Lots of questions. Here are the answers.

What Is Influencer Allowlisting (formerly whitelisting)? 

In influencer marketing, allowlisting is a paid strategy that allows you to turn organic influencer content into paid ads. The important thing to note about these paid posts is that they are run through the influencer’s account – not the brand account.  

By creating paid ads from an influencer’s organic posts, you can increase the reach of your sponsored content. AND you’re able to target your desired audience more accurately and get more eyes on campaign content. That’s the simple definition.

So, allowlisting fits in as part of your influencer marketing strategy to increase the reach of your campaign.  

Why Are We Switching from Whitelisting to Allowlisting? 

It’s true that the words “whitelisting” and “allowlisting” are synonymous. But the word “whitelisting” isn’t a socially neutral term, not from its inception. 

“Whitelist” was birthed after the word “blacklist” was adopted in the early 17th century to mean “a list of persons who are disapproved of or are to be punished or boycotted; a list of banned or excluded things of disreputable character.” That’s according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary.  

If you remember your American history, you may recall that the term was widely used in the 1940s and 1950s to single out individuals whose “opinions or associations were deemed politically inconvenient or commercially troublesome” (Source: The First Amendment Encyclopedia).

Back then, being blacklisted often meant losing your job and essentially becoming unemployable. Today, it’s highly probable that a lot of those same blacklisted people would be considered thought leaders, disruptors, whistleblowers, and change agents. Just to give this a bit more perspective.  

Blacklisting was an oppressive tactic used to silence people. It was designed to isolate and condemn those who put forth ideas the so-called powers that be didn’t agree with. 

Whitelisting is the other side of that socially-charged term. According to the Oxford Dictionary, a “whitelist” is “a list of people or things considered to be acceptable or trustworthy.” 

But Whitelisting Isn’t About Race!

“Whitelist” is one of those terms that we’ve folded into our vocabulary without considering its origin. In this case, “whitelisting” not only has an unsavory history but it’s charged with additional connotations that can be inflammatory. Aspire IQ referred to the term as a microaggression, and we think that’s spot-on. 

Microaggressions are often indirect, subtle, and sometimes unintentional acts of discrimination against historically marginalized groups. Meaning, that although “whitelisting” wasn’t created to be used as a racially-charged term, it reinforces stereotypes around race and strengthens the chains of systemic racism. 

Blacklisting and whitelisting have always been terms designed to exclude, preclude, prohibit, demonize, and degrade one group (usually a group of people) while bestowing upon another group trust, esteem, benefits, opportunities, access, resources, and preferential treatment.

Why This Matters to The Shelf Team

We value people. 

Our scrappy little group of analysts, strategists, and creatives stretches across the globe, and we’ve grown as quickly as we have because we understand the value of people, talent, and diversity. 

It may seem that switching from “whitelisting” to “allowlisting” is a small act. But for us, it’s another step in the direction of a more equitable industry. And while history is made with big, bold, moves, tomorrow is carefully crafted by the small intentional actions we take today that constantly move us toward a better future. 

Is the Industry Adopting the Term “Allowlisting”? 

Yes! Slowly, but surely. There are actually a handful of new terms floating around. Here at The Shelf, we were leaning toward replacing whitelisting with the word amplification, but the industry seems to be moving toward allowlisting. You may also see it as permission listing. Replacements for blacklisting include deny listing and block listing.

The industry is still in the ebbs-and-flows stage of changing language around terms that are not socially neutral. You can see in this Google trends chart that “allowlisting” is having longer periods of interest in search queries now than it did three years ago. That’s good news. But it also means that when it comes to allowlisting vs. whitelisting, you’ll hear and see both for the time being. 

Super Fuzzy Math on This to Drive It Home

For instance, estimations put Google search queries for the term “whitelisting meaning” around 22K searches per month, and Google’s knowledge panel automatically displays the cybersecurity definition of whitelisting as the answer. That’s important because it lets us know that most of the time when people search for that term, they’re inquiring about the use of the term in the digital space.

Estimations of Google search queries for the term “allowlisting” are about 3600 per month. And searches for “allowlisting vss whitelisting” are just under 400 per month. 

In a super fuzzy math scenario, that would equate to about 85 percent of folks who are searching for information around this particular type of filtering and segmenting process are still searching using the term “whitelisting”. Another 14 percent or so are searching for “allowlisting”, and 1.3 percent of Google searchers are curious about how the terms fit together. 

Making “Allowlisting” the New Industry Standard Will Take Some Time

For many digital professionals, making the shift from “whitelisting” to “allowlisting” will mean updating marketing assets to reflect the change. It means putting out content that explains why you’re making the shift. It means educating clients on the reasons and gently nudging them to make the shift as well.

Then there’s SEO. When it comes to search visibility, articles, and blogs still have to include both words in order to increase the chances of content being displayed in the search results because most people are still forming queries around the term “whitelisting.” 

It means if you’re already ranking for the term “whitelisting”, you’re going to have to tie the terms together in order to keep search engines from demoting or removing your content from search results altogether. 

It’s going to take time. But the time and effort you invest in making this change is worth the payoff of clearing a path for more open, authentic, and inclusive conversations. 

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This is the first university campaign for The Shelf team, and it will be a good one. The university boasts a wonderfully picturesque campus with a wide catalog of educational programs. The Shelf team has been presented with an opportunity to craft campaigns that will woo a diverse group of incoming students to the school.  

“Our strategy involves prospective students, parents, alumni, and program experts building educational-style content about the offerings at the Corpus Christi campus,” says Ali Barnes, Brand Partnerships Manager at The Shelf. “Specifically, audiences will get real-time experiences with the university through on-campus visits and impactful conversations via static + video content on video-driven social media platforms like Instagram & TikTok.”

Navigating the contractual process was a new experience for The Shelf team, as building an influencer campaign for the state-owned institution means more complex processes are in play for getting approval on campaign concepts, influencer partners and other elements of the campaign activation.

But then, Complex is our collective middle name. So…  #BustAMove

Interested in seeing how influencer marketing can work for your government-run organization? Why, we’ll charm the linen pants (or tweed pants if you’re up north) right off your board chair and dazzle your comptroller with our data-driven insights.

Kidding. But it’s true that our team would jump at the chance to talk to you about our services. Click here to schedule a strategy call. 

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The Shelf is a full-service influencer marketing agency with its own proprietary SaaS platform. The company specializes in Full-Funnel Influencer Marketing^TM campaigns that partner brands with Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, YouTube, and podcast storytellers in tandem with multiple paid digital channels to ensure authentic brand engagement at every stage of your customer’s journey.

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Atlanta, GA February 3, 2022 – The Shelf Full-Funnel Influencer Marketing^TM today announced it has signed on to run fully-managed influencer marketing campaigns for a popular non-toxic organic gardening brand for a spring-focused campaign set to run from Q4 2021 through Q1 2022. 

This new contract gives The Shelf an exciting opportunity to partner the brand with a creative group of eco-conscious influencers who walk the talk.

“I was really excited to land this contract. There’s a growing need for natural alternatives to dangerous pesticides and chemicals that people use on their lawn now, and that’s exactly where this brand comes in,” says Ryan Kucey, Brand Partnerships Manager at The Shelf.  “With our client’s growing distribution in hardware stores nationwide, we know that natural weed and grass killers will be more accessible, which is always the goal.”

This campaign comes at a perfect time as it will be launching for the spring season when gardening, lawn care, and outdoor maintenance are at the forefront of people’s minds.

Agencies and brands that are interested in working with The Shelf Full-Funnel Influencer Marketing^TM or would love to hear more about the work we do can click here and schedule a strategy call. 

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The Shelf is a full-service influencer marketing agency with its own proprietary SaaS platform. The company specializes in Full-Funnel Influencer Marketing^TM campaigns that partner brands with Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, YouTube, and podcast storytellers in tandem with multiple paid digital channels to ensure authentic brand engagement at every stage of your customer’s journey.

The post The Shelf Signs On with Organic Gardening Brand For Eco-Conscious Influencer Campaign appeared first on The Shelf Full-Service Influencer Marketing.

The list represents a unique look at the most successful companies within the American economy’s most dynamic segment—its independent small businesses. Intuit, Zappos, Under Armour, Microsoft, Carbon Health, and many other well-known names gained their first national exposure as honorees on the Inc. 5000.

“The Shelf team is excited to be included in this year’s Inc. 5000 list,” says Atul Singh, CEO of The Shelf.  “The challenges of the last 18 months have forced every business to pivot and find creative ways to work more effectively. In many instances, businesses have had to do more with less. Our growth is a testament to the impact a great strategy and a great team can have on a small business.”  

Not only have the companies on the 2021 Inc. 5000 been very competitive within their markets, but this year’s list also proved especially resilient and flexible given 2020’s unprecedented challenges. Among the 5,000, the average median three-year growth rate soared to 543 percent, and median revenue reached $11.1 million. Together, those companies added more than 610,000 jobs over the past three years.

Complete results of the Inc. 5000, including company profiles and an interactive database that can be sorted by industry, region, and other criteria, can be found at www.inc.com/inc5000. The top 500 companies are featured in the September issue of Inc., which will be available on newsstands on August 20.

“The 2021 Inc. 5000 list feels like one of the most important rosters of companies ever compiled,” says Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc. “Building one of the fastest-growing companies in America in any year is a remarkable achievement. Building one in the crisis we’ve lived through is just plain amazing. This kind of accomplishment comes with hard work, smart pivots, great leadership, and the help of a whole lot of people.”

ABOUT THE SHELF

The Shelf is a New York-based influencer marketing agency. The company creates Full-Funnel Influencer Marketing^TM campaigns that partner brands with Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, and YouTube storytellers in tandem with multiple paid digital channels to ensure authentic brand engagement at every stage of your customer’s journey.

Itching to get that next influencer marketing campaign off the ground? Schedule a strategy session and create a memorable, effective influencer marketing campaign. 

MORE ABOUT INC. AND THE INC. 5000

Methodology

Companies on the 2021 Inc. 5000 are ranked according to percentage revenue growth from 2017 to 2020. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2017. They must be U.S.-based, privately held, for-profit, and independent—not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies—as of December 31, 2020. (Since then, some on the list may have gone public or been acquired.) The minimum revenue required for 2017 is $100,000; the minimum for 2020 is $2 million. As always, Inc. reserves the right to decline applicants for subjective reasons. Growth rates used to determine company rankings were calculated to three decimal places. There was one tie on this year’s Inc. 5000.  Companies on the Inc. 500 are featured in Inc.’s September issue. They represent the top tier of the Inc. 5000, which can be found at http://www.inc.com/inc5000.

About Inc. Media

The world’s most trusted business-media brand, Inc. offers entrepreneurs the knowledge, tools, connections, and community to build great companies. Its award-winning multiplatform content reaches more than 50 million people each month across a variety of channels including web sites, newsletters, social media, podcasts, and print. Its prestigious Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since 1982, analyzes company data to recognize the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. The global recognition that comes with inclusion in the 5000 gives the founders of the best businesses an opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers, and the credibility that helps them drive sales and recruit talent.

For more information, visit www.inc.com.

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Today, we released the report, Real Influence: The State of Influencer Marketing After the Events of 2020. The report analyzes the events of 2020 within the context of a social media landscape where, in an effort to serve their online audiences, influencers made the shift from internet lifestyle celebrities to being bona fide web-based community leaders.

 The New Normal Is Change, I Think

The pandemic brought with it a slew of changes to which brands and marketers have spent much of 2020 adapting. At the onset of the pandemic, a provocative idea emerged: would COVID-19 bring an abrupt end to the influencer marketing industry? 

With supply chains interrupted and consumers staying home, brands slashed marketing budgets and converted their KPIs from brand lift and acquisition to conversions and retention. 

Since influencer marketing has traditionally been considered a brand awareness strategy, it made sense that with brands shifting away from awareness campaigns, influencer marketing – and thus influencers – would become a thing of the past. But that isn’t how things unfolded. 

When brands silenced their marketing messages as COVID-19 moved across the U.S., influencers were the first to successfully pivot their own messaging, many by just surveying their followers to find out what they wanted to see. Their success incentivized brands to partner with influencers because influencers had a better gauge on audience sentiment than they did. 

Seems a small thing, but that was the beginning of a significant shift in the influencer marketing space, and it is the focus of The Shelf’s report. 

We Were Actually Just Doing a Political Series…

Real Influence actually began as an anonymous survey we conducted to ask influencers their thoughts on politicians partnering with social media influencers. We sent out the first survey in the weeks leading up to Super Tuesday as part of a series we were doing on social media marketing strategies for politicians. We wanted to know who would do #sponcon for political candidates, how much they would charge and how much they would risk to do it.

Simple, right?

Then COVID-19 hit the U.S. and we shelved the results. Fast forward to fall, we dusted off the survey from February and decided to send it out again to see if anything had changed. What we discovered was that there were some VERY notable differences in influencer responses. That got us wondering what else changed while the world wasn’t paying attention?

Here’s What We Cover in This Report

Real Influence is a compilation of hundreds of pieces of data broken down into four categories:

#quarantinelife – The Shelf team reviewed the data surrounding influencers’ role in creating community health hubs on Instagram to set the tone for global downtime.

#speakup – We sifted through the data to find out what role influencers played in activating people to take part in a protest that started in Minnesota and reached as far as New Zealand.

#vote2020 – We surveyed influencers to find out their thoughts on politicians running influencer marketing campaigns.

#globalcitizen – We even worked with influencers who created pro bono content as part of a social action campaign that  reached more than 5 million Instagram users.

The shifts in influencer participation across the categories that shape the quality and fabric of daily life points to a fundamental shift in the dynamic between influencers and brands. The influencer marketing space matured in 2020. And influencers proved their intrinsic value, beyond just posting the #outfitoftheday for brands. Well done, influential ones.

You can grab the report by clicking that pretty button below.

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New Guide by NY Influencer Agency Shows Other Agencies How to Use Pinterest for Influencer Campaigns

The Shelf Full-Funnel Influencer Marketing releases its fourth strategy guide ahead of the holiday season to highlight the features and opportunities in Pinterest influencer marketing

Brooklyn, NY August 20, 2020 —  The Shelf, a Brooklyn-based influencer marketing agency  has published its latest guide to provide other influencer agencies and marketing teams with a playbook for expanding influencer campaigns onto Pinterest. 

Pinterest x Influencer Marketing: Expanding Your Influencer Strategy Into the Happiest Corner of the Web is The Shelf’s fourth strategy guide released in 2020 created by the company’s marketing and strategy teams. Like previous guides, Pinterest x Influencer Marketing is a campaign playbook that addresses one of the unique challenges brands face this year with their holiday marketing strategies. This one focuses on including Pinterest as part of a brand’s omnichannel marketing strategy to connect with buyers at every touch point along the path to purchase. 

With more than 367 million monthly active users, Pinterest has become the go-to platform for planning purchases. Eighty percent of US moms are on the platform, and 85 percent of Pinners rely on Pinterest when they want to start a new project. But perhaps the most crucial bit of intel for brands is that 97 percent of the searches that happen on the platform are unbranded, presenting a massive opportunity for brands to pepper the platform with influencer-generated content that can authentically embed products within the context of larger frequently-searched topics. 

In addition to sharing important data about usage, Pinterest x Influencer Marketing also highlights some of the platform’s newer features including the most recent algorithm update, local search capabilities, Pinterest Story Pins, and the platform’s more robust e-commerce/shop features for brands, retailers and Shopify merchants.

Agencies and brands that are interested in learning more about Pinterest x Influencer Marketing  or any of The Shelf’s other influencer marketing guides can visit The Shelf’s library by clicking here. 

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ABOUT THE SHELF

The Shelf is a New York-based influencer marketing agency. The company creates Full-Funnel Influencer MarketingTM campaigns that partner brands with Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, and YouTube storytellers in tandem with multiple paid digital channels to ensure authentic brand engagement at every stage of your customer’s journey.

The post Press Release: The Shelf Releases New Guide On Pinterest Influencer Marketing appeared first on The Shelf Full-Service Influencer Marketing.