Application for New Hope Network’s Top Responsible Influencers list is open now

Even if you’re not an Instagram or YouTube devotee, it is no secret that the influencer marketing industry is booming. According to Business Insider Intelligence, influencer marketing is forecasted to be worth $15 billion in 2022, compared to 2019’s $8 billion estimate. Collaborative and aligned partnerships between brands and influencers are a win-win. Through the right influencers, brands are able to reach targeted or vast audiences.

When done well, these partnerships convey an authentic endorsement by a third-party advocate, which notoriously resonates well with consumers. Influencers benefit, too. By leveraging their digital marketing and content creation expertise, they establish thought leadership and business value, ultimately nourishing their audience with health and wellness education, resources and product information. 

But there are dark issues in influencer marketing, too. With the strong emphasis on audience size, some influencers have been tempted to inflate engagement or the depth of their knowledge, employing poor practices such as purchasing fake followers, offering health advice outside of their scope of education, ignoring FTC guidelines or promoting products they don’t authentically use and support.

In recognizing both the opportunities and challenges of navigating influencer marketing, New Hope Network has built of Co-op of health and wellness influencers whose membership includes a regular cadence of medically fact-checked and relevant health and product information, as well as opportunities to be matched with mission-aligned brands through sampling and other opportunities.  

To uplift and help both brands and influencers navigate influencer marketing with confidence, New Hope Network will release our first list of Top 100 Responsible Health and Wellness Influencers of 2020.

This list will identify the health and wellness influencers who are setting the gold standard. Applications will be evaluated on the influencer’s quality of content, work within their scope of practice and use of their platform as a force for good by bringing trustworthy messages to consumers. Judges will also take the influencer’s credentials and cultural relevance into account.

Influencers, as well as agencies and brands that work with influencers are invited to apply. The application deadline is December 20, 2019 and the list will be published in January 2020.

If you are or know of an influencer that should apply, share the application with them.