Should social influencers be given creative freedom?

PR Week recently published an article suggesting that PR professionals attempting to recruit new social media influencers should emulate A&R departments in the music industry.

The job of an A&R person is to discover, refine and nurture talent, essentially grooming them for success. In some cases an A&R will simply throw money at an artist to help them polish their art. In other cases, they will take a raw talent and mould it to a very specific product.

A good A&R will know instinctively which artists need a little help or would benefit from a more hands off approach. They will also know when to cut-off ties and let a lost cause walk away.

Perhaps the biggest cause of friction between an A&R department and their artists is the question of creative or artistic freedom.

For an exceptionally talented artist, creative freedom allows them to deliver an authentic and therefore more desirable product.  In the case of the wannabe, the desire for creative freedom can lead to their downfall and is often seen as desperate ego-boost (in an industry where ego is everything).

So if the PR industry is to start nurturing influencers in the same way the music industry does, the question of creative freedom is undoubtedly going to raise its ugly head.

Will brands be willing to give their influencers complete freedom to endorse their products and services any way they see fit or will they need to rein in some egos?

It all comes down to how authentic brands and influencers (who are themselves brands) wish to appear to their audience.

It’s a question of maintaining brand integrity while allowing your influencers the freedom to engage their audience. Influencer marketing won’t work if brands are clearly seen behind the scenes pulling all the strings. Likewise, influencers won’t want to play it too safe and be seen as corporate puppets. There has to be an element of creative freedom.

The question has to be: Is your organization “Rock ‘n’ Roll” enough to allow your influencers go with the flow and just jam or will you favour more manufactured “Pop” and just hope that it’s authentic sounding enough to raise a few pulses?