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- BarkBox Under Fire for Stealing TikToker's Video Without Consent
- Alix Earle, TikTok Star, Signs With UTA
- Sephora, TikTok launch content creator program
- Meta Isn’t Paying Influencers for Instagram Reels Any More
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Great Reads
Nic Ivanov On Launching Vizzy, What It Does And How It Impacts Podcasting
Nicolas Ivanov, CEO of Vizzy Studio, has launched Vizzy, a cloud-based production software that adds images and interactivity to podcasts. Ivanov aims to change how people listen to podcasts by bringing a visual element into podcasting. Vizzy offers podcasters the opportunity to curate what their listeners want to experience alongside the audio, making it an essential tool for podcasters. Vizzy also enables podcasters to earn more by using images to engage with their audience.
Ivanov said, "Podcasting being predominantly streaming audio, we found that there's a missing element: images. Not necessarily to watch, but images to reference that you can see on your screen." Vizzy is different from competitors, as no one is doing what Vizzy does. However, Vizzy's first move is to educate the market, as people still do not recognize the need to see pictures while listening to podcasts.
Vizzy's plans for expansion include fundraising and bringing more exciting features from their own backlog and feedback from users. Vizzy aims to be ubiquitous for images to be there in audio, and their number one goal is not to be the biggest brand in the world but to make images in streaming audio ubiquitous.
Meta Isn’t Paying Influencers for Instagram Reels Any More
Meta has decided to end its Reels Play deals for creators posting short-form Reels videos on Facebook and Instagram, which were previously a lucrative creator payment incentive for the social media platform. The program had been paying creators monthly for accruing views through Reels for two years. Some creators were offered bonuses of $35,000 in a single month for achieving over 58 million views. A Meta spokesperson said, “We will stop extending new and renewed Reels Play deals for creators both on Facebook and Instagram.” However, anyone who signed up for a bonus deal in the last 30 days would still have it honoured.
This move is part of Meta's initial push to pivot to short-form video after introducing Reels less than three years ago to compete with TikTok. Previously, Instagram creators had access to multiple monetisation features, including overlay ads shown on Facebook Reels, paid online events, badges, subscriptions, or branded content. Nevertheless, previous reports have shown how Instagram creators have become frustrated with how often Meta changes its monetisation features.
"Creators should explore their options when it comes to monetizing their content, from leveraging brand deals and sponsorships to selling merchandise or digital products,” said Patrick Duggan, senior strategist at agency Reprise.
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Campaign Insights
Sephora, TikTok launch content creator program
Sephora and TikTok have teamed up to launch the Sephora x TikTok Incubator Program, which will connect TikTok creators to brands from Sephora’s Accelerate program to help new brands grow on the social media platform. The new partnership aims to help brands understand and leverage creator-led social media, which is critical for beauty brands' success, according to Brent Mitchell, Sephora’s vice president of marketing, social and influencer.
The Incubator Program will begin with 12 brands, including Topicals, Eadem, and Hyper Skin. Brands participating in the new partnership will have the opportunity to learn social content strategies and hear from popular creators. The partnership will also work to create campaigns that invest in diversity. Sephora's business strategy has focused on expanding its assortment with up-and-coming brands built by a diverse group of people and becoming a wholesale partner for many DTC brands. The retailer offers thousands of products from more than 360 brands in stores, online and through its app.
Enormous reinvents influencer marketing with its Samsonite 'tests' campaign
Samsonite has partnered with creative agency Enormous to launch an influencer-led campaign that focused on relatability, aesthetics, and impact. Instead of focusing on the reach of influencers, the campaign chose influencers based on their ability to propagate and fit the brand narrative. The goal was to create engaging content that resonates with Samsonite's well-travelled premium audience.
The influencer leg of the campaign achieved an engagement rate of 63.7%, with 148 million impressions and 48 million views. The campaign's message was about overcoming adversity with confidence and valour, tying it with the insight of the various tests that Samsonite bags go through before reaching the market. The idea was to communicate the six different demo tests through seven different influencers, creating a common ground with individuals who have faced various challenges in life. By tapping into the various affinity and passion points of their audience, Samsonite and Enormous were able to create a campaign that was both relatable and impactful, achieving incredible results.
L’Oréal Israel names TikTok star to sustainability influencer team
L'Oréal Israel has appointed Maya Dagan, a TikTok star with 241,800 followers, to its sustainability influencer team. She will join a team of content creators led by Liran Kohener, who has been sharing her personal journey on social media for the past year. L'Oréal Israel has set itself ambitious goals in environmental protection, which includes raising consumer awareness of issues related to conscious and green consumerism.
The team of influencers and the appointment of Maya Dagan is part of the company's action plan to improve its environmental performance, which includes the use of ecological packaging, green technologies, and promotion of social-environmental agendas through its brands. Daniela Prusky-Sion, Vice President of Corporate Communications and Sustainability at L'Oréal Israel, stated that Maya Dagan was selected because she is a values-oriented person who knows how to communicate with her followers at eye level, and the content she creates is in line with L'Oréal's values regarding environmental and social awareness.
Walmart builds a platform to connect creators, content and social commerce
Walmart is beta-testing Walmart Creator, a platform that connects content creators, social commerce and user-generated content (UGC). The platform aims to help content creators earn commissions while building their brand presence, while enabling Walmart to reduce the distance between content and purchase, said Sarah Henry, VP, Content, influencer and commerce at Walmart. The Walmart Creator platform is designed to help creators reach customers where they spend time, creating moments of discovery and inspiration, and saving steps along the path to purchase.
The retailer is implementing technology to reduce steps during the shopping experience via shoppable recipes, live streaming, partnerships and ""buy from"" ads. Walmart aims to improve the product discovery process through partnerships with creators who have highly engaged communities that can increase the visibility of under-shopped categories and demonstrate ways to think about Walmart differently. Walmart takes a full-funnel approach, incorporating many channels into its campaign mix, said Henry, who shared that the retailer held 350 livestream events in 2022 and works with 10,000+ influencers, affiliates, advocates and content creators.
Reaching new travelers: Regional tourism departments pair up with influencers to showcase their states
Influencers are becoming an increasingly important tool for regional state tourism departments to reach diverse and younger audiences. While this isn't a new trend, departments are being more selective about who they work with and what audiences they are targeting. Explore Minnesota, for example, partnered with wheelchair-user Cory Lee to highlight the accessibility of some tourist locations in the state, while South Dakota teamed up with Irene Ogeto, who calls herself the Black Hiking Queen, and Karen Akpan of Black Kids Do Travel to showcase the state's tourism scenes to a diverse audience.
Authenticity is key, with tourism departments wanting to see influencers be themselves and experience sites naturally. They are also looking for influencers with the right audience, which may not always be the largest, to help reach new and younger audiences. Influencer marketing varies, but generally, states will pay for travel expenses and sometimes additional fees in exchange for a set amount of social media posts from the visitor. Other times, tourism departments have the influencer contribute blog posts to their website.
Simply Spiked, Peacock’s ‘Bel-Air’ bring influencer marketing to streaming
Streaming platform Peacock and alcoholic beverage Simply Spiked are teaming up to create an innovative influencer marketing campaign within the TV show "Bel-Air." The partnership highlights how brands are increasingly integrating their products within streaming content to reach audiences in a fragmented media landscape.
Joy Ghosh, VP of Marketing for above premium beer and flavored malt beverages at Molson Coors, which co-owns Simply Spiked along with Coca-Cola, explained the value of this strategy: "With so many paid opportunities that are making it harder and harder to get to the right frequency and reach levels in a consistent way, custom integrations in streaming programming have become all the more valuable."
The collaboration involves a storyline where Hilary Banks, played by Coco Jones, aims to kickstart her career as a social media influencer through a Simply Spiked sponsorship. The plot aligns with the real-life launch of the brand's new peach flavor. Peter Blacker, Executive VP of Streaming and Data Products, as well as DE&I for Global Ad Sales, said that the partnership was designed to fulfill messaging around food, fashion, social media, and multicultural audiences."
Whalar partners with Martha Stewart and MrBeast and expands its commitment to diverse creators
Whalar, the influencer agency, is expanding its commitment to diverse creators with a range of initiatives that include its Creator Academy, which helps up-and-coming creators from underrepresented communities, and its talent roster, which is almost 25% LGBTQ+ identifying and 57% people of color. The company also acquired C Talent, an agency for deaf and disabled creators, and helped DirecTV create Familia Fuego, an all-Latino creator house. Whalar recently partnered with Martha Stewart and MrBeast on campaigns for Clé de Peau Beauté and Spotify, respectively.
Stewart worked with Whalar to create five videos featuring Clé de Peau, and the campaign exceeded beauty category benchmarks by 222%. Whalar worked with MrBeast to promote Spotify's new Roblox Island, which got 5 million views in the first five days. Whalar is focusing on measurement this year, with the launch of a measurement framework with Nielsen, Tubular, and Vidmob to show creators ROI in a format similar to traditional marketing metrics.
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Intellifluence releases 2023 Influencer Compensation Report
Intellifluence, a platform that connects brands with influencers, has released its 2023 Influencer Compensation Report. The report aims to provide insights into compensation preferences for bloggers and influencers on social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and YouTube. The report is based on a questionnaire sent to 1,700 influencers based in the US, Canada, and the UK.. The 2023 report takes into account the changes in the market and the effects they have had on influencer compensation. The report provides a starting point for brands and marketers who are struggling to establish influencer pricing.
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Interesting People
Dr. Linnea Passaler On Nervous System Regulation, Audience Engagement, And The Importance Of Teams
Dr. Linnea Passaler has become a go-to source of information on nervous system regulation, thanks to her background as a surgeon and her own experience with symptoms that doctors could not explain. Her goal is to make the complex topic of the nervous system accessible and understandable to a wide audience, while keeping her content scientific and accurate.
Dr. Passaler's success as a content creator comes from her focus on quality over quantity, her ability to engage with her audience, and her open-mindedness to new ideas. She balances her roles as a doctor, content creator, and mother by staying focused on her purpose and avoiding the trap of perfectionism.
Dr. Passaler's biggest challenge as a content creator is helping people understand that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to nervous system dysregulation, and that healing is a long-term commitment. She stays up-to-date with research and development in her field by constantly reading scientific articles and books, and by collaborating with a team of professionals and researchers.
Dr. Passaler's content creation process involves identifying the needs of her audience, brainstorming ideas, researching topics, outlining and writing, and double-checking for accuracy before publishing. She measures the impact of her content by tracking engagement metrics and uses social media to build and expand her email list.
For aspiring content creators, Dr. Passaler advises listening to your audience and finding your own voice, but warns that building a loyal audience takes time. As for future plans, Dr. Passaler believes in overplanning and taking things one day at a time.
Alix Earle, TikTok Star, Signs With UTA
UTA has signed beauty and lifestyle creator Alix Earle for representation across all areas. Earle, who is best known for her “get ready with me” videos on TikTok, has amassed 4.8 million followers in a short time and has been dubbed by fans the "Alix Earle effect" due to her ability to sell out products based on her recommendations.
She has also been praised for discussing topics like plastic surgery, acne, and mental health openly with her fans. UTA plans to expand her business into TV, audio, and more. Earle will continue to be represented by Kevin Yorn and Todd Rubenstein at Yorn Levine and Align PR.
Carmen Rouse Shares How Sintillate Talent Opened Opportunities For Her As A Content Creator
Carmen Rouse, an events promoter and influencer with over 10,000 Instagram followers, has shared how Sintillate Talent opened up new opportunities for her as a content creator. After realizing her efforts weren't getting her far, Carmen reached out to the agency and applied to join them. According to her, joining Sintillate Talent has changed her career and confidence as it opened up a wider spectrum of companies to promote for.
Carmen creates content for various brands, including skincare, lingerie, and clothing, and is known as a fitness influencer. However, she admits that her fitness content still performs best in terms of engagement. To come up with ideas for her content, Carmen looks at other people's online content, like reels, and is constantly on social media for inspiration.
One of the biggest challenges Carmen faces as a content creator is having the consistency of having brand deals. She cites her collab with Luvlette, a lingerie line from Shein, as her favorite to date. Carmen earns from brand collabs but would like to make money from fitness brands more than anything.
Carmen advises aspiring content creators to research first and consider joining an agency instead of doing everything themselves. She wants to see more diversity in the content influencer space in the future and hopes to make it on TV, gain at least another 10,000 followers on her social media, and get a contract with a fitness brand or clothing wear.
NBC’s Gadi Schwartz Moves From Snapchat To The Anchor Desk With Debut Of ‘Stay Tuned Now’
Gadi Schwartz, a pioneer of NBC's use of social media to reach younger audiences, will debut Stay Tuned Now with Gadi Schwartz on NBC News Now, the network's streaming platform, in prime time. The show, which will stream live at 8 p.m. ET from NBC’s bureau in Los Angeles, aims to bridge the gap between traditional news audiences and younger viewers who have grown up getting their news from TikTok and Snapchat.
Stay Tuned, which Schwartz co-hosted with Savannah Sellers, is a daily news show that draws 38 million episode views monthly on Snapchat and an average of 23 million monthly views on TikTok. When it debuted on Snapchat in 2017, it hit one million subscribers in just two and a half weeks, and 29 million unique viewers in its first month, proving that a legacy brand like NBC News could reach younger viewers with hard news. Stay Tuned Now comes as NBC continues to build a formidable digital presence, with NBC News Now becoming the fastest-growing streaming news network in the U.S.
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Industry News
Unilever reveals influencers can switch people on to sustainable living
Unilever has conducted a study on the impact of social media influencers on sustainable choices. Conducted in partnership with the Behavioural Insights Team, the study aimed to encourage the two most impactful behaviours for an individual's carbon footprint: using less plastic and wasting less food. The study found that influencers have the biggest impact on people’s green choices, with 78% of people agreeing, followed by TV documentaries (48%), news articles (37%), and government campaigns (20%). The study also found that 75% of people are more likely to adopt sustainable behaviours after watching social media content on sustainability, and that 83% of people think TikTok and Instagram are good places to get advice about how to live sustainably.
Branded content was viewed as just as engaging, authentic, and informative as unbranded content, with participants supportive of social media creators making sponsored sustainable content. The study showed that people value both facts and practical advice and found that both pragmatic and optimistic content styles are effective in nudging people to adopt sustainable behaviours.
"People are finding it hard to make sustainable choices due to a lack of simple, immediate and trustworthy information,” said Conny Braams, Unilever's Chief Digital & Commercial Officer.
“This study is a world-first of its kind and the largest online controlled trial to test the effect of different styles of social media content. The behaviour change potential of social media is clear and the results show that there’s a huge opportunity, providing fertile ground for further exploration in this space," said Professor David Halpern, Chief Executive of the Behavioural Insights Team.
Former Head of Product at TikTok Claims Creator Fund Was Launched as a "Reactive Measure" Against Competition
Sean Kim, former Head of Product for TikTok in the US, claimed that the social media platform's $2 billion creator fund was launched as a "reactive measure" against competition from YouTube and Snapchat, rather than to help creators monetize on the platform. Kim said that while TikTok publicly stated that the fund was created to help creators monetize, in reality, monetization was "way, way, way down" on the platform's priority list. Instead, the fund was launched to keep creators engaged on the platform and prevent them from leaving to monetize their content on other platforms.
TikTok launched its creator fund in 2020, promising to pay out $200 million to its creators before increasing the size of the overall pot to $2 billion globally, which the company said it would pay out over three years. Since then, TikTok has launched other monetization tools for creators, including a paywall feature, subscriptions, and a revamped creator fund that promises to generate higher revenue potential. However, creators have criticized the low payouts from the original fund, leading some to leave the program altogether.
TikTok mulls splitting from ByteDance if proposal with U.S. fails
TikTok is reportedly considering separating from parent company ByteDance to address US concerns about national security risks, according to people familiar with the matter cited by Bloomberg. The Chinese-owned short-form video app is undergoing a national security review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) and agreed last year to implement a number of measures under the plan, nicknamed "Project Texas", to placate hostile lawmakers.
CFIUS has stalled in its process, leaving TikTok unsure whether its plans will be sufficient to continue operating in the US. A divestiture, which could result in a sale or IPO, is considered a last resort and will be pursued only if the existing proposal with US national security officials does not get approved. TikTok and ByteDance did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. TikTok has been under increasing fire over fears that user data could end up in the hands of the Chinese government, undermining Western security interests. TikTok Chief Executive Shou Zi Chew is due to appear before the US Congress next week.
Krafton backs Indian influencer marketing platform One Impression in $10M funding
Indian influencer marketing platform One Impression has secured $10m in funding, with South Korean gaming firm Krafton leading the round. One Impression, founded in 2018 by brothers Apaksh and Jivesh Gupta, has built an Amazon-like platform to help brands find relevant influencers for marketing campaigns. The Gurugram-based firm boasts 7 million content creators across a range of genres on its platform, including micro-influencers from smaller towns and celebrities generating more than 100,000 content pieces for over 500 brands in more than 10 languages.
One Impression also offers solutions ranging from discovery, pricing and payments to compliance, government contracts, delivery and performance tracking. It is working on tools to help creators monetise their content and unlock opportunities to collaborate with others, as well as to access studios and gain PR opportunities. One Impression has enabled its platform for Instagram and YouTube and is planning to add other platforms. The start-up intends to use the funds to expand its presence in global markets, starting with Southeast Asia and the UAE.
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Great Paywalled Content
BarkBox Under Fire for Stealing TikToker's Video Without Consent - Insider
TikToker Cecelia Fales accuses BarkBox of stealing her video and posting an altered version on the company's Instagram account without her consent. Fales said, "They removed my watermark, they removed my voiceover, and they put their own music behind the video to make it seem more original and like their video."
She claims BarkBox posted the video even though she had denied them permission to use it without payment. A BarkBox spokesperson attributed the incident to "a miscommunication on our team" and said the company takes the situation seriously. Followers have rallied behind Fales, with some canceling their BarkBox subscriptions and criticizing the company on social media.
Startup Jellysmack to Spend $25 Million on Kids, Family Influencers - Insider
Creator startup Jellysmack has partnered with entertainment startup Pocket.watch to launch a $25m fund aimed at investing in YouTube video catalogs of kids and family influencers. The funding will be invested in creators' YouTube back catalogs in exchange for a percentage of advertising revenue over a specific time period. The investment will give creators the ability to grow their brand and businesses with financing, which can be used to hire staff members, and reinvest in their YouTube channel.
Kids and family content is different from other verticals from an audience, monetization, and distribution perspective, according to Pocket.watch founder and CEO Chris M. Williams. The payment structure offers predictability to creators so they can invest in their own content without worrying about changes in algorithms and monetization. The first creators to take capital from Jellysmack as part of the fund are The Stella Show and The Onyx Family, with The Stella Show already using the funding to hire a writer and director for its YouTube channel content.
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