the right creators for your brand can be an intimidating and time-consuming process for most brands. Current, a software and services solution for influencer marketing, has the tools and resources necessary to help you partner with the right creators, who will help you avoid getting “Gwyneth’ed”. Current’s experienced team helps populate your brand hub with the most relevant and authentic creators in your space.

Finding relevant creators in your space will:

• Resonate deeply with consumers
• Expand brand awareness
• Showcase your brand in novel and exciting ways
• Create a brand community that stands out from the crowd

Ready to find creators who will take you to the next level? Contact us today and request a demo of Current’s creator partnership tools.

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