The Positive Side of Influence

I’ll admit it.

The word "influencer" makes me cringe … yet influencing moves my soul.

I know too many of the influencer strategies like?engagement pods or paying for engagement and followers on social media. It’s annoying and you can very quickly find yourself buried in your phone all day. The race for likes, comments, follows, saves - it’s toxic.

However, the absolute most frustrating thing – that needs to stop happening – is when brands offer to send me free products in exchange for The Produce Moms ’ influence. This literally happens on a daily basis.

While gifts can be nice and heartwarming, the truth is that none of us can pay bills with a box of food or a kitchen prep tool. All creators deserve to be paid equitably. I think this is where my cringe is rooted. Influencer marketing is a huge part of digital marketing. As a matter of fact, influencer marketing is a multi-billion-dollar industry.

Another reason I cringe is when brands won’t work with The Produce Moms because we don’t have a certain number of followers on Instagram. I’ve been tempted to hop on WhatsApp or Telegram and Venmo some money in exchange for engagement from real US-based female followers between the ages of 18-35: YES, you can do this.

It’s disappointing. And there are new mental health challenges because of influencer marketing. My family and I saw Top Gun: Maverick earlier this month (it was fantastic, by the way). The pre-show credits included a powerful segment from Dove about beauty influencer trends targeted at teens. Watching the young ladies and their mothers’ reactions to the beauty influence was powerful. For the teens it was normal and part of their everyday life. For the mothers it was horrific and eye-opening. I cried watching it. I’m glad I did not have that pressure in my face every day when I was a 14-year-old.

I’m also glad mom influencers were not part of my daily life when I was raising Joe & Mac. The perfect kitchen, the perfect matching pajamas, the perfect vacation, the perfect highlight reel of raising children. It sucks us in but it can also tear us up.

Dove’s “Stop Toxic Influence” campaign and their #DetoxYourFeed Ambassadors are just validation that I’m not alone in thinking there has to be a better way to influence. It’s also a great lesson for brand managers and marketers - what type of influence are you empowering with your sponsorships??

Despite my aversion to the term influencer, my recent keynote at the 2022 Kiwanis International Convention was all about influence and the importance of it within society.

The convention was focused on learning about and exploring projects that help kids get what they need to grow up healthy. This opened the door for me to talk about the role of influence in kids’ lives and how it is critical that fresh produce find a way to leverage it.

If kids associated something relatable or exciting to fruits and vegetables, they would be more likely to eat them. It’s like JoJo Siwa and bows, Michael Jordan and sneakers, Ryan’s World and toys.

We need brands to inspire kids to eat fruits and vegetables.

Unfortunately, fruits and vegetables are fighting commoditization. Brands aren’t front and center. Consumers often see an apple as an apple. A banana as a banana. Yes, we’ve made strides with brands like NatureSweet tomatoes and Fresh Del Monte pineapples, but we have a long way to go.

I was inspired to be in front of 4,000 people at the Kiwanis International Convention sharing the mission of The Produce Moms. Fresh produce is, after all, a mission-driven industry. We must find like-minded organizations to work with us to instill healthy behavior in our children, and Kiwanis has been one of those organizations.

We need organizations to leverage their influence to spread the message that eating fruits and vegetables is delicious, nutritious, convenient, and affordable.

So, yes, there is a positive side to being an influencer.

I see it.

I also closed my remarks by reminding people that we can all be an influencer in a child’s life. And one of the greatest ways we can influence a child to eat more fruits and vegetables is to role model that behavior. When you are eating and a child is present, please make sure to choose a fruit or vegetable.

We can position fruits and vegetables as something we want to eat versus something we have to eat. This is powerful influence.

When The Produce Moms became B Corp certified we updated our “About” page and renamed it our “Impact” page. On this page, we boldly state:

The Produce Moms is not a blog or an influencer. We’re a community that’s committed to getting more fruits and vegetables on every table. We leverage the network and resources we have–our passion, our platform, and our partners–to get more fresh produce into our daily lives.

Do we influence? Of course we do! Our mission is to get more fruits and vegetables on every table. That’s going to take a LOT of influence. But we are focused on doing it in ways far more impactful than an Instagram post.

It’s time for people and organizations to stop equating influence with analytics, ego, and dollar signs. If you haven’t listened to the podcast “Under the Influence” with host Jo Piazza, I highly encourage you to check it out. This podcast is among the first journalistic efforts that I’m aware of to really evaluate the culture of influencers and specifically the culture of mom influencers.

Let’s use influence for good.

Let’s be thought leaders and change-agents.

Let’s build brands that inspire.

Let’s make a difference together.

About Lori Taylor

Lori Taylor is the Founder and CEO of The Produce Moms, a community-based brand on a mission to get more fruits & vegetables on every table.. To learn more about becoming a brand partner with TPM, email [email protected]