The dawn of 2024 swiftly approaches. It’s now only 18 days away. The air is buzzing with the spirit of renewal and transformation. The new year beckons with promises of fresh starts and the opportunity to embrace healthier lifestyles. Whether your aspirations include eating healthier, cooking at home or just making yummier foods, you’re in for a treat! To kickstart your journey and infuse your kitchen adventures with inspiration, we’ve carefully curated a list of the top ten health food influencers. These culinary minds are not just about recipes. They embody a lifestyle that celebrates well-being, creativity, and the joy of eating right. Join us as we jump into their world, where each dish is a vibrant, flavor-packed testament to healthy living

1. Jade / Mostly Healthy Desserts @panaceas_pantry 468K on Instagram

Jade is the creator behind Panaceas Pantry blog. She welcomes visitors with plant-based recipes that nourish and celebrate. As a former naturopath and nutritionist, and a mother of three girls, she emphasizes the importance of a balanced diet. She combines quality whole foods with the joy of cooking. Her blog caters to various dietary needs, offering some recipes free from major allergens. Jade actively shares her culinary adventures and other interests on Instagram, inviting followers to engage and share their experiences with her recipes. Living near Melbourne, Australia, in her childhood town, she spends her time outside the kitchen homeschooling her daughters, gardening, walking, and crafting. She eagerly awaits building her dream home. And she encourages visitors to try her recipes, like the much-loved tahini banana bread, and share their feedback. All of her recipes are on her blog Panaceas Pantry.

Featured Recipes: Asparagus, Apple, + Hazelnut Salad, Banana Egg Pancakes, and No Bake, Fudgy + Decadent Raspberry, Hazelnut, Chocolate Ganache Bars

2. Jacqueline Alwill @brownpapernutrition 97K on Instagram

In 2012, Jacqueline launched Brown Paper Nutrition. It was initially a Facebook page known as “The Brown Paper Bag Nutrition and Wellness.” There, she shared healthy recipes and nutrition tips, with a focus on women’s health. Fueled by her passion for cooking and health, Jacqueline set up a whole foods stall at the Bondi Farmers Market. She sold nourishing muffins, raw treats, super seed bircher, and various kitchen experiments. The venture was pivotal in connecting with her community and fostering growth. It led to opportunities in the corporate world, integrated whole foods catering into her business, and opened doors to work in media, including TV and magazines. This period was a significant start for Jacqueline, a single mother striving for success. Despite the challenges, the rewarding experiences and supportive community she built were invaluable to her both professionally and personally.

Featured Recipes: Burrata, Berry, Watermelon, + Cherry Board, Spring Asparagus Tart, and Peanut Butter Protein Oats, Pineapple Lime Avocado Manuka Smoothie, + Berry Chia Mango Pots

3. Sophie Fisher @coconutandbliss 406K on Instagram

Nine years ago, Sophie Fisher founded Coconut and Bliss. And one of our favorite health food influencers was born. She was driven by her passion for nutrition, recipe creation, and healthy food. Initially, she used the platform as a personal space to document and track her interests. But soon her audience grew. Followers were attracted by her content and healthy lifestyle habits, with many requesting more recipes. This interest sparked a significant turning point. It led to collaborations with various brands and individuals, as well as the publication of her own e-books. Over the years, recipe design has become intuitive for Sophie. It’s evolved from a process that initially required extensive research and trial and error. Now, she cooks with a natural flair, experimenting with ratios and ingredient combinations, often leading to successful outcomes. Though she admits to the occasional culinary mishap.

Featured Recipes: Creamy Pistachio Pasta, Whipped Ricotta Toast, and Mango Cheesecake Smoothie

4. Jess Hoffman @choosingchia 309K on Instagram

Jess founded Choosing Chia following a transformative trip to India. There, she studied yoga and Ayurveda, eventually obtaining her yoga instructor certification from the Ajarya yoga academy. This experience ignited her passion for healthy, plant-based cooking and eating. Choosing Chia, her blog, mirrors her beliefs in a healthy lifestyle. It offers delicious, easy-to-make vegetarian recipes with a focus on fresh, wholesome plant-based ingredients. Jess aims to serve those seeking healthier eating options and stress-free ways to incorporate natural foods into their diets. The blog is a mix of whole food recipes, healthified desserts, and indulgent treats. She emphasizes simple and quick preparations for busy lifestyles. When not blogging, Jess can be found practicing yoga, enjoying the mountains, brunching, playing with her dog, and indulging in croissants. She loves sharing recipes, wellness and photography tips. And she believes in the philosophy that you cannot have both excuses and success.

Featured Recipes: Spicy Thai Curry Butternut Squash Soup, One-Pan Mexican-Inspired Quinoa, and Blueberry Chia Pudding  

5. Tieghan Gerard @halfbakedharvest 5.4M on Instagram

Tieghan, the creator behind Half Baked Harvest, finds inspiration for her recipes from her loved ones and experiences. Growing up in a family of ten, she began cooking to help manage the mealtime chaos. Eventually, she took over the family’s meal preparations. This led to the birth of her blog, where she documents her cooking journey with photos and recipes. Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, she now resides in Colorado. She lives in a converted horse barn and works in a studio barn designed around her lifestyle. There, Tieghan experiments with new recipes, photographs her creations, and embraces the messiness of cooking.

She aims to inspire others to love food and have the courage to try new things. Since starting her blog in 2012, Tieghan has gained recognition on various platforms. She’s received accolades including, Readers’ Choice Favorite Food Blog by Better Homes and Gardens and awards from Saveur Magazine and Bloglovin’.

Featured Recipes: Spicy Miso Braised Beef Ramen, Shaved Brussels Sprout Candied Bacon Salad, and Cheesy Gouda, Bacon, + Pumpkin Pizza  

6. Mia Elle @bitesbymia 724K on TikTok 

Mia Elle is known for her culinary creativity. She shares her favorite recipes on TikTok and Instagram under the handle “Bites by Mia.” Her content has range. Think nutritious smoothies, perfect for a healthy start or a post-workout refreshment. And also savory vegan dumplings, offering a plant-based alternative to a beloved classic. Her recipes are celebrated for their ease and accessibility. She uses ingredients commonly found in local supermarkets. And she accompanies each with clear, step-by-step instructions and engaging video tutorials. Mia’s approach goes beyond simple recipe sharing. She provides valuable cooking tips, ingredient alternatives, and kitchen hacks, catering to both beginner cooks and seasoned foodies. Her passion for cooking and friendly demeanor make her a popular figure in the online culinary community. She inspires her followers to explore new, healthy, and delicious culinary creations.

Featured Recipes: Protein Cookie Dough Cups, Vegan Dumplings, and Avocado Egg Salad Sandwich  

7. Michelle Tam @nomnompaleo 492K on Instagram

Michelle Tam’s passion for cooking is rooted in her childhood experiences in her mother’s kitchen. It led her to pursue Nutrition & Food Science at Berkeley with an ambition to become a flavor scientist. Embracing the diverse food scene with her future husband, she reveled in the culinary richness of the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2010, she wholeheartedly adopted the Paleo diet. She cut out grains, legumes, sugar, and processed foods. This significantly improved her energy and mood. It was a vital change for managing her responsibilities. Which included raising two boys, working night shifts at a hospital, and maintaining a rigorous fitness routine. 

Her personal blog, Nom Nom Paleo, began with humble, amateur photography. But it evolved into a polished food site. It’s earned recognition including a Best Food Blog Award from Saveur Magazine. Over the years, Nom Nom Paleo expanded beyond a blog. It’s won two Webby Awards for its cooking app, a Best of Paleo Award for its podcast, and a James Beard Award nomination. Her first cookbook, Nom Nom Paleo: Food for Humans, was a New York Times bestseller. It was followed by Ready or Not! in 2017, also a bestseller. The release of her third cookbook, Nom Nom Paleo: Let’s Go!, in January 2022, continued this success. However, Michelle’s greatest pride lies in the impact Nom Nom Paleo has had on home kitchens and dinner tables worldwide. Talk about health food influencers making a positive impact!

Featured Recipes: Pepper Steak, Chinese Garlic Green Beans, and Paleo Ambrosia Salad  

8. Dennis Prescott @dennistheprescott 743K on Instagram

Dennis Prescott, a celebrated Canadian chef and cookbook author, has cultivated a substantial following of over 700,000 on Instagram. Initially a struggling musician in Nashville, his culinary journey began by self-teaching through Jamie Oliver cookbooks. This endeavor quickly evolved into a deep passion for food. It led to the creation of his popular Instagram account, featuring an array of mouth-watering dishes and diverse recipes. His growing expertise in the culinary field enabled him to work alongside chefs in various restaurants and even travel the world as a chef. He honed his skills through extensive experimentation with cooking techniques and recipes. Now he pays it forward, educating communities about cooking. Dennis has become an influential figure in the culinary world. His latest achievement includes a pivotal role on the show, Restaurants on the Edge. Not to mention the publication of his latest cookbook, Eat Delicious, which is currently available in stores.

Featured Recipes: Beef Shank French Onion Soup, Creamy Cupboard Tomato Soup, and Sundried Tomato, Arugula, Burrata, + Mortadella Sandwich  

9. Susi Vidal @susi.vidal 3.6M on TikTok

Susi, a nursing graduate from the University of Arizona, discovered her passion for cooking during the challenging times of COVID. She found solace in the kitchen. She delighted in the joy her meals brought to others, using this as a respite from external chaos. This hobby turned into a productive outlet, leading her to start “OnlyPans.” The social media series aimed to portraying cooking as both fun and entertaining.

While continuing to post her culinary creations online, Susi completed her nursing degree. Then she worked as a nurse for a year before deciding to fully dedicate herself to her newfound passion. Grateful for the support that has turned her dream into reality, she shares her self-taught cooking skills — gained from cookbooks, YouTube videos, and cooking shows — on various platforms. Susi is excited to continue her journey as a home cook. She eagerly shares recipes and updates, along with her other interests like meeting new people, traveling, and snowboarding. She invites her audience to join her in this culinary adventure, promising new recipes and videos.

Featured Recipes: Chicken Tacos, Remy’s Ratatouille, and Crispy Parmesan + Kale Salad 

10. Dr. Rachel Paul, PhD, RD @collegenutritionist 788K on Instagram

Rachel holds a PhD in nutrition and behavior change from Columbia University. But her food journey was not always an easy one. She overcame her own prolonged struggles with food. She transitioned from obsession to restrictive eating, which adversely affected her relationship with eating, body image, and self-confidence. Realizing the need for change, she pondered the idea of mastering mindsets around food to cultivate healthier bodies and lifestyles. Through her academic journey, Rachel discovered effective strategies for achieving freedom around food and making healthy eating effortless. She has since dedicated herself to helping thousands of women lose weight and feel their best, sharing her insights and methods through her program, Best Body, transforming the lives of many with her expertise and personal experience. 

Featured Recipes: Stuffed Pepper Skillet, Alfredo Chicken Skillet, and Spicy Pesto Skillet

That’s a Wrap on Our Fav Health Food Influencers

We hope our guide featuring the top ten health food influencers provides an invaluable resource for those aspiring to a healthier, more flavorful culinary journey. These health food influencers are more than recipe creators. They are ambassadors of a lifestyle that harmoniously blends wellness, creativity, and the pure joy of nutritious eating. Embrace this opportunity to transform your eating habits and kitchen skills. Let each vibrant, flavor-rich dish be a step towards a healthier and happier you in the new year. If you’d like assistance creating health-focused influencer marketing campaigns in the new year, book a strategy call with us today.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Abigail Welcom | Marketing Magician

Abby wins hearts and gains trust as our Brand Marketing & Outreach Coordinator. She puts her Film and Television Production degree to good use dreaming up visual marketing for The Shelf. When she’s not dazzling us with out-of-the-box ideas, you can likely find her at The Happiest Place on Earth — Disneyland!

The post 10 Health Food Influencers to Inspire You This New Year appeared first on The Shelf Full-Service Influencer Marketing.

Our Favorite Halloween Influencers Serving Up Chills and Thrills

These are the creators who, with their passion and talent, truly encapsulate the essence of this haunted holiday. We’re talking about the makeup maestros who can transform faces into eerie entities. The DIY crafters who bring to life the most ghoulish of designs. And the decorators whose spaces brim with all things supernatural. To celebrate, we’ve curated a list of our top 13 (a deliciously spooky number) Halloween influencers. These creators will fill your feed with every phantom, poltergeist, and pumpkin imaginable. Dive in, if you dare!

1. Mimi Choi @mimles

Mimi Choi is THE professional illusion artist. Her insane illusion makeup art is taking TikTok and the whole internet by storm. She is based in Vancouver and acclaimed for her innovative illusionary style. It’s earned her international recognition and a substantial following on most platforms since her graduation from Blanche Macdonald Centre in 2014. 

Originally from Macau, she immigrated to Canada in the 1990s. She melds inspiration from her diverse background, surreal art, and vivid sleep paralysis experiences to create her distinctive, macabre looks. 

In addition to instructing at her alma mater, Mimi conducts global masterclasses. She also works as a freelance artistic director for prominent brands, such as NYX Professional Makeup and Burberry. Her transformative work has been featured across various platforms in pop culture. In 2019, she designed the widely acclaimed Met Gala look for actor/model Ezra Miller.

2. Little Ms. Scare All @littlems_scareall

Known as Little Ms. Scare All or ‘Your Fairy Gothmother,’ Jessica Smith embodies Halloween aesthetics every day, showcasing her passion for gothic attire and makeup. She delivers a unique blend of spooky style, relatable memes, and insightful makeup tutorials. 

Her content serves a vast audience seeking macabre aesthetics fused with humor and style. It’s no wonder she’s a sought-after personality, especially during the Halloween season. Fans and fellow Halloween creators alike flock for her enriching and creative insights.

3. Miranda @spookylittlehalloween 

Miranda is Minneapolis’s friendly neighborhood ghoul. Like many other creators on this list, she loves to celebrate October 31st year-round. She enchants spooky enthusiasts with inspirations for decorations, DIYs, and parties on her blog. And she goes the extra mile supplementing them with enthralling playlists, optimal year-round shopping spots, and festive recipes. 

During the Halloween season, she diligently informs her followers about the newest spooky products on store shelves. But her holiday haunts don’t stop there. She explores the amalgamation of various holidays with Halloween-themed twists, such as Spooky Christmas and Valoween to Summerween. 

Fans look forward to a sprinkle of spookiness in their mail when she periodically sends out zines and full-size magazines. (The 2023 edition is currently available in her shop.) For aficionados of the Halloween lifestyle, her corner of the web serves as a perfect refuge. There, every day is a Halloween celebration.

4. Venus Halloween @halloweenxo 

Venus Halloween, a year-round Halloween influencer, has been a source of festive and spooky content for over a decade. In her world, every day is a Halloween celebration. 

With her distinctive black and orange Instagram feed, Venus unveils a mix of shopping hauls and innovative DIY projects. This year, she is actively participating in #31mugsofhalloween, revealing a unique Halloween-related mug each day. 

Residing in Orange County, California, Venus frequently shares her regional festive adventures. She’s a source of daily inspiration for Halloween enthusiasts in SoCal and beyond. Her impactful presence and creative endeavors make her a standout figure among Halloween creators. She’s a go-to influencer for those seeking to immerse themselves in the Halloween spirit 365 days a year! 

5. Snitchery @snitchery 

Eleanor Barnes is better known as Snitchery to her millions of followers across TikTok and Instagram. She has effectively merged the realms of beauty and cosplay, shaping a unique niche in the Halloween influencer world. 

Her artistic facial creations have captured the attention of numerous beauty brands. She’s worked with household names like MAC, Tarte, Too Faced, and her favorite, Milk Makeup. 

Eventually, Barnes transitioned her content focus to beauty-centered cosplay. Her long-standing passion garnered support from brands like Fenty Beauty even as she maintained her unique aesthetic. It’s no wonder she’s quickly gained a substantial following. Snitchery amassed 3.9 million followers thanks to her distinctive, beauty-focused cosplay content that sets her apart in both communities.

6. Sarah @the_pumpkin_queen 

Sarah Cooke, known as The Pumpkin Queen on Instagram, has captivated the Halloween enthusiast community. Her enchanting, spooky feed is a delightful mix of festive memes and haunting Halloween decorations. As a prominent Halloween influencer, she significantly impacts the Halloween-loving audience. She’s constantly sharing content that resonates with those who adore the spooky season. 

The Pumpkin Queen brings a unique flavor of cute yet eerie aesthetics to her followers. Her Etsy shop, GOREnaments, is a treasure trove for fans. It offers a variety of horror-themed stationery items and ornaments. The products allow aficionados to imbue their lives with the Halloween spirit all year long. 

Her innovative approach intertwines the cute with the spooky, making her a distinguished figure in the sea of Halloween creators.

7. Sam @halloweenhappy 

Sam is the creator behind the vibrant Halloween Happy account on Instagram. Her spooky lifestyle content has successfully garnered the attention of thousands across Instagram and Facebook. 

More impressively, her distinct approach to Halloween-centered content captured the fascination of The Drew Barrymore Show. Her appearance on the daytime program gave a wider audience a glimpse into her haunting hometown of Salem, Massachusetts. 

Within the expansive realm of Halloween influencers, Sam stands out. She offers her followers a journey through haunting hauls, innovative décor inspiration, and festive planning ideas, fostering a year-round Halloween ambiance. She seamlessly blends the mystical allure of Salem with her passion for all things Halloween. Her social media platforms are hubs for those seeking to inject a dose of spookiness into their lives.

8. Sydney Nicole Addams @sydneynicoleaddams 

Sydney Nicole Addams is a Halloween influencer to watch. She captivates her audience with makeup looks that are simultaneously haunting, intimidating, and intricate. While her creations may appear daunting, she provides extensive tutorials, allowing enthusiasts to replicate her spine-chilling looks. 

Whether it’s the chaotic charm of Harley Quinn or the ethereal allure of the Corpse Bride, Sydney adeptly guides her followers through transformations into iconic characters. Additionally, her platforms are rich with discount codes, offering her followers exclusive access to savings on her favored makeup products. She’s a go-to resource for accessible, affordable Halloween makeup inspiration and instruction. 

9. Kiel James Patrick @kjp 

Every July, KJP releases an Instagram Reel laden with pumpkins and vivid fall leaves. It signals the impending arrival of the spooky season. Kiel James Patrick, known as KJP, has long been a staple in social media circles. He’s well-known among Halloween influencers and creators with a penchant for fall content. 

KJP’s immersive photos and videos encapsulate the essence of the quintessential New England lifestyle. They evoke a sense of timeless charm and scenic beauty. Each year, as the leaves begin to change and the air turns crisp, KJP shares mesmerizing images that paint a picture of Halloween in New England.

His content features a seamless blend of elegance and seasonal charm. He provides a unique and aesthetically pleasing perspective to all lovers of this bewitching season.

10. Alessandra Dell’Oso @delizieinquota 

Alessandra Dell’ Oso transports her followers straight into the enchanting heart of Italian woods. Her autumn-infused feed features a world where the magic of fall and the splendor of Halloween converge seamlessly. 

This creator’s bilingual content, articulated both in Italian and English, captivates a global audience. Followers savor her delectable fall recipes and recreate the culinary treats she shares. 

Aside from cooking, Alessandra’s content features DIY craft inspo, cozy outfit ideas, and autumnal experiences. Her uniquely Italian twist to the seasonal celebration keeps fans flocking back for more.

11. Lily @pintsizedphoto

Lily is the ingenious creator behind the lifestyle and fashion blog, Pint Sized Beauty. Her passion for Halloween and fall translate to engaging content that captivates over 190 thousand followers on TikTok. 

Broadcasting from her quaint English town, Lily’s feed is a delightful concoction of autumnal vibes. She showcases eclectic Halloween finds, fall recipes, and seasonal outfit inspo. 

Every piece of content she crafts resonates with a warmth synonymous with fall, interspersed with the thrilling allure of Halloween. Her unique blend of fashion-forward and seasonally-inspired content continues to shape trends. This Halloween influencer inspires a global audience eager to experience the charm of an English autumn.

12. Lori Castellon @ghoul.at.heart 

Are you hosting a haunted house party? Or a cozy movie night in? If you’re still planning your menu, don’t worry. Lori Castellon has you covered. Her page is full of the most creative Halloween recipes and tablescapes for your future ghoulish gatherings.

The creator of Castellon’s Kitchen is always cooking up Halloween-centric creations. Recently, she decided to designate a unique platform exclusively for her Halloween obsession. Her new blog Ghoul at Heart delves deeper into the essence of this haunting celebration.

Lori’s affinity for Halloween is a nostalgic journey back to her childhood. Her creations invoke memories of autumn walks, school costume parades, and homemade Jack-o-lantern cupcakes. At the end of the day, it’s clear Lori has always been a Ghoul at Heart.

13. Erin @spookygobragh  

No description suits Erin’s feed better than her own.  “You’ll get a lot of ghosts, orange, and mugs,” she says. Sprinkle in some pumpkins and awesome festive finds and you’ve got her account covered. She’s a simple and effective Halloween influencer proving sometimes it’s best to stick with the basics.

The Trick of Finding the Best Halloween Influencers is our Treat for You

Our journey through this eerie season has been all the more thrilling with this incredible array of talent. From faces painted with tales of horror to spaces that echo with ghostly whispers, our curated list of 13 Halloween creators offers a variet of spooky spirit. 

These Halloween influencers prove the heart of this holiday lies in the artistry that brings shadows to life. They’ve filled our feeds and hearts with phantoms, poltergeists, and pumpkins. If you’d like help finding influencers for your next festive campaign, schedule a strategy call with one of our experts. Until next year, may your days be filled with chills, thrills, and endless Halloween inspiration!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Abigail Welcom | Marketing Magician

Abby wins hearts and gains trust as our Brand Marketing & Outreach Coordinator. She puts her Film and Television Production degree to good use dreaming up visual marketing for The Shelf. When she’s not dazzling us with out-of-the-box ideas, you can likely find her at The Happiest Place on Earth — Disneyland!

The post 13 Halloween Influencers to Follow This Spooky Season appeared first on The Shelf Full-Service Influencer Marketing.

Choosing the right influencer can sometimes feel like speed dating. You’re constantly trying to see if you and the other person are a match. For 3 in 4 marketers running influencer campaigns, influencer selection is still a bit of a mystery. If you’re still wondering if you’re doing the whole influencer sourcing thing right, we’ve got you covered.

What Is Influencer Selection?

Influencer Selection is a process of identifying the qualities and proficiencies an influencer needs to successfully help brands reach their marketing goals. In short, it’s the process of choosing the right influencers. Not all influencers will be a good fit for every campaign. Effective influencer partnerships take some doing.

The influencer selection process is often easier when you have an influencer sourcing tool (like our proprietary influencer marketing platform), or better still, you have access to an influencer discovery team (like we have here at The Shelf ). That’s mainly because choosing the right influencer requires you to look at quantitative data about the influencer, qualitative data about an influencer’s content, and behavioral data about the influencer’s audience to determine if a creator has real influence with the audience the brand actually needs to reach.

Yeah, it’s a lot. And it’s a pretty big deal for your campaign!!

Picture it:

Your brand is looking to run your first influencer marketing campaign that sells a competitively priced athletic shoe. For this campaign, you’re targeting shoppers over the age of 40 who are lower-middle class and more swayed by price than brand name. They’re tightening their belts this holiday season and planning to make fewer purchases, but they’re gung-ho about shopping. Choose the right micro-influencer avatar(s) that would work for this campaign:

Influencer One

Jill, a 55-year-old CFO, runner, and self-proclaimed “common sense fitness” guru. Jill is active. On IG, half of her feed is Jill in different outfits. The other half of her feed is a mix of candid pics and Stories of Jill and her partner or Jill and her friends out and about. She reserves TikTok for the kid in her – hopping on trends and creating bodyweight workout videos and reworking popular cooking videos with healthier substitutions.

Influencer Two

Erin, a 42-year-old recently divorced mom of 4 is transparent enough to walk her audience through her big life change. She’s navigating single parenthood, downsizing a bit, and even talked about recareering. She talks through her experiences as a form of self-therapy on TikTok. She’s active in that she spends lots of time outside with her kids and her dog, as evidenced in her IG feed, but exercise isn’t really her thing. She has enough on her plate.

Influencer Three

Jakob is a 60-year-old, lone wolf-type poker enthusiast and adventurer who never married but has done well in real estate. Jakob is a silver fox who does quite a bit of sailing and traveling. He loves posting his “Jake vs Jake” physical challenges on TikTok. His entire IG feed is made up of the people he meets and the places he visits on his travels and adventures. 

Erin is the most like your target audience — someone who is busy, budget-conscious, and needs a comfortable shoe that will last. 

But of the three, Erin probably wouldn’t be the best choice for your campaign. While Erin is your target audience, Jill and Jakob are a bit more aspirational and more likely to deliver a higher entertainment — and maybe even educational — value. 

The Power of Influencer Partnerships in Your Marketing Strategy

For the sake of everyone being on the same page, let’s answer the question that still gets asked by Googlers tens of thousands of times every month: what is an influencer?

Brands seek out influencers because influencers know how to connect with and relate to their audiences. They are masters of messaging, and they’re great at cutting through the noise and zeroing in on exactly what their audience wants and needs to see and hear.

Influencers are not:

• Your in-house marketing team having their third meeting with Legal this month

• Boxed in with preconceptions of the kind of marketing that really drove sales for your product in the past

• Members of your content team, trying to make sure every piece of content fits somewhere in the funnel or doubles as a marketing asset.

Influencers are:

• Independent creatives who are experts at using content not just to come up with cool messaging, but also to facilitate authentic connections and memorable experiences for their audiences 

In essence, they’re the true maestros of crafting exceptional content that can infuse your brand with a layer of depth often unattainable by your internal team. This is precisely why brands join forces with them.

But…

Navigating the complex world of influencer sourcing and influencer selection can be a daunting task. Scratch that. Choosing the right influencer can be a full-blown headache.

As brands and marketers strive to create impactful influencer campaigns, the one thing they have to do to ensure their campaign delivers is learn how to find the right influencer partners. That means overcoming a variety of different challenges – fake followers, brand safety issues, content rights, rising costs…  

So, let’s talk about it. I want to use the next two or three minutes to shed light on key insights to help you make informed decisions and create authentic influencer partnerships that resonate with your audience.

Influencer Selection Trips Up 75% of Marketers

The journey toward successful influencer selection begins with understanding the hurdles that brands often face. According to a report by Mediakix:

• 50 percent of marketers have trouble identifying which influencers have fake followers
• 38 percent of marketers are troubled by rising influencer costs
• 28 percent say maintaining brand safety and brand alignment is problematic, and
• 18 percent say they have trouble making sure sponsored content meets FTC regulations and requirements

Source: Mediakix

These statistics underscore the need for a strategic approach to influencer selection. Brands can’t rely on choosing influencers based on follower counts. And we’ve gotten beyond just looking at alignment, values, and engagement ratios.

The heck?

So how do you choose the right influencer partners? Yep. That’s the question that troubles 3 in 4 marketers as they’re crafting their influencer campaigns.

The Different Types of Influencers

What are the different levels of influencers? The influencer marketplace breaks down into five influencer tiers – mega/celebrity influencers, macro-influencers, mid-tier influencers, micro-influencers, and nano-influencers.

Each type of influencer can support your efforts on multiple fronts. We actually did a pretty thorough breakdown in a recent post on influencer tiers, but just to recap…

Mega/Celebrity-Influencers (1M+)

These are the Beyonces and Kardashians of the social media sphere that are often household names. This tier is typically the most expensive and makes up a small fraction of the global influencer network. They also come with lower engagement rates since their audiences are so large. It’s a pretty sure bet that some people are just following the influencer because so many other people are following, and not necessarily because they have anything in common with the influencer.

While celebs may seem like the cream of the crop when it comes to enhancing your brand’s exposure, the numbers tell us that it isn’t so simple. A larger following doesn’t necessarily equate to a larger profit margin next quarter. Why? Well, because choosing the right influencer depends on more than follower count alone.

There are plenty of other factors and countless variables that can complicate the influencer selection process.   But these variables also deliver opportunities for brands to hyper-target their influencer campaigns. 

Macro-Influencers (300K – 1M Followers) 

We like to classify macro-influencers as those who are experienced and often create full-time or have some form of representation. They are often well-versed with the industry standards and what’s expected of both parties. This influencer tier is especially great for those who want to maximize their brand’s reach. 

Mid-Tier Influencers (50K – 300K)

The mid-tier is an in-between influencer that may be working toward becoming full-time. They often boast higher engagement rates than their high-tiered friends. You can expect these influencers to ask for more than a product exchange and they’re fairly familiar with the industry. 

Micro-Influencers (10K – 50K) 

The micro-influencer tier is where you’ll see a more diverse range of experience among influencers. Some may be pricey and experienced while others may be less familiar, charge less, or place a higher value on getting free products to supplement their rates, which generally start around a few hundred dollars per post and can easily climb to $5K per post. Pretty wide berth, right?

One of the great things about micro-influencers is they typically have higher engagement rates, making them a good investment if your goal is to get audience members to take action. 

The industry has already caught on to the potential of influencers with smaller followings, which is why Influencer Marketing Hub found that there was a 300 percent increase in the number of micro-influencers used by large firms from 2016 to 2020. 

Nano-Influencers (1K – 10K) 

Nano-Influencers pose an interesting opportunity as many know their followers in real life and typically have larger engagement rates. While you want to be sure that there is an intent to influence, this tier can be extremely beneficial to your marketing efforts as the level of trust between the influencer and followers can often be higher. 

We actually created an encyclopedia on this stuff…

The Complete Guide to Influencer Marketing

Here’s What to Look for In an Influencer Partner

Now we know who’s who. You’re one step closer to choosing the right influencer. Awesome! But how do you whittle down a pool of 50 million influencers? And how do you separate those with large followings from creative partners who can actually get their sizable audiences to take actions on your behalf?

I’ll tell ya.

Your influencer selection process essentially dances to the rhythm of your campaign goals. What’s the scoop with your campaign? Why are you launching an influencer marketing crusade right now? If you’re aiming to rack up more app downloads, you might fancy the idea of tapping into micro-influencers who rock those engagement stats (we’re talking comments, saves, sticker taps – not just the old thumbs-up). Throwing in a big-league influencer could also be a smart move to draw more peepers to your product and give your brand’s popularity a nice boost.

Or perhaps you’re eyeing the throne of thought leadership. In that case, you’ll want influencers who groove with your niche or boast industry wisdom – it’s like picking the right ingredients for a recipe that’s uniquely yours.

Stir things up by diversifying. Maybe you’re all about opening new chapters in your brand’s story by stepping into untrodden markets. Think about introducing bachelors to some swanky dog chow or getting multitasking moms to make a vitamin swap.

Whatever floats your boat – whether it’s app downloads or mom’s secret vitamins – these dreams of yours hold the key to shaping the qualities of that “perfect influencer” for your gig.

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Streamlining Your Influencer Selection Criteria 

Whether you hire the best influencer agency (us ), use an influencer marketing platform, or create your own system, there is a need for alignment between your brand (product, voice, values, message) and the influencers you select. Remember, choosing the right influencer is not just about high follow rates. Even though the macro- and mega- influencers have massive followings, adding “celebrity” to your lead growth campaign for your software company doesn’t necessarily translate to big bucks, even though doing so could make your campaign more memorable. 

It’s not just relevance and context. It’s more like synergy. We know, it’s the buzzword you can’t escape. It’s building harmony between two parties who are working together to share a message. 

Just as you might be familiar with building out personas for your customers, it can help to take a similar approach for your influencers. How old are they? Do they have a family? How often do they post? What do they like to do for fun? Have they recently become freakishly good boxers? 

Let’s streamline the influencer selection process by identifying your influencer selection criteria. These are the data points you need to know to make influencer sourcing data-driven.

Gather Demographic Info on Influencers

Most macro-influencers and many micros will already have an influencer media kit that provides brands with information about the influencer’s reach, engagement ratios, blog traffic, and audience size. But you also need a significant amount of data on the influencer that typically falls under the heading of demographic/quantitative data. Think:

• Age
• Gender
• Marital status
• Family size
• Race/ethnicity
• Background
• HH income
• Location
• Language

Include Performance Data

In addition to identifying the type of person you want to bring in for your campaign, it’s also a good idea to make sure the person wants to be an influencer. This is important true for nano-influencers who may just be super likable and grow followers quickly, and not necessarily interested in becoming influencers. Choosing the right influencer requires the creator to see themself as an influencer.

Performance data is an important part of the influencer selection process. Aside from just talking to influencers to find out if they’re interested in your campaign, you can also find out a great deal of info ahead of time by looking at performance data. Look at metrics like:

• Follower count
• Reach (because algorithms show the content of creators who have engaged audiences)
• Engagement ratios
• Types of engagement (likes vs comments vs saves vs sticker taps vs swipe-ups)
• Platforms on which influencers are most active
• Topic, quality, and frequency of posts
• Previous partnerships
• Authority

Don’t Forget About the Quality of the Content

A lot of marketing teams would stop there and use the qualities listed above as the criteria around which they build their entire influencer campaign. But there are also qualitative markers that will be crucial to creating a sticky campaign that resonates with consumers. Pay attention to:

• Storytelling
• Entertainment value
• Quality of content
• Audience sentiment
• Level of creativity
• Values
• Relatability
• Influencer personality
• Lighting
• How they engage with followers
• Aesthetic (still comes up; not nearly as important as it was before 2020)

Choosing the right creator for an influencer partnership is not a perfect science. It includes reviewing data that’s both quantitative and qualitative. Just as you want to pay attention to engagement rates, location, age, and budget, you also want to consider their overall aesthetic, content quality, and values. You might conduct some research into their work or even look to their other partnerships to help you discover whether your brand would make sense with their overall message. 

While spreadsheets can help (and we definitely use spreadsheets when it comes time to calculate influencer rates — or what we think they may end up being), there’s a level of critical review that feels more holistic as you find the right partnerships. Below is a recommended list of factors to consider for each influencer. 

Effectiveness and Actual Influence

The influencers you select need to be able to craft targeted sponsored content that can reach the specified audience. Be mindful of the influencer’s skills and where they shine. If they specialize in makeup flat lays for Instagram, you wouldn’t want to ask them to create a video of them using the products on YouTube or TikTok. Understand their style. Can you imagine your brand messaging fitting in with their content seamlessly?

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Analyze Audience Behavior 

This is a BIG one, and too many brands skip audience analysis at the expense of their campaign ROI. The reason influencer marketing continues to grow is because of how it can influence behavior. If a creator can’t influence the behavior of their audience, we don’t actually call them an influencer. And it may be that some influencers are only influential when it comes to certain topics. 

What kinds of hashtags do they use? How are they using emojis? (There is such a thing as boomer emojis.) What kinds of brands do they post about? What kinds of brands do they wear? Mention? You can often tell if an audience skews young or if it comprises a segment that would respond to different messaging or a different product altogether. 

Take note of how their audience interacts with the content for insight into the type of individuals involved. Everything from hashtags to the jokes they make can help you understand information like age or other interests.

The influencer’s followers need to be engaged and match your brand’s target audience. Otherwise, your message may fall into the online void of doom. 

Consider the Influencer’s Goals

It’s also important to remember that influencers have a checklist they’re running through on their end to determine whether the brand is a good match for them and their personal brand. While you’re choosing the right influencer, they’re choosing the right brands. Consider micro-influencers like Sophia (@svvphia). When asked what she looks for in brand partnerships Sophia said:

“It’s always great partnering with brands I feel I really align with, especially those whose philosophy revolves around reducing their carbon footprint, commitments to giving back to their community and diversity (in the workplace and the creators they collaborate with), using durable and smart packaging, and price points that reflect the above.” 

The perfect influencers for your brand and specified campaign are out there, it’s just a matter of alignment. 

Practice What You Preach 

Influencers work hard to build their brands and their audiences. It makes sense they’re super particular about the brands they choose for partnerships. For an influencer, being connected to a brand that’s fallen from grace or that says and does things that fall outside of the influencer’s value set is the fastest way to lose followers and future partnership opportunities.

Skrrrrt!! Back Up and Pause on Entertainment Value

Entertainment value often gets overlooked amidst the hustle and bustle of brand strategies. While the brand team hones in on value propositions, benefits, and features, the legal team keeps a watchful eye on communication balance. However, these elements alone won’t captivate users or push your sponsored content up the algorithm ranks. Let’s break it down:

For the younger generation, platforms like TikTok have become go-to TV. Consider this: the average 18-24-year-old in the US spends a solid 54 minutes watching traditional TV. Yet, in a world of multitasking, the TV usually isn’t their sole focus when they’re watching.

On the flip side, the same demographic spends a significant 79 minutes daily on TikTok. The difference might not seem colossal, but it’s all about the trend. Year after year, traditional TV viewership drops while engagement on short-form platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram soars.

What’s driving this change? Social media platforms are captivating audiences with engaging and entertaining content, and the results are undeniable. They have been successful at keeping users engaged for longer and longer periods of time.

Let’s get straight to the point. No matter what message you’re conveying, it needs to be packaged within content that’s educational or, more importantly, entertaining.

Consider this: Salesforce recently released data indicating that the shopping journey spans an average of nine different channels. This contrasts with the long-held notion of seven touchpoints. We’re not talking about seeing something seven times. We’re talking about nine different channels.

This shift highlights two significant factors:

1. A seamless shopping experience across various platforms, encompassing both digital and physical realms, is now a must.

2. Collaborating with content creators capable of sparking interactions across multiple platforms is pivotal.

Personal example: my 9-year-old daughter isn’t concerned about where Mr. Beast appears; she’s watching the content. Similarly, I won’t pass up a Trey Kennedy video, regardless of the platform.

In a world where entertainment rules and consumer journeys traverse multiple avenues, ensuring your content is engaging and captivating holds the key to sustained success.

Influencer Sourcing: Finding Social Media Influencers

You might be thinking “Okay, I get the gist, now how do I do this?”

Use an Influencer Platform

There are multiple approaches for both influencer sourcing and influencer selection. You might use an influencer marketing platform. This will allow you to filter potential influencer candidates by their demographics, categories, or performance metrics.

The real deal here is how that platform actually populates influencers. Are influencers curated by people and added to a database? Or do influencers join as part of a network of creators from which platform users can then source potential influencer partners?

Our platform uses AI to automatically add potential candidates to our database as soon as they achieve nano-influencer status on any single platform. Yes, that’s tens of millions of content creators. Then our influencer discovery team does the heavy lifting by using campaign requirements and client goals to shortlist potential candidates. Finally, our clients review their options and provide feedback.

Working with Agents

Agents can be a way to work with one professional that represents a variety of influencers for easy communication. We’ve worked with tons of agents to negotiate the terms of an influencer’s participation in a campaign. You’re almost always going to be working with an agent for megas and celebrities. Just keep in mind that creators who are represented by agents tend to be pricier than those who aren’t.  

Doing Your Own Influencer Outreach

You can also create your own influencer outreach strategy to contact influencers. (This link goes to a post that includes templates, too — just an FYI.) But I’ll say this:  Using a platform can save you time and energy as you can usually narrow down your search and apply filters for a quicker selection process. 

Before you reach out to influencers, you want to be clear on what you’re looking for. Be professional and relatable. And make sure that the influencer is a reasonably good match for your campaign. Influencers hate it when brands reach out blindly, without bothering to do any research ahead of time. Choosing the right influencer means doing your homework first.

If the opportunity feels too open-ended or doesn’t make sense for what the influencer does, you might find yourself in a string of rejections that never make it to that first date. 

Just as there is a funnel for consumers as they become customers, you may take a similar approach to influencer matching and relationship building. Some may feel like a long-term strategy where you’re warming them up to become brand ambassadors as opposed to hitting KPIs in the short term with a one-off campaign. 

Hire An Agency

If you have the budget, you will probably want to hire an agency to run your influencer marketing campaign. Choose one with a track record of performance. This should include influencer marketing case studies that you can see and verify and preferably an agency that specializes in creative strategy. The agency is the go-between that translates your marketing goals into creative concepts. As long as they choose the right influencers, they’ll have no problem guiding creators to make content that converts. That means more amazing content you can use across channels and at different points of your sales funnel.

We actually have an entire guide on how to choose an influencer marketing agency. You can download that one here.

Good Influencer Partnerships Require Ongoing Relationship Building

For those looking to take on the long game with their favorite influencers, be sure to focus on how you can build a meaningful relationship. Flattery will get you everywhere in life, but not if it’s lacking in heart and doesn’t feel real. Don’t just comment “cool,” on all their posts. Get specific and determine what it is about the influencer that attracts you and your team. How does this align with your brand? Be willing to share your genuine thoughts. 

If you’re just starting your outreach program, consider looking for influencers who are already obsessed with your brand. Your number one fans pave the way for the types of loyal partnerships that will help your influencer marketing strategy.

Searching for Influencers in Your Niche

Google Alerts and exploring hashtags can help you find influencers as well. Starting conversations and building relationships organically can take more time. But it can also help you be more thorough as you’re vetting influencers. Get a feel for who they are beyond vanity metrics like follower counts and Likes. Some may even set up interviews or work to create more involved partnerships depending on your brand’s values and needs. 

As an agency, there can be a lot of people working behind the scenes for a campaign. Try to ensure that each influencer you select has one point of contact. This will minimize confusion and enhance the relationship for both parties. Be mindful of the types of relationships you want to build. You may seek out both short- and long-term influencers to work with, depending on your campaign goals and your influencer selection process.

Consider casting a wide net, as not every influencer may be jumping at the opportunity to work with you. It’s a hard pill to swallow, but the truth is that these influencer partnerships should benefit both parties. 

Not everyone is going to love you. But the ones that do are going to be able to share their authentic experiences in a genuine way with their followers. That is what you want. Try to welcome the rejection. It helps you get one step closer to that perfect match. 

Refine Your Process

Your system will probably evolve as you start to complete and track your campaign efforts. You should routinely update your pool of influencers as you track campaign progress and document their performance. Be mindful of feedback as you work with your team and partnerships to help you adjust your system as needed. 

Your campaigns are going to change with the needs of the brand, which means you are constantly selecting influencers. You want to stay open to new people and opportunities that can help you routinely meet your campaign goals. Sometimes the influencers from your last campaign are not going to be the best choice. 

Be sure to document progress, concerns, and more with each influencer. This will help you determine if you want to continue working with that person or if you’d rather bring in someone new for the next campaign. 

Treat Influencers as More Than a Number

Influencers are a hot commodity for everyone’s marketing efforts. But they also don’t always like to be treated like just a number. As you build and foster these relationships, consider small adjustments. Making these at the beginning of your selection process can help the partnership feel more special and intimate. This can encourage more interest on the influencer’s part as they feel more invested as you interact with them as a representative of the brand. 

If the budget doesn’t allow for additional gifts or more pay, look to handwritten notes or kind words in your interactions to deepen their emotional connection to the brand.  

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Final Thoughts on Influencer Partnerships

In a world where entertainment rules and consumer journeys traverse multiple avenues, ensuring your content is engaging and captivating holds the key to sustained success. Influencers craft content that adds a unique layer to your brand. They navigate various platforms, captivate audiences, and embody the spirit of authenticity brands crave. So, it’s important that you’re able to choose the right influencers for your campaign. That means tightening up your influencer sourcing and influencer selection strategies.

The post Influencer Partnerships: The Agency’s Technical Guide to Choosing the Right Influencers appeared first on The Shelf Full-Service Influencer Marketing.

If content creation is in your future (or present), you want to protect and value your work as you collaborate with brands, make deals, and sign contracts. Content monetization is the name of the game. It’s how influencers are able to make an income. On the other side of that coin are content rights. They ensure no parties are being taken advantage of in the influencer economy.

Understanding content rights and monetization is essential to a successful influencing gig. That’s why we compiled this guide, to help you create with confidence as you level up your work while keeping it safe.  

So, What’s Content Monetization? 

The content you create gets consumed by viewers. Content monetization is the process by which you make money off that content and those views. Depending on your approach, your payments can come from third parties like brands or directly from the social platform your content lives on. 

For example, you can receive payment from YouTube when people watch your videos if you’re eligible for monetization. Or maybe you partner with a brand and post a sponsored reel on your Instagram that promotes their new product launch in exchange for a fee. 

Who Owns the Sponsored Content You Create? 

Lucky for you, the copyright goes to the creator in America when it comes to both user-generated content (UGC) and sponsored content. However, that’s not to say that people won’t try to use your work for their own benefit. 

This is why it helps to set clear guidelines and have both parties sign a contract that ensures everyone benefits while upholding your content rights and protecting your work. This way you can outline whether a brand can use your content on their website or in their marketing materials after you publish it on your account. 

What Does U.S. Copyright Law Say?

According to U.S. Copyright Law, ownership goes to the creator, even if the content was sponsored. Intellectual property may not be something we associate with social media, but your work deserves credit, protection, and compensation. 

Other countries like Japan have copyright laws that protect creative expressions without the creator having to register their work, making it illegal to share any copyrighted material that isn’t yours or without the rights holder’s permission. Places like Australia also require permission from the creator or a license to use it as their own. If you’re an international creator, be sure to check in with the copyright law in your country to make sure you can take the steps necessary to ensure your work is protected.

While the enforcement or punishment may vary from country to country, you have content rights that should be honored. If someone downloads your work and shares it as their own, with or without linking the original post, it can be copyright infringement if they don’t have your permission. 

You can transfer ownership rights in your contract, as well as explicitly describe the ways the brand can utilize your work. Be clear on your value and what you are and are not okay with when it comes to the usage of your content. 

Rules For You to Follow 

Cool, your work is protected. Now what? You may be wondering if there are any rules you need to follow. Along with avoiding copyright infringement in your own work, there are different rules and regulations that you’re going to want to abide by. 

First, make sure you understand the restrictions surrounding the platforms you use so you can avoid your work being taken down or flagged, which can lead to your account being suspended or removed. 

You also need to adhere to FTC guidelines. While they may not be regularly enforced, you can avoid potential complications by following rules like visibly tagging sponsored content as a paid partnership. 

Why Content Rights Matter 

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a seasoned veteran in content creation or an emerging micro-influencer, there are rules in place to protect your hard work. This maintains the value of your content without having to sacrifice the rights to your work. 

Content rights can also ensure transparency for consumers so content isn’t being presented as someone else’s when it’s not, or not being labeled as sponsored content if there was an exchange of money. 

Knowing your content rights and being clear with brands and consumers helps you advance your career without falling into common legal pitfalls. Now that you know the rules, how do you start maximizing your content monetization? 

The Top 5 Paid Creators 

Here are the top five TikTok influencers that figured out how to optimize their income as online creators, according to Influencer Marketing Hub in 2022. This can hopefully show you what’s possible and inspire your efforts as you continue to grow. 

Charli D’Amelio

Known globally for her dancing videos, Charlie D’Amelio’s estimated annual earnings are $17.5 million. Her income has surpassed many big-time CEOs, raising the possibilities for creators. 

Dixie D’Amelio

Charli’s sister, Dixie, is on a similar path making roughly $10 million a year. She’s moved into the music industry and continues to release songs and viral videos. 

Addison Rae

Addison gained popularity for her TikTok dances and now makes a yearly income of $8.5 million. Her efforts have garnered several brand partnerships along with Netflix and entrepreneurial opportunities. 

Bella Poarch

Bella first got her start with lip-syncing videos that now earn her $5 million a year. She’s partnered with eSports in live streams and gaming, along with releasing music. 

Josh Richards

Like many TikTok success stories, Josh uses a diverse range of the platform’s features such as dancing trends and lip-syncing to gain his following that had led him to make $5 million, yearly.

Kris Collins

Kris makes videos that make people all over the world laugh. The possibilities aren’t just endless, they’re profitable, especially for Kris who brings in an annual salary of $3 million.

No matter your niche or interests, there is money to be made in the creator economy. And it seems there will be for years to come. The options for content monetization continue to diversify as the influencer marketing industry grows to $21.1 billion this year. 

How to Make Money as a Creator 

So, how are the influencers monetizing their work and scaling their incomes? There isn’t just one way to do it. Everyone from bloggers to Twitch streamers can capitalize on their valuable content. 

Sponsored Content 

One of the main ways that influencers are able to leverage their work is through sponsored content. This approach involves partnering with a brand and determining expectations, deliverables, deadlines, and, of course, payment. Don’t forget your content rights and set clear, written guidelines about how your work can be used or repurposed.

There are few standards when it comes to brand payments. Rates depend on elements like your engagement, experience, or following. Business Apps shared a 2022 rate sheet for Instagram that lays out averages for nano-influencers as $10 – $100 while mega-influencers or celebrities with over 1 million followers are charging upwards of $10,000. That’s just a taste of how influencers are negotiating their fees. 

When it comes to setting rates, be sure you have a carefully-constructed influencer media kit. This should include a listing of your offerings and how much they cost to accompany your brand deal negotiations. 

Become an Affiliate 

Ambassadors or affiliates are typically influencers that are long-term supporters or advocates for a particular brand. Instead of receiving payment for posting a single piece of content in a campaign, you receive a percentage or lump sum for every time a consumer uses your link or code to purchase the brand’s product or service. 

This could look like using your fashion affiliate link in your bio and directing your followers to check out your favorite pieces, or posting an article or video with a trackable discount code so your community can save while you receive a portion from the sale. 

Leverage Platform Features 

Social media platforms are offering new and fun ways for content monetization. TikTok pays eligible creators through their Creator Fund. Plus, creators can receive live gifts that viewers can buy and send to you in real time. Instagram also utilizes lives as a way for watchers to send badges that are worth money. 

Sell Other Types of Content

As an influencer, you act as your own brand, which may mean you want to sell something beyond your content. This could mean an e-commerce business with your own merchandise or even online courses and coaching services that help people grow their own followings. Imagination is your only limit when it comes to content monetization. 

Now that you know how to make money as a creator, you can find the strategy that best serves you. 

The Best Platforms for Monetization 

The possibilities are endless when it comes to monetizing your social media accounts. Determining which platform will yield the biggest return can be tricky. We can help.

Some social media platforms pay you to post content on your account with them. TikTok, YouTube, and Pinterest are some of the few that have funding or options where the company pays you as the influencer to create content or run ads. 

However, this is just one revenue stream as we’ve discussed. If you can easily find and grow your audience on Instagram, then this is your best platform and may be an opportunity for sponsored content. Or, maybe you’re an emerging gamer on Twitch who’s an affiliate for game companies and uses Patreon so your followers can monetarily support you. 

Carefully consider your talents and where your ideal community is spending time online to help you cultivate a content monetization strategy that’s specific to you and your strengths. 

The Best Type of Content to Make for Monetization 

High-quality, valuable content always wins. However, there are certain types that may make it easier to monetize and scale your work. 

If you excel at telling visual stories through your well-edited photography on Instagram, then capitalize on this content type. Or maybe you’re great at conducting interviews or using your voice to connect with your community. That would make podcasts or TikTok a better medium for content monetization. 

Consumer attention spans are rapidly shortening, and the world is moving further into visual consumption over reading long-form content. We’re already taking it to more experiential levels. Virtual reality’s estimated market size in 2020 was $4.42 billion. It’s projected to hit $84.09 billion in 2028. 

Try to play to your strengths and consider leveraging the increasing demand for visual and experiential content. 

It’s Time to Monetize and Value Your Work

You bring value to the world. Your content should be treated as such. Save and share this article for inspiration and guidance when it comes to protecting and leveraging your work. 

We also help you kick-start your content monetization journey while maintaining and protecting the value of your work. Our experience and brand connections make it easy to pair you with aligned campaigns so all parties win. Join our Influencer network today!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lira Stone | Effective, Magnetic Strategist

For over a decade, my focus has been ensuring that professionals stay ahead of the curve in the most time-efficient, task-prioritized, and stress-free manner possible. My extensive experience has equipped me with the knowledge to design a concise, company-culture-relevant, methodical approach to internet sales and marketing.

The post What’s the Deal with Content Rights and Monetization? appeared first on The Shelf Full-Service Influencer Marketing.

So many marketers mistakenly think of Gen Xers and Baby Boomers as floating down the river toward retirement, unable to fight the tide. But dude… don’t be ridiculous!

Right now, Gen Alphas are discovering the genius of Jack Black with the popularity of the song “Peach” – an elementary school talent show staple this year.

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A post shared by Cairo (@lets.go.cairo)

Gen Xers now make up the core group of 50-somethings, while John Wick, Ethan Hunt, and a few other iconic Boomer heroes continue to drive action movie franchises.

So…. yeah… the over-50 gang? Still the same rowdy bunch of troublemakers, system-buckers, and loners they’ve always been. Except now, they’re armed with their phones, a lifetime of wisdom, plus the confidence and autonomy that comes from having lived through some stuff. And both their fans and the brands love them for it.

What’s Cool About Partnering with Creators Over 50

Authenticity and Relatability

Influencers over 50 exude are real and relatable. Their life experiences and maturity bring a genuine and grounded presence to their content. They resonate with a diverse audience, including older demos, who appreciate their wisdom, humor, and relatability.

Diverse Perspectives

Mature creators offer a wide range of perspectives shaped by their diverse backgrounds and life journeys. They bring a wealth of knowledge, industry expertise, and unique insights that younger influencers may not yet possess. Their content explores a variety of topics, from personal growth and career transitions to health and well-being, allowing followers to gain valuable wisdom and guidance.

Breaking Stereotypes

By showcasing their vibrant and active lifestyles, influencers over 50 challenge societal stereotypes about aging. They prove that life doesn’t slow down after a certain age, but rather, it opens up new opportunities for adventure, learning, and personal growth. Their content inspires and empowers others to embrace their age, redefine what is possible, and live life to the fullest.

Engaging Community

Following influencers over 50 often means becoming part of a supportive and engaged community. These influencers foster meaningful connections with their followers, encouraging open dialogue, and providing a platform for like-minded individuals to connect and share experiences. The sense of community and belonging that emerges creates a positive and uplifting environment.

Embracing Change and Adaptability

Influencers over 50 showcase adaptability and embrace technological advancements. They prove that age is not a barrier to staying relevant and thriving in the digital world. By navigating social media platforms, creating captivating content, and building successful online businesses, they demonstrate that it’s never too late to learn and grow, inspiring others to embrace change and pursue their passions.

16 Captivating Influencers and Bloggers Over 50

Angelique Miles @angeliquemiles

Angelique Miles is the record industry veteran – turned – over-50 fitness model who was responsible for the careers of some of the biggest names in the music industry. And if you pay attention, you’ll also see throwback pics of those artists in her feed.

Today, the “fitness over 50 guru” is turning heads with her radiant skin (like, really – she glows) and incredible physique, while inspiring droves of Gen Xers to practice self-love with nutrition and good, old-fashioned sweat equity.

Her Instagram feed – where she has more than 111k followers – is liable to show pics of her pre-, during and post-workout. I spotted a sponsored post of her and Full(er) House’s Candace Cameron Bure in her Facebook feed, and another picture of Miles and singer Carrie Underwood post-workout in her Instagram feed.

Alyson Walsh is a freelance journalist, former magazine fashion editor, and the author of two books, Know Your Style and Style Forever. Walsh is the founder of That’s Not My Age, a fashion and lifestyle blog for women of all ages.

By, far one of my favorite fashion bloggers over 50, Walsh’s Instagram feed is curated to well-styled perfection. It’s an elegant mix of reserve and sophistication with a bit of the UK’s infamous 80s-styled anarchy rioting just beneath the surface.

When we first published this roundup a few years ago, Walsh had about 34K followers. As of this update (in June 2023), her followership has more than doubled to more 80K.

I dunno. There’s just something there that I can’t put my finger on. Her outfits are some of the dopest things I’ve seen on Instagram. 

Bon and Pon @BONPON511

We respectfully submit that Instagram’s cutest influencer couple may, in fact, be Boomers. Japanese couple Bon and Pon are killing it on Instagram with 898K followers and really great engagement on each post. How? By being awesome.

Bono and Pon appear together across Instagram in matching (but not identical) outfits, Bon standing on the left and Pon on the right. You can find them doing everything from boating and hiking to stroking a goat or just standing in the rain. They’re friggin’ awesome.

Evelyn – Over-40 Fashion and Lifestyle @fashionistaover40

Evelyn created Fashionista Over 40 as a way to showcase her lively ensembles and share style ideas with other women  entering their prime. For Evelyn, confidence has accompanied age.

Evelyn grew up in the Bronx and spent her late teens and early 20s living in Puerto Rico. Formerly a stay-at-home mom, Evelyn is now a grandmother with an eye for bold colors, tall heels, and striking jewelry. Since we first published this roundup three years ago, Miss Evelyn’s followership has quadrupled to 51K.

Arlinda @funkingafter50

I came across micro influencer Arlinda McIntosh while I was “flipping” through the pages of Alyson Walsh’s blog, That’s Not My Age. She was included in a roundup of over-50 influencers (along with Bon and Pon). Ms. McIntosh’s out-of-the-box (read, in-your-face) style reminds me of the vibe you get wandering the streets of Midtown Detroit -100% the work of a Creative, 100% drawn from the grit and guts it takes to build something amazing out of scraps and found materials.

McIntosh is the creative director and founder of Sofistafunk, a “slow fashioned lifestyle collection of versatile zero-waste skirts”. Her elegantly flamboyant skirts coupled with her low-key persona have earned her the moniker #thefairyskirtmother.

Sofistafunk is doing its part to reduce waste: “In our efforts to be more environmentally responsible, 99% cuttings are re-purposed into other useable fashion moments, so they never reach the already overflowing landfills.”

Ernestine Shepherd @shepherdernestine

Ernestine Shepherd 87 years young, and the oldest competitive bodybuilder. She is both a mid-tier influencer with 92K followers and a global inpsiration. Ms. Shepherd shatters typical perceptions of how an 87 year-old looks, how she feels, who she is, and what she does.

She’s now world-renowned, but Mrs. Shepherd wasn’t always fit.  In her 50s, she was swimsuit shopping with her sister, and they noticed that they were out of shape.  After a few well-timed  jokes about one another’s appearances, they decided to do something about the way they looked and felt.  They vowed to start on a journey to health. 

Despite losing her sister, she continued to push, beyond her wildest dreams. She has held the world record as the oldest competing bodybuilder and maintains a body fat percentage of 9-10% even out of competition.

 She now gives back by being a personal trainer to other female seniors. To stay in shape, Ernestine still trains and runs a very impressive  80 miles a week. Amazing!

Jenny Kee @jennykeeoz

All across the globe, but especially in Australia, the name Jenny Kee has become synonymous with the words fashion icon.  Her eclectic and unforgettable designs have completely revolutionized the global  definition, philosophy, and face of high-fashion

She has received numerous commissions, including the design of her breathtaking parade of costumes for the Opening Ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. She’s even styled Diana, Princess of Wales. She knows that she’s far too gifted to stop designing people, so she’s also designed a housewares line for Target!

Kee attributes her success to the planet Earth, and living within nature.  She designs nothing without considering the earth and its role in her art.  Outspoken about her love and dependency on the planet, on her website, she declares ” I really cherish this earth.  It’s behind everything I do”

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Lyn Slater, @iconaccidental

Lyn Slater,  a 70-year-old mega influencer with more than 757K followers on Instagram. Lyn Slater is an Associate Professor at Fordham University Graduate School of Social Services remembers the day she became the Accidental Icon. Waiting for a friend outside during fashion week, she was suddenly swarmed by hordes of thirsty photographers, journalists, and tourists who assumed, because she was so well-dressed that she must’ve been a fashion icon.  

She was wearing a perfectly tailored Yohji Yamamoto suit and her arm was adorned with a Chanel bag. As the chaos died down, and she sat down to lunch with her friend, they laughed. Her friend joked “You’re an accidental icon!” Lyn knew that would be the perfect name for a blog.

And what an amazing blog she’s built.  She embodies the idea of living a life unrestrained by societal norms and biases.  She’s designed her blog in such a way that it targets and caters to ‘Women who live interesting but ordinary lives.’ I found it almost impossible to stop reading as I was offered a seemingly exclusive look inside her very intriguing everyday life, as she shared victories, frustrations, and even bad hair days!  

Never once mentioning age or aging, Lyn offers her readers advice- allowing them to glean from her ample wisdom. After sharing her life, and teaching readers everything from how to pair your earring with your personality to self-reinvention, she wraps up each post with calls to action; urging participants to share their lives as well.

She’s mysterious, poised, and is indeed iconic. And she knows it!  She’s changed her Instagram bio to reflect that she’s a ‘No Longer Accidental Icon’. Epic!

Linda Rodin @lindaandwinks

Linda, crowned with ageless beauty, has been turning heads for decades!  Starting out as a model in the sixties, Linda excelled, and moved up in the fashion industry quickly.  She began exploring many opportunities; Climbing the perfectly accessorized ladder to success.

She went from fashion buyer, to consultant/stylist of A-listers, icons and elite brands. She also rose to the ranks of a boutique owner. Inevitably, she found her sweet spot as the Founder of beauty brand RODIN olio lusso. The beauty mogul formly believes that “there is beauty in simplicity”. She cites it as a philosophy that has helped shape her career. After only six years of operation, Estee Lauder acquired the company. Her unmatched face oil formula was a major consideration in the acquisition.  After reaching the pinnacle of her career in human fashion, Ms. Rodin shattered expectations by pivoting into a slightly different niche. 

Sporting a beautiful head of platinum grey hair and oversized specs, Linda is rarely seen without her nine year old best friend and business partner, Winks. The adorable, fashion-conscious poodle is Linda’s muse.  Winks is the inspiration behind Linda and Winks, a haberdashery of sorts for you four-legged family members.  

Sticking to her simplistic design ideology, the shop carries a single tote design, a single flavor of beautiful flower shaped dog biscuits, and a collection of leash and collar sets Ten percent of all Linda and Winks proceeds benefit The Humane Society of New York. with nostalgic names like Wild Thing, Mellow Yellow, and Aunt Dottie (who ran an amazing hat shop when Linda was a teenager). Similar to other growing fashion empires, inclusion is very important. Linda is careful to mention on the site that these products aren’t for poodles only!

Nickelson Wooster @nickwooster

Sophisticated, stylish, sexy, confident, gaze-worthy. All words that describe Nickelson Wooster. Nick is a design and retail consultant who has spent over three decades in the menswear space. With over 1M followers on Instagram, Nickelson Wooster has grown an audience of followers who are clamoring 24/7 for his feed full of collabs, paid partnership, and just every streetstyle vibes that are uniquely Nick.  

If you don’t follow him, but he looks familiar, that’s because you’ve probably seen him somewhere before. Nick Wooster is like the ultimate fashion expert, you know? He’s been in the game for over 30 years, working at all the top American fashion brands and stores like Barney’s New York, Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, and even JCPenney. He started out as a buyer, then got into design, and eventually made his way back to retail as the Men’s Fashion Director.

All sunshine, butterflies,a dn rainbows? Not really. Nick is actually no stranger to adversity, but he’s never allowed himself to stay down. Growing up as a member of the LGBTIQ community in Kansas in the 70s wasn’t easy, neither was beating drug addiction. But after college he made his way to New York where he thrived in the fashion industry.

I know the Dos Equis guy seems super intriguing. But may I suggest to you that Nickelson Wooster is in fact the most interesting man in the world?

Irvin Randle @irvinrandle

Nick-named, #MrStealYourGrandma on Instagram, Irvin Randle has ‘drip’ that transcends generational boundaries. The 58-year-old Houston native has a background in education that he remains true to. Being pursued by talk shows, media outlets, and the demands of his fans never takes a backseat to the passion he has for education.  He has dedicated his work and website to education.  

Pushing the philosophy that coordination is key, Randle offers personal style guidance, grooming advice, and fitness advice to men over 50. He even suggests grooming products categorically, intentionally pairing fragrances to create balanced notes.
Admittedly, his physical attractiveness is what grabs your attention, but what keeps it is the value he provides. He’s worked with AARP, and has been featured by Essence, USA Today, The Real, and on The Wendy Williams Show!

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The Big Wrap-Up

This isn’t the end of the list. There are tons more over-50 and over-60 influencers who are building their audiences on Instagram. The twelve Gen Xers and Boomers featured today are just a handful in a sea of mature influencers with what author Ari Seth Cohen calls “advanced style”.

Do you need influencers for your next big product push? Ramping up sales? Drumming up leads? Influencer marketing – when done right – delivers the kind of consistent returns you just can’t get with your PPC ads. Let us help you.

The post 16 Influencers and Bloggers Over 50 We’re Following appeared first on The Shelf Full-Service Influencer Marketing.

Building Your Branded Assets with Influencer Content

If you’re a business owner, one question that’s always on your mind is how to scale your business. A great product is a must, but it won’t boost your ROI unless people know about it.

As more and more of us rely on social media for news, networking, and entertainment, the role of effective social media marketing takes on growing importance in the digital strategies of brands and marketers.. 

Fun fact: over 40 percent of adults used social media more often in 2020 compared to 2019l. Upwards of 58 percent of users noticed a corresponding increase in influencer-generated content. 

That said, partnering with influencers can (and should) be lucrative for both businesses and influencers. FYI, we have an entire collection of influencer marketing stats that you can check out. BUT one pretty important stat for marketers is this: 

90 percent of the brands and marketers who have used influencer marketing will vouch for its effectiveness. 

Coincidentally, the last time we published that particular stat, it was more like 75 percent (with 25 percent of brands saying they saw ZERO ROI from their campaigns, so this is good news). 

In 2021, the value of global influencer marketing reached $13.8 billion, according to Statista (and basically everyone else). Influencer marketing works and as more brands adopt this strategy as part of their digital marketing efforts, influencer marketing as an industry continues to grow.

But problems can arise if businesses don’t communicate clearly with the influencer. A lot of brands miss this aspect of planning an influencer marketing campaign. From the moment influencer outreach begins, the goal should be creating a brand partnership that is mutually beneficial for the brand, the influencer, AND the influencer’s audience. That’s where influencer briefs come in. So, what is an influencer brief, and why do you need one? Let’s find out.

What Is An Influencer Brief?

An influencer brief is a document that the brand/agency provides to influencers/content creators which outlines the creative and logistical details of an influencer marketing campaign.

Unlike an influencer contract, the brief is a set of expectations and best practices for a campaign that applies to every creator working on the campaign. So, you don’t have to outline usage rights or influencer whitelisting or specific deliverables for individual influencers UNLESS you also plan to use your influencer brief as an influencer contract.

An influencer brief is essential whenever a brand works with an influencer. It forms the basis of the entire arrangement-slash-relationship between a brand and an influencer. An influencer brief is the first thing an influencer receives from a brand after the initial outreach.

What Goes In An Influencer Brief?

Now you’re ready to start your influencer brief. There are websites that provide templates for creating influencer briefs. They may even write an influencer brief for you. If you’d rather have your in-house team handle this, however, here are 10 topics every influencer brief should cover.

#1 Information about the brand hiring for the campaign

This is a big one for two main reasons: First, brands want to make sure the influencer understands the basics like the proper spelling of a brand name (for instance, it’s eos and not Eos). As well, most influencers are careful to only partner with brands they support and whose CSR initiatives and public reputation align with the influencer’s values.

#2 Information about the specific product being promoted

Sometimes it’s obvious what the product is, but it’s smart to also include information about the specific product influencers will be promoting with their posts. Again, there has to be alignment here. What makes your brand stand out? How does it benefit customers? If your software lets customers make high-definition phone calls, for instance, include this in the brief. It could be what sells your brand.

#3 The channels and media formats to use

Tell the influencer which channels are being used in the campaign. Instagram is the most popular channel for influencer marketing – after all, 71 percent of under-30s use IG – but TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, and Facebook are also important channels, especially for B2C campaigns.. 

Data from Pewresearch.org

There are even podcast influencers who’ll discuss your products during their shows. They can help you take advantage of the 42 percent rise in global podcast consumption that the spoken word audio industry’s enjoyed over the last few years.  

#4 The branded hashtags tied to the campaign + visibility/industry hashtags to boost post visiblity

Branded hashtags are often used as a way to track audience engagement during a campaign. Plus, it helps influencers tie their posts to specific trends, movements, ideas, and brands. In addition to utilizing campaign-specific hashtags and branded hashtags, each platform has its own catalog of hashtags that are used to help posts get more traction and visibility.

#5 Campaign goals and info about the “why” behind the collab

Be sure to include your goals, objectives, and KPIs in your influencer brief. These tell the influencer exactly why you want to collaborate and what you aim to achieve. Are you launching a product on Instagram? Is this a brand awareness campaign? Or are you running a holiday campaign? Is it an always-on year-long campaign? For influencers, understanding the end goal of the campaign will inform their creative process to help brands reach campaign goals.

#6 Specific, brand-requested details

These can include things like mentioning a store location in the caption or using a specific phrase to describe a product. It’s also a good idea to provide clarity on your brand’s style and tone of voice. You could include the main points from your style guide or a mood board of colors and images you like. You should also specify the way you want your brand name to appear in campaigns to avoid confusion with similar-sounding brands.

Here’s a pretty clear example: A campaign to announce a discounted hotel stay at MGM Grand Casino would need to specify location identifiers as part of the caption text since the MGM Grand Hotel and Resorts is a Las Vegas hot spot that’s 2,014 miles away from MGM Grand Detroit.

#7 Social responsibility and legal stuff

Guess what? Videos or pics of an influencer shopping in-store should reflect how the influencer is adhering to state and local laws about vaccination status, social distancing, and masking up. That’s something brands would definitely need to address in an influencer brief.

It’s also vital to include guidelines on proper disclosure. After all, there are fines for not disclosing paid content on social media. You should check the requirements for each channel, but here are some guidelines to get you started:

• Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook: include #ad, #sponsored, or #promotion in the post.
• Blog posts: include a disclosure statement near the heading.
• YouTube: include a sponsorship statement in the first line of the description and the video.
• Podcasts: tell people it’s sponsored content before delivering the marketing message.

Screenshot from Facebook.com

#8 Formatting

As part of the influencer brief, it’s okay to include a few formatting requirements since formatting and design specs will vary depending on the channels being used and the brand. In general, format-related topics will include:

• Content format and size. Specify the height and width images should be and whether you want them in RAW, GIF, JPEG, or PNG format.
• Any marketing material you’ll provide, like logos or slogans
• Which buttons or other CTAs you want the influencer to use. For instance, a “subscribe” button or a “buy now” button. Or maybe just language int he caption that sends people to the brand page or to a link in a bio.
• Presentation. This could include things like showing text overlays in Reels and TikToks after a certain amount of time.

The key is to provide guidelines without inhibiting an influencer’s ability to be creative.

#9 Creative ideas

There’s nothing wrong with providing influencers with a few thought starters and creative influencer marketing ideas for the campaign. The Shelf account managers will usually provide influencers with a list of maybe a half-dozen ideas that align with the creative concepts presented to the client in the campaign proposal. We’ve also been known to offer tips on lighting and camera angles.

#10 DOs and DON’Ts

This is another important area to cover. Briefly outline what kind of content is suitable and what kind isn’t. A dos and don’ts list is a great way to avoid confusion and clarify your vision. What should the influencer include? What shouldn’t they include? Adding “please don’t mention companies X, Y, and Z” will ensure the influencer doesn’t accidentally mention a competitor.

Why Do You Need an Influencer Brief?

Providing an influencer brief is one of the influencer marketing best practices brands should follow. Why? There are several reasons, such as: 

• It helps your brand stand out from the crowd.
• It gives the influencer a clear picture of your brand, so they can create content that wows your target audience. 
• It prevents misunderstandings that could derail your influencer marketing strategy. 
• It ensures the content produced by influencers is tied together in some way, whether by hashtags, color palettes, language, posting schedule… SOMETHING.

3 Things to Consider Before You Create an Influencer Brief

Before you begin your influencer brief, there are a few things you need to consider.

#1 Defining your goals, objectives, and KPIs 

As with all B2C and B2B marketing strategies, you first need to decide what you want to achieve.

• Do you want to raise awareness of your brand?
• Do you want to get more clicks to your website?
• Do you want to promote a sale?

Once you’ve determined your campaign goals, think about how to achieve them. What kind of content do you need? Who’s your target audience? Which influencers are those consumers following? How will partnering with that influencer help your brand or product to stand out?

Finally, you need to identify which influencer marketing metrics to track for your campaign, right? Because impressions are great, but they don’t matter nearly as much when the most important metrics for your campaign are conversions and sales.

Data from Shanebarker.com

#2 Which type of influencer can help you get there

Next, you need to decide which influencer or influencers to partner with BASED ON the likelihood of each type of influencer to help you reach your campaign goals. There are several types of influencers to choose from:

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There are also specialist influencers like brand ambassadors, social advocates, referrers, and loyalists. These influencers are good for increasing conversions.

#3 How you’ll find influencers

Influencer marketing platforms are a great place to find influencers. They let you compare them to find out:

• Which ones align with your brand’s vision and values.
• Which ones target the audience you want to reach.
• How much their followers engage with them.

Some platforms use a recommendation engine that suggests influencers based on previous results. This is similar to how an eCommerce recommendation engine recommends products based on purchase history. 

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What is an Influencer?

You Just Want to Influence the Influencer

More and more brands are taking advantage of the rapid growth of the influencer market. Influencer marketing is a great way to get your name in front of customers but to persuade influencers to work with you, you need a superb influencer brief.

If you follow all the steps in this article, you’ll be sure to have a brief that influencers will appreciate. And if they appreciate you, they’re more likely to work with you.

About the Author

Grace Lau is the Director of Growth Content at Dialpad

Grace Lau is the Director of Growth Content at Dialpad, an AI-powered cloud communication platform for better team collaboration and customer relationships with features such as Dialpad small business contact center. She has over 10 years of experience in content writing and strategy. Currently, she is responsible for leading branded and editorial content strategies, partnering with SEO and Ops teams to build and nurture content. Here is her LinkedIn.

The post How to Write an Influencer Brief That Gets AMAZING Campaign Content appeared first on The Shelf Full-Service Influencer Marketing.

1. Find Influencers Who’ll Help Meet Campaign Goals

In order to reach your campaign goals, you have to find influencers who are good at creating the kind of content that will help you get there. So, what are some goals you can set for an influencer marketing campaign? According to stats published by Statista, 35 percent of marketers say reaching and discovering new target audiences is the primary goal of their influencer campaigns. Twenty-six percent are looking to drive sales versus the 23 percent that want to drive purchase intent.

Goals.

If you haven’t clearly identified your goals, it’ll be tough to measure how well you’re achieving those goals. Here’s a look at some of the different types of campaign goals brands target and how different influencers would fit into these types of campaigns. 

Common Influencer Campaign Goals

Promoting an Upcoming Sale

When getting the word out is the goal, your best bet is to go with bigger influencers in your niche. That way, they can tell tons of potential customers about your upcoming sale. Partner with influencers who can promote your big sale on a grand scale.  

Explaining a New (Or Old) Product

Launching a new product is exciting for your company. But it doesn’t mean much unless your audience can understand what it is, what it does, and how it can benefit them. In this instance, you may want to go with podcast influencers who have podcasts or blogs, and those who are great at creating compelling video content for Insta.  

Increase App Downloads

Was your app launch a flop? If app downloads aren’t coming through like you imagined, then you can always give it a boost with some help from niche influencers. We’ve run multiple campaigns to help brands get app downloads. When we ran campaigns for Atom Tickets (before the pandemic), one of the things our account managers did was grab influencers from different age groups – including bloggers over 50 – to help the ticketing app resonate with all sorts of moviegoers. 

Build Your List of Subscribers

Have a channel, blog, or newsletter you want your audience to follow? Then harness the power of an influencer to build up your brand’s email/subscriber list. This can work in a bunch of different ways, but contests and giveaways can be a good way to drive traffic to your site, and working with bloggers and larger influencers.

You’re probably getting a pretty clear picture of the importance of knowing how to find influencers that will fit not only your brand but influencers who can help you achieve specific goals.

2. Determine How You’ll Source Influencers

Another thing to consider when you’re finding influencers for your campaigns is how and where you’ll actually get them. Do you have influencers in mind? Are you going to do cold emails and influencer outreach?

You actually have several options here because there are different ways to source influencers. Our platform pulls profiles for hundreds of millions of social media users. After that, users can use filters to narrow the influencer pool by location, brand affinity, audience behaviors, and all sorts of criteria. But there are other ways to find influencers.

For instance, there are influencer agencies you can tap into.  These are agencies that represent influencers and you choose from a pool of influencers, or the agency will provide you with access to their roster of influencers. You can also get an influencer platform subscription, kind of like ours where you can search for influencers by pulling up their profiles. A third option is casting calls- you put the word out about your campaign and let influencers show their interest.

Why does it matter how you find influencers? Well, the influencer selection process – and it is a process – should be structured to help you meet certain goals.

As a last resort, you can use manual search and outreach to connect with influencers. This will take some legwork to achieve any real results. 

3. Identify Who it is You’re Targeting

The influencers you choose to work with need to have an audience that matches your target customers. Otherwise, your posts will fall on deaf ears and blind eyes. This shouldn’t be a difficult task, depending on the goals of your campaign. For example:

• You offer parenting tips or sell kids toys and want to cater to moms and dads. In this case, bloggers on Instagram and Pinterest would be ideal.
• You offer guides for home decor, DIY, or lifestyle projects. YouTubers, IGers, and Pinterest influencers are your best bet. 
• You share fashion and lifestyle ideas and tips to the cool and trendy. IG and TikTok creators can be helpful here. 
• You help professionals and entrepreneurs to better their industry skills and knowledge. These people are well-connected and are likely on LinkedIn, Clubhouse, and Twitter. 

When it comes time to select your influencers, be sure they’re truly influential in your vertical AND that their audience is receptive to the topic you want your influencer partners to create content around.

4. Look at Behaviors AND Demographics of the Influencer and Their Audience

“Look at behaviors” sounds very school psychologist, we know. But knowing where a person lives and their household size is different from understanding what kinds of brands they like, what kind of messages appeal to them, and what they do online. So, choosing the right influencer for your campaign requires you to know their background, sure. But you also need to understand what drives them.

And not just them, but their followers as well. Don’t get nervous. This can be as straightforward as analyzing the types of hashtags you see their followers using or seeing what kinds of posts get different types of engagement as a way to identify subgroups. Knowing specifically who you’re talking to will help shape your messaging so you’re delivering the right messages to the right audience members.

When it comes to influencer marketing, online behaviors matter.  

5. Diversify Your Campaign

Diversity, equality, and inclusion are the new standard. After the events of 2020, social media influencers pretty much led the charge for a global reckoning on everything from racial inequality to gender inequality to pay inequalities between different types of influencers.

You have your target audience, which is your primary group. But there are also subgroups you don’t want to sleep on. And while you may be targeting your audience members who live in the US or in North America, this big, ol’ body of land is made up of hundreds of millions of people from different cultures, all working to make Western culture what it is. So, it’s smart to have people on your creative team who understand the nuances inherent in your messaging.

Diversity isn’t just about race. It’s also about reaching different subgroups within your audience. For instance, if you’re in the travel industry, you could target both luxury travel influencers and van life enthusiasts. 

Or if you’re in fashion, you can promote luxury fashion, alongside Boho lifestyle items. 

Or target the yee yee and the yee haw crowds (but in different ways, of course).

@mollylee31

Reply to @sydneyhunter10 #yeehaw #yeeyee

♬ original sound – Molly Lee

Get creative with your niches and verticals to tap into new markets. 

6. Choose an Influencer Based On Their Activity 

Does the number of followers a person has determinewhether or not they’re an influencer? Not at all — especially in the age where you can buy followers, likes, subscribers, comments. So what is an influencer, if follower count doesn’t matter? A social media influencer is someone who uses content to get people to take an action. But that action doesn’t have to be one that aligns with the brand’s values, and it doesn’t have to be an action that’s in the brand’s or the influencer’s best interest.

This is why brands must be careful with who they choose for brand partnerships. One way to know if an influencer is legit and worthy of your social media campaign is to look at their past activity. 

This includes:

• How often they post: Is it multiple times per day, daily, weekly, or less?
• What type of posts they create: Have they posted content that relates to your campaign so it feels authentic?
• What messages do they share: If they’re publishing content on multiple platforms, is the message overall consistent? 
• What brands they promote: Is the influencer an ambassador for other brands? Do they wear, buy and mention their products? If so, would your brand be in sync?

Ideally, you want to work with influencers who are publishing lots of relevant content on at least a daily basis. It’s also critical for their message to be consistent — they can’t publish hamburger meals on YouTube and discuss vegan lifestyle on Instagram. 

Also, you want the content they’ve published up to this point to resonate with the posts they’ll publish for you. 

If they were just going on a rant about hating DIY projects, it wouldn’t make sense to do a campaign that promotes DIY tips. 

7. Base Your Decision On Past Campaign Performance

It’s alright to hook up with rookies in the influencer realm, but when it comes to working with pros, you want to make sure you vet their track record. 

For one, you want to validate whether they’ve had past successes with brand campaigns. Find out who they partnered with and what the outcome was.  Did the brand end up doing more than one campaign with the influencer? If so, then chances are they were happy with the results. 

Another way to vet influencers is to check their engagement ratio. Are people consistently engaging with the content via likes, shares, and comments? And are the comments you see relevant and genuine? More importantly, are the comments showing sentiment for the influencer and the brands they represent or dismay?

8. Know the Type of Content the Influencer Creates

Now, it’s time to see the types of content the influencers are creating for brand campaigns. Some influencers are great photographers who put together captivating collages. Others may excel at Stories and publishing video content. 

Whatever the type of content being produced, you want to ensure the quality and consistency is there. Also, be sure the style aligns with your brand and the message you’re looking to convey. 

Speaking of conveying messages — how great are they with storytelling? After all, this is one of the best methods for connecting with audiences and delivering powerful messaging. This should be the case whether they’re creating still shots or videos. One way to determine this is to review the responses they receive from followers (hopefully, positive). 

Turn Influencer Selection Into a Process for Consistent (Practically Predictable) Results

Selecting influencers isn’t something you wake up one morning and embark on. It’s a process, and if you can refine your process and fine-tune it, you’ll leap frog over some of the mistakes brands commonly make with influencer marketing. The difference here is that one has no direction, and the other has a step-by-step path you take to guarantee proper selection. 

And by that, we mean hooking up with influencers who can actually convert for your brand. 

Sound good? 

Then let’s chat about your next influencer marketing campaign today!

The post 8-Point Checklist: How to Find Influencers for Your Brand appeared first on The Shelf Full-Service Influencer Marketing.

A Jargon-Free Definition of an Influencer

In social media marketing, an influencer is a social media user who has built a reputation for being knowledgeable about something. Influencers create content around their area of expertise that’s compelling enough to get other people to take specific actions.

That last part – the part about getting people to take specific actions – is what takes someone from being a content creator to being an influencer. There are influencers on every social media platform, and most influencers are active on more than one platform.

The Basic Characteristics of an Influencer

Based on our definition, it seems like anyone can be an influencer, right? Yah… that’s where things get interesting, because, despite the simple definition of an influencer, they only make up a small percentage of actual social media users. Less than ten percent of all social media users fall into the category of influencer.

For instance, in order to qualify as an Instagram influencer, you have to:

• Have at least 1,000 real followers
• Be an expert at something
• Be great at creating compelling content, and
• Be intentionally aiming your efforts toward becoming a social media influencer.

So, even if you have the minimum number of real followers it takes to qualify as a nano-influencer, the other three characteristics must be present as well.

We wrote a really great, super detailed post called What Is An Influencer? In fact, this infographic highlights a lot of what we covered in the post. So, if you’re looking for more details about this whole thing, check out that post.

And now, with no further fuss…

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The post INFOGRAPHIC: The Definition of an Influencer appeared first on The Shelf Full-Service Influencer Marketing.

(Hint: It’s about more than just the follower count. )

A Good Definition of an Influencer

A social media influencer is a social media user who has built a reputation for being knowledgeable about something. Influencers create content around that topic that’s compelling enough to get other people to take specific actions.

Usually, the first thing an influencer is able to get people to do is to follow him or her. The more followers an influencer has the more likely it is that person will prove influential in other areas, too.

To partner with brands, influencers must be able to get their followers to take specific ( super important) actions. That’s why we say being an influencer is about more than just having a higher follower count.

That said, we totally get how the whole influencer marketing game can seem more than a little suspect. Still, 89 percent of marketers polled say influencer marketing is as effective as other marketing channels.

In order to drive those results, influencers must possess the one thing that matters – measurable influence.

What Do Influencers Do?

Influencers influence the decision-making process!

The primary marker of all any real influencer is that they can get people to do something. Read a book, join a movement, keep watching, buy a thing, download an app, research a product, opt-in for a coupon… things like that. When it comes to Instagram influencers and social media influencers, they are also absolute experts at creating targeted content. Experts.

Influencers have varying degrees of credibility – and therefore, influence – in different areas or categories. One of the first things our account managers do when moving through the influencer selection process for potential influencer partnerships is identify the categories in which a social media user is most influential. And it’s not always super obvious.

For example…

Below is a screengrab of The Shelf platform’s Category Coverage for a mid-tier influencer. She’s a US-based mother of two toddlers and a travel blogger. In fact, all of her Stories Highlights are of different world-class cities, including Athens, Mykonos, and Lisbon. She has posted more than 2800 posts to Instagram and grown her audience to more than 270k followers, with an above-average engagement ratio of 2.5 percent.

But if you notice, her most influential categories are actually fashion and home decor, not travel and momming. #data

The big takeaway here is that an influencer can have a large, engaged audience. But that doesn’t mean (s)he can sway followers to do what the brand wants. So, use the data to identify where an influencer’s actual influence lies.

What Do Influencers Do In a Day Though?

The daily life of a social media influencer can be stacked with content-related tasks. An Instagram influencer could spend their day editing photos. Maybe they spend several hours recording and editing the weekly YouTube video that actually gets repurposed to Reels and Stories.

There are also administrative tasks like corresponding with brands or engaging with those in their community. Then there’s the need to keep up with trends and checking out any new features rolled out on the different social media paltforms.

Being an influencer goes way beyond flatlays and pics of iced coffees that always catch the morning light just right. There’s also a great deal of administrative work and analytical review that goes into this job. They spend a good deal of their time doing what other marketers do – strategizing and optimizing for better results from their content. 

How Many Influencers Are There?

Influencers are frequently the topic of conversation, but they’re not really all that common. The average Instagrammer tops out at about 150 followers, and half of all Instagram users never make it past 1,000 followers.

Puts things in perspective, right?

Your aunt, your cool uncle, your dad, your grandma, the church usher… they’re all probably on Instagram. But they’re not all going to be influencers, nor do they want to be (for the most part). They just want a place where they can look at pretty pictures of family members, bookmark funny posts, and get up-to-the-minute news on the stuff they’re interested in.

So, while influencers may seem ubiquitous at this point, they’re not. Only about 3 percent of Instagram users would qualify as mid-tier influencers, based on their follower count. Even at the nano-level, an Instagram influencer has to have at least 1,000 followers in order to meet even the minimum criteria for being considered a social media influencer.

Can Anyone Be an Influencer? 

Often, the questions around what is an influencer have built-in subquestions, like:

• Can anyone be an influencer?
• How can you tell if you are an influencer?
• What makes an influencer an influencer?
• How much do influencers get paid? (And what should we be okay paying them?)

Anyone can be an influencer. It could be a university on social media promoting their school. Or for higher-impact social proof, it could be a student ambassador at that school sharing their experiences living on campus while pursuing a particular degree path.

It could be LeBron James calling Simone Biles the GOAT (greatest of all time) on Twitter. Or online business guru Jessica Stansberry talking about the virtues of digital planning and how she prefers the fine-tip Apple pencil over the rounded rubber tip of a stylus.

Influencers are important because consumers want to hear more from the people they trust, and influencers have a knack for breaking through the online chatter to share their ideas.  

And make no mistake about it – becoming an influencer is hard work. Even if you have a strong foundation of followers, growth is a common challenge for Instagram influencers in particular, whether they do it as a side gig or their full-time job. 

Types of Influencers

While follower count isn’t everything, it dictates the potential number of people an influencer will be able to reach with their posts. So, let’s look at the different types of influencers. Plus, there’s an infographic at the bottom of this section that breaks down the tiers and tells you when to use them.

Mega/Celebrity Influencers (1M+): While a larger following doesn’t necessarily equate to being an influencer or having high engagement rates, these accounts tend to be big swingers in the business and are worth noting, but not always your budget. 

Macro-Influencers (300K – 1M): These influencers have been around the block and likely do this full-time, making them great for maximizing your reach, but not always engagement. Click to read our post on working with macro influencers.  

Mid-Tier Influencers (50K – 300K): This range can be a mix of full-time and part-time influencers that are likely to do more paid work than product exchanges. 

Micro-Influencers (10K – 50K): This influencer type features a wide range of pricing and experience while usually offering higher engagement rates. Check out this guide to micro influencers to learn more about this gold mine of influence. 

Nano-Influencers (1K – 10K): While the following count may seem slim, the engagement and likelihood of the influencer knowing and trusting their followers is bigger. Explore this untapped type of influencer with this must-have guide to working with nano-influencers. 

Fake Influencers: It sucks, but there are also fake influencer wannabes who will pay for followers, Likes, and comments. But you can weed them out pretty easily if you’re paying attention. Our platform is good at sifting out people who commit influencer fraud.  

What Makes a Good Influencer?

Now that we’ve discussed the definition of an influencer, we can start to discover what makes one any good.

A good influencer is an expert. Influencers are experts at something, and they have built their online reputation in that area of expertise. The authenticity of an influencer campaign often stems from partnering with influencers whose expertise aligns with your product.

A good influencer is great at creating really compelling content. Influencers study their audiences. as a result, they develop a knack for knowing how to communicate thoughts and messages in a way that will get people to buy in.

A good influencer has an engaged audience. According to Big Commerce, 75 percent of marketers use this as the most common metric for measuring influencer success. Believe it or not, an important part of the influencer selection process for our team is analyzing each influencer’s audience. By analyzing audience behavior, you can figure out who an influencer’s audience is and know for sure if you will be reaching the right crowd by partnering with an influencer.

A good influencer is active, often across multiple platforms. Make that active and consistent with their brand. Most influencers will engage with their audiences daily, and post new content on a primary platform two to three times a week. Many influencers are active on more than one platform though their audience sizes for each platform will vary.

A good influencer is professional and responsive. Not flaky, right? Creatives have a reputation for being really “sometimey” but the influencers you choose as creative partners have to be responsive since most influencer campaigns have pre-determined timelines. The best influencers stay in touch with the account managers running the campaign.

A good influencer protects their own brand. The best influencers have invested time and energy into building their own brand and growing their audience. So, they are careful about the types of partnerships they enter. Real influencers don’t just do things for the money because, as any brand can tell you, it takes A LOT to build a brand online.

A good influencer has developed their own voice and persona. An influencer’s content will reflect their online personality. So, brands have to be sure to choose influencer partners that align well with their own voice, values, and persona. For instance…

The St. Pierre Bakery Campaign

We ran a campaign for St. Pierre Bakery to promote their brioche buns as the perfect way to amp up the summer backyard barbecue. Cookbook writer, food stylist, and Instagram influencer Kate Ramos (on Insta @holajalapeno) describes herself as a food lover. Her IG feed is a colorful mix of beautifully plated dishes and candid-looking snapshots from her life.

We brought her into the St. Pierre Bakery campaign and she contributed some really eye-catching pics soaked in summer vibes. She’s not in a fancy kitchen or buttoned up to her neck in a chef’s jacket (those are jackets, right?). She’s outdoors, standing over a barbecue pit, cooking up the goods with a cement wall and some greenery in the background.

On the flip side, Chris Sussman (on Insta @the_bbq_buddha) is known for AMAZING barbecue. Tender, juicy, flavorful, unapologetic BBQ. He creates detailed how-to guides for getting the PERFECT piece of barbecue from the butcher to the table. on the table. So, the post from Chris was a more of a tutorial-style video and it worked well for his persona. He talked loud and he talked fast. And every word out of his mouth was emphatic.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Chris Sussman | The BBQ Buddha (@the_bbq_buddha)

While brand voice will differ from creator to creator, the best influencers are very consistent with how they create and share content online, as well as how they engage with their audience.

If you want to read a bit more about how we run food campaigns, we have a whole page on it.

Related Post

How to Do Blogger Outreach (Includes Templates)

How Does an Influencer Make Money? 

While friends and family question what is an influencer or how is the influencer in their life making a living, the creator is faced with a variety of monetary channels that can help them make an income such as signing up for ad displays on YouTube or even selling their own products.  

Sponsored Posts: Many influencers receive free products or services as a trade for content, while others also receive payment depending on the negotiation between the influencer and the brand. The size of the following and engagement rate are common guides for creating a fee for the work and exposure they receive on the account. 

Affiliate Marketing: Affiliate marketing involves the influencer using a unique link for their “leads” as others click to the website and potentially make a purchase. Many partnerships use this system as a way for influencers to make residual income as they continue to promote the brand throughout their content as an ambassador. 

Content Creation: Some influencers may be paid for creating content that the brand can use for marketing materials and beyond with an hourly rate or package fee where the emphasis is on the content and not the exposure from posting the work on the influencer’s account. 

Influencer Merch: Influencers can leverage the brands they worked so hard to build by creating their own line of branded merchandise and swag. For influencers with strong personalities, branded merchandise can be a great source of ecommerce influencer income. People love to support their favorite brands and personalities. We actually did a roundup of influencer-owned brands.

Conclusion 

After nearly a decade of building influencer campaigns, we’re pretty confident that there will always be people asking what is an influencer? Or what is a Instagram influencer, in particular? Or why would we pay them? We’ll keep posting these answers, too. While being an Instagram influencer may not present itself as a simple job, it’s a growing industry that marketers are still working to understand and incorporate into their annual marketing budgets.

If you want to learn more about how influencer marketing works, check out this guide to influencer marketing strategy, and be sure to take note of this evolving industry and understand where you fit in best. Check out our influencer marketing services to help you run campaigns shaped by data-driven insights.

The post What Is An Influencer? appeared first on The Shelf Full-Service Influencer Marketing.

A few days ahead of the General Election, we released the report, Real Influence: The State of Influencer Marketing After the Events of 2020. In it, we analyzed 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. And I don’t think many brands noticed.

Here’s Why This Particular Shift Even Matters

Historically, brands have made it a habit to stay silent on hot-button topics. So, they have also been reluctant to partner with influencers who take strong stances on controversial issues like religion and politics.

But now that more influencers are taking ownership of their platforms and using them to further causes that extend beyond an outfit-of -the-day post, brands are forced to pay closer attention to the influencer’s values and allegiances as part of the normal influencer selection process. These influencer-led shifts have also normalized this expectation that brands should productively and tangibly participate in the communities in which they do business, which we’ve actually been seeing lately with the events that happened in D.C. and the very public response by companies

Real Influence: The State of Influencer Marketing After the Events of 2020 from The Shelf

We Know Life Changed, But So Did Influencers

We’re all well aware that the pandemic brought with it a slew of changes. Brands and marketers spent much of 2020 adapting to those changes. With supply chains interrupted and consumers staying home, it made sense when brands slashed marketing budgets and converted their KPIs from brand lift and acquisition to conversions and retention.

But as brands paused their marketing spend to figure out how to handle the shift, a provocative idea emerged: would COVID-19 bring an abrupt end to the influencer marketing industry? 

Influencer marketing has traditionally been seen as a brand awareness strategy (pretty much because marketing teams still have a hard time building influencer campaigns to specifically accomplish different goals). That said, it also made sense that with brands shifting away from awareness campaigns, social media influencer marketing – and thus influencers – would be impacted by that shift.

And influencers were impacted, but not in the way the detractors hoped. So, I want to break down the three important shifts that happened in the social media influencer marketing space over the course of 2020 that really helped us all to spot the differences between the influencer marketing vs traditional marketing. These shifts and the supporting data are detailed in The Shelf’s Real Influence report.

BIG SHIFT #1: RESPONSIVENESS

Influencers were the first to pivot their messaging during the early weeks of COVID-19.

When brands silenced their marketing messages as COVID-19 moved across the world, influencers were the first to successfully pivot their own messaging.

Their success incentivized brands to partner with influencers BECAUSE influencers had a better gauge on audience sentiment than most brands had. Seems a small thing, but it’s actually pretty telling:

The pervasive notion is that influencers are creating content strictly to monetize their audiences – making money without getting “real jobs”. But when COVID first started its steamroll over the earth, brands had no way of knowing when things would start getting back to normal and no idea what to say to their consumers. Initially, many brands remained silent.

But influencers – especially nano and micro influencers – are great at listening and responding. So, influencers were able to not only shift the way in which they engaged with their audiences, but they also guided brands into facilitating different types of connections with their consumers. And that kind of real-time feedback and responsive is one of the HUGE benefits of influencer marketing.

BIG SHIFT #2: LEADERSHIP & OWNERSHIP

Influencers took ownership of their roles as bona fide community leaders.

The “normalcy” created by online communities during those first few months of the pandemic’s spread was largely the work of influencers who were creating content around topics that would help people ADJUST to life indoors.

Instagram went from being everybody’s favorite photo-sharing app to being a safe place for people to share their experiences and their feelings. In 2020, Instagram also outpaced Twitter as the primary social media platform for staying up to date on breaking news.

Influencers used hashtags to help people topically identify productive ways to fight back lockdown-induced cabin fever. These makeshift mental health “hashtag hubs” drew millions to Instagram who would otherwise have been separated from their friends, coworkers, and even families during the lockdown and subsequent social distancing guidelines.

During the summer of 2020, influencers used hashtag hubs to organize a global (yes, GLOBAL) social movement to spark action in more than 4,000 cities on six continents. No billboard’s going to have that kind of impact.

BIG SHIFT #3: ACCOUNTABILITY

Influencers gained leverage by demanding transparency, accountability, and action from brands.

One of the most telling shifts that took place in the influencer space was the call for greater transparency and more accountability from brands, which was a first in the history of influencer marketing.

With the global community under the perpetual threat of a seemingly unstoppable pandemic, thousands of small businesses were shuttered, many permanently. Influencers called on brands and local governments to step and behave more like citizens than institutions. And many brands answered the call, providing assistance to help small businesses survive the lockdown, and financial support to community organizations who took it upon themselves to provide food and aid for families hit hardest by the economic downturn.

Influencers also pushed brands to use the worldwide downtime and social movement as the catalyst for brands to install and roll out new policies on diversity and inclusion, such as:

• hiring more people of color as decision-makers
• Implementing more accurate representation in their marketing efforts
• paying minority influencers and contractors the same competitive rates as white influencers and contractors

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The Conclusion of the Matter

Folks, the social media influencer marketing space matured in 2020, and influencers proved their intrinsic value, beyond just landing brand ambassadorships to post sponsored content for brands. The three shifts outlined in this post and detailed in the Real Influence report point to a fundamental shift in the brand-influencer dynamic.

The post What Changed? Social Media Influencer Marketing After The Events Of 2020 appeared first on The Shelf Full-Service Influencer Marketing.