Conveying COVID-19 Health Information with CALD Social Media Influencers: The Cultural Role of Brand Consistency and Relatability for Identity Authenticity

During the COVID-19 global pandemic, young people and culturally and linguistically diverse populations (CALD) were underserved by non-tailored government health messaging. Social media influencers offer a potentially cost-effective and scalable form of health communication for reaching young CALD populations. Little is known, however, about the characteristics of an influencer's identity authenticity for reaching CALD youth, or how that authenticity is underpinned by brand consistency and relatability. Drawing on the authors' commissioned evaluation of a state government initiative for delivering targeted COVID-19 health information to CALD young people (11-26 years) in Victoria, Australia, this paper analyses findings from thirteen qualitative interviews with influencers and target audience members to provide insights on identity authenticity in the contemporary digital ecology. The analysis aims to contribute to the limited extant knowledge of the role third-party influencers can play in government health communication by providing a cultural context for understanding identity authenticity when targeting minority social groups.