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- How Penguin Random House mastered TikTok for 7X book sales
- NIL Contracts to Be Subject to Possible NCAA Sanctions
- Aimee Song x Etsy Collection
- How El Pollo Loco Creates Relatable, Abuela Approved Content On TikTok
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Great Reads
Google exec suggests Instagram and TikTok are eating into Google’s core products, Search and Maps
“We keep learning, over and over again, that new internet users don’t have the expectations and the mindset that we have become accustomed to.” Raghavan said, adding, “the queries they ask are completely different.”
These users don’t tend to type in keywords but rather look to discover content in new, more immersive ways, he said.
“In our studies, something like almost 40% of young people, when they’re looking for a place for lunch, they don’t go to Google Maps or Search,” he continued. “They go to TikTok or Instagram.”
The figure sounds a bit shocking, we have to admit. Google confirmed to us his comments were based on internal research that involved a survey of U.S. users, ages 18 to 24. The data has not yet been made public, we’re told, but may later be added to Google’s competition site, alongside other stats — like how 55% of product searches now begin on Amazon, for example.
FinTech Company, Creative Juice, Helps Creators Manage Finances
“The creator economy is here. It’s happening. It’s evolving and growing, and they [the creators] really haven’t been paid attention to and taken seriously as a real job.”
Colleen explains, “[Creative Juice] is banking, financing, and business tools for creators, our ambition is to make banking and financing easy and accessible for all monetizing creators.”
Colleen Stauffer, the Head of Marketing and Communications at Creative Juice, on Creator Finances
She notes that many creators may enter a traditional bank to open a business account. However, when asked about their business, the bank may show them the exit because many banks don’t recognize content creation as a career yet.
In addition to providing banking options, creators can also receive funding and use business tools, like invoicing, taxes, and cash flow management, through Creative Juice.
“Whether they have 5,000 followers or 1 million followers, they can run their business on Creative Juice. There are definitely platforms out there that are focused on that top-tier creator. The 1%. The [Our] ambition is to help all monetized creators.”
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Campaign Insights
Andy Rebhun: How El Pollo Loco Creates Relatable, Abuela Approved Content On TikTok
When asked how the idea for “Abuela Approved” content was formed, Andy explains that an agency El Pollo Loco is working with came to them with the idea. From there, they expanded on the idea to create an impactful campaign.
“[Abuela Approved] demonstrates and showcases the obvious bond that occurs within the Hispanic community between grandchild and grandparents. So, obviously, being a brand that’s really culturally rooted in Hispanic roots, we felt like this was a time period where we can really show that we can have fun with a campaign like this, where we can help unite the generations by spreading joy, humor, and love.”
Andy notes that “Abuela Advice” content was trending on TikTok, so they felt this was an opportune moment to lean into this trend and “showcase what we felt was a really strong moment for our brand.”
The Abuela Approved content’s target audience is between 18 and 34. However, the goal is to cast a larger net because everyone can find the content funny and relatable.
Medtronic taps TikTok-famous physician as first chief medical officer of GI business
Since joining TikTok just over two years ago, Chiang has amassed nearly 500,000 followers and a whopping 17.4 million likes on his videos. And his platform just got bigger: As of this month, Chiang is now the first-ever chief medical officer of Medtronic’s gastrointestinal business.
In the newly created role, he’ll offer up his medical expertise to guide clinical data collection, company publications and training and support within the segment. He’ll also work to ensure patient safety throughout the development, clinical trials and post-rollout surveillance of Medtronic’s GI offerings, spanning endoscopic ultrasound, motility and reflux testing and more.
“Many of the most innovative and disruptive technologies in my field, including the first artificial intelligence-assisted polyp detection device for colonoscopy, have come from Medtronic,” Chiang said in a statement to Fierce Medtech. “I am thrilled to be joining this team to help address some of the challenges we face in diagnosing and treating patients with gastrointestinal diseases.”
Amazon bets on influencers to drive sales for Prime Day
To promote Prime Day 2022, Amazon announced today that its QVC-style livestream shopping market Amazon Live is hosting live chats with creators talking about Prime Day deals.
The event will also feature celebrity cameos, including comedian Kevin Hart, Australian model Miranda Kerr, actress Kyle Richards, as well as American TV personalities Kandi Burruss and “Selling Sunset” star Chrishell Stause. Viewers watching the Prime Day livestreams can purchase the featured products and brands through a scrolling carousel below the video.
Amazon is using influencers to help the e-commerce giant have a successful sales event at a time when shoppers are fearful of a potential recession and, understandably, being more conservative with their spending during a time of inflation. In its recent earnings, the company reported a loss of $3.8 billion, so the stakes are high for Amazon to boost its sales.
The company believes Amazon Live is one answer to its current struggle, and its decision to lean harder on influencers for Prime Day 2022 is an effort to reach easily influenced shoppers — mainly Gen Z — in a time when the creator economy is expanding.
How Penguin Random House mastered TikTok for 7X book sales
When Penguin Teen first joined the social platform in October 2019, it built its social media on meeting their readers wherever they were and communicating with them. Their audience was gathering on TikTok, and Penguin Teen wanted to be a part of that conversation. Their timing was perfect. ‘BookTok’, which exploded in 2020, has seen teenage influencers posting videos featuring quotations from the likes of Emily Brontë and Charles Dickens that record billions of impressions.
For more recent publications than Wuthering Heights, TikTok (and influencers) can drive conversation, attention, and book sales. The two videos posted by influencer ‘@moongirlreads_’ for ‘Last Night at the Telegraph Club’ reached close to one million impressions and one thousand comments; book sales proceeded to increase sevenfold. Building a comprehensive strategy that generates this level of engagement and conversion isn’t easy – it takes time, patience, and resources.
Patience is a virtue
It takes time to build up an audience on social media. Whilst they are now realizing massive impact from their content, Penguin Teen is only able to do so thanks to their patient approach. Vallence explains that in October 2019, their strategy was not to sell, but to listen and respond.
“In 2019, ‘Teens on TikTok’ became a repeated phrase that we saw in media and consumer reporting. Naturally, we were looking to find our teen readers in places where they are most likely to interact and engage. That’s why it became a priority for us. Our first and primary goal was just to meet our audience, not to sell. We don’t ever want to be just having a one-way conversation with our readers, so we had to be patient and take the time to build up our audience.”
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Interesting People
How Sonoma County social media influencer ‘JetSetting Fashionista’ elevates brands
Emily Martin didn’t grow up wanting to be an influencer. That’s because it wasn’t even a profession when she was a little girl.
Martin is known as The JetSetting Fashionista on her blog, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest and Twitter. Collectively, she reports a following of more than 300,000.
The 40-something-year-old Healdsburg resident has spent the last 13 years creating a following across multiple platforms where she promotes many iconic North Bay brands.
Days later she was on a staycation at The Madrona boutique hotel in Healdsburg. On Facebook in June she was sampling the goods at The Caviar Co. in Tiburon. A recent blog post talks about the best spas in Napa Valley for the luxury traveler.
“She has created blog content for the hotels as well as partnered on social content creation. I like the style and imagery she uses. She is a great brand ambassador,” said Michelle Heston, spokeswoman for Fairmont, which includes Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa in Sonoma.
Martin doesn’t limit her posts to the North Bay; she boasts of promoting luxury travel throughout the world.
“I identify as a blogger more. I feel influencer does not garner as much respect if they are only sharing content on Instagram,” Martin said.
Aimee Song x Etsy Collection - Etsy Line from Fashion Influencer
Aimee Song, whose blog Song of Style put her on the map as one of the world’s first mega-influencers, is best known for her sartorial eye. She has released a jewelry line, an apparel collection, and written two fashion books. Now she’s moving on to her next venture: home goods.
After the social media mogul shared peeks into her recently renovated Los Angeles home, Song’s 6.5 million followers had a lot of questions. So it’s hardly a surprise that Etsy would approach her about a collaboration, the latest in a recent series of the site’s Creator Collaborations with well-known personalities. Song’s collection, released last month, is an elegant lineup of items that evoke the earth-toned neutrals and rich pops of color that she is famous for on the grid. “Everything I chose has a certain organic effortlessness to it,” Song says. “It was also important to me that each is just joyful.”
Song tapped into her interior architecture background, selecting 14 Etsy artisans representing nine countries. She worked with each designer to create something unique for the collection, taking care to respect each artisan’s techniques and aesthetic. “I gave each the charge to design an item that contains texture, organic shapes, and natural elements,” Song says. “Creating those parameters made the overall collection feel very cohesive, even though the pieces are all from different sellers from different parts of the world.”
An influencer who earns 75% of her income from Amazon shares her all-nighter routine before Prime Day deals
Olivia Ivey-Davis has been burning the midnight oil this month, and not just because she has a newborn. The Austin-based wellness and lifestyle influencer has spent dozens of hours combing through merchandise listings and designing graphics for her Instagram, Skinny Hangover, in preparation for Amazon Prime Day on July 12th and 13th.
Tonight will mark her fourth consecutive year pulling a Prime Day all-nighter. “It helps me feel ahead of the game,” she says.
With a mug of coffee and the T.V. on in the background, she’ll settle into her home office around 11:50 p.m. and wait. At midnight, she’ll jolt into lightning mode, eyes darting from category to category—home goods, tech, fashion, beauty—through every page of listings. When she spots a great deal, she’ll copy the link and add it to her Amazon storefront. She will do this hundreds of times.
Around 3 a.m., she’ll pivot to preparing social media content, with affiliate links ready to go, for the 20 or 30 items she expects to be top sellers, so she can begin posting by 6 a.m. when her audience wakes up. As the sun rises, she’ll begin answering the avalanche of questions coming in via Instagram DM from her followers, whom she defines as the 20- or 30-something women who want to live healthily but rarely have the time, energy, or budget to do so.
“I’m trying to be a little more organized this year,” Ivey-Davis, 29, tells Fortune. “The past few years have been chaotic because I’ve had a corporate full-time job and that’s had to come first.”
Khaby Lame: from factory job to king of TikTok
In late June, Lame unseated Charli D’Amelio as the most followed creator on the app. “I feel like it’s time for someone else to have that spot, and I’m proud of him,” D’Amelio told attenders at Vidcon last month, an event held in Los Angeles celebrating the world of digital creators on platforms such as TikTok and YouTube.
Today Lame has 146 million followers on the app, where his profile reads: “If u wanna laugh u r in the right place.” The fame has brought him fortune: he recently agreed a sponsorship deal with the cryptocurrency firm Binance to hawk its services. He has previously helped Hugo Boss, standing alongside Kendall Jenner and Hailey Bieber in ads.
“It’s incredible to have watched Khaby’s journey to TikTok stardom,” says Rich Waterworth, the general manager for Europe at TikTok. “In just two years he’s gone from creating comedy skits in his bedroom to becoming the first creator in Europe and the second in the world to surpass the milestone of 100 million followers.”
How Hala Taha Turned Her Side Hustle into a Media Empire
My main focus each week is to further expand the newest part of our business, the YAP Media Network, a podcast network focused on the growth and monetization of network podcasts. We launched the network after successfully growing and monetizing my show, as well as three other shows we produced in-house. In just a few months, we have grown to over a dozen shows focused on business, self-improvement, and entrepreneurship! It’s my main priority as CEO to spearhead the network and set it up for long-term success, just as I have done with our first business, YAP Media, our award-winning social and podcast agency.
This week, I am focused on creating new sales partnerships and potentially selecting an exclusive sales partner for our network so I can focus on recruiting, improving, and growing our network’s shows. In fact, this week had a lot of “pinch me” moments — seems like everyone in the industry is courting “The Podcast Princess”— and it’s a really great feeling!
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Industry News
WotoKOL Launches WotoHub, A Global Influencer Recruitment Platform
WotoKOL is a global influencer marketing company established in 2015 that works with both influencers and brands. Their advanced data analysis and marketing insight technology are significant assets to anyone they work with. WotoKOL’s mission is to connect influencer ambassadors with the right brands worldwide, creating ideal marketing solutions for brands and additional revenue and opportunities for influencers.
Currently, WotoKOL’s headquarters is in Hangzhou Zhejiang, but they have additional offices in Shenzhen, Ningbo, Hong Kong, China, and Vietnam. With over 200 employees worldwide, WotoKOL has been able to create partnerships in 36 countries around the globe. To date, they’ve worked with 2,584 brands and created 8,693 campaigns, covering industries like gaming, tech, fashion, household, makeup, outdoors, fitness, and apps.
According to Ryan, “WotoKOL aims to help Chinese brands go abroad by leveraging the influence of global talents. China, as the second-largest economist, has 10 million enterprises, most of them plan to export business, but all of them encounter several marketing issues in this process, including underestimated brand popularity, high marketing cost, [and] unsatisfying marketing results.”
NIL Contracts to Be Subject to Possible NCAA Sanctions Under New Guidelines
As part of a task force to review name, image and likeness (NIL) contracts, college administrators are reportedly finalizing new guidelines that would establish sanctions for schools that don't monitor booster spending related to NIL deals.
According to Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated, the NCAA is hoping to make it clear "that boosters and booster-led collectives are prohibited from involvement in recruiting."
Since the implementation of NIL, there has been a fear that it could facilitate the involvement of donors who give out "pay for play" deals to prospects in order to influence their recruitment. Boosters are not allowed to influence recruits because under NCAA rules they are considered extensions of athletic departments.
According to Dellenger, the new guidelines "will highlight existing NCAA bylaws that outlaw boosters from participating in recruiting, reminding member schools of guardrails that, while in place for years, have been bent and broken during the first 10 months of the NIL era."
Snapchat Rolls Out a New Way for Creators to Make Money
Snap is looking to spread some of the wealth that content creators bring to its platform by unveiling a new revenue-sharing opportunity for creators.
The Santa Monica-based social media firm is introducing advertisements embedded in the Snapchat stories of its “Snap Stars,” described by the company as its most notable content creators. The advertisements will appear mid-roll in those stories, and Snapchat will share some of the advertising revenue with those creators, according to TechCrunch and The Verge.
The advertising payout is determined by a formula that considers factors like a creator’s posting frequency and audience engagement. The feature is currently in early beta testing with only a handful of U.S.-based creators, though Snap plans to expand it more widely in the upcoming months. The company appears to be taking a cue from social media rival TikTok’s Creator Fund, which allows creators to monetize their content.
Snap has been diving deeper into creator monetization in recent years through another TikTok-esque feature called Spotlight, which lets creators win cash prizes by producing top-performing content. The company paid out $250 million to more than 12,000 creators last year through Spotlight.
TikTok Launches Free Marketing Education Series for SMBs
Called ‘Follow Me’, the new, free education program will include a range of expert tips and insights to help refine and improve your TikTok marketing approach.
The six-week, email-based series will provide an overview of key best practice notes, including how to set up a free Business Account, how to use TikTok’s Creative Center for content inspiration, and explainers on TikTok's Ads Manager and other promotion features.
As explained by TikTok:
“The 6-week program will run from July 11th to August 19th, and provide SMBs with resources on how to get started on TikTok and take their small business to the next level. Follow Me will serve as a guide for SMBs looking to share their stories, build their community on TikTok, and achieve their business goals.”
TikTok, Influencer Panic and the Celebrity Economy
Ed Simpson, chief strategy officer at L.A.-based media group Wheelhouse Entertainment, calls the confluence of tech and celebrity that has enabled the influencer business a "seismic shift" in the entertainment industry.
"What we've never had before is talent that have owned their own audience," he said.
And that talent, he added, is increasingly facing an important question: 'I've got the audience. Where do I go from here?'
"Those rising to the top recognize that they have to evolve and change," Simpson said.
Not every digital influencer wants to turn themselves into something bigger, said Kyle Hjelmeseth, founder of G&B, a digital talent agency. But for those who do, online platforms such as YouTube, Instagram and TikTok have some clear limitations.
First is the grueling demand of producing regular online video content. Golbach and Brock said that because anyone can post online videos and reach an audience, competition is fierce. That increases the pressure to make fresh material to stand out. It can be hard work, and the reward isn't necessarily satisfying.
"When you do traditional media, it's more long-term," said Golbach. "For a TikTok or Instagram post, people will forget about that in 24 hours."
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Great Paywalled Content
What It's Like to Be an Amazon Influencer Promoting Prime Day - Business Insider
There are three tiers of live streamers on Amazon. The highest is A-list. I'm an A-list streamer.
We do livestreams that show up on Amazon's homepage and SEO page. The placement on these pages is never guaranteed, but it's always cool when I do end up featured, because I get a huge uptick in viewers and engagement.
But there's only one place that's available on those pages. That's created a kind of toxic environment for some streamers. There are tricks that people use to boot each other off and people get kind of slimy when that happens. I've seen some streamers break down while livestreaming.
We've tried to create a really good community because it's a very lonely job that we do. We all work for ourselves. Nobody's trying to help us, nobody's there to support us.
While I've met some amazing friends from Amazon Live, I've also experienced some of these toxic situations.
Why TikTokers May Face Problems Forming Deep Connections With Fans - Business Insider
Grace Africa, an influencer who has 1.3 million followers on TikTok, recently posted a video documenting her meet and greet at VidCon. The problem? No fans came to see her.
"When you set up a meet and greet and no one comes," she wrote in a now viral video with 36 million views.
In 2021, TikTok was the most downloaded app in the United States, with 94 million downloads, according to Apptopia.
But while TikTok's short video format and For You Page have taken over social media, with nearly every major platform building its own copycat feature, some of its native stars say they are struggling to form a lasting bond with fans. Some blame the app's algorithm, while others say the short-form content doesn't allow the same kind of relationship building as YouTube videos.
Nowhere was this more apparent than at last month's VidCon, the annual creator economy conference that was sponsored by TikTok this year, where creators with millions of followers on the app spoke at panels and met with fans in person.
Even TikTok's second-most-followed creator Charli D'Amelio, who has a whopping 143 million followers, drew a crowd that paled in comparison with that of YouTubers like MrBeast or the Dream SMP players.
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