With over 25 years of experience, Donetta co-founded HUNTER’s Social, Digital & Influencer practice in 2010 and was appointed its first Chief Influencer & Social Media Officer in July 2021. As President of Bobbie—which operates from hubs in New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, Montreal, and London—Donetta focuses on building authentic brand–creator connections that yield long‑term consumer trust and loyalty. She describes the agency's mission as matching brands with trusted voices that communicate in natural, approachable ways to create meaningful, lasting relationships.
Throughout her career, Donetta has led large-scale influencer campaigns and helped shape the role of social media in marketing strategy, earning a reputation as a visionary in the creator economy. Under her leadership, Bobbie aims to advance influencer marketing from a supporting tactic to a core revenue-driving channel.
In a recent talk for The WIE Suite, Donetta Allen, President of Bobbie, shares how to develop a social media and influencer strategy, from early community forums to today’s AI-enabled creator marketplace.
She argues that we are in the midst of an “authenticity paradox”: audiences trust influencers precisely because their content feels personal and unscripted, yet those same influencers are increasingly monetizing their platforms through paid partnerships. For leaders, the challenge is how to participate in this economy without undermining credibility.
Here are five key insights for executives looking to integrate influencer strategy into their business growth plans:
Allen was unequivocal: trust is the central driver of influencer impact. Unlike traditional media, influencer content resonates because it mirrors the intimacy of peer-to-peer recommendations. “When the sell feels stronger than the story, trust evaporates,” she noted.
Executive takeaway: Trust must be treated as a strategic asset. Any partnership that compromises an influencer’s authenticity will diminish both the brand’s credibility and ROI. Align with voices whose values and lived experience map directly onto your customers’ expectations.
Brands often over-engineer messaging, but Allen underscored the importance of ceding creative control. “Influencers are the C-suite of their own organizations,” she said, "They understand audience behaviors, timing, and tone in ways external marketers cannot."
Executive takeaway: Provide clear strategic guardrails but allow influencers to lead the storytelling. Empowering creators ensures campaigns resonate as organic, not transactional, ultimately safeguarding long-term trust equity.
Not all influencers serve the same business purpose. Allen distinguished between sellers, skilled at driving direct conversions, and storytellers, those who shift perception and build emotional connection. Similarly, she differentiates between influencers (who mobilize audiences) and creators (who produce high-performing content assets).
Executive takeaway: Apply a portfolio lens to influencer strategy. Match the right profile to the right objective, conversion, awareness, education, or credibility building, and resist the temptation to use a one-size-fits-all approach.
Allen emphasized that influencer marketing is not transactional but relational. “You pay for deliverables, but relationships are earned,” she explained. Long-term partnerships strengthen trust with both the influencer and their audience, creating continuity that one-off campaigns cannot replicate.
Executive takeaway: Think of influencer partnerships as relationship capital. Invest early in emerging voices, whose loyalty and cost efficiency often outperform mega-influencers. Over time, this compounds into brand affinity that is both authentic and defensible.
From AI-driven discovery and ROI tracking to shifting platform algorithms, the landscape is dynamic. Allen urged leaders to cultivate agility: “Be willing to try things that make you nervous.” Some of the most effective campaigns, she noted, emerged when brands allowed creators to embed products into ongoing storylines their audiences were already following.
Executive takeaway: Build flexibility into influencer budgets and governance. Adopt an experimental mindset, leverage AI to streamline identification and measurement, and prepare to reallocate spend as platforms, formats, and audience behaviors shift.
Allen’s framework reframes influencer marketing not as a peripheral tactic but as a core growth lever. For executives and founders, the imperative is clear:
The brands that win in the creator economy will be those that master the balance between control and authenticity, and recognize that influence, when earned, is among the most powerful drivers of consumer behavior.
