Influencer

by Brittany Hennessy

  INFLUENCER INSIGHT

  For me, my trailer is all about keeping it real. My YouTube channel is a place where I share relatable beauty videos and occasional travel vlogs. I think it’s important to look into the camera and speak directly to the viewer. In my trailer I shared an overview of my channel and what they can expect. I end the trailer by encouraging the viewer to subscribe for more.

  —@sonagasparian

  INSTAGRAM

  Since the majority of social branded content occurs on Instagram, this is where we are going to focus most of our energy. Of course, you can take some of these concepts and apply them to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Snapchat, but Instagram is the Coca-Cola of influencer marketing, and it isn’t going anywhere.

  • Profile Picture. Why people continue to have photos that are not of their face is something I will never understand. This is not the place for your logo. This is also not the place for your #OOTD. It is a teeny tiny little circle and people are absolutely nuts to try and cram a full-length photo into it. What influencers don’t realize is that when people like me are pitching talent for a campaign, we have to make presentation decks to explain why you are the right choice. Decks are extremely visual, so when we need to quickly grab a photo of you, your profile picture should suffice. But it won’t if it’s of some random object, or it’s so low-res that you look like a pixelated cartoon character if I need to zoom in. Your profile picture should be from the shoulders up, you should be smiling (with or without teeth), and it should be a well-lit photo. If you follow those three guidelines you’ll be golden.

  • Bios: So Much to Say, So Little Space. “Coffee drinker. Sunset Watcher. Random Song Lyric. Smiley Face, Lips, Zodiac Sign.” You may think you’re being witty and mysterious, but all I see is a bio with a bunch of words that isn’t even saying anything. Not exactly how you want to come across. Bios are super simple, so I don’t know why people make them so hard. “Creator of XYZ, a beauty and style site. NYC-BASED influencer. Name@xyzblog.com.” Add in a location pin with your current city if you travel a lot and your blog/vlog or latest post in the link section and you’re good to go. I know who you are, what you do, where you live, your current location, and your contact information.

  And please, list your real name. Even if it’s just your first name or your first and middle name. Your username twice isn’t making anyone’s job easier, and my presentations look silly when I have to address you by your handle on every slide because I don’t know your real name.

  DON’T BE THAT GIRL

  A while back I spoke on a panel for aspiring influencers who want to work with brands. I asked everyone to participate in a little activity. I said, “Raise your hand if you have an Instagram profile.” Obviously all of the hands went up. Then I said, “Keep your hand up if your contact information is in your bio.” There were about seventy-five people in the room, and with the exception of five, every hand went down. I just looked at them and said, “So what you’re telling me is you did all of this work to get noticed. I have found you, want to put you in my campaign, and there’s no way to contact you? You just missed out on your big break.” Jaws hit the ground, but I’m pretty sure they all went home and put their email in their bio.

  But, Brittany, I have a business profile—isn’t that good enough? Maybe if I’m on my phone, but most casting agents are on a computer during the day and your email won’t come up on Instagram. Relying on the business profile means you are pretty confident I will find you on the website, take out my phone, look you up on there, tap the email button, and then type that email into a message on my computer. Have I done it? Of course. Do I like doing it? Absolutely not. Never do anything that makes it harder than necessary to book you for a campaign. You never know which seemingly small roadblock will be the reason why you were passed over.

  • To Tag or Not to Tag? That Is the Question. Now that your photo and bio are in good shape, let’s talk about brand integration on your feed. You might have noticed that many creators tell you to tap the photo to see what brands they are featuring. That’s absolutely brilliant. When you’re in the running for a campaign, a brand will want to see what content you’ve created with and about their competitors. The last thing ABC brand wants to see is a post where you’re talking about XYZ’s mascara and saying it’s THE BEST MASCARA EVER CREATED. Brands are super sensitive and they’ll be offended that you don’t think their mascara is the best. Insert sad emoji here. And since XYZ brand is not paying you, there also isn’t any reason for all this praise on your feed. Add in a bunch of other brands, do a bag spill, and caption the photo with something like: “Just updated my makeup bag and here are some of my favorites that made the cut. What are some beauty products you can’t live without?” And then tag (not mention) all the brands. They’ll still get a notification that you’ve mentioned them, but you won’t be calling out their competitor in a caption for no reason.

  While I was writing this book, an invaluable button was rolled out to the Instagram community, and I knew it was going to get a whole paragraph. The archive button is your best friend and you should definitely use it. The archive button is commonly used for one of three scenarios: (1) You have a lot of photos with your significant other/best friend and you have broken up. (2) You decided to turn your personal Instagram into your professional one, you stepped up your photo game, or decided to start using a new filter so now all of your old photos look strange next to your new photos. (3) You tried something new on your feed, and for whatever reason, it completely bombed and you want it to go away. In all three of these cases you could just delete all the photos in question, but what if you change your mind? When creating branded content, you might also use the archive button when a campaign has ended and you want to remove the content from your feed so you don’t alienate the advertiser’s competitors for future projects. But you should never, ever, ever archive a photo until the flight is over. For more info on flights—what they are and how to archive branded content without getting in hot water with the advertiser—head on over to Chapter 6, “The Contract.”

  INFLUENCER INSIGHT

  When I’m browsing through Instagram and checking out an influencer’s feed, there are a few things that I look for in particular. The first thing that grabs my attention is the overall look and aesthetic of the photos. They don’t need to be professionally shot, but there needs to be thought and consideration in the presentation of the images. Having a set filter or VSCO theme for all your photos isn’t 100 percent necessary for a great feed, but it definitely helps!

  I also look for a well-written bio. I can’t stress enough that what you display here is so important! This is where you can hook people with a brief description of your feed’s focus and any other facts that makes you unique. What’s your story? What sets you apart? Try to condense it and put it here. I’m also looking to see where an influencer lives. Many campaigns I work on require talent from a certain city or area. If I know this right away from looking at your bio, that saves me from having to dig through your feed or blog for more information—aka a greater chance of getting booked.

  Most importantly, a contact email should be listed right there in your bio. Along with your location, having an email address in your bio makes it easy for brands to reach out for partnerships.

  —Barbara Baez Meister (@barbmmeister), associate manager of influencer talent, Content Studio at Hearst Magazines Digital Media

  CONTENT CREATION GUIDELINES ACROSS ALL PLATFORMS

  We touched a little bit on content, and there are thousands of articles that will help you figure out the right type of content for your channels. But here are five insights you should always keep in mind when you are courting brands:

  • Post Often. When I’m scouting out a blog/ vlog, the first thing I check is the date of the last blog post. And not only the last post on your homepage, but also for the category I’m casting for. If you call yourself a lifestyle influencer, but your last style post was yesterday, your last beauty post w
as a month ago, and your last travel post was six months ago, you’re more of a style blogger in my book and will not be at the top of my list for beauty or travel campaigns. If you truly want to be seen as a lifestyle influencer, make sure you are spreading your content evenly across verticals. An editorial calendar will help you keep tabs on what you’re posting and when.

  INFLUENCER INSIGHT

  My background is in print journalism, so I suppose editorial calendars have always been in my blood. They’re great for keeping track of deadlines and content brainstorming. For This Time Tomorrow, I’ll typically sit down at the very beginning of each quarter and plan out my high-level content strategy across my channels, from themes to topics, even to the type of imagery asset needed to support the posts. Then I reverse engineer all my deadlines from there, plotting out when certain content pieces need to be shot and written by, and potentially passed over to a client, if necessary, for branded/sponsored content. In a nutshell, my editorial calendar is my bible.

  —@krystal_bick

  • Be Inclusive. If you’re doing a drugstore roundup, try to find your favorite product from each of the major players. If a brand sees that roundup and it includes everyone but them, they’re going to be extremely salty about it, and a seemingly harmless organic post could cost you a future opportunity. Now that’s not to say you have to include them for the sake of inclusion, but mindfulness is key. I’m pretty sure the first thing someone from a brand does when they go to your site is enter their name into the search box to see how many posts you’ve created about them. Unless they’re not on brand for you, they shouldn’t be led to a page that says, “Your search returned ZERO results.” Ouch.

  If you’re not sure who a brand’s competitors are, take a trip to the store. They’re usually fighting for shelf space with each other. If you’d rather look from the comfort of your own home, ispio-nage. com is a great resource. Just click on “competitor research” and type in the website of a brand. Under the competitor tab, you’ll see a list that may not be 100 percent accurate, but should give you a good starting point.

  • Don’t Be Negative. Sometimes you come across a product or service that is terrible and you want to let your audience know so they won’t be disappointed like you were. But there is a difference between giving your audience a heads-up and ranting like a madwoman. All that does is raise a red flag to brands because they know they could one day be subjected to a similar rant.

  • But Don’t Be So Positive. Every lipstick cannot be THE BEST LIPSTICK EVER!!! Just like every bag is not THE GREATEST BAG YOU’VE EVER SEEN!!! It’s totally cool to get excited about a product or a service, but keep the Kanye caps and the exclamation points to a minimum or you’ll risk sounding like a fan-girl instead of the expert that you are.

  • Take It to the Next Level. I get it. You’re a style blogger so you obviously have to take photos of your clothes. Or you’re a beauty vlogger so you obviously make tutorials, but variety is the spice of life. Your favorite media companies keep audiences interested by creating different types of content, and you shouldn’t be any different. But what types of content should I be creating, Brittany? I’m glad you asked.

  INFLUENCER INSIGHT

  Authenticity is your only ammunition—without it, you might as well give up. People can smell bullshit a mile away, and no amount of money from a brand can cover up the stench. Every piece of content should feel as honest and real as possible. You should love your content as much as you want your followers to love it.

  —@mynameisjessamyn

  • There are four types of content I look for when determining how on top of her game an influencer is. Showcasing all four tells me that she has the skills to create multiple types of content, and this in turn makes her eligible for more campaigns. 1. Photos of You. How do you wear your hair? What’s your makeup style? Do you wear mostly denim or mostly dresses? Do you exude more of a luxury vibe or are you an everyday girl? Do you look like you are trying too hard or are you comfortable in your own skin?

  2. Photos of Your Surroundings. This includes sunsets, interiors, food, landscapes, etc. If I’m going to send you on a trip, I need to know you’re capable of telling a story through a photo, even if you’re not in it.

  3. Flat Lays and Bag Spills. Showing me your #OOTD laid out on your bed, your suitcase as you’re packing it, or the contents of your gym/ diaper bag helps me envision the client’s product on your feed.

  4. Video. While this is significantly less important if you also have a vlog, it is 100 percent necessary if you do not. So much of the content created these days is video, and it’s only becoming a bigger piece of the branded content pie. If you want to limit video content on your feed, then you need to go allin on your stories. I can’t cast you in a video if I don’t know how you look or sound on camera, so this is a must to be considered for those campaigns.

  In terms of balancing organic content and ads, I would follow the 70/30 rule. Put into practice, this means for every ten posts/photos/videos, seven of them should be organic and three can be sponsored. It may seem like you’ll need to create more organic content as you book more campaigns, but that’s okay. You don’t want your audience to get sick of your sponsored posts. If they do, those posts won’t perform as well and brands will stop booking you.

  EXPERT TIP

  When influencers are doing paid posts or posting their freebies, the images, captions, and hashtags all end up being similar or the same. So when I’m casting influencers, I’m more interested in how she’s styling things she bought with her own money and not just the free swag she was given. Not only does that give me a better sense of her photography and composition skills, but it tells me more about her personality and brand. This person actually bought that velvet Chelsea boot or the floral maxi wrap dress because she actually, truly liked it and had to have it.

  —Jada Wong (@jadawong), former senior editor, Content Studio at Hearst Magazines Digital Media

  Sponsored posts should always make your audience say, “Hey! XYZ influencer partnered with XYZ brand. How cool!” Not, “Oh goodness, here goes XYZ influencer with another sponsored post.” You also shouldn’t say yes to every campaign that comes your way, especially if they are for similar products. Why would your audience believe you if you’ve tried to sell them on five different mascaras in the past month? Say yes to the things you like and would normally use if you weren’t getting paid. Say no to everything else. Turning down money will be hard, but you won’t regret it in the long run.

  INFLUENCER INSIGHT

  Be passionate about your brand and the content you are creating. It will become obvious in your art very quickly if you aren’t in it for the right reasons. You have to love what you are endorsing or you will simply come across as inauthentic and your audience will disengage.

  —@reneeroaming

  INFLUENCER ICON

  HEIDI NAZARUDIN

  @theambitionista + theambitionista.com

  Heidi Nazarudin is one of my favorite influencers, so it’s only right to start off Influencer Icons with her. As the founder and blogger-in-chief at The Ambi-tionista, Heidi has created the go-to style site for successful and sophisticated women. She has used her influence to create Blogger Babes, a blogger network, Marque Media, a branding, design, content creation, and social media management company, and The Boss Box, a subscription box for the modern entrepreneur and corporate go-getter. Heidi’s mission is to conquer the world in style, and it looks like she is well on her way.

  ON BECOMING A STYLE BLOGGER . . .

  I was the CEO of a Nasdaq-listed company, but I realized I needed to do something else, and resigned about ten months later. I didn’t “jump” into blogging; I took baby steps. I read close to fifty fashion books on topics ranging from fashion history and fashion design to biographies of people in the fashion industry, and I also took writing classes. By the time I resigned, I had four clients who I could steadily depend on to hire me as a fashion writer, and was as fashion literate as
any Vogue editor worth her September issue.

  ON MAINTAINING THE BALANCE ON HER INSTAGRAM CHANNEL . . .

  I have an 80/20 rule: 80 percent of my feed has to be organic content and 20 percent is paid content. It gets harder as I work with more brands, but I make sure whatever brand I work with is a brand I would use anyway or a brand that I know a large segment of my readership would love. For example, I collaborated with a dating app even though I won’t use it (I’m in a very happy relationship), but I know for a fact a substantial part of my readership is single and they would LOVE the app, so it was an easy yes. I also have hard NOs. I do not work with any brands that promote inequality due to gender/race/skin color or sexual preference, and I do not work with brands that promote values I am against. Because of this, I have turned down five-figure deals with skin-whitening products and even a fashion brand that used a very controversial photographer, known for his abusive treatment of women, in a recent campaign.