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- Saks expands influencer marketing to TikTok
- Morphe Cosmetics Teams Up With Artist
- Joe Rogan Rejects $100 Million Podcast Offer From Rumble
- YouTube includes NFTs in new creator tools
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Great Reads
Creating A Diversified Living As A Food Influencer With Darion Frazier
Darion Frazier reviews food around the bay area, especially pop-up restaurants and mom ‘n pop places. He specifically built his own platform to highlight smaller food establishments in the bay area. He especially loves how the bay area has such a wide variety of culturally diverse foods.
Darion has been a food influencer for five years and shares his reviews on Instagram. He says it took around two years for his audience to start to grow rapidly. Today, he has over 130,000 followers on Instagram. He’s also looking into expanding his TikTok because he’s noted that many people are engaging with TikTok a lot today.
How Does Darion Make a Living Off His Instagram?
As a full-time food influencer, Darion frequently gets asked how he makes money through his social media. He says that he is very affordable and typically charges companies five hundred to one thousand dollars for him to come to a restaurant and create related content.
“I’m picky.”
However, he also prioritizes his audience by being authentic and staying true to his reviews. All of his reviews are honest, and he always tastes the food before agreeing to post about the restaurant’s food. Once he knows he likes the food, he will strike up a deal with the restaurant.
Alibaba unveils ‘Virtual Influencer’ for winter games
Developed by Alibaba DAMO Academy, Alibaba Group’s global research initiative, Dong Dong was created to be a passionate, outspoken Beijing-born 22-year-old woman who loves winter sports. To better connect with Olympic fans, especially the younger, tech-savvy generation, Dong Dong is known for her authentic human-like features, sparkling personality, as well as her specialty to interact with audiences in an engaging manner.
Among her many talents, Dong Dong is not only going to promote Olympic merchandise which can be bought in the official Olympic shop in China on Tmall during her dedicated livestreaming shows, but she can also respond to questions in a lively, natural human voice with different emotions, along with various body gestures from giving a thumbs-up to posting heart-shape gesture and wiping away tears of disappointment. In addition, she can perform live talk shows to introduce Olympic fun facts to the audience, and show-off her enthusiastic, upbeat dance moves to accompany the Olympic theme songs to cheer for the Olympians. All these engaging interactions are powered by cloud-based digital technologies.
“Our ambition is to use cloud technology to give the Olympic Winter Games a digital uplift and to deliver Olympic Winter Games experiences relating to cloud and e-commerce platform services to fans in a creative way. That’s why we developed Dong Dong, with the hope that the cloud-based virtual influencer can create better engagement with the younger, digital natives in an exciting and natural way,” said Xiaolong Li, Leader of Alibaba Virtual Human & Intelligent Customer Service.
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Campaign Insights
Saks expands influencer marketing to TikTok
Saks is launching its first-ever promotional content series on TikTok.
The luxury e-commerce platform, which was split off from the Saks Fifth Avenue brick-and-mortar retail business by parent company Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) and venture capital firm Insight Partners in March 2021, has made its official debut on TikTok (@saks). Starting Tuesday, Feb. 15, Saks will bring together a group of influencers including creators, celebrities and fashion insiders to promote Saks products via short-form videos.
For the launch, Saks partnered with content creators Larsen Thompson, Everett Williams, Chanel McKinsie, and Maddie White. The TikTok launch videos showcase these influencers participating in a “shoe flip transition challenge” highlighting loungewear, shoes, and party accessories available for purchase at Saks.
Saks is stepping up its digital activities as it is also seeing financial growth. The retailer is running a digital-first, 360-degree spring 2022 campaign featuring unique content across Saks-owned channels and partner platforms. Components include interviews and videos on the retailer’s social media channels and main homepage; as well as a dedicated email campaign, an exclusive feature in the Saks editorial hub The Edit, a spread in the March issue of “Vogue,” and custom content on harpersbazaar.com.
Nevis Names 2022 Tourism Ambassadors
The Nevis Tourism Authority named its panel of 2022 Ambassadors for its Tourism Ambassador Program, which was launched in 2020 and comprises “travel tastemakers, influencers and journalists” selected for their knowledge of the destination.
This year’s panel includes award-winning Caribbean travel journalist Brian Major; former Spice Girl “Mel B” Brown; model, actress and dancer Nikeva Stapleton; and spa and luxury travel influencer Ava Roxanne Stritt.
Nevis Ambassadors will put the spotlight on the destination’s tourism offerings through their distinctive viewpoints in print and digital media, social networks and more.
They will also alert their followers to a range of island events, including the Nevis Mango Festival, the Nevis-St. Kitts Cross Channel Swim on March 27, 2022, and Nevis Culturama, the island’s annual summer carnival.
“As travelers look to discover their next favorite destination, we’re thrilled to have these notable personalities share their insights of Nevis,” said Devon Liburd, Nevis Tourism Authority interim CEO. “We’re confident that our 2022 Ambassadors will create a colorful and exciting portrait of this special place we call home.”
Morphe Cosmetics Teams Up With Artist
Wanna know how we’re celebrating Galentine’s Day this year? By fangirling HARD over the new Morphe x Nyane Fierce Fairytale Collection, and telling all our friends about it. Known for their bright bold colors, and their commitment to inclusion and diversity in their campaigns, Morphe teamed up with South African-born, London-based beauty influencer Nyane Lebajoa, whose 1.5 million followers regularly scroll her feed for her latest beauty trends and artistry.
Famous for amazing wig styling and monochromatic makeup looks – Nyane Lebajoa is a South African born, London based hair and beauty influencer. In just the past 6 years she has gained notoriety across Instagram for her unique style and exquisite monochromatic artistry. Nyane draws from diverse sources of inspiration to create artistry looks that defy expectation and invite you to enter her unapologetic dreamworld.
Iraq: Western YouTubers and influencers a new 'phenomenon' for tourism
Osamah Mousa, who co-founded the Travellers Cafe with Talal, welcomes the influencers and vloggers from the US and Europe. “They are showing a side of Iraq the western media would never report.""
He said the positive impact from their videos is already being felt. When he meets with tourists and asks why they decided to come to Iraq, “so many of them say ‘I saw a YouTuber visit and couldn’t believe it’. They are inspiring people to come.”
Al-Qazzaz from Mosul echoed those sentiments. “Vloggers are independent. They can tell the true story about what they are experiencing here.”
The young Iraqis who spoke with MEE say they are aware of the challenges tourism faces in their country. “The age of this industry is only one year. We need to do a lot of work,” Haroun, the tour guide from Babylon said.
Yet, he is optimistic. "Right now tourists are surprised. They just realised that they can actually walk in the streets of Baghdad and it's safe.”
Jewish social media influencers sought for vaccine equity campaign
Olam, a network of more than 60 Jewish and Israeli NGOs, is coordinating a social media campaign to fight COVID-19, and is asking Jewish influencers to urge their followers to donate to the cause in a weeklong effort that launches February 14.
The #EndThePandemic campaign supports UNICEF’s work overseeing the procurement, storage, and delivery of 4.1 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses in 2022 to vulnerable, high-risk populations with little access to the shots.
A tracked link has been created to record donations made through the campaign.
OLAM is asking participants to post the link, and to urge followers to donate through the pop-up window.
“The Jewish concept of hakarat hatov, expressing thanks for what we’ve received, is a value embraced by our community,” said OLAM CEO Dyonna Ginsburg.
“Less than 10% of people in low-income countries are vaccinated. In order to make an impact at scale, the Jewish community must join forces with large, multisector efforts tackling the issue of global vaccine access. Doing nothing in this case was simply not an option,” Ginsburg said.
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Interesting People
Joe Rogan Rejects $100 Million Podcast Offer From Rumble
Embattled podcaster Joe Rogan said he isn’t planning to exit his Spotify deal to bring his popular — and controversial — show to Rumble, a video platform startup catering to right-wing personalities.
Rogan, in a stand-up performance Tuesday in Austin, Texas, told the crowd he would not be moving “The Joe Rogan Experience” to Rumble, which earlier this week publicly offered him a $100 million deal. Rogan’s exclusive multiyear Spotify deal is reportedly worth more than $100 million.
“No, Spotify has hung in with me, inexplicably,” Rogan said in answer to an audience member’s question about whether he was taking Rumble up on its offer, as reported by THR. “Let’s see what happens.”
In a publicity move, Rumble — whose investors include conservative tech billionaire Peter Thiel and Fox News host Dan Bongino, who was recently banned by YouTube for policy violations — on Monday issued an open appeal to Rogan to move his podcast to its platform with an offer of $100 million over four years.
Jessica Wang Reflects On Her Epic Success In The Influencer World
You launched NotJessFashion in 2014, and it’s since grown to be a one-stop global platform for style inspiration, parenting tips, keys to success, and so much more. What was your initial goal for starting this blog and creating an online community?
My initial goal was just to create a space where working women can escape from the hustle and bustle of city life. I was working in finance in NYC at the time and needed a creative outlet. I would have never imagined that it’d evolve to be what it is today.
What’s it been like navigating the ever-growing world of influencers, especially in such a big city where everyone’s trying to make it big? What have been the biggest challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There’s definitely a lot of challenges – I’m constantly questioning whether I’m taking my personal brand in the right direction, thinking about how I can create something new that stands out from the noise and not fall into the trap of complacency. The biggest challenge has been carving a path for myself and forging fruitful partnerships with industry vets and decision makers. There’s been a lot of restless nights but it’s all been worth it.
Jacob Alava, from banker to fitness YouTuber
Being on lockdown for several months during the pandemic took its toll on people and forced the whole world to change its ways. The lives of many were affected with countless Filipinos losing their jobs.
But this 28-year old, who was once employed in a stock brokerage, took the pandemic as a sign to defy the odds — and quit his 9-5 to go all-in as a Fitness YouTuber.
Jacob Alava, one of the fastest-rising fitness content creators in the Philippines, has always been an advocate of a healthy lifestyle through muscle-building workouts and flexible dieting. In 2018, he launched his own online coaching business formulating meal plans and designing bespoke workout regimens for hhs clientele.
“It started when I was just offering free coaching sessions to my friends, but later on I saw its potential and eventually turned it into a business,” Alava said.
Midway through 2019, he tried his luck on YouTube and consistently uploaded videos as he juggled his day job and online coaching business.
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Industry News
Q83 And Kitly- Bringing Realtime Data To The Business Of Influencer Marketing
Kitly is an app and also a desktop URL for creators to professionalize their content and their work. And Kitly Business is for brands, agencies, talent management firms to run collaborations, to manage their talent, to save a lot of time and to run index reports as well.
Q83 intentionally worked with creators in the design, setup, marketing and implementation of the Kitly mobile and desktop app to ensure the platform is based on what they want, like and need, Christopher says.
“We’ve designed a tool where they can look at all their posts and story content, can do reports quickly, can do invoices and see how much money is coming in and when it’s due. That’s all live data in the app. Creators can see their best performing content and, if there’s a pattern, understand what they need to do in order to keep hitting those higher numbers. On the desktop version, we’ve done a range of webinars to help creators. Webinars by actual creators that have actually been there, done it and use our product. So it’s really authentic. They haven’t been paid. They love it. They use it. It’s helped them. The training, support and assistance. Also, we’re active on socials, get back to emails and are really engaged with creators. Creators come first. Not the brands nor the agencies.”
YouTube includes NFTs in new creator tools
YouTube is launching new creator tools to expand monetization, including allowing creators to sell content as NFTs so fans can "own" videos.
Weeks after suggesting that the platform would branch out into NFTs, or nonfungible tokens, YouTube announced plans to integrate the burgeoning technology into its creator tools. In a blog post Thursday, YouTube's chief product officer, Neal Mohan, wrote that the expanded creator monetization tools would include selling NFTs.
Mohan’s blog post said Web3, an umbrella term for the third phase of the internet based on transparency ledgers like blockchains, “opens up new opportunities for creators.”
"We believe new technologies like blockchain and NFTs can allow creators to build deeper relationships with their fans," Mohan said. "Together, they'll be able to collaborate on new projects and make money in ways not previously possible."
Snapchat will put ads within stories and share the money with creators
Snapchat is introducing a new way for creators on the app to earn money. The platform is testing mid-roll ads that appear in the Stories of a small group of US creators, with a wider rollout happening in the coming months.
When an ad is placed within a Snap Star’s Story, Snapchat will share the revenue with the creators. The company says the revenue share is based on a formula that takes into account metrics like posting frequency and engagement. The feature is only available to Snap Stars, who are creators or public figures with large followings that have been verified on Snapchat, indicated by a gold star.
In recent years, Snapchat has added various ways for creators to monetize their presence on the app. Snapchat users already see ads in between friends’ Stories and on the Discover section, but this is the first time creators will get a cut of the ad revenue on Stories.
This comes shortly after Snapchat signaled that users were moving toward TikTok-esque content over Stories. Snap CEO Evan Spiegel told investors earlier this month that users are spending less time posting and viewing stories and instead watching content on Spotlight, Snapchat’s TikTok equivalent.
Has influencer marketing warped the fashion industry forever?
The age of influencer marketing has created an environment in which it’s almost impossible to be satisfied with your wardrobe — or the way you look, or the way your weekends usually play out. Instagram and TikTok supply a daily onslaught of style inspiration from aggressively good-looking people, leaving some of their following inspired by their inventive fashion efforts, and most of their following feeling like a pig in a wig, softly crying. While you’re feeling sufficiently inadequate, the Instagram explore page offers you some hope in the form of a direct link to the I.AM.GIA website. A very temporary medicine.
It’s painfully good. This personality-led marketing capitalizes off the trust which exists between a person and their online following. It’s advertising that doesn’t feel like advertising, instead, feeling like a recommendation from a friend. Traditional celebrities have a tangible skill of some kind, like acting or singing, which creates a clear gap between us and them. Influencers, on the other hand, have no such identifiable difference, leading the average person to feel like their lifestyle is just within reach. An influencer’s online image and persona is half-reality and half-performance, and it’s often impossible to distinguish between the two. By cunningly blurring the barrier between the real and the fabricated, fashion and lifestyle influencers are the perfect fashion marketing tool.
OnlyFans jumps into NFT profile pictures
OnlyFans, an online subscription platform known for adult content, has launched a feature for users to display verified NFTs as profile pictures.
The UK-based company, which said it introduced the feature in December, joins social media companies such as Twitter and Reddit that have explored ways to incorporate the digital tokens on their platforms. read more
NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are a type of digital asset that exist on the record-keeping technology blockchain. They have surged in popularity over the last year, with people buying artwork and videos of sports highlights as NFTs.
"Our mission is to empower creators to own their full potential," OnlyFans Chief Executive Officer Ami Gan said in a statement to Reuters. "This feature is the first step in exploring the role that NFTs can play on our platform.
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Great Paywalled Content
How Did Squarespace Know Podcasts Would Get This Big? - The New York Times
Squarespace gets mocked for being the podcast-ad company, but Mr. Casalena revels in the attention, rattling off mentions on “Saturday Night Live,” the Netflix show “Only Murders in the Building” and J. Cole’s song “My Life.” (“I think he just really needed something that rhymes with ‘airspace,” Mr. Casalena said.)
Dax Shepard said he heard Squarespace ads so much on his favorite podcasts that he believed their ads helped legitimize his show when he started reading them. “It one of the few ads I know by heart,” Mr. Shepard explained in an email. “It’s a party trick.”
Mr. Casalena said that since he founded the company, he has spent over $1 billion promoting his brand across all platforms. The revenue from those ads, plus all that attention, helped the company go public in May, landing Mr. Casalena himself $2.4 billion in stock in the $6.6 billion company.
Long before anyone came up with the idea of Web3 (the name for a decentralized internet run on crypto tokens), Mr. Casalena understood that people were looking to monetize every interaction in their lives.
He saw that Squarespace’s small business owners were selling services along with goods. Online classes. Tattoo appointments. Tutoring. Tarot card reading. The internet rule “information wants to be free” was starting to deteriorate.
“People were able to get audiences in ways they couldn’t get them before via the social networks. But they don’t want to be beholden to the social networks,” Mr. Casalena said.
Female Truck Driver Makes $6000 a Month on YouTube - Business Insider
Swedish truck driver Angelica Larsson is one of the world's top "trucking influencers" on social media, making $6,000 per month on YouTube.
That's more than double what she makes hauling freight up Sweden's snowy mountainsides, the 31-year-old said in an interview with Insider. And yet she hasn't spent any of the income she's earned from content creation, she said.
Instead, she's saving the money to travel and mentor young women looking to break into the trucking industry.
"In Europe overall, like in Bulgaria or Russia, there are not many girls driving," she said. "I have a lot of followers from outside Sweden ... it's important for them to see that girls can drive trucks, too."
Larsson began posting fitness content on Instagram in 2014 until she quickly realized people were more interested in her job as a truck driver. Today, she has 334,000 Instagram followers and 319,000 subscribers to her YouTube channel, which she launched three years ago.
How Brands Are Bringing the Super Bowl to TikTok - Adweek
Krishna Subramanian, co-founder and CEO of influencer marketing platform Captiv8, has one piece of advice for Super Bowl advertisers: don’t copy and paste your content from the big screen onto TikTok.
“It’s about looking at TikTok as an extension of your TV ad,” he said. “Carry that same theme over, but make it super authentic for that platform.”
Last year, Captiv8 proved just how lucrative activating influencers and hashtag challenges on TikTok can be—-after digging into the Doritos and Turbo Tax 2021 Super Bowl spots and corresponding campaigns on the platform, Captiv8 reported a significant difference in reach. While 96.4 million viewers tuned into the game last year, the “#TurboTaxPick6” campaign garnered 2.9 billion views and the “#DoritosFlatLife” campaign racked up 3.9 billion views.
Some brands like State Farm have decided to ditch the game entirely for TikTok this year, and while the platform is not on track to replace Big Game ad spend in a major way anytime soon, advertisers are recognizing just how crucial a differentiated TikTok strategy is in driving home their Super Bowl spots. Brands must find compelling ways to play into conversations that are already happening online while primarily uplifting the content of creators.
“TikTok is the first marketing platform where you have the opportunity to create a campaign and get a billion views,” said Subramanian. “The hashtag challenges give you the best foundation and framework to make that happen.”
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