“However influencer marketing looks to you, it has taken the marketing industry by storm. Almost 50% of customers say they follow influencers’ product or service recommendations, and over 70% of businesses say the quality of traffic from influencers is better than from other sources.”
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Shaya’s Influencer Marketing case study explores how the brand celebrated its one year anniversary with ‘Not perfect, but One of a Kind‘ campaign with storytelling at heart. Check out the latest article from Social Jack! #InfluencerMarketing
For years, Influencers were able to point to the number of followers they had to garner brand deals, as marketers had a hard time tracking what worked and what didn’t. But now marketers want a more refined approach to their Influencer Marketing strategies, moving beyond the days of simply picking who’s the most popular. Check out the latest article from Social Jack! #InfluencerMarketing
Influencer marketing can be like the Wild West. Navigating its ins and outs can be taxing for companies and influencers alike. It's easy to imagine that influencers are just cashing checks from companies after they post product shots, but influencers say that's not the case — there's much more legwork in between.
For one travel influencer, managing content and brand deals is akin to being a small-business owner — but brands don't necessarily understand that. In the latest edition of The Confessions, in which we trade anonymity for frank conversation, the influencer shares how he navigates brand deals, how it can be tricky to retain rights to your content and why he wants influencers to be taken more seriously by brands.
This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
As an influencer, what does your job actually entail?
It’s a weird mix of things. I’m both a writer, photographer, marketer, advertiser and my own PR. I also run my own website, so I have to deal with website issues. I do a little bit of everything. I’m spending a certain amount of time on social media per day, and I try to limit it so that I don’t get overwhelmed with all the little tasks that I need to keep doing to keep running my own business.
Would you compare being an influencer to being a small-business owner?
I 100% feel like a small-business owner. I have to chase down invoices. I have to sign contracts that are given to me, which means I have to review contracts. I write my own contracts for some campaigns. You’re doing all sorts of things. It’s not just posting photos. Also, when I work with a brand — let’s say it’s for a specific campaign to promote a sale or a deal — I’m usually given their campaign guidelines and their brand guidelines, then I have to shoot the content or write it, send to them for approval and then actually schedule and post it on my own accounts. You’re really doing brand advertising work, so you have to follow a lot of steps to make sure everything gets done.
What’s that dynamic like? How do you handle requests for them to retain the rights to your content?
A lot of the time if a brand reaches out to me to promote something, we’ll quickly agree to general terms. Then they’ll send the contract over. I’m creating content following their brand guidelines, but within my own creative control within my own brand because it’s my own channel and my network. It has to be a balance of both. Sometimes when they send over the contract before the work starts, it might include a clause that they get the rights to use the content I produce [in perpetuity]. If that wasn’t in the initial discussion, it can incur an extra cost. They could’ve just hired a photographer to create something for them, but when you work with an influencer, you’re theoretically getting two-in-one: You’re getting original creative content that they can use for their own marketing plus promotion to an additional outlet and network. I closely look at contracts and make sure I still retain rights that are fair for the amount of money I’m paid.
Do you go back and negotiate when you find surprises in the contracts?
You have to go back to the negotiating table. A lot of my influencer friends do the same. We all look at the contract. We are small-business owners, and we’re afraid to give away too much of our own intellectual property without being fairly compensated. I do think sometimes it’s easy to overlook, but the more active and engaged as an influencer I become, the more closely I pay attention to this stuff. I will say, there have been times where a brand has refused, but a lot of times they are happy to amend the contract. Sometimes they don’t, and then you don’t go forward. You do see that other influencers do take the deal.
Because I work in mostly travel and tourism, some of the perks are amazing, like a trip to a destination or a hotel stay. Sometimes it might just be an in-kind payment where flights, hotels, restaurants and activities might all be comped, but if they send a contract that has all rights to the content posted by X amounts of dates, that’s far too much for what they are providing me in-kind. There’s always a negotiation.
What's your biggest pet peeve about how people view influencer marketing?
People love to make fun of influencers. The word influencer is used pretty loosely. But the most professional ones take their work very seriously. Sometimes it seems that brands don’t take the work of influencers very seriously. Or they might lump the work of influencers alongside people who aren’t really influencers but are just trying to get a free gift. I essentially see my outlet as a publication. I am producing content for that. I also have to produce ads so that I can continue to produce content. That’s how it remains sustainable. Sometimes a brand will say they only have so much budget, and if it doesn’t meet my minimum for what an ad should cost on my outlet, my publication, my channel, I would say no.
Could you give us an example of how brands might not take influencers seriously?
Brands might use micro-influencers because they charge less. Brands might be trying to get the rate that works best for them without acknowledging that the work varies from influencer to influencer. There are times where a brand may offer a flat rate for every influencer no matter what their audience is like, what their engagement is like, what their niche or specialty is. I cover LGBTQ issues and content, and really speak to a specific LGBTQ audience. It’s a valuable audience because it’s not as well represented and can be a challenge for some brands to reach LGBTQ consumers, so there’s a certain value you can attach to that. But if brands are using flat rates and not thinking about each individual influencer as their own individual business or outlet, it’s hard to make it work.
What's your rate?
It varies. I don’t have a flat rate. Everyone now can set their own rate based on what they are able to get. But brands have reached out to me through an influencer network asking to pay a flat rate of like $150 to every influencer they were working with. That's lower than what I would normally get. It's clear it doesn’t matter to them what the audience is like.
So mass blasting messaging through influencers will happen with flat-rate agreements?
There are certainly more brands now that are closely looking at influencers and actually building up relationships, but there’s still plenty of mass blasting to a mass-market happening. I get those kinds of things all the time and it’s pretty easy to say no to marketing spam. There is a trend of brands looking to get more targeted outreach with influencers, but the other stuff still happens, and I don’t see it ending. It’s so easy for people to take $150 and do something quick.
What would you want brands to understand from your perspective on how they should be dealing with influencers?
My biggest challenge is finding brands that value me and my content. I didn’t actually start my website or Instagram with the intention of it being a business. It happened organically, and that’s the case for a lot of influencers. You build up an audience and learn how to turn it into more developed content. There’s a lot of work. You’re paying for the experience and the audience. Some brands do get that. Some PRs get that. Everyone is overworked and underpaid, so I can see how people might just be trying to get quick wins at the lowest cost. But if everyone respected each other’s work a bit more and people took the time to listen to what each of our goals were, then it would work better.
The post ‘Brands don't take our work seriously': Confessions of a travel influencer appeared first on Digiday.
The FTC warned influencers they are required disclose endorsement information.
The post New FTC Guidance on Influencer Endorsements via @martinibuster appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
A few weeks ago, Talkwalker & Social Samosa released a report on Influencer Marketing. It said 72% of the 800 industry persons surveyed would increase investment in influencer marketing next year. The report reflected the growing importance of influencers, the expected market opportunities, growth aspects, strategic insights and challenges ahead.
Can a ‘sponsored' tag reduce the association with the post? 51% of the surveyed said it may. Even though 75% thought of it as a top strategic priority, 63% agreed to be working with less than 50 influencers. Only 38% of the respondents use a specific tool to manage such campaigns and 17% are of the opinion that it helps them get direct leads and product purchases. Only 1% said influencer marketing can help battle a social media crisis.
These stats reflect that there is a lot left to explore on the topic — giving rise to the idea of the Masterclass with Ignacio Aguirre. It would be an opportunity for discussions and doubt solving sessions around the phenomenon.
Location: Hyatt Regency, Mumbai
Date & Time: November 12 at 3 pm.
The Masterclass would cover the essentials of Influencer Marketing – how brands have adapted to the phenomenon, lessons from success stories, and ways for brands looking to kickstart the journey.
With over 12 years of marketing experience, Aguirre has worked with different technology and entertainment companies as well as startups. His expertise includes SEM, SEO, Digital Strategy, E-commerce, Retail & Online, Demand Generation, Brand Management, Creative Solutions, and Emerging Markets.
Wish to be a part of the Masterclass? Fill the form below for an exclusive Invite
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The post [Masterclass] Influencer Marketing with Ignacio Aguirre appeared first on Social Samosa.
In Episode 71 of the Influence Factory, I had the opporunity to sit down with my close friend and business partner, Ben Zoldan co-founder and CEO of Storyleaders.I welcome you to a discussion with us about “All-In” culture and what it means to see opportunity in fear, and more importantly what impact does it have in your organization, people and even our world.
The first area we focus on here is the idea of being present. If you are constantly looking towards the next thing, you are not allowing yourself to live in the experience of now. Constantly looking for the next thing trains your brain to do this even when you don’t intentionally mean to. This can, over time, hinder relationships in the sense of work as well as family.
When you grow up learning certain defense mechanisms, they become ingrained in your behavior for the rest of your life. It is up to you to unlearn these techniques to make room for growth. An interaction I had changed the way I looked at fear and how it affected my professional growth.
“Your problem is that you see fear as the enemy. When fear comes up, you need to see that as an opportunity, embrace it full-on, and go at it– whatever that fear maybe.” By doing this, you are opening the door to opportunities you would have never dreamed of. Nothing is out of your reach when you realize this. Ben points out that we are not fearless by nature; the closest we come to being fearless is when we effectively learn how to manage our fear and turn it into opportunity. At that point, we can cross the boundaries of fearlessness.
Ben goes on to discuss questions that were sparked within him when he went up to a man to thank him for his work, and he replies with, “Hey man I’m just doing my part.” It makes you wonder why some people are all-in, and others are not. A successful operation is made when all members are in for the good of the project rather than the material, monetary, and selfish reasons. The root of the problem comes from, in Ben’s eyes, “Corporate environments we set up that are operating from a playbook that fails to celebrate the most intrinsic things that govern our souls. This includes being stimulated, being a part of something greater, or working for something truly important to them. People don’t go “All-In” because of the out of date paradigms corporations have set up.”
For Ben, it was starting Storyleaders and diving into something that he was completely invested in. His passion, his drive, and his motives were “All-In” when it came to this project. He stated that maybe even if he wasn't the absolute best at it, it was about overcoming the fear and putting yourself in a position where you are truly passionate about the job you are doing.
When you can effectively communicate your story to your team and open the door to a vulnerable state, it creates a sense of community, understanding, and most importantly, humanization. With an open atmosphere, there is a greater potential for the team to have accountability and drive, due to viewing each other more as fellow humans with the same goals, rather than just coworkers.
“By and large, I felt like I knew what I was getting into. I couldn’t have been more wrong…This is an experience that has forever changed how I view the world” – Barry Sowerwine, SVP Enterprise Sales, Tableau
Ben discusses the idea that the reason people act the way they do is because of the broken systems we are designing. If the office culture had always been “All-In” then we wouldn't have to go back and fix it. The thing that gives people purpose and meaning is a connection. You have to find connections with others to truly feel attached to the work.
One of our core human interests is to contribute. We are here to work together to create something greater. Ben mentions that what gives us the ability to work together in large numbers is the ability to empathize and have each other's backs. This does not necessarily make us unique, for wild animals also do this. What does make us unique, however, is that we can pick things up and imagine things that do not yet exist. Businesses fail to recognize, in most cases, that this is what makes us so inimitable. They do not foster creativity and fail to remember what it is like to be human.
On a sports team, there is a sense of looking out for one another. The defense must work with the offense to reach its goal. This is the mentality that should be carried into the office. To listen to this episode with @BenZoldan go to: https://app.socialjack.com/resource-items/ep-71-ben-zoldan-going-all-in-influence-factory/
“With Vorasahab, Jainam Vora has established his presence as a travel and lifestyle blogger across all social media platforms and believes in creating your own style and identity in the cluttered market of Influencers.” Check out the latest article from Social Jack! #InfluencerMarketing
Of the 800 surveyed, 72% said they would increase investment in Influencer Marketing in 2020. This and more influencer marketing stats 2020 in this read. Check out the newest article from Social Jack! #InfluencerMarketing
This festive season, HDFC bank has come up with an Influencer Marketing campaign, to promote healthy spending habits among Millennials. Check out this latest article at Social Jack! #InfluencerMarketing
