Winfluence - The Influence Marketing Podcast

Instagram is changing its algorithm and user experience. Kylie Jenner isn’t happy about it. She once critically wounded Snapchat by saying she never goes there anymore. Now she’s created a PR issue for the platform. But the changes to Instagram go far beyond pissing off a Kardashian.

Instagram is now outwardly saying video is better. They’re prioritizing it over the their heritage approach of photography. They’re also testing features that are much like TikTok. This is largely because TikTok is beating them at the game of creating stickier user experiences. Instagram can’t continue to dominate the social media platform usage among a certain population if the Joneses have built a better mousetrap. So they have to keep up.

And these changes change the way influencers and creators have to approach their roles. It also changes the way brands need to think about influencers.

Katie Stoller has been watching the algorithm changes, and Kylie Jenner’s reaction, along with the rest of us in the space. She’s an influencer marketing and public relations consultant and pro. I invited her to come on the show to talk about the layered complexities of the influencer space, how to design the right solutions for brands and clients when its hard to know what size influencer, what type of creator, what type of content and such will work.

But I invited her to do that the week the Kylie Jenner re-post of a meme begging Instagram to let Instagram be Instagram, so our conversation had to include both.

Katie is of like mind. She’s a public relations pro by trade, even worked at some of the major PR firms over the years. She’s currently handling influencer marketing for Fiat Growth, a Silicon Valley based investment and growth company largely in the FinTech space.

Our conversation will be very useful for those of you on the brand and agency side to better understand the complexities of building smart influence approaches, but then we’ll also get into this Instagram UX and algorithm discussion. Katie was the guest, but she asked me a few questions and I jumped out of character a bit to wag my finger at some folks.

An entertaining discussion is here for you today.

This episode of Winfluence is presented by Tagger, a complete influence marketing software solution. Check them out for a demo today at jason.online/tagger.

A full show transcript is available at https://jason.online/katiestoller.

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Most of you know I spent the last five years or so at Cornett, a very good advertising agency in Lexington, Kentucky. Being an influencer marketing strategist at an agency is both fun and challenging. When you’re at an agency, you get work with a variety of clients, so you don’t get lulled into the same ole, same ole if you’re just working on one brand.

But, clients need cajoling. Educating. They don’t always know how influencer marketing works. Sometimes they don’t even really believe in it. And more often than not, they try to turn it into a programmatic ad buy and say, “Just tell them to post about the product and tell people to buy it.”

Certainly, not all clients are like that. Some push the envelope and bring cutting edge ideas to you. Others trust your judgment and vision and let you build concepts that may move the needle. Or even win an industry award or two.

Zach Walker knows all about the ebb and flow influencer marketing at an agency. He is the social media director at The Motion Agency in Chicago. Influencer marketing is one of his charges there.

He’s worked with brands like Oscar Meyer, Burt’s Bees, Triscuit, Kool-Aid and Fireball Whiskey, which we actually have in common. I also found out he’s actively running an influence marketing effort for the smart app capabilities of my garage door opener brand. I’m kinda bummed I wasn’t on his list.

Then again, you don’t listen to me because I can give you good advice on smart home appliances, right?

I invited Zach to sit in with me on Winfluence to talk about the unique linchpin position of leading influence marketing for an agency, get his thoughts influencer compensation, coaxing clients into investing in the practice, and a lot more. Just a show full of good tips and tricks for those of you in similar positions ... or those brands, creators and partners who work with agencies to get better feel for their perspective on what we do.

This episode of Winfluence is presented by CIPIO.ai, the community commerce marketing platform. One of the family of apps in CIPIO.ai’s arsenal is turning heads at brands and agencies. And that is our Community Generated Content application. It helps you source UGC on scale for paid and organic social creative and beyond. To learn more about CIPIO.ai’s user-generated content solution, visit CIPIO.ai/cgc.

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The primary reason I like to interview people about this wild, wonderful world we work in is that I know I don’t know everything. Even though we talk about a lot of the topics that I consider myself fairly well schooled or experienced with, someone else always brings a different perspective to the table.

It’s the accumulation of those different perspectives that I feel makes me, and I suppose, you, smarter. We’re better at our jobs because we listen to someone else’s perspective, even if it’s about something we fell comfortable that we know well.

I had the great pleasure of being a guest on Lara Schmoisman’s podcast, Coffee No. 5, a few months ago. I didn’t know Lara before we did the interview, but as I prepared and then chatted with her, I realized ... here’s someone with a world of different perspectives I need to know more from.

Lara is a luxury marketing specialist which is a category I definitely want to know more about. She’s also a global marketing expert. She works with clients around the world and can bring the experiences of working in different countries, cultures and languages to the table, too. Lara is based in L.A., but is originally from Argentina.

Her take on marketing and branding has created a nice following for her in the industry, not just on her podcast, but through her work at her agency, The Darl. I invited Lara to come on the show and talk to us about all those things and give us a little different perspective.

Today's episode is brought to you by Zencastr and Basecamp. I'm excited to tell you more about them, because I use them both. All the interviews I record for this show are captured with Zencastr. I've used it for years to capture high-quality audio over the web. It does high-quality video, too.

Zencastr records each guest locally ... the file is saved to their computer ... then it uploads the crystal clear audio and video right into a cloud folder and the Zencastr suite so you have high-quality raw materials to work with.

Get 30% off a pro account at zen.ai/winfluence.

And if you’re wondering how I keep all my work organized for this podcast and all the influence marketing strategies I’m working on for clients out there? That’s easy. Basecamp. I’ve been using it for project management and team communications for almost two decades.

Basecamp is all about simplicity. It’s designed to give you and your team the tools you need to get work done. Messages, to-dos, file storage, chat, calendar and more. Bring all-in-one project management to your business. There’s a 30-day free trial. You do not need a credit card to try it.

Go to jason.online/basecamp.

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This is a special episode of Winfluence. I’m going to step aside and let you hear someone else guide a discussion about influence marketing.

There’s another great show on the Marketing Podcast Network called The Endless Coffee Cup. Matt Bailey of Site Logic is the host of that show. He welcomes expert guests from all around the world on a variety of marketing and business topics.

Matt and I have known each other since an event called Blogger Social back in 2008. He comes from the SEO segment of the marketing space, but he is an agency owner, an entrepreneur and all-around brilliant guy.

You should definitely subscribe to the Endless Coffee Cup podcast. Matt does a great job of dissecting the expertise of his guests. Which is why I wanted to share a specific episode of Matt’s show.

Back in early February, Endless Coffee Cup featured Rashid Al Awadhi. He is leading the New Media Academy in Dubai. Its mission is to transform the Arabic region through digital skills and developing influencers. But, as Matt points out, it’s not the way most people think of influencers. It’s the way we tend to think of them here on Winfluence ... as people with influence.

Al Awadi and his team are working to develop people to change the region in areas of women’s rights, economics, sport, environment and more.

I was fascinated by the discussion. As you can probably tell, this is my kind of influence discussion. So I wanted to share it with you.

A segment of Matt Bailey’s recent episode of the Endless Coffee Cup with Rashid Al Awadhi is coming up for you today on Winfluence. Of course, if you want to listen to the full episode or subscribe to Matt’s show, I’ll leave links to both in the show notes. Or, you can just search for Endless Coffee Cup on your favorite podcast app.

I also want to touch on two fantastic supporters of Winfluence today. You’ve heard me talk about Tagger quite a bit on this show. That’s because they are our presenting sponsor. Tagger is complete influencer marketing software solution. I spent a couple of days with the Tagger team last week at the Influencer Marketing Show. And not only is it great software, but the team is just amazing to be around.

Pete Kennedy and his crew really do have the growth and best interests of you in mind when you’re a customer of Tagger. I’m not going to spend more time talking about the features. You know I use it. You should check it out too. It might be right for your brand or agency. Go to jason.online/tagger to get a free demo and see if Tagger is right for you.

And, you may have hear me talking about LinkedIn Marketing Solutions before the show, or maybe during the breaks lately. That’s because LinkedIn has partnered with me to offer you a $100 advertising credit to get your message in front of the right kind of decision makers. I use LinkedIn advertising to target leads based on job description, company, seniority, industry and more. That means I’m not wasting advertising spend getting my message in front of people who aren’t my idea customer. You can do. Get started with a $100 ad credit just for listening to Winfluence. Go to LinkedIn.com/winfluence today.

Don’t forget to drop Winfluece a rating or review on your favorite podcast app. You should pause and do it now so you don’t forget! Unless you’re driving. Then do it later, please.

Also, if you’d like a deep dive on an influencer marketing topic every so often, subscribe to my email newsletter at jason.online/subscribe. I send it every 4-6 weeks and go deep on a topic to make your influence marketing smarter.

Want to help make a future episode of Winfluence awesome? Ask your question about influence or influence marketing that you want my answer to or take on. Record a voice memo and send it via email ... or just send a regular email ... to [email protected]. I may use your comment on a future episode or your question to inspire a show topic. If I do, I’ll send you a signed copy of Winfluence the book as a thank you!

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The most overlooked facet of marketing execution across our industry is consumer research. The large brands and agencies swear by it. But the one-percent is just that: one percent. When you drop down to the lower end of the large brand spectrum, and then to medium brands and small businesses, consumer insights are seldom even talked about.

Not enough businesses invest in consumer research. Not enough agencies sell it through the way they should.

What replaces it for those who don’t invest in consumer research is typically generic, broad statistical analysis ... hardly qualifying as research ... proliferated by software companies as linkbait content on their websites.

The reason few brands actually invest in consumer research is that good, sound consumer research is cost prohibitive. It’s tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars to commission a research instrument. They also take months to complete. So they’re pricey and slow.

But where there is a gap in the marketplace, there will be someone who tries to fill it. Matt Miller is the founder of Raadz, a tool to collect consumer insights in a matter of hours, not months. And for investments of hundreds to low thousands of dollars, not hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Raadz allows brands to ramp up short question, and short duration, surveys for consumers in minutes. They’re gamified to drive participation and reward those participating. The questions are structured in a way that eliminates false answers and false positives from participants.

Brands can use the survey instrument for their own private list of participants, like customers or newsletter subscribers. Or they can build open surveys and promote them to their social media followers and other groups.

So what does this have to do with influence marketing? Raadz is actually going to market with the idea that brands can use Raadz to solicit feedback directly from the audience of the influencers they partner with. And there’s money in it for the content creator or influencer as well.

Matt and I caught up recently to allow him to dive into deeper explanations of all that here on the show. I am so gung-ho about this tool, I’m discussing a more connected partnership with Raadz moving forward. I want my clients to use it. I think your clients or brand should too. I think you’ll agree after hearing my conversation with Matt today on Winfluence.

This episode of Winfluence is presented by Tagger, a complete influence marketing software solution. Check them out for a demo today at jason.online/tagger.

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