If you’re watching the conversation around diversity in the Australian influencer and content creation space unfold and your instinct is to wait for it to pass – now is exactly the time to lean in instead.
These conversations aren’t going away. And for brands and agencies that want to do right by creators and build something that actually lasts, the window to act thoughtfully rather than reactively is open right now.
Here are four things you can do this week.
1. Lean In and Listen First
Start by actually reading what creators are saying. What are the specific complaints? What’s stinging? Who isn’t feeling seen, and why?
And don’t only look forward. Look back too. Are there moments where your brand or agency has misstepped?
Intention matters – but if the results of your actions have caused real hurt in a community that’s already navigating significant barriers, good intentions aren’t enough on their own.
Listening without defensiveness is the first step toward doing better.
Some places to start: the comments sections, the TikToks, the open letters. They’re there. Read and listen without ego, writing down experiences and themes to take action on next.
2. Take Action Inside Your Organisation
Talk to your teams. Your values at the leadership level don’t automatically translate into the day-to-day decisions being made by everyone in your organisation.
A team member who isn’t across these issues can undo a lot of good work quickly.
Recommended reading: Creator Diversity in Australia: 4 Brand Mistakes That Hurt Creator Relationships
One concrete example: brands and agencies routinely negotiate influencer rates. This is industry standard and expected.
But if you’re disproportionately and consistently negotiating down the rates of women of colour, that’s worth examining – and worth addressing explicitly with your team.
Negotiation doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It happens inside systems that already disadvantage some people more than others, and pretending otherwise doesn’t make it neutral.
Practical ways to take action inside your organisation include:
- Setting up anonymous feedback processes for creators and past collaborators to share what it was actually like to work with you – and committing to acting on what you hear
- Addressing feedback promptly rather than letting it sit until the next annual review
- Scheduling monthly check-ins to keep the conversation active rather than treating it as a one-time exercise
- Have clear guidelines in place for negotiation. If you’re bartering too low, your budget isn’t appropriate for the creators you’re reaching out to.
3. Start Now – Literally This Week
Don’t wait until you have a formal strategy. Start scouting.
Find Black, Brown, Asian, and Indigenous creators whose content and style you genuinely connect with.
This isn’t about pity or doing diverse creators a favour. It is important to recognise that even within systems that disproportionately disadvantage people of colour, many creators have built deeply engaged, highly connected communities.
The audience is there. The content is there. The relationship just hasn’t been built yet.
Practically, this looks like:
- Going through your existing talent roster and PR lists and actively including creators who reflect cultural diversity, as well as diversity of age and ability
- Noting which cities creators are based in so you can include them in event invites
- Seeding products with intention – learn their skin types, their content style, what they actually care about
- Creating new audience personas across age ranges and cultural groups you don’t currently reach
Right now, TikTok and Instagram are full of posts highlighting diverse Australian creators. Don’t scroll past. Save them and send them to your team.
Some creators to start with:
- 9 Brown-Australian Creators You Need on Your Social Feeds
- 6 Black Beauty Creators in Australia You Should Follow Immediately
- 6 Asian-Australian Beauty Creators Who Make Content You Need to See
4. Future-Proof Your Approach
These conversations will keep coming. Brands and agencies that treat diversity as a moment to manage rather than a standard to build toward will keep finding themselves on the back foot.
Some ways to make this structural rather than reactive:
- Bring in People of Colour consultants or DEI professionals who can give you honest, qualified feedback – not just reassurance
- Talk to peers in your space who have already done this work and are willing to share what they’ve learned
- Book a session with a marketing consultant who specialises in diversity if you’re not sure where to start
- Partner with creators you’ve already built genuine relationships with and ask them directly what better looks like
We didn’t create these systems. But how we move and work within them determines whether they change – especially in the media.
If you’re a brand or agency feeling genuinely lost on where to begin, feel welcome to reach out at press@whiterabbitsocial.com for a free of judgement conversation to start moving in the right direction.
We’ve also created a form for anonymous commentary or questions you’d like us to focus on covering.
We pull on insights from creators, brands, and marketing executives to give an insightful way forward through the industry noise.
Leave a Reply