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Influence For Good: harnessing influence marketing to promote ethical practices and drive positive change
Our mission
At Kolsquare social media and digital influence is at the core of our business. We are aware of the enormous potential it has to change people’s lives for better or worse; we want to tip the scales on the side of better.
That’s why we have made it our mission to help bring out Influence Marketing’s best and establish #InfluenceForGood, and that’s for real!
“Despite the often jarring headlines, we at Kolsquare believe in the immense power of social media to have a positive impact. It can bring people closer together, boost the fortunes of small business and facilitating debate about important issues that are often overlooked by traditional media. Rather than become submerged by the negatives, we’ve taken the lead to drive change for the better.”
Kolsquare Founder and CEO Quentin Bordage
Influence Marketing, a powerful tool to promote social justice, transparency, and education
The headline-grabbing bad eggs in our industry get a lot of attention, yet we passionately believe that KOLs and their content can truly enrich people’s lives.
Our industry is about much more than airbrushed images and free trips to Dubai — many content creators use their influence to educate their communities about social and environmental issues. In essence, they have become the voices of a new generation of activists and change-makers, committed to doing things for the collective good.
Kolsquare, a Benefit Company
Using social media to bring positive change to our society and planet was always at the heart of our mission. In 2020, we decided to make things official and became a certified Benefit Corporation (Entreprise à mission) – in fact, the first of our industry.
Our Commitments and activism
- Empower people and organizations to leave a positive impact through our technology. We provide NGOs, non-profits, government agencies with access at reduced prices, or for free.
- Promote KOL (Key Opinion Leaders) and content creators engaged for social and environmental causes (#influenceforgood).
- Train, empower and inspire future “change-makers” by conducting dedicated research, share industry insights and promoting best practices for
- Contribute 1% of annual sales to social and environmental issues, and spread the word within our community to encourage others to contribute.
- Run a responsible business to have a positive impact at our own level; this entails:
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- Building a socially and environmentally responsible business by taking steps to reduce our carbon footprint
- Ensure equality and diversity in our teams, and family-friendly working conditions
- Leading and contributing to collective efforts to ensure responsible practices and ethical standards within our industry.
Our NGO Partners
EDUCATION & PROTECTION OF CHILDREN
Génération Numérique (France)
For 20 years, Génération Numérique has been working with educators, children, teenagers, and parents to demystify the workings of the internet and combat online harassment and bullying among young people. The association runs some 7,500 workshops in French schools each year, offers a series of online resources for parents and educators, and conducts in-depth research into young people’s internet usage.
CYBERBULLYING
Bündnis gegen Cybermobbing (Germany)
Bündnis gegen Cybermobbing (Alliance against Cyberbullying) aims to raise awareness among young people and adults of the dangers of the internet, and to show people how they can protect themselves from bullies. The association offers workshops in schools, companies and webinars, and conducts regular research and consultations to better understand and respond to key issues.
BULLYING & HARASSMENT
A.E.P.A.E (Spain)
Spanish Asociación Española para la Prevención del Acoso Escolar (AEPAE) (Association for the Prevention of School Bullying ), was founded 20 years ago by a martial arts expert with the aim of helping children deal with the scourge of school bullies. More than 20,000 children have received training under the association’s National Plan, with the incidence of bullying reduced by 50% in the first year of implementation.
CYBERBULLYING & HARASSMENT
Marion la Main Tendue (France)
Marion la Main Tendue (Marion, the hand held out) works to prevent and fight school violence and cyberbullying. It participates in public consultations and events to raise awareness about the risks associated with violence and bullying in schools, and lobby policy-makers. The association also runs workshops with children and parents, and in schools to raise awareness and support victims in protecting themselves against bullies.
Technology For Good: Our software helps marketers make ethical decisions
We have created a platform that combines the latest tech, data and AI to help our clients create and manage impactful social media campaigns.
But more than that, we’re also determined that our platform should make doing their job responsibly and sustainably that much easier. That’s why our product team is constantly working on new filters and functionalities that blend top performance with high standards in social and environmental responsibility.
Our platform offers a number of dedicated filters and features to help brands team up with best-in-class change-makers who commit to using their influence in an ethically sound and considered manner.
ARPP Responsible Influence Certificate Filter
You’re looking to find KOLs* fully committed to ethical conduct on the web? Activate our ARPP Responsible Influence Certificate filter to find those who are best in class and commit to using their influence in an ethically sound and considered manner.
*filter applies to French KOLs only
Compliance Score: Brand safety first
In a collective effort to make social media a safer and more positive place, a number of countries have moved to beef up regulatory oversight of the Influencer Marketing sector.
Our Compliance Score allows you to check at one glance if a KOL correctly identifies sponsored posts and complies with regulatory requirements and consumer laws. (Not available for all markets.)
#InfluenceForGood Filter
This is how it all started — during the Covid-19 pandemic, Kolsquare decided to unite inspiring KOLs willing to volunteer their influence to support people and organizations impacted by the crisis. Today, the dedicated #Influenceforgood filter has signed up over 3,500 content creators keen to leverage their influence on behalf of worthy causes. Will your favorite content creator be next?
Creators who opt into the filter volunteer and connect with institutions that drive purpose-driven campaigns.
Carbon Footprint Calculator
Ever wondered what the carbon impact of your influencer marketing campaign is? We have, and it turns out it’s a pretty tough thing to measure. That’s why Kolsquare has teamed up with carbon impact business solution Sami to develop an open source tool that will allow brands, agencies and content creators to measure the precise impact of their digital publications and influencer marketing campaigns. The tool is currently in beta testing, so watch this space in the coming months for the rollout. Click here for more info (link to Michella ITV in Influence for good guide)
Fighting climate change by offsetting and reducing our carbon and digital footprint
The fight to keep global heating within the threshold of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and avoid the most catastrophic effects of climate change is a collective responsibility. While recognising that as a tech company we’re part of the problem — the tech sector could account for 14% of global greenhouse emissions by 2040 if left unchecked — we’re taking steps to reduce our impact by measuring and offsetting our output, and putting processes in place to reduce it. We’re doing our best, but we know there’s more to be done. So we’ll keep pushing.
Tree Nation
Three-nation is a tech solution on a mission to reforest the planet. Deforestation is one of the biggest contributors to climate change. By gamifying and automating tree-planting efforts around the world, Tree-nation believes it can plant 1 trillion trees by 2050. Tree-nation’s API allows companies to connect a CRM or ecommerce platform, to automatically plant a tree when a sale is made or a deal signed, for example. A self-described ‘social network based on planting trees’, each tree planted comes with a digital card that can be sent as a gift-card to customers and partners. Companies grow a Tree-nation forest which tracks how many trees they’ve planted and how much CO2 they’ve offset.
Kolsquare’s Forest in Tree-nation: 6260 trees planted, 309.4t CO2 offset
SAMI
Saas platform SAMI automates existing carbon footprint methodology to enable companies to measure their carbon output. Sami’s technology compiles and analyzes financial and accounting data related to all aspects of the business, which it then associates with emissions according to activity category, such as travel, purchasing, buildings, digital output, etc. Staff are required to complete a survey of their consumption and travel habits.
Since 2021, Kolsquare has partnered with SAMI to measure its carbon footprint and offset it through Tree-nation.
Meet the Kolsquarians – A tribe of activists
Michella Saliby, Chief Product Officer
“It’s motivating that Kolsquare is transparent in everything we do, even during the meetings, if there is a conflict of opinions. This is really very important, and it’s one of the pillars. I’m not the biggest user of social media or the biggest follower of influencers, but what convinced me was Quentin, because he embodies the values of the company, and then all the people themselves. The mission to make this sector more positive, that’s one of things that motivates me the most.”
Asser, Back-end Developer
“Kolsquare is trying, despite everything, to promote KOLs that don’t promote bad things. There are rules that limit certain types of influencers in the catalog. It brings a positive impact to influencer marketing and it is really important to me. It’s part of the reason why I wanted to join the company. It’s motivating to know I’m working for a company that doesn’t contribute to the downfall of society.”
Katy, Brand Manager
“I stumbled into working in marketing, communications and PR a bit by accident and it’s always made me feel like I’m not doing something socially useful. But now that I’m working for a Benefit Company and can drive actions that have an impact — from NGO collaborations and giving a voice to social and environmental issues — that’s really meaningful for me. It gives me a lot of motivation and a sense of being proud of the skills I have.”
Join the movement!
Join the movement now by creating your influencer profile on Kolsquare and activating the “I volunteer” option. Also, support the #InfluenceForGood initiative by saving and sharing this Instagram story with the #InfluenceForGood hashtag.
Organizations and institutions
You would like to receive more statistics on influencers or use our technology for free to activate volunteering profiles? Contact our experts now !