Influencer

by Brittany Hennessy

  Holiday: Thanksgiving–New Year’s Day

  Back-to-School: August–September (Big for mom influencers)

  Fashion Week: Fall + Spring (Big for fashion and beauty)

  Prom (Big for influencers with a teen audience)

  January (Big for fitness and health/wellness influencers)

  You’ll be able to decide how much to increase your price by how much interest you’ve been receiving. If you’re just starting out, you can be much more flexible than if brands are blowing up your inbox day and night. What should you do if you have a few offers lingering from competitors, but no firm contracts? The same thing you would do if you had more than one job offer. Write everyone and let them know you have another offer that would keep you from working with them and see if they want to make you a better one. If not, you can sign with confidence and not piss off anyone in the process.

  • Usage. Usage is another one of those things that people always make harder than it should be. Usage dictates what the advertisers are allowed to do with your photos/videos. Whether you took them yourself, or the brand/advertiser took them of you, your image is worth something, and you have to protect it. Standard usage covers the advertiser posting the photos/videos on their owned and operated (O&O) digital channels. This means their website, blog, and social media channels. You should make sure they’re giving you credit or mentioning your name/handle wherever they share it. Other types of usage include:

  Paid Social. Where they will turn your content into ads on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter

  Pre-Roll. The mini-commercials before a video, usually seen on YouTube

  In-book. An advertisement in a print magazine

  In-store. Signage in a store

  POS. Point of sale/at a checkout station

  Third-Party. Ads run through a company like Nativo. You know when you see ads in the middle of a page or links to other articles at the end of a post? Those are third-party ads.

  As with exclusivity, additional usage should cause your price to go up, because it increases the chance competitors will see your content, associate you with that brand, and not hire you for an upcoming campaign. But as with all requests from a brand, keep in mind your current opportunities and what you stand to gain from the one in front of you. You wouldn’t want to price yourself out because of exclusivity or usage when it could be the beginning of a great relationship with XYZ brand or agency. If you’re affordable and do a great job, they will keep coming back to you, and you’ll make more money. I’ve used@colormecourtney at least three times because she is lovely, professional, and always works with me on budget. That’s not to say she is cheap, because she’s definitely not, but she’s pleasant and always worth her fee.

  • Payment. This may be the most important section of any contract because this is where the money is discussed. For the most part, you’ll see the following elements regarding payment: Fee. How much they are paying you. This may or may not have changed from the number in the soft offer depending on what the final terms were.

  Payment Terms. This will say something like “net 30” or “net 60.” This is how long they have to pay you after you submit your invoice. When negotiating your fee, if their proposed fee is lower than you’d like and they can’t budge on money, there may be some wiggle room around the payment terms. Maybe you can be paid a percentage up front and a percentage after the campaign is over. Maybe the payment terms can be changed to net 30 when they originally proposed net 45. It’s quite possible that the final offer is the best they can do, but it never hurts to ask. I want this to be a rewarding experience for both of us so, as long as an influencer is polite when she asks, I will try my best to accommodate whatever requests I can.

  Paperwork. you’ll usually have to send an invoice (make sure it has your name, address, and campaign details on it), your W9, and some sort of payment form. Some companies still pay influencers by check, but most pay by direct deposit, so you’ll need an ACH form like the one you would give your employer and a voided check. There may be a few companies that pay by PayPal or Venmo, but they’re usually small and scrappy companies that aren’t paying thousands of different people.

  • Travel and Expenses. If the campaign requires travel, this section outlines how the influencer will get to the shoot and who is responsible for booking and paying for travel. In most cases, all travel arrangements are taken care of by the casting agent. To be honest, it’s the least favorite part of my job. Booking travel for influencers is always a beast. Not just because booking travel is annoying in general, but because there are quite a few influencers who think they are entitled to better accommodations than they actually are. Unless you have 500,000 followers on Instagram or 500,000 subscribers on YouTube, do not even think about asking to fly business class. Yes, I know about JetBlue Mint, and no, I do not care that it’s sometimes only a little more expensive than economy. We book through our corporate travel agent and when I need to book a business-class ticket, very important people have to sign off on it, so the influencer better be worth it. But unless you fall into the category of celebrity or high-end model, under no circumstances are you allowed to ask to be flown first class.

  I would even encourage top-tier influencers to agree to fly economy and then upgrade themselves. They travel so much, they probably have points they can use to upgrade. In the end, they would wind up ahead. They would probably get larger fees, because we would need a smaller budget for their travel. And they’d get booked more because they are so easy to work with. Certainly, not all influencers are divas, but some of them really let the numbers go to their head. There’s this one influencer who needed to stay at a particular hotel, in a specific room with a certain tub, and wanted an allowance for juice and midnight snacks. I am sorry, I wasn’t aware I booked a kindergartener for this campaign . . .

  DON’T BE THAT GIRL

  I was once booking an influencer and we were discussing the terms. Her manager got testy with me when I told her we could fly her client business class since she has over 1MM followers on Instagram. She then told me her client only flew first class. I laughed so hard I practically ruined my laptop with all the water I spit out onto it.

  The influencer wanted to fly first class? As if she were an actual famous person? The manager then continued to babble on about how her client couldn’t fly business because people would recognize her. I’m sorry but who is fangirling over a beauty YouTuber in business class? And if she is so famous, surely she flies first class on her own dollar and should have the points to upgrade herself?

  Needless to say, I didn’t book the influencer, and I avoid that manager like the plague. And the sad part is there are probably a bunch of great girls on her roster who don’t even know why I won’t book them.

  FTC RULES AND REGULATIONS

  The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the US government dedicated to protecting America’s consumers. Or as I like to call them, the #ad police. When it comes to influencer marketing, they want to make sure that when people see a post on an influencer’s blog or social media channels, they know whether or not that influencer has been compensated for the post. And we appreciate that. I mean, who wants to run out and buy a lipstick on a vlogger’s recommendation, only to find out that the lipstick is terrible and the influencer only promoted it because she was paid to?

  Now, for the most part, influencers don’t mislead their audiences, because if they recommend bad products, they’ll lose credibility with them. I have worked with many influencers who will make me send them a product (or go out and buy it themselves, if it is available in stores), so they can try it before they sign on to a campaign. I love these types of influencers, because it means that if they say yes, they’re actually into the product and won’t just be giving lip service.

  The FTC really wants the disclaimer to be as large and in charge as possible, but there are easy ways to properly disclose without stamping a big dollar sign on your content.

  • Blog and Vlog
. You definitely should start your blog post off letting your readers know you partnered with XYZ brand. If your content is always good, they won’t stop reading/watching because it’s sponsored; they’ll keep going because they want to see the amazing content you’ve created with production dollars! You can also make your title something like XYZ Collab: 9 Items You Need in Your Closet for Fall, or on your blog create a category called “Partnerships” or “Collaborations.” That way there won’t be any doubt an advertiser put dollars behind your content. On YouTube, in addition to the mention in the title and description, you also need to call out that this is a sponsored video in the actual video. Something simple like “Hey guys, welcome back to my channel. Today I’m going to show you the goods from my haul. Shout out to XYZ brand for partnering with me and making this video happen” should suffice and will also make the brand happy to get a mention so early in the video.

  • Facebook and Instagram. While I was writing this book, Instagram changed their disclosure policy to be the same as Facebook’s. Before, on Instagram you just needed to have a nice #ad in your caption, although many influencers also use #sp, #sponsored, and #partner (even though the FTC doesn’t like those disclaimers). But now, if they have the tool, influencers must tag XYZ brand and it will be clear as day to all audience members that this post was created as part of a paid partnership. It definitely takes the guesswork out of disclosing and there’s no way to get around it. It will be included in your contract, and if Facebook /Instagram catch you trying to skirt around the disclosure, they can hide your post and even ban you from the platform.

  I will never understand why influencers have issues disclosing they were paid by a brand. If your audience wants you to keep making content full-time, then you’re going to need to make a full-time salary. Also, if you’re keeping to the 70/30 rule, then they also shouldn’t be tired of seeing ads on your feed. And finally, if you are using that money to make better content than what you create on your own, they will be stoked to see what you come up with for each collaboration.

  CAMPAIGN BRIEF

  Earlier, when I was talking about the contract, I said that it may contain a campaign brief. Here’s the lowdown on what that actually is.

  There’s a joke in the advertising world that briefs are never brief and this is 100 percent true. They’re always fifteen pages long and have pie charts, graphs, and other visual aids. They’re a pain in the butt to create, but when you’re an influencer, receiving a good brief is priceless.

  Think of the brief as creative direction from the brand. They definitely want you to create content in your own style, but they need to make sure it is on brand for them as well. A brief may tell you that XYZ’s target consumer is eighteen to twenty-one years old, so don’t create content that is too juvenile or too mature. A lingerie company might say you must always have on a shirt or bathrobe when showcasing their bra. A liquor company will tell you that you cannot have any motor vehicles in your content and should not even hint at the fact that you may be driving.

  The brief will usually tell you the history of the brand, give you details on the product, and include talking points like sale dates, sizes, price points, ingredients, etc. Briefs come in all shapes and sizes and the only thing you really need to remember is to READ IT. If you do not follow the directions in the brief and you submit content that does not comply, the brand can make you reshoot everything or they can refuse to pay you. The brief may also include submission deadlines. If you do not submit your content on time, the brand can refuse to pay you and may never work with you ever again. Bottom line is, if you don’t follow instructions you don’t get paid, and how sad would it be, if after all that work, you didn’t get paid because you didn’t read the brief?

  INFLUENCER ICON

  ALEXANDRA PEREIRA

  @lovelypepa + lovelypepa.com

  Alexandra was on a path to become a lawyer when she decided to switch gears and launch her blog in 2009. The legal world’s loss was our gain, because she has one of the best Instagrams most English and Spanish speakers have the pleasure of following. She is tiny, but has a huge personality and joie de vivre, and it’s no surprise that her motto is “Stay hungry. Stay foolish.” When she’s not in an airport or packing luggage, she’s working on her clothing line, the Lovely Pepa Collection, which is inspired by landscapes, evolving style, and wanderlust.

  ON BECOMING A BLOGGER . . .

  Becoming a blogger started out as a hobby. I was inspired and fascinated by other people blogging and logged onto several blogs every day. I was hooked and quite taken by the idea of it. So one night, while hanging out at home, I thought to myself: Why shouldn’t I start one of my own? And this is how I embarked on this whole adventure. Little did I know how this moment would later define the course of my life.

  When it comes to what I wanted to share with the world, it was pretty clear to me that it had to be fashion. It was the topic I was most passionate about, and I felt I had something to share with others. I started posting my everyday looks alongside bits and pieces of my life and people loved it!

  Pepa is my French bulldog. She’s the one who inspired the name of the blog. I thought that the name would sound nicer if I added an English component to it. I thought the mix of both English and Spanish had a nice sound to it.

  ON LEANING MORE INTO YOUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL . . .

  Although my YouTube account is several years old, I only began to consistently post on my channel in August 2017. I felt like it was an important step for me, as it allowed my followers to have a different type of interaction with me, one that would allow them to know me better.

  My first videos were junk and I discarded them; I didn’t think the quality was good enough, and I only like to release works that I feel have been done properly. YouTube is a world that is totally different from Instagram. It is much more real, and I would say that in some cases, much more useful. The YouTube crowd is typically more engaged. They almost always leave longer comments than I would see on Instagram or other social media platforms.

  ON SPEAKING TWO LANGUAGES ON YOUR PLATFORMS . . .

  Spanish and English are two of the most widespread languages in the world, and this represents an opportunity to connect with a huge amount of people. Creating content in various languages should be motivated by exactly that: connecting with more people so that you increase the chances of people appreciating your content.

  However, that does come with an extra load of work, and it is easy to burn yourself out. My recommendation to aspiring multilingual influencers would be to study this kind of move carefully before investing themselves in it. Once it is done, it will be hard to go back on it. For example, my Spanish-speaking followers know me in Spanish and love me for that. If I ever stopped communicating in that language, I would alienate a lot of them and I would risk losing their interest.

  ON PRODUCING HIGH-QUALITY CONTENT . . .

  In my opinion, the key to maintaining a steady stream of high-quality content is to prepare it some days before it gets published. My team and I brainstorm about content production on a daily basis. We’ll think about how to coordinate travel, locations, and outfits so that they come together in the most inspiring, engaging, and aesthetic way. Everything has to come together in the right place at the right time. I guess, one key to our success is maintaining the right balance between all these elements. However, it is important to know that no matter how prepared you are, a more spontaneous and genuine approach also works. Some of our most popular posts have been ones we hadn’t planned for.

  As far as sponsored content is concerned, it does not differ from content we would create organically. I am very careful to maintain a genuine and consistent identity throughout my feed, and creative freedom is a nonnegotiable condition that I require before starting a relationship with a brand.

  ON TRAVELING SO OFTEN . . .

  It is quite complicated to live like I do, but I find it enjoyable, and I’ve adapted quite well to this lifestyle. When I stop trav
eling, I feel like something is not right. I’ve become addicted to discovering new places and still get as excited about it as when I went on my first trip (which was to Disneyland when I was five).

  Maintaining a steady stream of content requires preparing content in advance. I typically leave four to five days of margin before publishing. Sometimes, I have to be flexible about it, especially if I have a contractual obligation to publish something that is time sensitive. However, the general rule is that we spend at least four days editing the material, and those who work with us usually comply with our modus operandi. They even encourage it, as they would prefer that the content they sponsor be of high quality and benefit from a better response from our followers.

  ON SWITCHING CAREERS FROM LAW TO DESIGN AND CONTENT . . .

  I think I knew law wasn’t for me a few weeks after I started the program. Still, I kept at it as I thought it was the safest bet for my future. But the best thing I ever did was to switch careers.

  I highly encourage people to overcome any fears they have and pursue something they are truly passionate about, something that gives purpose to their life. Closing a door opens new opportunities, and when it comes down to it, every problem has a solution. It is all about defining the problem and thinking on the solution.

  I do not regret not becoming a lawyer. I do believe that if I stuck to my original plan, I would’ve been a mediocre lawyer and led an unexciting life. Therefore, starting my blog was the best thing I ever did.