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- Virtual Creators 2022 Report By NeoReach
- Project HOPE: Raising Money Through Influencer Marketing
- The Game Theorist gets acquired
- TikTok Security Dilemma Revives Push for U.S. Control
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Great Reads
Leslie Bishop: Everything You Need To Know About TikTok Influencer Marketing With 5W PR Firm
Leslie Bishop, the Executive Vice President of Global Strategy at 5W PR, connects with Net Influencer to discuss the unique aspects of TikTok influencer marketing and shares tips on how to effectively use the platform. In the discussion Leslie emphasizes the importance of using hashtags to increase discoverability and recommends creating relevant content that appeals to the entire person, rather than strictly staying within a particular niche.
She also advises brands to focus on engagement metrics and to create a large volume of content that allows for experimentation and allows the consumer to guide what they are interested in. Leslie notes that TikTok is a complex platform that is ideal for reaching younger audiences, and she advises brands to experiment with content that allows them to move into other categories.
Virtual Creators 2022 Report By NeoReach
Virtual influencers, or computer-generated characters that communicate with their audiences and influence purchasing decisions on social media, are gaining popularity in the influencer marketing industry.
The Virtual Creators 2022 Report, conducted by influencer marketing solutions provider NeoReach, analyzed data from virtual influencers on Instagram and TikTok to provide insights on the success of these creators. Some key findings from the report include: TikTok is home to the most popular virtual influencers in terms of follower count and average views; Instagram's most successful virtual influencers are typically in the fashion, food, and entertainment niches; and virtual influencers get the most views on social media platforms compared to their real-life counterparts.
The report also found that while real-life influencers currently have higher average views, virtual influencers have a higher engagement rate and are growing at a faster rate. These findings suggest that while real-life influencers are still preferred in the industry, virtual influencers are gaining traction and may be a valuable addition to influencer marketing strategies.
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Campaign Insights
Stampede for Prime Energy drink created by YouTubers KSI and Logan Paul
Chaos broke out in Aldi stores across the UK this morning as parents were seen fighting with children to buy a £1.99 energy drink made by two YouTube influencers. The Prime bottles, which can cost as much as £20 online, were sold for just £1.99, sparking scuffles and ugly scenes as children and adults scrambled for them. In some stores, the drink sold out within three minutes.
Lengthy queues were seen forming from 6am with footage inside the shops showing adults tussling with children to try and get their hands on them. One mother said her son had a bottle stolen out of his hand by an elderly pensioner while another father said people who were in the queue first were pushed and shoved out of the way when the doors opened. KSI, one of the influencers behind the drink, denied that they were making too few drinks in order to increase hype.
State departments spent €1.4m on social media ads in 2022
Irish government departments have spent over €1.4m ($1.7m) on social media advertising in 2022, according to a parliamentary question. This marks a significant increase from the previous year, with ads placed on platforms including Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. The Department of An Taoiseach, which is responsible for the office of the Irish prime minister, spent the most at €739,468.81 over the past two years, with over €720,000 being spent on Covid-19 public information campaigns during the pandemic. The Department of Health spent €281,380.52 this year, up from €170,470 in 2021, while the Department of Foreign Affairs spent €377,953.47, an increase on the €203,278.83 spent in 2021.
Project HOPE: Raising Money Through Influencer Marketing
Project HOPE is a global health and humanitarian relief organization founded in 1958. The organization focuses on addressing global public health challenges and improving the lives of communities worldwide. Recently, Project HOPE has started working with content creators, particularly on social media platforms, in order to raise awareness about their mission and bring more people into their community.
Maggie Mattson, the Peer-to-Peer and Community Giving Manager at Project HOPE, explains that their approach is to include content creators in their mission and make them feel like a part of the organization, rather than just paying them to say positive things about Project HOPE. The team is also looking into providing content creators with overlays and other materials to use on their channels to promote the organization and its work. In the future, Project HOPE's CEO Rabih Torbay is also planning to join streams and answer questions in order to be transparent and engage with their supporters and ambassadors
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Interesting People
Paige Sparks: Managing Her TikTok While Working Full-Time As A Lawyer
Paige Sparks is the TikTok content creator behind Lawyer Paige, where she shares relatable and interesting legal facts for informational purposes. With over 310,000 followers, Paige grew her TikTok account by sharing educational content about employment law. " I started making informational videos, just educating on legal things in general, and then I started sharing more things geared toward employment law," she explains. " Like, if this situation has happened to you, that may not be legal, and that’s how I started growing my account.”
Paige also makes her content relatable and attractive to viewers by answering their questions in Q&A style TikToks and sharing behind-the-scenes stories of being a lawyer in her coffee story times. In addition to TikTok, Paige also shares content on her Instagram and YouTube accounts, which she manages while working full-time as a lawyer. " I’m not a traditional lawyer in that I’m not fancy or flowery. In order to understand the law, I had to kind of dumb it down into layman’s terms so that I understand it, and that has helped me help other people learn a lot as well," she says.
As most influencers are struggling to maintain fame, a new 'it girl' TikToker grew 1.7 million followers in a month
Over the past few months, the 22-year-old gained over 2 million new followers — not after a single viral video or moment in the spotlight, but rather for seemingly being herself. It's a cosmic rise to elite influencer status that we've only seen a handful of times in the app's history (Charli D'Amelio being the first and most notable).
Discussing Earle's popularity is becoming its own genre of TikTok content, with other creators dissecting why and how she got so famous so fast. Tags for " Alix Earle social growth" aggregate dozens of recent videos, many of which have hundreds of thousands of views.
There are a few floating theories about why she rose to fame, like how relatable and conventionally attractive she is. But the consensus, at least among a certain demographic of college-aged young women viewers on TikTok, seems to be that people unequivocally love her. Earle has been dubbed the new " it girl" on the platform, and fans cannot stop gushing about feeling like she's their best friend.
Earle now holds 2.4 million followers, and that number is quickly rising. Only a week ago, she had 1.3 million, according to social-analytics tracker SocialBlade. Her cumulative growth over the past month has been over 1.7 million new followers.
Sergei Urban Of TheDadLab: Making Educational Content For Kids
Sergei Urban is the creator behind TheDadLab, a cross-platform content creator focused on sharing fun and educational experiences with his two young sons and his online audience. He initially began sharing photos of these activities on Instagram, but as Instagram introduced 15-second video capability, Sergei began posting videos as well.
One of his videos went viral on Facebook, leading to an influx of fans and prompting Sergei to focus more on Facebook, as well as YouTube and TikTok. TheDadLab's content is varied, including science experiments, crafts, logical games, and more, and is aimed at a broad audience including current parents, parents-to-be, grandparents, and teachers. Sergei's most viral content on YouTube includes a baking soda and vinegar balloon experiment with 645,000 views and a video featuring dinosaur eggs that are frozen in water and then smashed open to reveal the toy dinosaurs inside. In addition to TheDadLab, Sergei also runs TheScienceKidShop, an online store featuring science and educational toys.
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Industry News
Creators United: Influencers are changing the narrative around travel and leisure
Influencer marketing has grown significantly in recent years, with influencers having an increasing impact on various aspects of our lives. In India, Pinkvilla and Mad Influence are hosting Creators United, the country's first experiential festival to celebrate influencers and their content. One area where influencers have had a significant impact is in the travel and leisure industry. Travel vloggers and bloggers have boosted the tourism industry by sharing their experiences and destinations on social media platforms, creating a desire in audiences to visit the same places. These influencers also cater to a wide range of tastes and preferences, making travel accessible to everyone. Additionally, they offer suggestions for budget-friendly vacations, making it easier for people to enjoy a holiday without breaking the bank. Influencers have also helped to discover new and lesser-known destinations, as well as promoting eco-tourism and sustainable travel. Overall, influencers have changed the narrative around travel and leisure, providing new opportunities and experiences for audiences.
TikTok is coming to a curriculum near you
As the influencer marketing industry on TikTok grows, more individuals are seeking education on how to create appealing content on the platform. Taylor Loren, a social media strategist, leads a virtual class of about 8,300 students on TikTok best practices. Other educators, such as Skyler Chase, offer courses on TikTok as well as other platforms such as Instagram and YouTube. Chase's TikTok course reaches about 22,000 students on platforms like Skillshare and Udemy. These courses have seen significant growth, with Skillshare experiencing a 66% year-over-year increase in TikTok-related courses and Udemy seeing three times the growth in TikTok courses compared to Instagram and YouTube. Meanwhile, YouTube star MrBeast has partnered with East Carolina University to establish a program to train creators in the industry.
TikTok’s parent company accessed the data of US journalists
An internal investigation at TikTok parent company ByteDance found that several employees accessed the TikTok data of at least two US journalists and a “small number” of other people connected to them, according to internal emails obtained by The Verge that were first reported by The New York Times. The accessed data includes the reporters’ IP addresses, which were used to see if they had been physically near TikTok employees who were suspected of leaking information to the press.
In an email to employees, the CEO of Beijing-based ByteDance, Rubo Liang, said he was “deeply disappointed” and that “the public trust that we have spent huge efforts building is going to be significantly undermined by the misconduct of a few individuals.” In another internal email, TikTok’s CEO who reports to Liang, Shou Chew, referred to the incident as “the poorly conceived acts of a few people.” And in a third email, TikTok general counsel Erich Andersen said the company’s Internet Audit and Risk team is being restructured in response. You can read all three memos in full at the bottom of this story.
The revelation comes as US lawmakers make moves to restrict TikTok over national security concerns, including banning it from government phones. It also shows ByteDance walking back denials that TikTok has never been used to “target” journalists.
New Funding Options, Juice Funds Refresh
Creative Juice has launched new and improved funding options for creators called Juice Funds Refresh. The program provides creators with access to personalized, upfront funding without a long-term commitment. Through Creative Juice, creators have the flexibility to receive funding on a monthly or yearly basis and can buy out at any time while remaining in control of their content.
The program is the first of its kind and allows creators of any size to receive monthly funding on their terms. Creative Juice's product, Reserve, offers capital to creators over one, two, or three years, with Creative Juice sharing in the creator's return for the agreed upon period. In contrast, the Refresh product gives capital to creators over three, six, or nine months, with Creative Juice taking revenue from existing content but allowing the YouTube creator to keep all the revenue from new videos created during the period. Refresh is specifically for YouTubers because it requires a backlog of monetized content, while Reserve is for all types of creators.
The Game Theorist gets acquired: "Steph and I just sold Theorist. We sold our business."
YouTube production studio, Theorist Media, has been acquired by new startup Lunar X. Theorist Media is known for its YouTube channels The Game Theorists (16.4 million subscribers), The Film Theorists (11.4 million), The Food Theorists (4.1 million), and GTLive (2.96 million). The acquisition includes all four channels, and the financial details of the deal have not been disclosed. In a video uploaded to The Game Theorists channel, MatPat, CEO and frontman of the channels, said: “Steph and I just sold Theorist. We sold our business. This channel is no longer just my channel. This logo is no longer just my logo.” MatPat and Stephanie Patrick, COO, will both remain in their current roles and the rest of the team will also stay on.
MatPat said that Theorist Media became aware it needed help when The Food Theorists took over three years to launch. He explained: “We knew that we wanted to do Food Theory as early as 2017… But it took us until mid-2020 to finally get the channel fully functional.” In contrast, MatPat said that Lunar X has already “enabled us to do something we’ve been wanting to do for the past year: launch the next Theorist channel.” That channel is set to launch within the next month.
Lunar X was founded in 2021 and has offices in Los Angeles, London, Berlin, and Madrid. It aims to “redefine industry standards and partner with creators to inspire new ways of delivering engaging digital content in education, entertainment, music and children’s animation,” according to a press release. MatPat said that Theorist Media had received offers from “no less than ten” potential buyers, including small startups and large TV producers, but that they chose to work with Lunar X because it was “a like-minded group of individuals who could help us expand sustainably without losing the spirit of everything that got us here in the first place.”
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Great Paywalled Content
TikTok Security Dilemma Revives Push for U.S. Control - WSJ
The Wall Street Journal reports that some officials in the Biden administration are considering a forced sale of TikTok's US operations over security concerns, according to people familiar with the matter. The proposal has arisen in discussions by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS), an interagency panel that has been negotiating with TikTok for over two years on ways to separate the company's data and operations from the Chinese government.
Pentagon and Justice Department representatives on the panel reportedly support a forced sale, citing the risk of Beijing accessing TikTok data or influencing the videos viewed by Americans. However, the Treasury Department, which chairs the panel, is concerned that such an order may be overturned in court and is seeking alternative solutions. The committee could make a recommendation to the president, who has the authority to force a sale or divestiture of TikTok for it to continue operating in the US. The popular app, which has over 100 million American users and is used by businesses to connect with customers, has consistently denied that it would ever share user data with the Chinese government.
The Price of Being a Creator Is Going Up — The Information
According to Kaya Yurieff and The Information, Gumroad and Teachable are increasing the prices for their creator tools. Gumroad will now take a 10% cut of sales, up from its previous tiered system where the cut ranged from 9% to 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction. Teachable's Basic monthly plan will now cost $59, up from $39, and its Pro plan will cost $159, up from $119. The CEO of Gumroad, Sahil Lavingia, expects that other creator-focused companies will follow suit in increasing their prices next year as investors are no longer subsidizing growth for startups and the business models of many companies will have to change. This may prompt creators to reconsider which services make the most sense for their businesses and may lead other startups to reconsider their pricing as well.
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