July-august. 2020 | Glam Halal
Foreign News
29
BY RICHARD WHITEHEAD
As halal companies increasingly
rely on YouTube celebrities and
social media stars with huge fanbases,
they may find they are less
able to keep them “in check” and
on brand.
A Malaysian university is designing new
classes to “educate a new generation of bloggers,
influencers and entrepreneurs”.
Under the banner of Asian Blogger Academy,
UiTM, a public university on the outskirts of
Kuala Lumpur, has joined with Indonesiabased
fashion consultancy Markamarie,
signing an agreement in Kuala Lumpur on on
July 15.
“Many of the students are bloggers, while
those in my age group are not aware of what
they are doing, so I saw it as an opportunity to
bridge the gap,” Dr. Ruslan Abdul Rahim, dean
of the faculty of art and design at UiTM, told
Salaam Gateway.
His university only accepts Bumiputera, or
ethnic Malay, students, who are almost always
Muslims.
“We are finalising the modules now. Among
them, we are going to introduce elements of
digital citizenship, incorporating ethics and
how to behave while blogging and influencing,”
Dr Ruslan added.
Classes are expected to start next year, and
faculty members and alumni bloggers will
teach the modules.
Himself an expert in branding, Dr Ruslan
said there is much more pressure on Muslim
influencers to appear clean and ethical in
everything they do, both in their online personas
and away from social media.
“That’s one of the reasons why this collaboration
has come up. Among the companies that
work with influencers, I know there are a lot of
concerns raised about whether the influencer
will stay appropriate and not damage their
brand. It’s very different from working with
an advertising or PR agency.
“That’s why we are incorporating ethics.
Behaving online is very difficult from behaving
in the physical society,” he added.
Both Dr Ruslan and Markamarie co-founder
Franka Soeria are in lockstep in their advice
to brands to protect themselves when they
decide to bring in social influencers to be part
of their branding mission.
“Someone may have a massive followerbase
and can promise lots of attention, but
numbers aren’t everything. You have to know
who you are dealing with and if they are going
to respect your brand. You have to be careful,”
said Franka.
According to Dr Ruslan, the key is first to
research an influencer thoroughly to “identifying
the trends or patterns that they portray”
across their body of work. It is also vital for
brands and influencers to grow together with
a lot of mutual handholding.
“It’s effortless to go by numbers: say if an
influencer has however many millions of
followers, that’s just scratching the tip of the
iceberg. A successful relationship goes much
further beyond the number of followers or
likes.
“I used to work in advertising agencies, and
that was a different ballgame. Then as a brand,
when you move to use a blogger or influencer,
it’s a learning curve for all involved.
“It’s not so much that the blogger needs to
be controlled, but it’s more in the context of
guiding them or chaperoning them to keep
your brand safe,” Dr Ruslan added.
MALAYSIAN INFLUENCERS
In Malaysia, there is a voracious appetite
for social media. According to a YouGov
‘Clean and
ethical’
Malaysian university to address influencing in new modules
It’s effortless
to go by
numbers:
say if an
influencer
has however
many
millions of
followers,
that’s just
scratching
the tip of
the iceberg.
A successful
relationship
goes much
further
beyond the
number of
followers or
likes.”
– Dr Ruslan Abdul
Rahim
Muslim social media
survey from 2019, one in six spend more than
nine hours per day looking at sites like Facebook,
Twitter and YouTube, while just seven
per cent spend less than an hour online.
This, in turn, puts pressure on influencers
to feed a population that is hungry for more
content.
“There’s evidence of people doing controversial
things to gain exposure for followers so
they can continue to be in the public conversation,”
said Anwar Hadi, a Malaysian vlogger
and influencer who opened his first YouTube
channel a decade ago. He now has over 62,000
subscribers.
“Who can blame them? If you’re looking
for maximum engagement for viewers and
followers, and ultimately for profit; but is that
a good way of doing it?”
Hana Ismail, a Malaysian former TV presenter
with 54,000 followers on Twitter, who
recently opened a lifestyle channel on YouTube
and creates content for brands, said influencers
need to practise good ethics.
“As a Muslim Influencer, of course, it comes
with additional pressure because it is embedded
within our beliefs to spread good values
and positive messages into our society. We
cannot simply ignore the repercussions from
our activities, behaviour and messages that we
promote,” Hana told Salaam Gateway.
Life on social media needs to be approached
with purpose because it affects the broader
community and requires constant re-evaluation
as social media and technology change,
she said.
“As to relationships with brands, sharing
strong and grounded values is important in
any relationship between brand and influencer.
The trick is to find the right fit.”
HAZARDS
According to Franka Soeria, influencer
endorsements can provide a good source of
free advertising at first. Still, there may come
a time when the cost becomes too high—both
economically and potentially in terms of
damage to a brand’s reputation.
“There are lots of bloggers and social influencers
who are just starting, and they might be
willing to work with us to raise their exposure.
“Often, they do some excellent work and
help get your message out there. But after
they have managed to build up a big following
themselves, some might only become interested
in numbers,” said Franka.
By numbers, this could mean either boosting
their Twitter following by another 10k or
introducing sky-high rates for their services.
Some in the modest fashion sphere have
been known to charge $20,000 or more for a
campaign, according to Franka.
While this approach may be cheaper than
the advertising rate card of a major newspaper
or magazine — and a far cry from the likes of an
American fashion model and celebrity Kendall
Jenner, who is reportedly paid more than $1.3
million per post to her 185 million followers
-- influencing can be hit, or miss and the people
who do it often dance to their beat.
“Influencers may be very committed to
the brands they partner with, but it is not yet
a professional industry. One who supports a
modest fashion brand might decide to take
off her hijab, for example, or they may put too
much attention on their private lives, and that
could impact a brand,” said Franka.
As the sector develops and social influencing
becomes a standard like PR and advertising
before it, the ground rules of the brand-influencer
association will become comfortable,
believes Malaysian social influencer Hana
Ismail.
“A properly regulated and transparent
market would improve this relationship
much better as brands and influencers become
clear about their roles and the lines that they
should or should not cross. There cannot be a
mismatch in values, which would usually lead
to conflict. So there’s pressure there, but rightly
so,” she added.