The Miner: Issue 12
Your weekly dose of OMG, LOL, and WTF in influencer marketing by Brittany Hennessy
Hello beautiful people!
This week I want to touch on something that is plaguing our community: unhealthy dependence on brand deals.
Raise your hand if any of these apply:
You spend your days and nights agonizing on when the next (or even first) brand deal is going to hit your inbox…
You accept campaigns you don’t believe in or very low rates because you have bills to pay…
You are constantly side-eyeing your agent/manager because they are not bringing you truckloads of deals…
If your hand is raised… you have a problem. But you’re in luck, there’s an easy 3-step solution.
Spend time researching your audience and what they need to live their best life.
Create content that the delivers the goods.
Ask them to pay for it.
It sounds crazy, but it’s happening at such a rapid speed that even Vogue Business had to take notice. In their recent article Influencers are putting up paywalls. What does that mean for brands? they talk about the different ways influencers are charging their audience for access to content.
The article also mentions that “while these payments add another revenue stream for influencers, analysts say brand partnerships will remain as a source of credibility.” But credibility according to who? Are you trying to be popular or be a full-time influencer?
As someone who tries to practice what I preach, I want to remind you that this lovely newsletter will switch to a paid model in two weeks. But if you subscribe by the 7th you’ll get 50% off forever. Woot woot!
In 2020 if it don’t make dollars it don’t make sense. Now let’s get into this week’s edition of The Miner.
💎 I’ve always hated when people say “You have the same amount of hours in a day as X” even though I’ve probably said it myself. I’m pretty sure no matter who X turns out to be, they have hired help so… we’re not playing the same game. In reality, time management is a trap and we should all be thinking about attention management. I’ve recently adopted this approach and it has made all the difference.
💎 You could become an influencer the old-fashioned way, or you could just go on a reality TV show. The Bachelor has probably launched more influencers than any other program in the history of TV. Contestants are supposed to be on the show for “the right reasons” but that might mean something very different in the age of Sponcon. But it’s not all bad, if you already have your platform in place, being on a TV show could give you the break you need. Do your research and remember the internet is forever.
💎 Do you need a publicist? You may not need someone to negotiate your brand deals, but instead need help getting your name out there. Some of the biggest influencers, like Emma Chamberlain, have a publicist and that’s how she scored the February cover of Cosmopolitan. Thanks Roy Porter for the link.
💎 Linkedin is the forgotten social media child, but it still can make you legit since the focus is your latest work instead or your last vacation. They’ve launched a featured tool and you need to use it. I’m going to update mine this week.
💎 When people hear the name Logan Paul they either say “who?” or roll their eyes. But from someone who met Logan when he was FIRST starting out, and booked him before he was insanely expensive, I’ll tell you that he knows a thing or two about how this industry works. Especially about how to expand to other platforms in case the one you’re on gets shut down. ::Pour one out for Vine.:: He has some advice for TikTok creators, but everyone can find it useful.
💰 I absolutely love this story about Rachel Charlupski and the lessons she’s learned from running The Babysitting Company. When you hear the name, you would think she has a whole operation happening right? Wrong. Sure, she has a network of babysitters, but she’s the only employee in the company. In an era where everyone wants to be a unicorn with hundreds or thousands of employees, there’s nothing wrong with being a solopreneur… that brings in $1,000,000+ in revenue each year.
💰 Hearst UK has partnered with Sixteenth to train their editors and make them better influencers. I mean, they could have handled someone who speaks both Hearst and influencer fluently, but I digress. Peloton has also turned its instructors into IG stars and use them to promote the company instead of hiring non-employee influencers. The reason I included this link is to remind you all that you can become an influencer through your full-time job. And you don’t have to be a nurse, teacher, or flight attendant (all jobs that have a large number of influencers.) There are entire accounts dedicated to cool items at Walmart, Trader Joe’s, and CVS and you know what? I don’t think any of them are manned by someone who works there. I know many of you have dreams of fleeing your 9-5s, but before you do, make sure it can’t help you achieve your goal. I definitely used my jobs as a springboard and look at me now.
💰 People can hate on the Kardashians all they want, but they know their way around influencer marketing. Khloe Kardashian just got PAID for doing a campaign with Febreze. And it’s not about the quality of the content, which is meh, it’s about the fact that it’s a CPG. Everyone wants to do partner with a luxury brand or a five-star hotel and they will completely ignore that fact that these brands are very unwilling to part with their money, if they’ll even pay you at all. But so many would not dare to do a toothpaste, tampon, or cookie campaign, even though they OBVIOUSLY use those things on a daily basis and those brands pay big bucks! Sometimes the less sexy road is the one paved with gold. So again, do you want to be popular or do you want to make money?
💰 Whalar just hired Karyn Spencer as its SVP of Talent Partnerships. If you don’t know Karyn (which of course you do because we’ve talked about her before) she was the head of influencer marketing at Target and before that the head of creators at Vine. This hire signals that Whalar is about to blow up. Influencers love them because they seem to charge a fair rate out the gate and brands love them because they’ve won multiple Lions at Cannes. If you’re not already in their network, I would get on that ASAP. Thanks to Liz Mateo for the link!
💰 For every large influencer that cringes when the interwebs say micro is the way to go here’s some good news: Benefit Cosmetics jumped head first into the 250K+ game with its Beyond Benefit event in Miami Beach. Follower count won’t ever be as important as it once was, but the pendulum seems to be swinging back, even if it’s only a little.
⚫ Billy Chasen, a super successful entrepreneur, has created BotNet: Where Everyone’s An Influencer. It looks absolutely ridiculous and totally misses the point, but somehow I’m intrigued.
⚫ Instagram says shadow banning isn’t real, but people aren’t so sure. Are certain hashtags keeping you from building your community?
⚫ Haters are awful but they’re expected when you become successful. Trolls and other awful internet people are the absolute worst and could do the industry serious harm.
⚫ Sigh. Tax season is among us and if you thought it was difficult before, wait until you file taxes as an influencer. Especially when you realize you’re supposed to claim all the free stuff you get. Or are you? The confusion continues even in 2020. While every influencer is scrambling to see if anyone knows “a guy” one of the major tax companies should step up their game and help the community out.
⚫ Facebook has released its Creator Studio app but according to user reviews it’s terrible. Maybe they just don’t know how to use it? I’ll try it out and report back.
That's it for this week's edition of The Miner. Don't forget to reply and tell me your thoughts or join the Carbon August facebook group and say hey!