Is The Influencer Pay Gap Closing? And How Do We Tell?

05/05/22 • 34 min

1 Listener

Winfluence - The Influence Marketing Podcast

According to The State of Influencer Equity report from IZEA, black creators on average make more than white influencers. But find a black creator that thinks that’s accurate and you might be the first. In fact, other studies and surveys show the influencer pay gap through the filter of race is still very far from equitable.

But the influencer pay gap isn’t as simple as creators should be paid the same fee for the same work. Our world is not that easy.

Yes, all things being equal, equal pay for equal work is right. But no influencer has the same amount of followers, the same level of content creativity, the same audience make up ... no two creators or influencers are equal. So fair pay for the same work isn’t easy math.

Still, we have to continue to talk about the issue so we can get closer to fair and equitable pay for all creators, regardless of ... but also with respect to ... race.

Latoya Shambo was a media buyer at an agency back in the mid-2010s. She had an idea to create a black blogger network, but at the time when blogs were losing their muster and platforms like Snapchat and Instagram were emerging.

She founded Black Girl Digital in 2016 and started building a network of influencers of color. It started as black women focused, but expanded to inclusivity involving men, LGBTQ+ creators, Asian influencers and others of color.

Shambo’s mission is to create opportunities for these creators ... I’ll call them minority creators just as a broad label ... but to create opportunities for them to monetize their content, build relationships with brands and yes, close that influencer pay gap.

She deals with brands and creators every day. She sees the gap. She fights against brands who don’t pay influencers fairly. And she has some ideas on how we can all work together to rid the industry of this practice.

Shambo and I caught up recently after a whirlwind media blitz for her. She’s been featured recently on AdWeek, Bloomberg, Marketplace, Jezebel ... But she stopped to chat with Winfluence and we’ll be all the better for it today on the show.

This episode of Winfluence is presented by Tagger, a complete influencer marketing software solution. With it, you can find, prioritize, connect and collaborate with, measure and even pay the content creators you use for your influencer programs. Go to jason.online/tagger to get a free demo and see if Tagger is right for you.

Also, 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. Go to LinkedIn.com/winfluence today.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

But the influencer pay gap isn’t as simple as creators should be paid the same fee for the same work. Our world is not that easy.

Still, we have to continue to talk about the issue so we can get closer to fair and equitable pay for all creators, regardless of ... but also with respect to ... race.

Also, 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. Go to LinkedIn.com/winfluence today.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Previous Episode

Creating Influence in the Middle East

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!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Next Episode

Marketing and Influence in the Food, Restaurant, and Hospitality Industry

1 Recommendations

There's no question the pandemic had and is still having a tremendous impact on the restaurant industry. In fact, as today’s guest points out, when you look at the history of how and why people use restaurants, the experience has changed.

Rev Ciancio is a food and hospitality industry influencer. Yep ... in the B2B space. He speaks at food and beverage industry conferences. He is a marketing and tech evangelist for the food business. He’s often engaged to consult with restaurants on developing their tech stack and customer acquisition approach.

But Rev is also quite the b2c influencer as well. He runs the channel @funwithfries on Instagram. It has 334,000 followers. For what is essentially french fry porn. Literally .. pictures of orders of french fries, mostly user-generated content he repurposes.

Seems frivolous and silly, right? Well he has a long-standing relationship with a french fry wholesaler because of that account.

His industry credentials give him true influence in a specific niche. His flare for creating engaging content gives him the consumer following. So, Rev has the best of both worlds as an influencer and content creator.

I caught up with him recently to talk about the food industry and its post-pandemic challenges. How he manages influencer marketing for his own local restaurant. What technology and marketing channels and approaches are smart for restaurants to acquire customers and beyond.

He gives some great insight for both brands an influencers in the first part of the conversation about how to divide your content smartly around various networks. Really good advice here, so pay attention.

Don’t forget to drop Winfluence a rating or review on your favorite podcast app. 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 make a future episode of Winfluence awesome? Ask your question about influence or influence marketing that you want my answer to or take on. Send me an email to [email protected]. If you’re feeling adventurous, record a voice memo on your phone and email me that file. I’ll let you ask the question right here on the show using the recording. Regardless of how you ask it, 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!

Today's episode is presented by Tagger, the complete influencer marketing platform. Get a demo to see if Tagger is right for you at jason.online/tagger.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices