In order to gain a better understanding of how women are a vital asset in the influencer marketing industry, we talked with President and Co-founder of Find Your Influence, Cristine Vieira, about how she got started and co-founded such a successful company.

Tell me about how you started Find Your Influence. What was your vision? 

“Jamie (Reardon) and I co-founded Find Your Influence (FYI) when we were in search of an Influencer Marketing Tool to help us expand our own influencer marketing campaign. When we couldn’t find one, it was our “aha” moment. At the time, our campaign was producing tremendous results, but we also experienced the difficulty with searching, managing and reporting on influencer marketing programs, so we knew we had to build a tool that would help with just that.”

What does influencer marketing mean to you? How did you get into it and why?

“We were introduced early to the concept of influencer marketing (although it was called ‘Blogger Outreach’ at the time). We saw the amazing results of utilizing an authentic voice to tell a brand’s story. At the end of the day, influencers are exactly that, people we follow and trust. When they recommend a brand, product or service, we’re more inclined to listen, rather than just watching an ad. The space is only going to continue to grow as more people choose not to engage in traditional advertising. For me personally, all I have to do is watch my kids interact with their favorite YouTubers to see how powerful influencer marketing can be.”

As a woman, what does it feel like to be such a pioneer in the influencer marketing industry and the Co-founder of FYI?

“It’s an incredibly humbling experience having the ability to build and watch our business grow. We love building and surrounding ourselves with an amazing team. I’m beyond grateful for this journey.”

Would you say the influencer marketing industry is mostly dominated by women? 

“While the influencer marketing industry is still dominated by women, we have definitely seen a shift over the years. When we started Find Your Influence in 2013, the blogger space was very much dominated by women like, ‘Mom Bloggers’ and ‘Fashion and Beauty’ influencers, but we’ve seen quite an increase in influencers across a variety of industries.”

What is one thing you would tell women who want to become their own boss and start a company? 

“I would say take the reins and go for it! And more importantly, don’t give up. The challenges of owning a business are inevitable, but you need to continue believing in what you’ve built and know that whatever challenge you’re currently facing you can get through it.”

Do you feel like there is a lot of pressure owning such a successful company as a woman?

“I feel like there’s a lot of pressure owning a business – whether you’re a woman or not. I think both Jamie and I would say that from an investment standpoint, it may have been harder to raise money a few years ago as a female, but thankfully even that is shifting.”

What is your favorite part about being the Co-founder of Find Your Influence?

“My absolute favorite part about owning a business is building a sense of community and family within the organization. We are always incredibly grateful for the passion, hard work and dedication that we see from our FYI Family. It’s been an amazing experience watching the team grow and shift.”

As our world begins to adapt to the idea of women running it, we will continue to see an increase in female leadership in certain industries. Women have the ability to do so much good, if given the liberty to showcase our strengths. Influencer marketing is only the beginning. Cristine showed us that women really can do anything they set their minds to. With tenacity, dedication, and resilience, women can change the world.

Freelance contribution especially written for Find Your Influence by Jordan O’Connor.

The post Influencer Marketing: A Female Dominated Industry appeared first on Find Your Influence.

In recent weeks, I’ve been in conversations with two different individuals each who have admitted to knowing what influencer marketing is but remain confused on the idea of an influencer marketing campaign. So I went to an expert, Cristine Vieira, for her take.

Vieira is the President and Co-Founder of Find Your Influence, the industry’s first all-in-one influencer marketing solution.

“When a brand engages a series of influencers to create content around a specific product/service for an assigned period of time, this is known as an influencer marketing campaign,” Vieira explained. “Brands may have seasonal campaigns around a specific time of year like summer travel or even around a product launch like a new vehicle model.”

Designing and orchestrating an influencer marketing campaign is a multifaceted process. It involves strategy, research, goal setting, outreach, influencer relations, legal contracts, payments, and analytics.

“We’ve seen influencer marketing campaigns vary in size from three to more than 500 influencers,” said Cristine Vieira, President and co-founder of Find Your Influence. “The number of influencers contracted for a given campaign is most often dependent on budget and campaign goals.”

An example of an influencer marketing campaign done via Find Your Influence was with Pizza Hut. A marketing agency worked with the Find Your Influence team to find influencers to drive customers in the Scottsdale, Arizona and surrounding area to a specific store. The influencers created content around a new meat substitute that Pizza Hut was featuring on pizzas and encouraged their local followers to stop in and try it for themselves. This defined the parameters of an influencer campaign because it was a focused message to the influencer’s audience, for a set period of time, encouraging them to consider visiting Pizza Hut.

Some of the most successful influencer marketing campaigns include bringing influencers into the campaign discussion early on. Jane Ko, also known as A Taste of Koko online, has partnered successfully with many brands and has delivered amazing results.

When asked about the favorite campaign she has worked on over ten years, she was quick to say, “It would be GoDaddy for sure.” The GoDaddy partnership was successful for Ko for a variety of reasons.

“They entirely sourced influencers for the campaign which can only be done successfully if the team that is managing the influencer campaign has that kind of knowledge,” explained the Austin-based blogger.  “Because they did it internally, they fully understood the program needs, the program KPI (key performance indicators), and they knew exactly the kind of person they wanted to market to and bring the program to life.”

The partnership was an authentic fit because Jane has been a loyal and devoted customer and brand advocate for GoDaddy since she began her blog in 2010. “That doesn’t happen for a lot of campaigns,” she explained. “It’s exceedingly rare that you get to work with a brand that you love and advocate for already.”

Influencer campaigns can be executed in a variety of ways. However, managing a campaign of 3 or 300 influencers can be a juggling act. Find Your Influence offers a technology solution that handles every aspect of the influencer campaign from start to finish. Learn more and request a demo today.

The post What Is An Influencer Marketing Campaign? appeared first on Find Your Influence.

There’s a reason Winfluence often features people representing the influencer marketing software solutions and it isn’t sponsorship dollars. These are the people working in and thinking about influencer marketing every day, so they have great insights and perspective to share.

I thought I knew most of the players in the software space until I recently stumbled upon Find Your Influence, an end-to-end influencer marketing software and managed services company based in the Phoenix area. Its co-founders, Jamie Reardon and Cristine Vieria, sat out to build the first complete software solution for the industry. They’ve been around since 2013.

We did a deep dive into their software platform, but then chatted about what 2021 has in store for us in the influencer marketing space. Jamie even opened up the conversation about performance-based influencer marketing, which triggered a slightly different context for me, but we had a very informative and insightful conversation about that and other topics you’ll be smarter for hearing.

Winfluence Podcast Transcript – Jamie Reardon and Cristine Vieira – Find Your Influence

Jason Falls
Hello again, friends thanks for listening to Winfluence – The Influence Marketing Podcast. We’ve heard from and about a lot of influencer marketing software platforms on this show, and rightfully so. These are not only the companies that provide services that benefit brands, agencies and influencers. But the folks I invite on are the people working in and thinking about influence marketing every day. And I’ve been around a while watching the social technology space for almost two decades now. So it’s rare when I stumble across a software company that has been around a while seven or eight years or so that I haven’t heard of. Now, perhaps I’m not as plugged in as I think I am. But Find Your Influence surfaced on my radar lately. They’re quietly tucked away in the valley and Arizona — the Phoenix area — and they are believed to be the first end to end influence marketing solution for brands. So search discovery, engagement, content, collaboration, measurement payment all in one place. They also have a managed services division. So whatever your need as a brand or agency from an influence marketing solution, they’ve got it and have had it for a while.

Jason Falls
I wanted to get to know them better, not only so I can speak intelligently about what they provide. But if co founders Jamie Reardon and Cristine Vieira built and have managed this platform for eight years, you know they have a finger on the pulse of what’s happening in the space. We sat down recently to chat about find your influence to get a good feel for the platform and services. But then got into a neat discussion about what brands agencies and influencers should be watching for in 2021. Jamie even opened the door to talking about performance based influencer marketing, which is a hot button topic to be in the space I think not sure many influencers are gonna like it, but I sure know brands want to see more of it. I walked away from this conversation smarter about the industry with some different insights and perspectives. But also glad that I found find your influence Jamie and Cristine, the dynamic duo behind influence marketing platform Find Your Influence, Jamie Reardon and Cristine Vieira next on Winfluence.

Jason Falls
So Jamie, Cristine, I want to start out Find Your Influence is a software solution, an end to end software solution for influence marketing, but you also have a talent division. So if I’m reading that correctly, you’re not only a platform for identifying and managing influence campaigns, but you also have a stable of influencers. You represent … Am I reading that right?

Jamie Reardon
That’s correct. We, we like to look at ourselves as all things influencer marketing. So the foundation of our company is certainly the technology and the platform. But there are other divisions that feed into influencer marketing holistically.

Jason Falls
So I’ll throw this at Christine, then we’ll go back and forth. And that way, you know, everybody knows who’s answering one question, I guess. And if you guys can correct the course of that, if you need to. So Christine, how does the talent agency side and the platform side work together? Or do they? And do they have to?

Cristine Vieira
Good question. So to Jamie’s point, we’re all things influencer marketing, and the foundation, the way that FYI started was really on the technology side. So providing brands and agencies and all in one solution for influencers. We are two sides of the platform. So we have all influencers opted in, they’re connected to their API’s. It’s a wonderful way for influencers, to really manage their book of business and their income and campaigns and programs. And for agencies, you know, they have an easy way of searching for influencers, managing their campaigns, messaging back and forth of those influencers, and really building that relationship as well as tracking the results. And so FYI, talent, was launched a couple of years ago, really isn’t an easy way to leverage additional influencers in building those relationships and managing the those up and coming influencers. So we saw a need in the space, and we have a small roster of influencers that we currently manage. And it just felt like, you know, an easy extension to FYI.

Jason Falls
So let me throw this out there to both of you. I guess we’ll start with Jamie. The question that popped pops into my mind when I hear that, and let me explain the question to I don’t want to, you know, throw you for a loop here. But I’m wondering about the potential conflict of interest with having both of those. And the way that I’ve come about that question is, if I come to you for a platform to engage influencers and drive campaigns as a brand, one thing I’m concerned about is getting the best bang for my buck. But if my software software platform is using its own stable of influencers, then you’re motivated, probably to get the best fee you can get for the influencer. So how do you account for that? Jamie? We’ll start with you. And then Christine, if you have something to add, that’d be great.

Jamie Reardon
Sure, absolutely. So the good news here, Jason, is that the the rates for the influencers from a platform standpoint, and when we’re managing them, they don’t change. So their rates are already in the platform as, as established. So in terms of our clients, leveraging the influencers, that may be managed by FBI talent, it’s again there. As long as that KPIs that the that the clients are looking for the reaches there, and the budgets in line based on the impressions and engagements or estimated sales metrics, and if there, there is no concern.

Jason Falls
Cristine, do you have anything to add there?

Cristine Vieira
Nope, that’s exactly right. So in terms of, you know, pricing, it’s really based on our, on our algorithm, our pricing algorithm, and it’s, you know, seven years of data, and it looks at the influencers, category, their content, what the ask is on the campaign side, and then it provides kind of that baseline pricing brands and agencies obviously have the ability to negotiate back and forth with those influencers. But at the end of the day, you know, that pricing is established at the beginning.

Jason Falls
Interesting. Okay, so you’ve got a pricing algorithm, and I’m really interested in that, because that sounds pretty unique, from what I’ve seen out there in the marketplace in terms of influence marketing tools. And and and so tell me a little bit more, let’s go into more detail about what the pricing algorithm is and how it’s beneficial for a brand coming to you.

Cristine Vieira
Yep, good question. So, again, the platform is really to leverage the data of the influencers to make you know, the best decisions about your campaign and so pricing and, and content are big one, so if a brand is coming in, and they’re looking to leverage an influencer on Instagram, and Facebook and and YouTube videos, then the pricing is going to change really based on the content based on the size of the influencer, how niche they are, you know, depending on what they’re talking about. So it takes all of those factors and and gives you a baseline price that you can then start negotiating with the influencers on.

Jason Falls
Okay, so So Jamie riddle me this, because I think you were the one who said earlier that the conflict of interest goes away because the pricing is kind of set. But if the pricing is set, I’m confused, then how the influencers and the brands can negotiate Is it just the baseline pricing is set, and then there’s that, you know, direct, you know, kind of negotiation back and forth, or is there something else there that I’m missing?

Jamie Reardon
That’s That’s correct. So the baseline pricing is set. And then if, for some reason brands have additional requirements or licensing fees or exclusivity clauses, or if for some reason seasonality plays a part for the influencer, then that’s when they can go back and forth, and they can negotiate on the program.

Jason Falls
Interesting. So I wonder that the next sort of line of questioning I have is I’m wondering, I mean, obviously, you guys have been around I think, since 2013. That’s a that’s pretty long in the tooth in terms of, of influence marketing software, how do you ingest influencers? Because we’ve heard, you know, a number of different ways that systems do it explained here on the show, you know, some are invite only and very curated, other platforms, scrape you know, anybody who has an account, others scrape anyone with a certain number of followers. So give me the methodology behind your your database of influencers? How do you get them in there?

Jamie Reardon
Sure. Absolutely. Great question. So we are a opted in influencer platform. And so the, the benefit to that is that the the team and our clients have worked with a large number of these influencers over the years. The other piece of it is that that influencers are heavily engaged in the platform. So when, when there’s a product that an advertiser is looking to push out quickly, the response rate from these influencers is very quick. So that was always very important to Christina and I, from the early stages, when building the technology, as marketers ourselves, is making sure that we could be actively speaking with these influencers in a timely fashion. So having them opt in was, was really beneficial. We also have an out of network search, search engine that allows our brands and agencies and our internal team to, to work with influencers and from outside of the network as well.

Jason Falls
Interesting. So Christine, tell me this, who’s the ideal influencer for Find Your Influence? Who, who’s really the sweet spot for the types of influencers? You have the based on the types of brands that you work with? Based on the types of content that’s required? Give me your sweet spot? Who are your Who are your best influencers?

Cristine Vieira
That’s a really good question. I mean, I think I would say it really depends on the agency and the brand, who they’re looking to work with. You know, you can be an influencer with 1000 followers, if you’re talking about something very niche, and, and you have a good understanding about that, that industry. Or you can be, you know, the power influencers, the youtubers that that we all know, and love. So it really depends on the brand or product for find your influence, again, what Jamie mentioned is they’re all opted in. And so they’re connecting to FYI, they’re registering, they’re connecting to the social API’s. And from there, we’re gathering all of that data, and tearing those influencers. So that when you’re logging in as a brand or agency, you have a good understanding of their, their size, you know, what categories, they’re really talking about their topics, as well as their audience demographics.

Jason Falls
Cool, how many influencers are in there, because that’s another concern if it’s opted in. And, you know, it’s basically what I would would call basically a curated database of influencers. It’s not necessarily going out there and finding everybody and anybody, how many people you got in there for me to go look for?

Cristine Vieira
Yeah, okay, good question, we have access to just over 100,000.

Jason Falls
Okay, that’s pretty fair amount, not not bad. Now, if I’m a brand, here’s a good another question. And again, I’m asking questions, like, I’m a client, because I think that’s what the audience probably has, on their mind, too. If I’m a brand, and I have a list of influencers, either that I’ve worked with in the past, or I’ve done some other, you know, research, either using a third party tool, or just manually compiling a list of accounts that I see, can I use those influencers? And if so, how?

Cristine Vieira
Absolutely. So, we, um, this happens quite often where the brands send their info, we provide the brands with the link for their influencers to register to the platform, and they the influencers from there, get all set up, and then they can create the campaigns, you know, from the the interface, so it’s a pretty easy and seamless process and influencers are very used to it.

Jason Falls
That’s nice. So let me ask you this, either Jamie or Christine either one can chime in here. I have always had and I take it from our conversation here especially, you guys mentioning that there’s the opportunity for brands and influencers to negotiate that one of the problem I’ve always had with managed services, which I don’t think is what you offer, correct me if I’m wrong in a second, but the problem I’ve always had with managed services is it takes that relationship out of the equation, it does not allow really for the brand to connect with the influencers directly, because that’s the definition it’s a managed service, the brand doesn’t necessarily need to fool with it. But for me, that’s a problem because I’m a PR guy by trade, I want that relationship. And I want to know that influencer, were you guys intentional in setting it up that way? So that you knew you weren’t necessarily running managed services? Or do you run managed services? And, and and how do you balance that potential conflict of having an influencer, talking to you and then talking directly to the brand because that can create some issues.

Jamie Reardon
So we do have a managed service division of the of the company, in terms of in terms of the the needs of the client, it very much goes back to what the bandwidth looks like for brands or advertising agencies, if they’re to your point, if they prefer to come manage the relationship themselves, or have the FYI team manage it, we’re very open to all different types of structures. So we’re not one to tell our brands that they can’t have interaction with the influencers. You know, we welcome that the relationships, influencer marketing and the key our relationships. So we promote manage service side, like to think of ourselves as the extension of the brand’s team, and have a really good understanding of their products and services as well as the people behind it. And so again, it very, very much goes back to, you know, the structure that it’s needed for that brand or or agency.

Jason Falls
Very nice. So, now that we’ve kind of got a nice understanding of kind of what you offer, you know, an Indian solution with a combination of approaches, which I certainly appreciate that because, you know, some people just don’t offer one way or the other. Let’s let’s talk a little bit a little bit about the industry. One of my perspectives on influencer marketing is that we’re often led to believe by the media, mainstream media primarily that influencer marketing is about celebrities with large followings, you know, some some content creators are in most of the content creators are in fashion and beauty, and that influencer marketing lives on Instagram and YouTube. But in my, from my perspective, frankly, that’s one small percentage of an overall world. I wonder how you would describe the world of influencer marketing to someone who asked in terms of the size and scope? And is your platform? Does your platform lean toward that sort of CPG instagram youtube influencer? Or do you have b2b and other you know, sort of people within your network for those types of businesses.

Jamie Reardon
And so we very much lean with you Jason in terms of, there’s one there’s an influencer for every category. And the other piece is verse, we very, very heavily encourage, you know, all social channels, and you know, and then on top of that, utilizing everything from affiliate marketing to paid social to DSPs that’s all becoming part of the whole influencer, marketing landscape in one form or another, whether the micro influencer so the macro influencers, the celebrities, again, that’s, that’s, you know, very wide and we see it all and from a b2b perspective, what works for a b2b company versus a b2c company is very different. However the you know that it’s that goes back to the strategy when executing a campaign because there is a an appropriate strategy when it comes to different categories when it comes to different verticals when it comes to different brands and influencers that you’re working with but fully agree with your with your mindset and influencers you hit on it too with even the celebrity piece influencers are now creating their own product lines and as our traditional celebrities have been doing for for ages. So in terms of that influencer marketing landscape, it’s it’s pretty large.

Jason Falls
Christina, I think a lot of the brand campaigns that I see anyway and influence marketing these days, especially with you know, consumer product goods and or b2c companies have a tendency to lean to you know, very, very in a in a direction of being transactional so it’s Hey influencer, here’s money in exchange for a post or a link or, or even a piece of content if they treat them as creators, more so than influencers, and it’s very much set up to be transactional. And in in in terms of scale, especially with brands that need to scale up, it’s it’s almost it’s almost anonymized. It’s almost as if they’re just like, go find me 100 influencers, I don’t even care who they are, here’s the product, here’s the money, go do it. And they they miss the point, in my personal opinion, of connecting with those influencers and building longer term relationships where there’s benefits and value on both sides of the exchange. I wonder from your perspective with your client base and the influencers you work with? Does that seem to be the tendency with the clients you guys work with? Or or where does the what what percentage of them are transaction based versus brands who come to you and really want to build those relationships?

Cristine Vieira
Yeah. Okay, good question, and Jamie, feel free to add here. What I’ll say is, at the end of the day with influencer marketing, it’s all about connections. And it’s all about really that authentic content. So if you have the ability to build that long term relationship with the influencer, those campaigns are the, you know, the best, most optimized campaigns that we see in the space. So with influencers and leveraging that the the influencers, I mean, it’s all about the connection that they have with their audience, they know how to build the content that really performs the best. And if you have the ability to optimize a program with an influencer long term, that that content only starts performing, you know, at a stronger at a higher rate.

Jason Falls
Jamie, I’m going to ask both of you this question. I’ll start with you. I want to know, if as you look out into 2021, what are the what’s the biggest issue that is facing the influencer marketing, you know, sort of industry? Whether it be from a software perspective, or from an influencer perspective, or from a brand perspective? What’s the biggest challenge we all need to be watching for and sort of thinking about, as brands or as influencers? Or as you know, vendor software providers? and Christina asked you the same question. So I’ll give you some time to think about it. While Jamie answers. Jamie, what do you think?

Jamie Reardon
Sure. Absolutely. So I think it very much goes back to the compliance piece from from my perspective. So again, how, when it comes to transparency, when it comes to like compliance within content, there’ll be a lot more we see, you know, more regulations out there more consistency as it applies to the data and the measurements and how one brand is, is measuring their campaign or one influencer marketing company for that matter, and how the reporting looks at being provided back to their clients. So that’ll be something that we will, we’ll continue to see a lot more conversations around in 2021. And in I believe, more advisory boards from that perspective.

Jason Falls
Christine, what are your thoughts on what’s big and emerging that we need to pay attention to this year?

Cristine Vieira
Yeah, I completely agree on the compliance side. I think, as I mean, we’re an influencer marketing automation tool. But the ability to build really, that relationship with the influencers and focus on content, I think, is a big one in the space. So, you know, we offer automation, an easy way of searching influencers, creating campaigns, managing your campaign, so that you can really focus on what really matters in this space, you know, which is building those relationships with the influencers. And then the second thing is data and access to more data, you know, as this space evolves, really finding new ways of tracking your campaign and the success of that campaign.

Jason Falls
I love the fact that you said data, because every time I hear that I think of I think of LinkedIn primarily, because because I deal with b2b a little bit. And I am you know, technically, you know, in the marketing space, sometimes considered an influencer myself, and I can’t stand the fact that LinkedIn just does not share their data like it. They act like influencers don’t exist there and it’s crazy to me.

Cristine Vieira
Absolutely.

Jason Falls
Gettin’ a lot. I think I’m getting a lot of “amen”s on that side of Jamie, what were you gonna say?

Jamie Reardon
Um, the other piece is and we’ve already honed in on it a bit, but it goes back to the data is that 2021 will be the year of performance based influencer marketing. We’re already very much there in 2020. But influencers are doing a great job of developing their own brand. Deliver solid and quality assured content and hit the advertisers goals, maintain deadlines, act professionally, all those pieces while again, going back to the the key the key KPIs, and that the sales goals will be the ones collaborating with a large number of brands. And then with that, it goes back to those long term relationships that you were talking about Jason, the Evergreen campaigns.

Jason Falls
So let me ask you about that performance based, you know, perspective, because when I hear that, what as from a brand and an agency perspective, that’s kind of music to my ears, because I wish I could wave a magic wand. And every influencer that I use is paid on a performance, you know, basis, so that it aligns more with cpms and cost per clicks and things like that, because then the math becomes a lot easier. And I feel like I’m getting, you know, equal value for the dollar that I am in other channels. Are you saying that we may get to a point at some point when influencers out there are willing to say I stake my ability to drive conversions or, you know, cpms, or whatever, on the dollars that you’re going to pay me and not ask for fees for their time and whatnot? Are we going there?

Jamie Reardon
You know, there certainly are influencers that that will do that. But really, we’re seeing though, is on the paid social side. So it’s taking the organic influencer content, and then it’s amplifying it with pink social with pixel, anyone for that matter, other other distribution channels. And that way you continue with that organic content coming from the influencers, while also having them include things like promo codes, and getting creative with how they’re driving more of a direct response program. So it’s, it’s certainly an integrated campaign. The other piece of it is for influencers. Absolutely, they all take that all day long. If we’re if, if one, the brand is working with them for three or four months. And the brand is able to say, hey, based on these, this last three months of engagements, if we pay you on a cost per sale basis, versus the flat fee that we’re currently paying you on, we’re going to be making X amount more, then that’s where influencers will do it all day long. But they’re certainly not going to, they’re certainly not going to do it for purely a CPA or cost per sale program, when they are not sure what the conversion rate is based on, for example, what may be the marketing strategy on the site that they can’t control the transaction of.

Jason Falls
Here’s an interesting idea I, when you when you talked about supporting it with paid, I’ve come across an idea recently, where I’ve said follower count no longer matters. Because as a brand, what your job should be, from my perspective is finding the great content creators who also have, you know, a level of excellence on engagement. So people who can create good content and engage their audience no matter how big their audience is, because the brand can then put paid spin behind that content and amplify it. But But as you were talking, I sort of came across this idea that might be an interesting approach. If I were an influencer and a brand came to me and said, we’re gonna pay you, you know, kind of a freelance content creation fee for you to create the content. So that you’re, you know, we’re invested in you a little bit. But we’re not going to pay a fee. But what we’re going to do is we’re going to pay you a percentage of sales, or we’re going to pay you on a cost per 1000, or whatever basis. However, if you do this with us, we’re gonna put $25,000 in paid spin behind your content, to drive traffic to your content so that we help you drive conversions. If a brand approached me as an influencer, like that, I’d be game I’d be like, Okay, let’s do that.

Jamie Reardon
Absolutely.

Jason Falls
Christine, tell us where people can find out more about find your influence. If they’re a brand and they want to learn, what do they do? And then if they’re an influencer, who might want to be connected with your network, what do they do?

Cristine Vieira
Wonderful. That’s an easy one. So the first place we go is FindYourInfluence.com. And that’s for both brands, agencies as well as influencers. We’re also on all social channels. So LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, you name it, and we’re here to connect with you soon.

Jason Falls
Awesome. Jamie, last question for you. How awful are most people on TikTok these days?

Jamie Reardon
Know what this is that I will say this this is the best year for for TikTok right now. We need it with our current environment.

Jason Falls
I can’t I can’t I can’t I, I understand why the platform works because every time I open it up, I can’t put it down. I sit there for an hour and then realize, Oh, crap, I gotta go do things. But for for whatever reason. I mean, maybe I’m an old fogy. And I guess I am because I’m, you know, hell, I’m almost 50 but I cannot for the life of me figure out how to be interesting on that platform because it seems like it’s not just videos, you got to put bells and whistles and music and flashes and stuff. And I’m not stuff kind of guy.

Jamie Reardon
I feel like my seven year old has Tick Tock down but I guess.

Jason Falls
Well, my 12 year old daughter taught me how to use TikTok when she was 10. So I know I know how it feels. Ladies, thank you so much for joining me today. I hope everybody goes to check out find your influence. We’ll make sure the links are in the show notes and really appreciate your time and insights.

Jamie Reardon
Thank you Jason!

The post Influencer Marketing: A Deep Dive appeared first on Find Your Influence.

10. Launch New Products

Launching a product can be challenging in a busy marketplace. A leading oat milk brand partnered with Find Your Influence (FYI) to create awareness for a new product line. The campaign strategy included both macro and micro influencers to create a groundswell of chatter about the new product. Influencers loved the product so much that they created 157% MORE content beyond what was contracted.

9. Expand Your Audience Reach

Tourism groups regularly use influencers to share their experiences within a city, state, or other top destination.  A tourism agency engaged FYI to help increase visibility from overseas for the United States, specifically Minnesota. Working with popular UK international travel and lifestyle influencers, the influencers visited Minnesota and created content highlighting all the state has to offer. These influencers delivered 3.1 million impressions, a 5,250% increase over industry benchmarks, via 33 content pieces. Their work helped bring in the target audience (UK and European travelers) to see all the beauty showcased by the influencers.

8. Drive Engagement

An oral hygiene product looked to influencers to drive engagement with a new product. The brand understood that working with influencers for a single post wouldn’t yield the greatest return. Instead, through FYI they partnered with healthy lifestyle influencers over a three-month period to highlight multiple rounds of content, reiterating their positive brand experience to their audiences.  With 192,000 engagements over three months, the influencers over-delivered on engagement by over 800%.

7. Promote Your Events

A national bank partnered with Find Your Influence to engage high-reaching travel and food influencers who regularly speak to “authentic travelers.” This campaign was executed before 2020 with influencers creating content to drive attendance to an in-person event in Las Vegas. The two influencers contracted for the campaign reached an estimated audience of 15 million with 58 posts across multiple platforms, driving 274 clicks to the event website. At the end of the campaign, the ROI was measured at 10:1.

6. Deliver Authentic Experiences

A major airline leveraged Hispanic influencers to create content about their country of origin to promote a contest and drive awareness for new direct flights to Latin America. Influencers created content across video, blog and social posts. Several of the influencers flew to their home countries and captured their trip by posting videos in real time. A team of ten Hispanic Instagrammers and ten Hispanic bloggers also created content around what their home country means to them and encouraged their followers to share in order to enter to win a flight for their own trip back home.

5. Increase Your Brand’s Social Following

A national real estate technology brand was looking to not only drive brand awareness but wanted influencers to help build the brand’s social following too. The campaign leveraged 13 influencers based in Florida, Georgia, Nevada, Texas and Arizona. Influencers created custom, authentic content to direct their followers to learn more about the brand and how it’s the perfect way to buy and sell real estate. They also spoke to where audiences could find out where to request an offer and highlighted the brand’s social handles.

4. Manage Your Reputation

Find Your Influence worked closely with a baby formula product in a highly regulated industry to manage both reputation and brand sentiment. The campaign focused on bringing awareness to the brand and the product, while countering claims made by a competitor. The FYI team implemented an aggressive micro influencer strategy, leveraging more than 135 micro influencers to create a groundswell of positive social chatter about the brand. The campaign over performed KPI by nearly 200% more content pieces created than were contracted and impressions exceeded benchmarks by 512%.

3. Increase Awareness

A national snack brand was inspired to work with influencers to expand awareness and create brand affinity. To reach their target buyers, the snack brand worked with FYI to find influencers with young children. Within their content, the influencers created GIFs and Boomerang images to further speak to the message of fun while featuring their children enjoying the snack. With more than 4.8 million impressions and 145,400 engagements, the campaign beat ROI benchmarks by 104%.

2. Develop Influencers as Brand Ambassadors

Working with a national tire brand, FYI’s managed services team developed monthly content themes organically fitting influencer content for the season, while maintaining an authentic brand tie-in. Brand ambassadors created unique content with a call to action for followers each month. Content themes included a DIY project for Earth Day, where influencers turned an old tire into something new, foodie influencers created “Road Trip Recipes” to share with families before the summer; and for Fathers Day, mom’s interviewed their children about dad and his driving, resulting in entertaining videos while using the brand’s overarching brand messaging. 

And the number one reason your brand needs influencers…

1. Influencers Drive Conversions

In 2020, an e-commerce food delivery service engaged the FYI Managed Services team to secure the ideal influencers to drive sales conversions with their audience. The brand required influencers who were already creating high-quality content and then would license the content to repurpose through their marketing channels. Sales were driven through discount codes and paid social amplification and influencers were measured via conversion tracking. Over the course of the campaign, 485 purchases were tracked through first-click attribution. This was a 26% conversion rate from those who added to their cart but did not follow through with a purchase. Historically, the brand had been averaging an 18% conversion rate via other marketing channels.

Ready to get started? Request a demo from Find Your Influence today.

The post Top 10 Reasons Your Brand Needs Influencers appeared first on Find Your Influence.

Your brand’s holistic digital marketing strategy should be the sum of your digital efforts and how they connect with each other. If you’re not yet including influencer marketing within your overall digital marketing strategy, your strategy is incomplete and possibly ineffective. 

Not quite sure how influencer marketing fits in? Data from Find Your Influence demonstrates that since 2014, influencer engagement rates across all social media platforms has grown by more than 550%. Excluding influencer marketing from your overall digital marketing strategy could prove costly to campaign ROI.

“The combination of influencer marketing with other digital marketing tactics increases the ability to produce high-quality content that can be shared across numerous platforms,” explains Samantha Ley, Vice President of Client Development with Find Your Influence.  “Influencer marketing is the critical link between relationship marketing and performance marketing. “

Consider every element of your digital marketing strategy as you plan each campaign. How will each tactic help you achieve your goals? Growing the bottom line is only one part of the equation. You also need to consider how each campaign aligns with other aspects of your marketing and whether the addition of an influencer can further enhance your storytelling efforts.

“Brands that invest in long-term influencer relationships often net the largest gains,” Ley details. “When a brand commits to an influencer, or a series of influencers, to help tell a story over a longer period of time, their audience sees content more regularly which can  shift perception, increase awareness and potentially lead to a purchase.”

Every part of the customer’s journey is considered in a digital marketing strategy. This is no different with influencer marketing. The customer journey and engagement with the influencer content should always be considered. There needs to be a clearly defined path that culminates in the desired action, whether that is engagement, sales, or increasing awareness. 

What is the point of any marketing tactic if you can’t measure its performance and success? Some of the key performance metrics used today to determine the success of an influencer marketing campaign include brand awareness, engagements and conversion tracking.

In a holistic approach to a digital marketing strategy, every part of your strategy connects to the bigger picture. And there is no bigger picture in marketing today than influencers.

Get to know more about how influencer marketing can fit into your digital marketing strategy. Request a demo of the Find Your Influence platform today and let our team help put the internet’s most powerful voices to work for you.

The post Where Does Influencer Marketing Fit Into My Digital Marketing Strategy? appeared first on Find Your Influence.

In September Find Your Influence surveyed nearly 500 social media influencers to understand the technology trends that are top of mind this holiday shopping season. From their preferred format for gaming to their preferred gaming console, Find Your Influence helped uncover the influencers’ intent to purchase technology products before the end of 2020.

“In a year filled with ups and downs in the economy combined with various fears, frustrations and fatigue linked to COVID-19, it’s a positive sign to see social media influencers signal their interest in upgrading their various technology before the end of 2020,” shared Jamie Reardon, CEO and co-founder of Find Your Influence, a top influencer marketing platform.

Using the proprietary survey technology developed by Find Your Influence, the survey was completed online from September 23-25, 2020 reaching different types of influencers, including nano influencers, micro influencers and macro influencers. The survey reached a sample (482) of the Find Your Influence influencer database of active U.S.-based social media influencers.

The complete survey and results:

If you have children/teens, what is their gaming console of choice?

32%  Other

26%  Nintendo Switch

21%  Microsoft Xbox

21%  Sony Playstation

Do you generally purchase physical copies of games for consoles or digital downloads?

53%  Digital downloads

47%  Physical copies

Do you plan to purchase a gaming console when holiday shopping/before the end of 2020? If yes, which one?

43%  Other

24%  Sony Playstation

17%  Microsoft Xbox

17%  Nintendo Switch

Aside from gaming consoles, are there other electronics you plan to purchase as gifts this holiday season?

80%  Yes

20%  No

Which electronics would you consider purchasing before the end of the year?

24%  Tablet

23%  Laptop

21%  Mobile phone

16%  Television

11%  Other

  5%  Gaming console

What is the operating system of your current mobile phone?

78%  iOS (iPhone)

22%  Android

Influencers who responded to this holiday shopping and technology survey ranged in follower count from 650 to 3.6 million.  

To speak with Find Your Influence directly about survey results, please contact Tami Nealy, tami@findyourinfluence.com.

The post Influencer Insider: Holiday Shopping for Tech appeared first on Find Your Influence.

During the summer of 2020, FYI hosted our first ever fully remote group of interns (thanks, global pandemic). As their semester is coming to an end, we sat down for a conversation to learn more about their internship.

Josh Peterson is entering his junior year at San Diego State University. Josh is a business major and spent the summer working as a Digital Influencer Marketing Intern. Over the course of his internship, Josh specialized in Search Engine Optimization tactics. 

Rachel David will begin her senior year in the fall of 2020 at Arizona State University. This Sun Devil is pursuing her degree in Psychology and Marketing with a minor in Spanish. Rachel spent her summer working with the Client Success Team as an Influencer & Account Management Intern.     

What were your expectations coming into your internship with Find your Influence?

Josh: “I certainly wasn’t expecting the internship to be mostly online. But It didn’t really seem to matter considering I was learning the ins and outs of digital influencer marketing. Pretty much everything I learned along the way dealt with using a computer, so It was almost fitting that it ended up being online. The internship was everything I hoped it would be and I had a great time learning how to operate in the marketing world.”

Rachel: “My main expectation was that I would be learning a lot about influencer marketing, and I certainly did. With such a huge interest in social media and marketing I was very eager to learn everything I could about what Find Your Influence does. Prior to starting my internship, I also met with the Client Success Team that I would be working with throughout the summer. They were all extremely nice and helpful, so I came into the internship with the expectation of getting along well with everyone.” 

What are you most proud to have worked on/learned during the course of your internship?

Josh: “Understanding Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and why it’s so important. Without websites or blogs coming up early on a search engine, the odds of that website or blog being seen are significantly lower. That’s why SEO work is so important, so that what is made can be seen in the digital world. On the digital side, marketing could, in a sense, revolve around SEO. That’s why I think SEO was such a valuable tool to have learned and have in my back pocket for future jobs.”

Rachel: “I am most proud of the various projects/campaigns that I was able to work on. It was very rewarding to work on a project at its beginning stages, such as finding appropriate influencers or filling out content examples, and then later hearing about the successes of that campaign. Influencer marketing is such a huge marketing tool for companies and brands today, so it has been very interesting to learn about the intricacies of the campaign process.”

Are there any mentors/leaders who impacted you during the course of your internship?

Josh: “Michael Creel took me under his wing and worked with me step by step to make sure I understood digital influencer marketing. I had a lot of questions when we first began and he always took the time to explain and never got frustrated with me. He also pounded SEO into my head so I’d never forget it, which I’m grateful for.”

Rachel: “Sarah Hickam was my mentor throughout my internship, and she was an incredible person to work with. Whenever I had questions or concerns, Sarah was always there to help me and walk me through them. On top of her already busy FYI schedule, Sarah made sure I was enjoying what I was doing and created a very happy and comfortable environment for me. I am extremely grateful for all of her help throughout my internship with FYI, as well as all of the guidance I received from the entire Client Success Team.” 

How was the experience of interning in a 100% remote capacity?

Josh: “It couldn’t have gone any better than it did. Sure, at times it could be difficult if my wifi went out or I had a bad connection during a zoom call, but regardless it worked. I was still able to learn as much as if I had been coming into the office every day.”

Rachel: “The remote internship experience was seamless. Microsoft Teams was used for video calls and messaging, and it was very easy to navigate and made everyone easily accessible. Everyone at FYI handled it very well, and I never experienced any issues.” 

Would you recommend interning with Find Your Influence to your friends? If so, why?

Josh: “Yes of course. I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to have an internship at all with the pandemic that we’re all in. I had a lot of friends whose summer internship got canceled. FYI saw a problem and instead of completely canceling on me they said how can we solve this, and they worked with me digitally through the summer, which I appreciate greatly.”

Rachel: “I would absolutely recommend interning with Find Your Influence to my friends. Even during this difficult time, FYI was extremely accommodating and eager to have me on board to help out. Tami Nealy worked very closely with me during the set-up process and consistently worked to make sure I was comfortable with the summer internship set-up amidst a pandemic. The Client Success Team also made me feel very comfortable and included throughout my internship, always checking in to make sure I was doing well and enjoying what I was learning.” 

If you’re interested in learning more about interning with Find Your Influence, email Tami Nealy, tami@findyourinfluence.com.

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I joined the Find Your Influence family in August 2018 and I still pinch myself everyday. I get to work for an industry-leading influencer marketing organization led by two of the most brilliant and empathetic humans I’ve ever met. Jamie Reardon and Cristine Vieira aren’t like any leaders I’ve worked with before. They lead with empathy. And it’s not just a word on a list of core values. It’s in their DNA.

During this time of home quarantine, as we learn to navigate business and professional relationships, empathy is at the heart of Find Your Influence. Literally. Every single one of us.

Last week I reached out to our team from Arizona, Illinois and New York asking if they would be willing to share how Find Your Influence’s core values are helping them manage life and work in quarantine. I am overwhelmed by their replies and  couldn’t be more proud to be part of this tremendous Find Your Influence (FYI)  family.

Find Your Influence Core Values

Insist on Integrity

“I see the DNA in the Find Your Influence leaders coming through in each of my teammates. In this time of global crisis, we know that our clients and influencers are each turning to us to help them efficiently pivot and create content that is considerate and legitimately helpful. We insist on integrity by finding thoughtful and proactive solutions for our clients and influencers to help them navigate their efforts during this uncertain time and to use their platforms for the greater good.” Jordan Windle, Director of Account Management and Platform Services 

Never Stop Improving

“I think the whole Find Your Influence team is demonstrating the ‘Never Stop Improving’ core value during this time. The way everyone is coming together in communication and getting things shared fast shows how much everyone is continuing to improve even though we cannot be face-to-face.” Renee Ware, marketing intern

“The Find Your Influence team has portrayed our value of ‘Never Stop Improving’ during this time. Our group chats have been flooded with fun opportunities to learn about the Influencer Marketing industry, free courses offered online that cover a variety of topics, and encouragement to take on new hobbies (like yoga!). The team’s willingness to use this extra time at home to grow our knowledge in different areas and expand our understanding of the influencer world is a testament to our commitment to this value. I am so inspired by our team everyday which encourages me to make the most of this time.” Sarah Hickam, Influencer Manager

Fuel Kindness

“In a time of uncertainty and anxiety, one of the most basic things we can do as humans is be compassionate. Don’t hoard things. Don’t have road rage. Reach out to friends and family. The last thing people need right now is an unpleasant experience with someone. This is a great core value and something everyone, including myself, can get better at.” Sam Griffen, Front End Developer

“One thing that has been sustaining me throughout this quarantine is my second family at Find Your Influence. The unparalleled kindness they’ve been showing me in these times of trouble has been amazing, staying in touch with everyone is what’s keeping me sane. The vibe and positivity during our virtual yoga classes and virtual happy hour every week is just the sweetest thing ever!” Ghaida AlShanti, Account Executive

Love Our Clients

“As a parent who regularly works from home, the reality of children crashing the party has always existed. With schools out now and the kids always around, it’s added a new layer to business relationships as the virus has led to us quickly revealing our personal side . As we approach an uncertain period, and find ourselves ALL in the same situation, it’s called for us to be more accepting of each other’s unique situations and in that acceptance, it’s allowed for an even deeper bond to be forged with our clients.” Charlie Brugnolotti, SVP of Sales

Unleash Inner Cheerleaders

“I think this goes without saying, but Chelsea Goodson is always looking for something to celebrate! Even during tough learning experiences, she’s the first to put a positive spin on it and highlight a team members’ strength. She’s been checking in on us all multiple times throughout the day to ensure we’re not feeling burned out or lonely by this extended work from home period. I’m endlessly thankful for her!” Piper Martin, Influencer Manager

“These past weeks I have felt my team really lean on each other for extra support and I have seen them unleash inner cheerleaders. I feel so proud to be a part of such an incredible group of individuals. By no means have these past weeks been easy, but it proves how strong we all are together and how lucky I am to be a part of the Find Your Influence family. When I am down or having a hard time focusing through these trying times I know I can rely on my team to give me a call or shoot me a positive message that completely changes my mood and lifts me up! ❤” Avalon VanderCook, Influencer Coordinator

Embrace Open Communication

 “Although we are lucky enough to normally work from home two days a week, I’ve always appreciated my time in the office to connect and collaborate with my team. When you work in an open-office environment, it is easy to nudge someone for a quick question. However, now that we are confined to working strictly from home and practicing social distancing, I am pleasantly surprised at how seamless my Find Your Influence family has made this transition. From daily conference calls, to virtual happy hours, our team has never felt so connected. We have quickly adapted to our new work environment and by keeping open lines of communication, we have grown even stronger from it. ❤”    Haley Galler, Account Manager

Nurture Accountability

“Our team works very hard to respond to client requests and recently Samantha went above and beyond to provide for a client. She works extraordinarily hard to build authentic relationships with each client. I recently saw a situation where she responded with kindness while holding the person accountable.”  Chrissy Dupper, Senior Manager of Content and Campaign Management

“Accountability takes many shapes in the current environment. Accountability to our clients to continue to deliver great service. Accountability to our talent and teammates to have kindness and empathy in our day to day virtual interactions. And last but not least accountability to ourselves to have patience as we adapt to the new normal.” Alicia Bachardy, VP of Sales

Create. Create. Create.

“Working from home has not been too difficult, seeing as we do it a few times a week anyway. My creative partner Tami and I check in a few times a day, as usual. Working like this is not very complicated because we know how to work together and do not need to see each other to work. We know how the other one understands things. So the only thing that has really changed is that I can lie down on the floor and mumble bad ideas out loud without bothering anyone, until I come up with a solution.” Michael Creel, Director of Marketing

Earn Respect

 “Respect is one of the greatest expressions of love” – Miguel Angel Ruiz

 “This is a quote I often think of when I think of strong people and in this particular case, a strong company.  With people, respect starts with gratitude and self-love. With a company, respect starts with leaders and culture.  With Find Your Influence, respect is not just a word, it’s a tradition; it’s something that trickles down from our leaders and creates a collaborative energy. From virtual group yoga to company happy hours to thoughtful check ins and texts messages; I have physically seen and felt the love from our leaders and the gratitude light up our company culture.  This expression of love is felt by all; our team and our clients!” Samantha Ley, VP Client Development

“I see a combination of the Find Your Influence core values with Earn Respect, Insist on Integrity and Embrace open Communication. Our teams are proactively working with clients to pivot their strategy and messaging to ensure the sensitivity during this time is addressed both to the influencers and how they create their content.” Joslyn Adasek, EVP of Sales and Strategic Partnerships

From virtual yoga, virtual happy hours and the regular check-ins via email, text and phone, it’s so uplifting to know the FYI team is here not only for one another but for our influencer community and our brand partners too.

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Perfecting the art of promoting yourself is crucial for entrepreneurs who are trying to grow their business, find clients, and appeal to investors. However, managing the balance of self-promotion and boasting can be a challenge, particularly for female entrepreneurs.

Studies show that women who are pursuing a career claim that self-promotion is the toughest part of their professional development. When female entrepreneurs don’t promote their businesses, their work often silently goes unnoticed which can lead to less opportunities for professional partnerships and investor backing. In fact, less than 10% of venture capital backed companies have a female entrepreneur at the helm. This imbalance happens largely because of the perception that females are not as competitive or ambitious as males.

This systematic disregard for female entrepreneurs makes celebrating and bringing attention to accomplishments necessary for any woman who is building her business. If you or your business partner struggle with highlighting your recent achievements, try using these pointers from ZenBusiness in day-to-day conversations. With practice you will refine your self-promotion skills and learn to frame your wins in a way that is natural and professional.

Infographic: Mastering the Art of Self Promotion for Female Entrepreneurs

The post Mastering the Art of Self Promotion for Female Entrepreneurs appeared first on Find Your Influence.

On December 12 Find Your Influence was recognized by the Phoenix Business Journal as a finalist in the 2019 Best Place to Work awards. Earlier in 2019, all Phoenix-based FYI employees were surveyed answered a series of questions anonymously offering insights into employee engagement and satisfaction.

The Best Places to Work program measures a wide range of research-validated workplace factors impacting employee engagement and satisfaction. Scores can range from 0-100 with 100 being the best possible score.

Employee feedback earned Find Your Influence a Best Places to Work Score of 95 percent. The word recurring most frequently to describe their work environment was “collaborative.” 

“This is such an exciting recognition because it’s an honest reflection of how our employees feel about working on the FYI team,” said Cristine Vieira, FYI President and co-founder. “As we continue to build our team, staying true to our culture and core values is central to our success.”

When employees feel valued by their organization, they are far more likely to be engaged. Ninety-five percent of employees surveyed indicated that the senior leaders of the organization value people as their most important resource.

One of FYI’s core values is “Unleash Your Inner Cheerleader” and this was demonstrated in the open-ended feedback shared by employees:

“I really appreciate the integrity and heart with which this organization operates and that comes from the top. All of us are in it together. When there are issues, leadership is seeking solutions, not blame. People stay for long periods of time, they are careful about who they hire and when they hire. They go out of their way to thank and appreciate everyone for their efforts. This is truly a wonderful organization that I feel lucky to be a part of.”

“The leadership at this company treats all employees like family and respects and encourages work ­ life balance. Additionally, during our space remodel, both the CEO and President chose to work in the smallest office space while giving others much larger, more accommodating work space. If that doesn’t show selflessness and wanting the best for your employees I don’t know what does.”

“My favorite part of working at Find Your Influence is the collaboration and energy. Though a lot of my work requires silence and solitude for me to fully focus and be successful, being able to juxtapose that with coming into a collaborative and energetic environment helps to balance and spark moments of creativity and accountability. Plus, it is fun to work with people that I now consider friends.”

Interested in a career at Find Your Influence? Check out the careers page today.

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