Arielle Charnas is back on Instagram — and many of her followers seem to forgive and forget.
The Something Navy influencer, who faced backlash (here’s everything that went down) on social media following her response to being tested positive for coronavirus, posted on Instagram for the first time since apologizing for her actions almost one month ago.
“Thank you for letting me take time to reflect and be with my family,” Charnas posted, with a photo of herself and her children today. “It has opened my eyes in so many ways both personally and professionally and it is this growth that I am extremely grateful for. Can’t wait to reconnect with you all.”
So far, the post is receiving high engagement — not a surprise given this is the longest stretch of time she has not posted on social media. With nearly 60,000 likes and 5,000 comments (as of early this evening), it looks like Charnas might be out of the woods with her 1.3 million followers.
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However, many are wondering what her next move will be. “It would be awesome if you tried turning a negative into something positive. Try raising awareness about causes you care about and donate to them to show people that you really are sorry and care about the impact you have,” one user wrote.
There is a lot at stake for the influencer in terms of credibility with consumers.
The blogger-turned-entrepreneur has been in the midst of her Something Navy brand launch (in August 2019, Charnas received a $10 million investment), and she typically works with a handful of brands. In fact, a collaboration with Stuart Weitzman was on the docket.
Since the controversy unfolded, Charnas saw significant impact on her audience engagement and following.
According to influencer marketing firm Social Studies, this moment has marked the longest stretch of unfollows in the last two years, with 25 days of negative audience growth in a 30-day period as of today. While most comments on the new post were positive, she has lost more than 1,000 followers today.
It’s worth noting that her biggest drop came after the April 2 apology post, when she lost 1,700 followers. “It’s easier to follow then it is to unfollow so if you show any negative audience, it’s a very bad sign,” Social Studies founder and CEO Brandon Perlman told FN at the time. “It’s not a typical behavior. Instagram even makes it slightly difficult to [unfollow].”
Whether she will have the same converting power as she did prior to the scandal remains to be seen. But she’s back — at least for now.
