- 50 million people work as influencers worldwide, according to some estimates — and Utah is seen as a particular hotspot.
- Experts say it can be easy for aspiring influencers to be taken advantage of.
- Influencers may be eligible to file a complaint when a company doesn't pay or provide promised products in exchange for work
From the hit Hulu TV series “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” to the international fascination with Hannah Neelman — the Juilliard ballerina turned farmer and parenting influencer — the Beehive State has become known as a hotspot for social media content creators.
“It is a really, really unique part of Utah that makes it stand out amongst other states,” said Mariah Wellman, an assistant professor at Michigan State University who researches the influencer industry.
But as more Utahns aspire to become content creators, Wellman said it can be “easy for some of these folks to be taken advantage of.”
FOX 13 News recently reported on complaints from influencers who said the Utah-based company Just Meats relied heavily on their social media posts to promote its products but in some cases never paid them for their work.
“It’s just a risk you take,” said Briana Riley, a Michigan-based blogger who says Just Meats owes her a little over $4,000. “You can put in all these hours and do all the work and you may never see the money from it.”
FOX 13’s reporting on the subject prompted the Utah Division of Consumer Protection — which often fields complaints about deceptive or dishonest business practices — to look into what protections are available to influencers who don’t receive what they were promised.
A growing number of businesses see social media as “a very powerful way” to grow their brand — but they “need to live up to their end of that bargain” when they form an agreement with an influencer, said Katie Hass, director of the division.
If they don’t, Hass said the state’s Consumer Sales Practices Act — which typically provides safeguards for consumers — may also protect influencers. That means they could be eligible to file a complaint with the state if they promoted a company online in exchange for products they never received, for example.
"Our statute is able to shift with the times and stay modern and current,” Hass said. “And so we could look at it for sure.”
But Hass notes that a lot depends on the individual facts of a case — especially because there’s such a wide range of people who may consider themselves influencers.
On one end of this spectrum are those Wellman calls “aspiring influencers,” who may just be starting out and are less professional or established. Hass said this category might, for example, include moms on social media who are recommending items to friends in exchange for free products from a company.
Because these influencers are more likely to be using goods received from a company in exchange for online promotion for “primarily personal, family or household purposes,” they’re also more likely to be considered “consumers” under Utah law.
“Assuming that those people are just consumers who are supposed to be given something for sharing that information or using their influence to get other people to maybe go and purchase that product,” Hass said, “there may be a violation of our Consumer Sales Practices Act if that business didn’t live up to their end of that bargain.”
On the other end of the spectrum are more professional influencers, who have turned their online promotion into a business and may even become household names.
“Like I’m thinking right now of all the Minecraft people that my kids talk about,” Hass said, “and I’m like, ‘OK they’re clearly in the business of doing this.”
Because their “business is influencing,” these content creators likely wouldn’t be considered “consumers” and would be ineligible to make a claim under Utah’s Consumer Sales Practices Act, Hass said. In those cases, their primary recourse for any unfulfilled promises would probably be a lawsuit.
COMPENSATION 'CONFUSION'
Wellman, a former University of Utah student who became interested in the influencer industry after living in the state, says there can be a tendency to dismiss the burgeoning influencer industry as something that’s not worth taking seriously. However, she notes that there are clear indications of its growing economic and cultural significance.
A little over half of Generation Z now say they want to be influencers — and 41% of adults overall say they would choose the career as well, according to CNBC’s reporting on two recent Morning Consult surveys.
Goldman Sachs estimates there are some 50 million people now working as influencers worldwide. And those working in this billion-dollar industry have had a significant impact in recent years on everything from culture and fashion to politics and policy, notes Wellman.
“Influencers have quite a bit of power in our society,” she added, “whether it’s direct or indirect.”
But behind the screens, Wellman says influencers who are just starting out can be particularly vulnerable to businesses looking to take advantage of their work — especially because they’re usually self-employed and don’t receive payment for their work upfront.
“They’re trying so hard to be seen and to have that video go viral or be seen as professional,” she said. “These folks are more willing to kind of do the work and not get paid either as much or as quickly.”
To protect themselves, both Wellman and Hass recommend content creators of any size ensure they always put an agreement in writing — even if they’re only receiving free products or a minimal sum in exchange for promoting a business online.
That way, if a company doesn’t fulfill its end of the agreement, “you have documentation that you then can bring to us or bring to your attorney and say, ‘Look, here’s everything I was promised and I didn’t get that,’” Hass said.
Wellman agreed, noting that there’s “a little bit of confusion when it comes to compensation” for businesses that are new to influencer marketing. Having everything in writing ensures both parties understand their roles.
“Regardless of what the influencers are being asked to do and regardless of what they’re going to get in return, there needs to be some sort of written and signed statement of agreement between the brand and the influencer,” she stressed.
Wellman also encourages influencers to add a 10% fee to their agreed-upon rate for every 30 days they aren’t paid by a company, in order to show brands that they’re “serious about getting paid in the time that they have requested.”
As the influencer industry continues to grow, Wellman said she expects it will become more common to hear conversations on the less visible aspects that go into content creation, such as compensation.
“I think most businesses are trying to do right by the influencers that they are working with,” she said. “But there’s always sort of this off chance that these businesses feel like they can kind of pull the rug out from underneath some of these influencers — especially those that are smaller — and sort of get by without paying them what they’re owed."