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- TikTok’s launching Twitch-like subscriptions in beta
- Playboy Is Putting Influencers At The Center Of Its New Business Model
- Levi’s Taps Influencer Emma Chamberlain for 501 Day Shorts
- OnlyFans Creator Claims Sex With Meta Employees Got Her Account Back
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Great Reads
The 2022 Creator Report By Linktree
Linktree has released its Creator Report for 2022. To help individuals and enterprises make sense of the rapidly expanding Creator Economy, Linktree releases an annual creator report. They use and analyze their own information, industry data, and survey results to make this happen.
For the 2022 Creator Report, they enlisted the help of 9,500 participants to ensure depth of data. This year’s report highlights key industry trends and insights that impact the creator economy.
Influence Weekly/Net Influencer has highlighted three key takeways from the report help you grow your creator journey.
1. Niching: Should You or Shouldn’t You?
Even if you’ve been at it for some time, you may still be uncertain whether to be a generalist or a specialist. It’s easy to assume that the initial option would be better. After all, “the more, the merrier,” right? According to the report, not exactly.
2. The Correlation Between Hours Invested and Annual Income
What the Survey Says: The time you invest in content creation isn’t directly proportional to your earnings.
3. The Importance of Brand Partnerships
What the Survey Says: Bagging brand partnerships isn’t the only way to earn.
The 2022 Creator Report reveals that more than two-thirds of all content creators say they’ve never had brand collaborations on social media. The report goes on to show that a quarter of all content creators get the largest chunk of their earnings from their own web pages.
For our full analysis, click here
Corey Meyer: How A Local Butcher Found Success On Social Media
Corey Meyer has been operating within the Canadian meat industry for 26 years, showcasing his artisan skills and love of local produce. Meyer took over the acclaimed ACME Meat Market in 2008, alongside his wife and team of expert butchers. After building up a positive repertoire within his local area, Meyers decided to produce content for social media.
‘10 or 11 years ago, I just got interested in Instagram so I thought it would be kinda neat if I took pictures of what I do. It really took off and it seemed like there was quite a market for what I was doing. A lot of people go to the grocery store and they just see meat on a plastic tray or a styrofoam tray. So I think a lot of people like to see where it actually comes from.’
Meyer is extremely active on Instagram, building a community of 11.5K followers and nearly 2,000 posts. He also posts a variety of videos that show off the products in more detail.
Creating A Consistent Strategy For Instagram
With such a strong following on the platform, Meyer seems to have found his ideal niche and works hard to upkeep engagement on social media. He goes on to describe how he maintains such an active following on Instagram.
‘Just keeping it simple. Don’t try and reinvent the wheel. I just try to go at it and make it pretty and people seem to enjoy that.’
As ACME Meat Market is based in Alberta, beef is unsurprisingly their best seller. In turn, Meyer tries to diversify his content and market his products in unique and exciting ways.
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Campaign Insights
Playboy Is Putting Influencers At The Center Of Its New Business Model
In December Playboy launched its Centerfold platform, a rival to OnlyFans that hosts creators and influencers and allows them to monetize through subscriptions and pay-per-view content. Playboy then tapped none other than global popstar Cardi B to be Centerfold’s creative director.
Playboy’s ambition is to monetize the platform and boost sales of its branded direct-to-consumer (DTC) products. Now post-rebrand, Playboy has made its influencer ambitions clear by hiring Loren Piretra as vice-president of creator and influencer marketing to lead its Centerfold strategy. The former Twitch global head of creator and influencer marketing joins in June ready to grow the platform.
Piretra said of her appointment: “Working with this legendary brand, whose influence has made an undeniable cultural and societal impact over nearly seven decades, has me energized to build on strategies that reflect the revolutionary spirit embodied by the Playboy brand.”
Centerfold is Playboy’s long-term strategy to drive audiences across the Playboy group. “Centerfold has the potential to drive organic customer acquisition and serve as a massive top of the funnel for PLBY Group’s ecosystem of products and services,” according to Playboy’s investor deck.
Lancôme Nets $1.5 Million in 10 Days on Douyin
Luxury beauty brand Lancôme has found its perfect bedfellow in China’s short video platform Douyin. On May 13, it opened an official flagship store selling 35 products ranging from skincare to cosmetics; it also launched its first live broadcast featuring local KOL Xianmu (a men’s make-up blogger) and beauty influencer Yizhi Nannan which drew 200,000 watchers. Within ten days, sales were in excess of roughly $1.5 million (10 million RMB). This figure included revenue from the “Douyin 520 Confession Season” campaign for the local shopping festival during which the French cosmetics giant’s turnover reached about $750,000 (5 million RMB).
Levi’s Taps Influencer Emma Chamberlain for 501 Day Shorts
Levi’s new collaboration with brand ambassador Emma Chamberlain celebrates summer and more.
The brand reconnected with YouTube personality to drop a limited-edition 501 jean short Friday, May 20—which blue bloods know as Levi’s 501 day, commemorating the world’s first blue jean receiving its official patent on May 20, 1873.
Last fall, Levi’s launched a popup at its Times Square flagship in New York City in partnership with Chamberlain Coffee, the influencer’s java-making label.
Made to resemble a classic pair of Levi’s cutoffs, the Levi’s x Emma Chamberlain 501 shorts come in on-trend chocolate overdyed denim and feature a raw hem and all-over print with summer-inspired elements like strawberries, seashells, sailboats and woodland creatures. The 100 percent cotton short is based on Levi’s new ’90s version of the 501.
The design resonates with the Gen Z influencer, who spent her summers swimming in the ocean, watching boats, and exploring lighthouses while dressed in her favorite Levi’s 501 shorts.
WSOP reveals 14 influencers taking part in promotional efforts
The World Series of Poker (WSOP) app has unveiled the influencer line-up for its #RoadToTheTable campaign.
WSOP has selected 14 content creators from various platforms, including Instagram, Twitch and YouTube, to face off against one another in a poker tournament this December.
Among those taking part are ZackTTG, a sports-focused YouTuber, Malena Tudi, who is active on Twitch and Instagram, and Nick Polom, Tudi’s partner and fellow Twitch streamer.
Adam LZ, Billy Mann, Collete Davis, Erik Conover, Jay Mendoza, Jiedel, Kenny Chao, Lauren Fitzmaurice and Stephania Ergemlidze, Matthew Meagher and Nick Antonyan round out the 14-influencer line-up.
Guy Ceder, General Manager of the WSOP app, remarked: “We are thrilled to finally announce the identities of the influencers taking part in our #RoadToTheTable campaign.
Creator-led brands are prioritizing content and community for commerce growth
Brands founded by influencers and creators are growing rapidly in the e-commerce space. The emerging creator market alone is estimated to be worth more than $104.2 billion and growing daily as new platforms and formats emerge.
Influencer-led brands are also at the forefront of innovation in using content and their online communities to drive business growth in 2022.
For example, in 2013, former MAC cosmetics trainer Lisa Jauregui began creating YouTube tutorials to teach women how to use makeup in a more accessible and easy-to-understand way. After producing three videos a week for years, she has built a community of more than 200,000 engaged subscribers. In 2019, Lisa teamed up with her husband, Paul Jauregui, to launch BK Beauty, their brand focusing on cosmetic brushes and makeup products. And in the past two years, BK Beauty has seen a seven-figure gross merchandise value and sales in more than 65 countries.
The BK Beauty story is a prime example of how content, community, and commerce are fusing to create a new type of business. It is a model in which creators nurture and grow their fan communities and launch their own e-commerce companies to monetize and fuel their creativity.
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- The Publish Press is a free newsletter breaking down the business of creators three times a week.
- The Publish Press is a project from longtime YouTubers Colin and Samir, who designed the newsletter to curate and analyze the most important new stories for creators, by creators.
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Interesting People
OnlyFans founder makes crypto debut selling influencer trading cards
OnlyFans founder Tim Stokley is getting into the web3 game with a new NFT startup, Zoop, launching this summer.
On Zoop, people can buy, sell, and trade 3D NFT “playing cards” of their favorite influencers and celebrities. The limited-edition digital cards on Zoop will be officially licensed, according to the company, though it wasn’t clear whether the celebrities themselves would be directly involved in their creation.
Zoop said the platform will foster “a closer connection between fan and influencer” in its announcement. As is the trend in entertainment NFTs today, the cards will give users special perks such as exclusive airdrops and access to communities that share their interests.
Stokley will serve as co-CEO of the company alongside RJ Phillips, another former OnlyFans exec joining Zoop this summer. They’ve chosen to launch Zoop on the Polygon blockchain because of its low transaction costs and sustainability in comparison to other chains, according to the company.
TikTok Creators Anna Sitar, Sara Echeagaray on Attending Cannes Film Festival
Influencers Anna Sitar and Sara Echeagaray followed each other on TikTok, but hadn’t met in person until arriving in Cannes just a few days ago. They can thank TikTok for the festival rendezvous as the global phenomenon invited more than 20 top creators to attend the Cannes Film Festival as part of an official (and inaugural) partnership.
“We wanted to give TikTok users a range of perspectives on what’s happening in Cannes, so we decided to bring people from different countries so that there would be some language coverage and creators with slightly different styles and perspectives,” says Rich Waterworth, TikTok general manager for the U.K. and EU. “We have creators like Anna who have a background in film, other creators who specialize in interviews and others to let you experience the festival in their own unique way.”
That’s exactly what Sitar and Echeagaray did this week during their respective Cannes appearances. The Hollywood Reporter caught up with both creators to talk about their massive platforms — Sitar, who just graduated with a masters degree in film production, has 11.8 million followers while Echeagaray counts 7.2 million, their respective content strategies and what celebrities they most wanted to meet.
Gstaad Guy: The Apple Employee Living A Double-Life As The Creator Star For Billionaires
Gstaad Guy has made a name for himself parodying the lives of the famous and mountainous, mocking the alpine culture of apres-ski, fine wines and snobbery. No wonder such content resonates and amuses the more affluent people out there on Instagram, probably because it feels quite close to home.
But this is not your typical Passion Economy creator or comedy account. On meeting Guy, you would be surprised by not only his 6’6” height but also his calmness, which is at odds with the characters he’s created. He’s also living a double life'—as a full-time Apple white-collar employee.
“So… my bosses have no idea that I’m doing this. I think Covid and remote work has been a reason that it could happen,” Guy explains over macchiatos in the extravagant neighborhood of Belgravia, London.
Joe Pulizzi, the Founder of The Tilt and the Creator Economy Expo, on Content Marketing and Creator Monetization
Joe began his career in traditional business to business publishing. He explains that he managed projects and sold magazines for large business organizations, such as Autodesk and Julie Packard. Around 2005 or 2006, the importance of search engines, like Google, became more apparent.
Joe shares, “These companies had to start creating their own content if they wanted to get attention. They had to focus on building audiences, and that’s what I gravitated towards. This term, content marketing, which used to be called custom publishing or custom media.”
In 2007, he launched his own business, a blog called the Content Marketing Revolution. Joe built his audience through his blog, then created the Content Marketing Institute around 2010.
The Content Marketing Institute is best known for its event, Content Marketing World, the largest in-person event centered on content marketing practices.
In short, Joe explains, “I saw this trend of companies having to learn how to create valuable, relevant, compelling content, and nobody was really teaching them how to do it… so [I] saw the opportunity, and I was blessed to figure it out.”
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Industry News
TikTok’s launching Twitch-like subscriptions in beta
TikTok has announced a program that lets viewers pay to subscribe to specific live streamers they want to support. Dubbed Live Subscription, it gives fans access to perks like a subscriber-only chat, creator-specific emotes, and badges that differentiate them from non-subscribers (via TechCrunch). It’s launching in beta on May 26th, according to an announcement video posted on the TikTok Live Creator page.
That page has also posted videos from several creators announcing that they’re part of the program and announcing the potential benefits to their followers. While custom stickers for livestream chats and the opportunity to take part in subscriber-only chats are likely the biggest draw for viewers, a few creators have noted that they’re also excited about having “predictable monthly income,” as TikTok’s explainer video puts it.
FTC Crackdown on TikTok Influencers Adds to NIL Pitfalls
At a time when there is much hand-wringing over the NCAA’s passive approach to NIL enforcement and related saber-rattling over state NIL statutes and federal antitrust law, a legal comet could be headed for college sports in the form of administrative law.
The Federal Trade Commission recently proposed revised advertising guidelines to combat misleading marketing—including social media influencing. But the FTC’s vow to aggressively tackle “influencers who hide that they were paid to post” arrives while a federal appeals court has deemed a different federal agency’s ability to enforce rules unconstitutional.
As is often with college sports and the law, there’s much to unpack.
The FTC’s endorsement guides, which were enacted in 1980 and amended in 2009, are due for an update, the agency announced on May 19. Accompanying the announcement was a 77-page notice detailing numerous recommended changes and inviting public comment. The guides are important since they interpret laws administered by the FTC, which can initiate proceedings against persons and businesses responsible for deceptive marketing.
TikTok plans big push into gaming, conducting tests in Vietnam -sources
TikTok has been conducting tests so users can play games on its video-sharing app in Vietnam, part of plans for a major push into gaming, four people familiar with the matter said.
Featuring games on its platform would boost advertising revenue as well as the amount of time users spend on the app - one of the world's most popular with more than 1 billion monthly active users.
Boasting a tech-savvy population with 70% of its citizens under the age of 35, Vietnam is an attractive market for social media platforms such as TikTok, Meta Platforms Inc's (FB.O) Facebook and Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) YouTube and Google.
TikTok, which is owned by China's ByteDance, also plans to roll out gaming more widely in Southeast Asia, the people said. That move could come as early as the third quarter, said two of them.
The sources declined to be identified as the information has yet to be publicly disclosed.
A TikTok representative said the company has tested bringing HTML5 games, a common form of minigame, to its app through tie-ups with third-party game developers and studios such as Zynga Inc (ZNGA.O). But it declined to comment on its plans for Vietnam or its broader gaming ambitions.
YouTube teases livestream shopping expansion with co-streams, live redirects
YouTube teased upcoming features that it claimed would make it easier for viewers to discover and buy from brands.
The company touted its forthcoming tools as offering advertisers a better way to engage viewers and make connections with their audience.
One new feature, explained YouTube, will allow two creators to go live at the same time to co-host a single live shopping stream. This could effectively double the draw for the event, as each creator would bring their own fanbase to the stream.
This feature arrives shortly after YouTube in March announced a pilot program called “Go Live Together,” a new mobile collaborative streaming feature that would enable creators to invite guests to their livestream with a link before going live together. This trial suggested YouTube had its eye on developing tools to better power joint livestreams — just as it’s now planning to introduce with its upcoming two-person live shopping streams. The addition could also make YouTube more competitive with Instagram, which launched the ability for creators to go live with up to three people last year.
TikTok users can now credit specific videos to make sure viral creators get their due
TikTok is offering users a new way to credit videos that kick off viral trends.
When uploading content, users will be able to tag not only individual creators in video descriptions, but also specific videos — an addition the platform claims will “better enable creator credit and equitable attribution for our creator community and content originators.”
The change is, in part, a response to complaints by users that the platform thrives off a parasitic approach to viral content. Last summer, for example, a number of Black dance creators went on strike from the app, noting how many viral dances (like the Renegade and the Savage, etc) were created by Black users before spreading to the rest of the community without due credit or attribution.
TikTok’s new ad feature helps brands find smaller creators
TikTok is rolling out a new feature that will make it easier for brands to connect with creators, especially those with smaller followings.
Branded Missions will see brands share a brief with the creator community as a way to attract user-generated content. Creators with at least 1,000 followers will be eligible to participate, a potential boon for micro-influencers and casual creators. TikTok creators, who must be 18 years old, will see the potential base payout before choosing to participate in the Branded Mission. They will receive a cash payment if their video is chosen, and possibly a performance-based payout. Creators can submit up to three videos per brief, before the brands choose which videos to amplify as ads.
“Brands need a ton of content, and it’s hard to make successful TikTok content in-house,” Mae Karwowski, founder and CEO of Obviously, wrote in an email. “We’ve seen that a lot of them have really struggled with creating short video and ad content that works on TikTok.”
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Registration Required
Great Paywalled Content
OnlyFans Creator Claims Sex With Meta Employees Got Her Account Back - Rolling Stone
It’s fairly common for adult-content creators on social media to get kicked off various platforms, even if they’re not doing anything that violates terms of service. It’s so common, in fact, that there’s a thriving black market of third-party vendors who are willing to get influencers’ accounts back for a fee.
One enterprising creator, however, says she found a far more effective way to get her Instagram account back after it was removed: By having sex with a Meta employee. And then, when her account was removed again, she found another employee, and did it again.
Kitty Lixo, an OnlyFans model, podcast host, and adult-content creator who had more than 150,000 followers before her account was recently removed by Instagram for a fourth time, recently went viral for an interview she gave on the podcast No Jumper. When asked by host Adam22 what the sluttiest thing she ever did was, Kitty recounted sleeping with a Meta employee (someone she already knew) to successfully get her Instagram account back after it was removed, then seeking out other Meta employees through her podcasting and Bay Area connections to do the same when her account was again removed.
TikTok Tests Sponsored 'Challenges,' As It Courts Nano Influencers - Business Insider
TikTok is testing a new advertising product that lets users with as few as 1,000 followers get paid to make sponsored videos, the company announced on Wednesday.
The feature, dubbed "Branded Missions," rewards creators with cash payments for making a certain style of video that a brand outlines in a campaign brief.
Brands set "mission requirements" that prompt participants to perform an action like doing a dance, including a certain hashtag, adding a branded effect, incorporating a product or logo in a video, or adding a song to a post. If a user's video performs well and is deemed brand-safe by TikTok, the company will amplify the post as a sponsored ad and the creator will receive a cash payment.
Creators will be able to see the potential earning opportunity upfront to determine if they want to participate in a mission. In a mockup of the feature that appears in a video shared with Insider, creators are shown what percentage of the campaign budget remains with a description telling them they'll be paid on a first-come, first-served basis.
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