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AI adoption is no longer the challenge—trusted context is. Most organizations have AI tools, but many still rely on disconnected, stale, or unverified data, limiting the quality and trustworthiness of AI-generated outputs. Meltwater MCP brings trusted, real-time intelligence into AI assistants.

Your Best Context is Already in the Room

Today, PR teams aren’t just tracking media coverage and share of voice. They’re also measuring how their brand shows up in AI-generated answers, search summaries, and large language models (LLMs). This new LLM visibility layer is quickly becoming a critical part of PR performance.

15 Must-Have PR KPIs and How to Track Them

See how one platform can power every decision across PR, communications, and marketing.

The Meltwater Blog

Blog Topics: Generative Engine Optimization, Media Intelligence, Media Relations, Social Listening, Consumer Intelligence, Influencer Marketing

Find out how you can leverage Facebook to boost your brand's online presence and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

Facebook Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage Instagram to boost your brand's visual appeal and gain a competitive edge. Explore our category page today!

Instagram Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage LinkedIN to grow your professional network and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

LinkedIn Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage TikTok to elevate your brand with creative content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

TikTok Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage X / Twitter to engage your audience effectively and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

X / Twitter Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage YouTube to create engaging video content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

YouTube Blog | Meltwater

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is transforming how brands show up in AI-powered search. Explore insights, strategies, and best practices to help your content rank and resonate across conversational engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot.

Explore insights and strategies for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) to help your brand stay visible and discoverable in AI-powered search.

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Blog Collection | Meltwater

Every day billions of conversations take place on social media: tweets, posts, comments, blogs, reviews, podcasts, and much more.
Learn how to use social listening to make sense of all of that data.

On our social listening category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around social listening and social media monitoring. Read more.

Social Listening Blogs | Category

Business Reputation Management: What does it take to add reputation management to your marketing strategy? More importantly, how do you keep your reputation sparkly and shiny? Here’s your all-access guide to online reputation management for the long term.

On our reputation management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around business reputation management. Read more.

Reputation Management Blogs | Category

From your brand's logo to your website, your social media presence to your customer support—these elements combined are what constitutes a brand in the minds of customers. But, there are thousands of other businesses that have a logo, website, social media presence, and website. So, how can you position your business on the market and make it stand out from the competition?
The key to success is branding & brand management!

On our brand management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around brand management. Build your strategy and reach your goals!

Brand Management Blogs | Category

Competitive intelligence and the act of collecting competitive data can be seen as growth drivers for a company. Our guide will help you understand the concept of competitive intelligence (CI) by answering questions such as: What is the definition of competitive intelligence? How is competitive intelligence useful to organizations? What is the goal of competitive intelligence? And more.

On our competitive intelligence category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around competitive intelligence. Learn how to stay ahead.

Competitive Intelligence Blogs | Category

Let’s dive into the customer journey framework and how to optimize the process by creating a customer journey map and using metrics that matter when analyzing the customer journey.

On our customer journey category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Customer Journey Blogs | Category

What Is Data Analytics?
How can I grow my business? 
How do customers interact with my newly launched product?
How do I increase the productivity of my employees?
How do I know if my marketing efforts are working?
We have just two words for you...Data analytics!

On our data analytics category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around AI and data analytics. Technical and still easy to understand.

AI & Data Analytics Blogs | Category

Public relations and media relations can add impact to any marketing strategy. It’s an opportunity for brands to grow their reach beyond traditional sales messages. PR helps to shape the image you want people to have of your brand.
So, what is PR and how do you use it? This guide shows you everything you need to know to build a strong public relations foundation.

On our public relations (PR) category page, you find all our blogs covering public relations and communications topics. Step up your PR game.

Public Relations (PR) Blogs | Category

We all know exactly what the roles of sales or accounting are in a company, right? We might even have a slight idea of what the IT guys are doing.
But there is another business discipline, that plays a crucial role in organizations, even more so during the pandemic – internal communications!
But what exactly do we mean by that, what purpose does it serve and what steps can you take to ensure you and your employees will communicate effectively?

On our internal communications category page, you find all our blogs about internal comms topics. Learn about the intranet, internal newsletters, and more.

Internal Communications Blogs | Category

As the internet has taken root in more areas of our lives — everything from entertainment to shopping to paying bills and more — traditional marketing is becoming less impactful. As any marketer knows, you need to focus on where your audience is if you want to reach them. Since the average person spends about seven hours a day online, it’s no surprise that content has maintained its hold on marketers.
Here's a closer look at what content marketing is and why it matters more than ever in our digital-first economy.

On our content marketing category page, you find blogs about content marketing topics. Learn about strategies, KPIs, tips, and more. Make your content king!

Content Marketing Blogs | Category

The rise of the influencer marketing space – today a $10 billion industry, growing 50% per year – is one of the clearest examples of how social media is transforming traditional marketing. These days having a business website, presence on social, PR coverage, and your own content isn’t enough to compete.
We'll dive into the intricacies of influencer marketing to help ensure that you're equipped with the insights needed to be successful in this space.

On our influencer marketing category page, you find blogs about influencer marketing topics. Build your strategy, find influencers, and measure results.

Influencer Marketing Blogs | Category

Have you just launched a new product or service that you want to get the word out about? Maybe you want to share with consumers why it is awesome and how it is so much better than the one your competitors offer.
Well, then, there is one thing you can't do without...Marketing!

On our marketing category page, you find blogs about marketing topics. Learn about all the different angles and types of marketing and improve your results.

Marketing Blogs | Category

In this guide, we want to give you a peek into the definition of social media management, the daily schedule of a social media manager, social media platforms to promote your business, and the do’s & don’ts of social media management.
Are you ready to begin the journey of becoming a social media superstar?

On our social media management category page, you find blogs about social media management topics. Build and manage your online community.

Social Media Management Blogs | Category

Building a following and using social media platforms to reach a wider audience requires a well-planned social media marketing strategy. In this guide, we’ll be looking at why social media marketing is so essential and how you can make it work for your business.

On our social media marketing category page, you find blogs about social media marketing topics. Learn how to get the highest paid social ROI!

Social Media Marketing Blogs | Category

In the fast-evolving realm of digital marketing and public relations, utilizing the right tools is crucial for success. Our interdisciplinary category showcases all the pertinent tools for digital marketing & PR. These tools help in enhancing your online presence and effectively reaching target groups, whether through reputation management, influencer marketing, or social media management.

On our digital marketing and PR tools category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Digital Marketing & PR Tools Blogs | Category

It’s hard to find a global brand who is truly transparent about its marketing strategy. Huawei is one of these brands. In a recent blog post by Joy Tan, Huawei’s president of global media and communications explained what made the company start an influencer marketing program and what she learned from running the program for a year:

Get started with the right pool of influencers

A bit of background. Huawei is a Chinese multinational communications company with a sales revenue of $60b. The company is the third biggest seller of smartphones after Samsung and Apple.

It’s a huge company but not as known brand as its competitors.

To learn more about the company positioning in the market, Huawei hired a research firm to analyze what people know about the brand. Part of the research was interviewing Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) from all around the world and hear what they think about the brand.

The research found that people were aware of Huawei, but not much about the company’s products and history. And so the company decided to tackle this problem by launching an influencer marketing program, or as they call it, a KOL program.

Huawei’s criteria for an influencer was a technology and business social media opinion leader with at least 30,000 followers. The company aimed to engage a maximum of 80 people. They spoke with influencers, had meetings with them, and even flew to meet them all over the world. The company invested good time and effort into creating and nurturing relationships with the opinion leaders they’ve identified.

If the number of 80 people seems relatively small, wait to hear what were Tan’s thoughts after a year. When the year ended, Tan has concluded that “it becomes challenging to do one-on-one influencer marketing with more than about 80 KOLs. In fact, if the KOLs are sufficiently engaged (which is a good thing), the ideal number might be closer to 50.”

During September 2016 Huawei hosted the Huawei Connect conference in Shanghai, China. The conference invited 20,000 people and showcased the latest technologies in various fields, like cloud computing, Internet of Things, big data.

To raise awareness for the event and to Huawei, the company invited tech influencers. They didn’t invite all of them, but just a selected group of influencers.

Among the people, there were these 11 leaders:

Inviting those influencers proved itself to be a smart move by Huawei. Let’s take a look at some of the social updates they shared during the event:

For Huawei, it was worthwhile to focus on these highly active and friendly influencers. Here is the social media outcome the group generated about Huawei Connect 2016:

16,900 total engagements: 7.2k on Twitter, 6.4 on Instagram, 3.6 on Facebook

Note that the True Reach of the influencers’ social updates is not just a simple measure of impressions (sum of their followers). This number is a calculated estimation of the people who actually saw the content on Twitter and Instagram. For a company that aims to raise brand awareness, that’s a huge win.

Based on the true reach of the content, the exposure was worth for the company about $128.9k (this ROI estimation is based on the average CPM in display advertising, with a 13x multiplier to match it with earned content compared to paid).

“For the first year of our KOL program (Key Opinion Leaders), I’ve been impressed with the quality of professionals Huawei has attracted, their high levels of engagement, and the passion they have for our brand,”

said Walter Jennings, Vice President, Corporate Communications at Huawei.

“We’re looking at long term relationships with each, yet we are thrilled with these immediate results.”

To sum up, having a personal connection with the KOLs, inviting them to China and giving them full creative freedom to share their experiences, proved itself as a great opportunity for the company to get effective exposure online.

After running the KOLs program for a year, Tan’s advice was to get started with a well-identified pool of influencers and invest the time and efforts on developing relationships with them. If you need any help finding influencers for your KOL program, and later measure the influencer program’s performance, try using Meltwater Influencer Marketing.

As can be seen from the company’s event, having the right pool of social leaders on your side can boost brand awareness with a great return on investment.

The Story of Huawei and 11 Influencers

It’s time to get serious about TikTok. The app has been around for a while, but it’s getting more attention than ever.

What is TikTok? TikTok is a short-form video app, by ByteDance. The length of a TikTok can be between 6 – 15 seconds, and four videos can be strung together for a total of 60 seconds. This is seriously short content. 

For many unfamiliar with TikTok, it is often mistaken for a lip-syncing content platform. While some content on TikTok is lip-syncing, content also includes acting, dancing, reactions, singing, and more. In fact, TikTok content and the TikTok user experience is acting more comparable to the once-popular Vine (RIP). However, due to its lip-syncing notoriety, TikTok acquired Musical.ly in 2017 and the two app’s user-bases were merged. 

TikTok content has a distinct style that you may or may not get. For example, “Cringe Videos” are content aimed at making the viewer cringe or feel uncomfortable. This style of humor is not for everyone, but it is extremely popular on TikTok. Think back to the early 2010s when meme-culture was merging with sites like 9gag. For most millennials, this was peak humor. For people a few years older, not so much.

ULTIMATE TIK TOK CRINGE COMP

Still, just because you don’t get TikTok doesn’t mean you should avoid it. Figuring out how to integrate this app into your strategy is super beneficial if you’re trying to engage with a younger audience. 

TikTok is reported to be the 8th largest social media platform, with 800 million global active monthly users in January 2020. In fact, TikTok has more users than Pinterest, Twitter, and Snapchat. Still, a majority of these users are located in China. Making up 80% of total time spent in 2019. Still, global usage is soaring, and with that will come new markets and opportunities. 
A survey found that 41% of TikTok’s users are between 16-24, meaning most of the users you’ll find on TikTok are Gen Z. The last decade was all about Millenials, and now many brands and millennials are focusing their attention to Gen Z as they enter the workforce. 

Gen Z is the first generation to grow up with advanced technology, hence the name “digital native”. All of the technology Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and even The Great Generation had to learn (Facebook, texting, video editing, etc.) are tools they have been accustomed to from early memory. It is believed that Gen Z influenced 93% of household purchases. 

Advertising to a new industry is always a challenge. Influencer marketing helps brands create authentic interactions with their audience. Yet, it can be hard to have a meaningful interaction with an audience you don’t really know. This means taking the time to understand Gen Z and understand what they like. Many established brands have pivoted to TikTok, and can be a great example of how to penetrate a new audience.

Remember when Facebook was just for college students? Now, grandparents are sharing Throwback Thursday posts. It took brands a while to adopt social strategies and those that were early adapters saw huge benefits. Long story short; if your brand has a target audience under 35, you should be on TikTok.

Many brands are already on TikTok, creating quick-form videos that promote a brand or a product in an informal way.

Lookin good, everyone #newspaper #dogdad #focused #icandoit

Or do I 😬 #dysonair #hairtutorial #beauty #beautyhacks #DecadesofHair #fyp #WerkItFromHome #foryou #xyzbca #xyzcba #desi #tiktok #killyourvibe

Quick Tips for Getting Started on TikTok:

Create a personal TikTok account and begin exploring the platform 

Check if your competitors are on TikTok and discover the type of content they are creating 

Look to see if the influencer you have collaborated with in the past are on Instagram, and try to understand the type of content they create 

As mentioned before TikTok’s core userbase is Gen Z. Being naturally attuned to tech-cultural, Gen Z has an embedded understanding of digital-influence that may not come as naturally to older demographics. It’s also important to understand that different social platforms have different types of influencers. While Instagram influencers range from Micro to Celebrity, TikTok isn’t as partial to celebrity culture. 

Yet, influencer content definitely does exist on TikTok. What you tend to see is brands taking content-trends that are popular on TikTok, and have a TikTok user tag their brand and incorporate their product.

Dancing is BIG on TikTok. Nike has TikTok users indirectly promote their products through dance videos which are fun and catchy. The brand also promotes social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic with a clever #stayhome hashtag. 

Celebrating #airmaxday in the house got me making up dances again. #airmaxdaychallenge letsss goo🚀 #fyp #foryoupage #stayhome @nike

TikTok is more about understanding what is trending rather than how to directly promote your brand. If you can create viral videos users will take notice, but they do not want to be directly marketed. 

If you’d like to do influencer marketing on TikTok, you must first identify an influencer with a strong TikTok presence.
You may be surprised to discover that some users have a much stronger presence on TikTok than on other platforms. Meaning, different influencers are great for different platforms. Though influencer marketing is a marketing “channel”, each social network is a “sub-channel” and each may require its own strategy.

Moral of the story: TikTok is a world of its own but it is here to stay. Integrating TikTok into your strategy will help you stay ahead of the game, and, if you’re a millennial like me, keep you young.

Want to learn more about TikTok and influencer marketing? Schedule a call with one of our influencer marketing specialists.

TikTok Influencers 101: The Questions You’re Too Embarrassed To Ask

Every year on March 8th, we celebrate International Women’s Day. To be honest, growing up I had never heard of Women’s Day, it something that has only gained mass recognition in the last 10 years. However, Women’s Day dates back to early 20th century Russia, as a day to commemorate the contributions of Soviet women to the communist state. It wasn’t until the 1960s when feminists reclaimed Women’s Day as a day of activism, with some referring to it as “International Women’s Day of Struggle”. In 1977 the UN proclaimed March 8th International Women’s Day, and since 2010 there has been a real cultural shift in the discourse on gender inequality and women’s right.

So, here we are, International Women’s Day 2021. The world is definitely a different place than it was in 1913. We may have Instagram, nanotechnology, and Netflix, unfortunately, gender inequality still exists.

Influencer marketing is a young industry. It is still growing in terms of industry standards, data practices, and strategy. But, like any industry young or old, influencer marketing has a gender pay issue that cannot be ignored.

In 2020, we identified a significant pay gap between male and female influencers, with women likely to earn $128 less than men. It appears that in Q1 of 2021 the pay-gap has shrunk significantly to $40. However, the average rate for male influencers decreased by $108 and female rates by $20.

As influencers around the world are impacted by the current economic client, it is important to maintain practices of pay equity when entering a new collaboration. Women in influencer marketing, and around the world, deserve more respect. And, in the words of Lauryn Hill, “respect is just the minimum.” We deserve equality.

Women-Owned Brands Rocking Influencer Marketing

So, how can we promote change? By promoting women’s voices and giving space and recognition to women’s brands. To be honest, we all know who runs the world. But, in honor of Women’s Day here are some wonderful women-owned brands, running innovative influencer campaigns that you should have on your radar today and every day!

Below are three wonderful brands with unique influencer marketing strategies that highlight the diversity and complexity of the ecosystem.

Rihanna really needs no introduction. The singer turned entrepreneur is one of those people who just oozes cool, it seems like there is nothing she can’t effortlessly do well. And, now we can add influencer marketing to that list.

Savage x Fenty is Rihanna’s lingerie line that was launched in 2018. She is constantly collaborating with influencers, musicians, and public figures to promote the brand. The Savage x Fenty brand ambassadors’ range is body type, gender identity, and race to promote the diversity and inclusivity of the brand. And, in classic Rihanna fashion, they are all super cool.

Rouje is one of those brands we love because it’s not just a women-run brand it’s an influencer-run brand. It’s a Paris-based fashion and beauty brand that offers all the ultimate chic-french girl essentials. The founder is Jeanne Damas, an OG fashion influencer. She started off with a blog. For those of you under 23, a blog is like Instagram but with more words. She then transitioned to social media, signed a modeling contract, starred in a few movies, and launched her own line Rouje.

It’s not a surprise that Jeanne, with other 1.4M Instagram followers, would be the perfect influencer to promote Rouje. When influencers are so synonymous with their brand it’s the ultimate marketing choice, as their followers have already subscribed to their values.

A huge trend we have observed is value-based influencer marketing. This is when brand values drive marketing decision-making and influencer collaborations. Thinx, a feminine hygiene brand puts values at the forefront of all that they do. In 2017, Forbes named Thinx one of the most innovative companies due to innovative marketing campaigns that create provocation and acceptance around products that are traditionally associated with shame. The brand partners with diverse influencers to promote inclusivity and break the taboo of talking about periods.

That’s what influencer marketing is all about inclusivity, authenticity, and the ability to stay true to one’s self why promoting brands you’re passionate about.

If your brand works with influencers, think about how you can better support female influencers this year. Be it benchmark rates for both male and female influencers, partnering with female influencers of color, or running a Women’s Day campaign. Change comes from within.

Want to learn how you can discover unique female influencers for your next campaign? Schedule a call with one of our influencer marketing experts. Happy Women’s Day!

International Women’s Day: Equal Pay and Brands We Love

South Africa is home to a wealth of incredibly talented beauty influencers. A focus that ranges from makeup and skincare to hair and nails, South African beauty influencers understand how to capture the attention of an audience both locally and internationally.

With attention to transparency and authenticity, beauty influencers in South Africa are in a position to challenge the traditional standards of the industry. Brands that embrace and work with this cultural shift stand to gain from the exciting and highly successful channel that is influencer marketing.

Five Top Channels for South African Beauty Influencers

Top 5 Makeup & Skincare Influencers in South Africa

How Meltwater Can Help You Find South African Beauty Influencers

Tip: We also have a global list of 50 Top Beauty Influencers to Inspire You, as well as a list of the top beauty influencers in the Philippines.

South African beauty influencers have a strong presence across numerous different platforms, with a specific focus on using each platform with the audience and algorithm in mind.

The five biggest channels are, somewhat unsurprisingly:

YouTube. An excellent channel for longer content such as in-depth reviews, full-length tutorials, and vlogging.

Instagram. Perfect for shorter shareable content (videos and static images) such as product reviews, short tutorials and quick tips.

TikTok. Most suited to shorter video content.

Pinterest. The ideal platform for image sharing to generate inspiration and showcase looks.

Facebook. Often used for product reviews, service reviews, and launching events.

<table class="table-primary alternate-color">
    <thead>
        <tr>
            <th style="text-align: center;">#</th>
            <th>Name</th>
            <th>Instagram Handle</th>
            <th style="text-align: center;">Followers</th>
            <th style="text-align: center;">Following</th>
            <th style="text-align: center;">True Reach</th>
            <th style="text-align: center;">Engagement Rate</th>
        </tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
        <tr>
            <td style="text-align: center;">1</td>
            <td>Mihlali Ndamase</td>
            <td>@mihlalii_n</td>
            <td style="text-align: center;">2.1M</td>
            <td style="text-align: center;">1,185</td>
            <td style="text-align: center;">2.2M</td>
            <td style="text-align: center; background-color: rgb(196, 244, 244);"><strong>2.7%</strong></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td style="text-align: center;">2</td>
            <td>Snikiwe Mhlongo</td>
            <td>@snimhlongo</td>
            <td style="text-align: center;">334K</td>
            <td style="text-align: center;">493</td>
            <td style="text-align: center;">467K</td>
            <td style="text-align: center; background-color: rgb(196, 244, 244);"><strong>9.4%</strong></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td style="text-align: center;">3</td>
            <td>Naledi Mallela</td>
            <td style="text-align: center;">@naledimofficial</td>
            <td style="text-align: center;">142K</td>
            <td style="text-align: center;">2,649</td>
            <td style="text-align: center;">410K</td>
            <td style="text-align: center; background-color: rgb(196, 244, 244);"><strong>9.8%</strong></td>

        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td style="text-align: center;">4</td>
            <td>MKay Yarms</td>
            <td>@kay.yarms</td>
            <td style="text-align: center;">471K</td>
            <td style="text-align: center;">1,336</td>
            <td style="text-align: center;">704K</td>
            <td style="text-align: center; background-color: rgb(196, 244, 244);"><strong>6.8%</strong></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td style="text-align: center;">5</td>
            <td>Mrs Linda “Oyena” M</td>
            <td>@linda_mtoba</td>
            <td style="text-align: center;">1.8M</td>
            <td style="text-align: center;">3,864</td>
            <td style="text-align: center;">662K</td>
            <td style="text-align: center; background-color: rgb(196, 244, 244);"><strong>2.5%</strong></td>
        </tr>
</tbody>
</table>

Makeup influencers have an engaged audience with whom they have worked to build loyalty. These followers look for tips, insights, and product recommendations. Because authenticity is a key contributor to an influencer’s reputation, they often partner with the same brands for multiple campaigns, cementing long-standing collaborative trust.

Let's look at the top 5 makeup and skincare influencers in South Africa:

A titan of the industry, Mihlali Ndamase is on the Forbes Africa 30 Under 30 list, recognised for her innovative and award-winning creative content. As a certified makeup artist with a wealth of experience in brand strategy, her content is created mainly for YouTube and Instagram and focuses on beauty, lifestyle and travel.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cultcx3My-X/?img_index=1

Snikiwe Mhlongo, known by her followers as Sni, hails from Kwa-Zulu Natal and graduated from the University of Cape Town. Sni gained popularity at 21 and has built her personal brand with creative content on YouTube and Instagram, highly focused on fashion and make-up.

Naledi Mallela is a South African social media influencer, known for her vlogs, and makeup and skincare proficiency. As a TV host on DStv’s Channel O, and with a double degree in marketing and business science, Mallela knows how to speak to her broad following with confidence and expertise.

Khethokuhle Ngonyama, known as Kay Yarms, is on the Forbes Africa 30 Under 30 list. She has made an enormous impact on the beauty industry in South Africa with inspiring make-up content.

Linda Mtoba is a South African actress, best known for her role as Zama from Isibaya. With a talent for natural-looking make-up, she has established herself as one of the top beauty influencers in South Africa.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CuCN5hVIdxl/?img_index=1

<table class="table-primary alternate-color">
    <thead>
        <tr>
            <th style="text-align: center;">#</th>
            <th>Name</th>
            <th>Instagram Handle</th>
            <th style="text-align: center;">Followers</th>
            <th style="text-align: center;">Following</th>
            <th style="text-align: center;">True Reach</th>
            <th style="text-align: center;">Engagement Rate</th>
        </tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
        <tr>
            <td style="text-align: center;">1</td>
            <td>Sammie Heavens</td>
            <td>@sammieheavens</td>
            <td style="text-align: center;">306K</td>
            <td style="text-align: center;">98</td>
            <td style="text-align: center;">221K</td>
            <td style="text-align: center; background-color: rgb(196, 244, 244);"><strong>4.1%</strong></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td style="text-align: center;">2</td>
            <td>Yolenda Jawe</td>
            <td>@yolzchannel</td>
            <td style="text-align: center;">110K</td>
            <td style="text-align: center;">1,067</td>
            <td style="text-align: center;">65K</td>
           <td style="text-align: center; background-color: rgb(196, 244, 244);"><strong>4.2%</strong></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td style="text-align: center;">3</td>
            <td>Liezel van der Westhuizen</td>
            <td>@liezelonline</td>
            <td style="text-align: center;">30.5K</td>
            <td style="text-align: center;">618</td>
            <td style="text-align: center;">22K</td>
           <td style="text-align: center; background-color: rgb(196, 244, 244);"><strong>0.4%</strong></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td style="text-align: center;">4</td>
            <td>MKim Jayde</td>
            <td>@kimjayde</td>
            <td style="text-align: center;">328K</td>
            <td style="text-align: center;">497</td>
            <td style="text-align: center;">83K</td>
           <td style="text-align: center; background-color: rgb(196, 244, 244);"><strong>1.3%</strong></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td style="text-align: center;">5</td>
            <td>Rushana Isaacs</td>
            <td>@rushanaisaacs</td>
            <td style="text-align: center;">122K</td>
            <td style="text-align: center;">1,305</td>
            <td style="text-align: center;">61K</td>
           <td style="text-align: center; background-color: rgb(196, 244, 244);"><strong>2.7%</strong></td>
        </tr>
</tbody>
</table>

Hair care and hair style influencers are well known for their interactive community, with whom they've bonded over a shared passion for hair trends and techniques. As with makeup influencers, authenticity and trust (and relatable, effective hair care advice), leads hair influencers to form long-term collaborations with their preferred hair care brands.

Let's look at the top 5 hair influencers in South Africa:

Top Beauty Influencers in South Africa 2025

Earth Day is deeply rooted in environmentalism; it’s become a corporate social responsibility movement regarding concerns for environmental protection. If there is one thing influencer marketing is especially important for, it is the ability to align brands with social movements.

A value-based influencer marketing strategy is when brands collaborate with influencers who align with and support brand values in order to connect with like-minded customers in a meaningful and authentic dialogue.

So, in honor of Earth Day, we are featuring 10 awesome sustainability influencers who support the values of sustainability and environmentalism and the brands that collaborate with them, along with campaign examples and tips to run an effective eco-friendly campaign.

Tip: Also take a look at these sustainable fashion influencers, and learn about corporate sustainability trends.

Leveraging influencers to improve your image as a sustainable brand starts with making the right connections. Let’s meet the top eco-friendly influencers and learn what they’re passionate about.

Side Note: The following influencers have sizable audiences that can help you reap the benefits of brand exposure. However, you can also find micro-influencers who have smaller followings but highly engaged audiences.

Aditi Mayer is one of the top sustainable fashion influencers and an advocate for labor rights and social justice. Her journey began in 2014 after she learned of the Rana Plaza factory collapse that killed over 1100 people and injured countless others. For Mayer, this tragedy served as an awakening to the poor labor conditions and dirty secrets of the fashion industry. She is now a sustainable development influencer who has become a leading voice on sustainability, thanks to her services on the councils of Intersectional Environmentalist and State of Fashion.

Bea Johnson is the author of the bestselling book Zero Waste Home, having turned her ideas from a blog into a movement. She has brought awareness to hundreds of thousands of homes on how they can reduce consumption and waste. She has boldly stated that her family’s annual household trash amounts to a single jar. Bea offers tons of resources to inspire and lead others, including a tool to find places to make bulk purchases, tips for getting started with waste-free living, and sustainably purchased items that naturally result in less waste.

Vegan influencer Immy Lucas is a UK-based YouTuber and environmental influencer. As a full-time content creator, Immy started the Low Impact Movement to share how she approaches a low-waste and low-impact lifestyle. Her channel, Sustainably Vegan, also shares insights on veganism and how it’s helping to combat climate change.

Also known as the Trash Man, Rob Greenfield proves that one man’s junk truly is another man’s treasure. He’s gone to the extreme in living a sustainable, waste-free life, including scrounging in the trash for food and clothing and cycling across the United States on a bamboo bicycle.

A staunch advocate for plastic-free living, Kathryn Kellogg is among the top environmental influencers on Instagram with a following of more than 379K. She runs the website Going Zero Waste and serves as the Chief Sustainability Officer of One Movement. Her content focuses on helping others go plastic-free and find more sustainable alternatives to traditional products.

Isaias Hernandez has built his platform on veganism and environmental justice. With more than 112K followers on Instagram, he is heavily invested on creating a sustainable future. Combating climate change, improving the food chain with veganism, and fostering a safe community for environmentalists are among his core values.

With 379K Instagram followers, Lauren Singer is a firm advocate for the zero-waste lifestyle. She’s been living her sustainable lifestyle since 2012, when she first started collecting all of the waste she created in a single mason jar. She now shares tips for others to do the same on her blog, Trash is for Tossers.

Owner of the website Impact for Good, Jessica Clifton is one of the top sustainable living influencers. She shares product reviews, tips on living a waste-free lifestyle, and other advice on her channel. She started her venture by going plastic-free, which grew into choosing more eco-friendly products and eventually sharing her ventures through social media.

Founder of the Zero Waste Collective, Tara McKenna is a Canadian influencer with one of the largest sustainability influencer followings on Instagram. She recognized a need for change at the global level after having traveled to various countries to witness the significant trash problem firsthand. She now offers coaching on living sustainably as well as tips and advice on social media.

With an Instagram following of over 86K and more than 13K followers on YouTube, Andrew Burgess has become a go-to source for sustainable DIY projects and upcycling ideas. His mission is to inspire others to see the potential in what they already have, showcasing how sustainability can be both fun and fashionable. He criticizes fast fashion's reliance on environmentally damaging practices and encourages consumers to support brands that prioritize sustainability and ethical production.

Let's take an additional look into three examples of sustainability influencer collaborations for your inspiration:

1. Jessica Clifton and Grove Collaborative

Jessica Clifton is a sustainability influencer with a wide following of over 200K followers across Instagram and TikTok. She provides useful tips to her followers on sustainable living by partnering with brands that support her values. With an average of 32K engagements per post, Jessica is an ideal partner for brands looking to promote their products and values to a highly engaged and passionate network.

Grove Collaborative is an eco-friendly household and beauty brand that provides conscious consumers with ethical alternatives to everyday products. Currently, the brand’s social media following is 90% females with an average age of 30, which means they are connecting more with millennials than Gen Z. Perhaps in a bid to engage a younger demographic, the brand is running creative life-hack ads on TikTok, as seen with Jessica Clifton.

The floor cleaner is my favorite :’) #GrovePartner @grovecollaborative  #eco #sustainable #lowwaste #ecofriendly *ad

Recently, Andrew Burgess teamed up with Puma for their Voices of a Re:Generation campaign. The campaign is all about promoting sustainable fashion and reducing waste. Burgess is a perfect fit for this message, as he is known for his creative upcycling projects.

For the Re:Generation campaign, Burgess created a series of upcycled Puma sneakers. He used old Puma sneakers, as well as other materials like discarded fabrics and plastic bags. The result is a collection of unique and stylish shoes that are also good for the planet. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the sneakers will be donated to environmental organizations.

Rob Greenfield is an extremely unique influencer because his activism is at the heart of all that he does. It might be more accurate to call him an influactivist or an actifluencer. For example, a recent post presented a three-course gourmet meal made entirely of wasted food. His content is powerful and mission-oriented, something his 173K followers will certainly subscribe to. 

Rob had a very interesting collaboration with VIVOBAREFOOT, a shoe brand that vows to reclaim and resell all worn shoes rather than tossing them in landfills. Why is this partnership so important? As part of Rob’s environmental activism, he has largely gone barefoot for 10 years as a boycott of the industrial fashion and clothing industry. 

However, when he learned about Vivo’s mission to reclaim old shoes and stop the cycle of fast fashion, he realized that he finally found a shoe brand he could support. This collaboration produced an extremely strong and effective value-based campaign, presenting VIVOBAREFOOT as the only alternative to boycotting fast fashion. 

10 Sustainability Influencers + Eco-Friendly Campaign Tips

The TikTok Creator Fund gives TikTokers the chance to be paid for their content. Use this guide to decide if it’s worthwhile and learn how to join.

How Much Does the Fund Pay Content Creators?

Am I Eligible for the TikTok Creator Fund?

Other Ways to Make Money as a TikTok Content Creator

How to be Discovered By Brands as Influencer

Content apps like TikTok turn average people into internet-famous celebrities almost overnight. Over a billion people are publishing their product finds, deep thoughts, and quirky dances on the platform, but only a select few are getting paid for it — and you could be one of them if you’re part of the TikTok Creator Fund.

The TikTok Creator Fund is a revenue-sharing feature that makes it easy for users to monetize their content. It’s also a huge incentive to keep creating content for the platform, giving you a chance to grow your audience, go viral, and be an internet superstar.

Here’s what you should know about the TikTok Creator Fund, how to qualify, and whether it’s worth your time.

The TikTok Creator Fund acts as a bank account with funds earmarked for TikTok content creators. Eligible creators will receive money from the fund as a way for TikTok to say “Thanks!” for their content.

The funds come directly from TikTok’s own pockets. Since creators are the main driver of the TikTok app's success, it makes sense that TikTok gives back a little to the creator community that’s driving its growth.

The TikTok Creator Fund emerged in 2021 with a starting balance of $200 million. Since then, the company has announced plans to increase the TikTok Creator Fund to $1 billion over the next three years.

Now for the (possibly) million-dollar question: How much do creators earn from TikTok?

TikTok pays creators who produce high-performing original content. It defines “high-performing” based on the number of views a video receives.

Reports indicate that a TikTok creator can expect anywhere from a few cents to about $8 per 1000 views.

For a video to officially be dubbed viral, it needs to earn around 5 million views within a week. This means that a viral video racking up the minimum views could earn anywhere from $200 to $40,000 from the Creator Fund, if user reports are accurate.

However, other reports note that the average payout is about $0.03-$0.04 per 1,000 views. 

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