Winfluence - The Influence Marketing Podcast - Marketing and Influence in the Food, Restaurant, and Hospitality Industry

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

05/09/22 • 38 min

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Winfluence - The Influence Marketing Podcast

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

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

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

Previous Episode

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

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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

Next Episode

What Metrics Should a Brand Ask for From Influencers?

At the end of this show each week, I invite you to ask me a question or present an influence marketing problem you might have and either email me about it, or even better, email me a voice recording so I can actually drop you asking it here on the show. So far, I haven’t had a lot of takers and that’s fine. Though, I will send you a signed copy of Winfluence the book if I use your question on the show.

And no, my ego isn’t so sensitive that you can’t ask me to not sign it. I’m happy to just send you one not adulterated with my pithy quote and signature, if you like.

But the reason I do that is because this show becomes much more useful to you if I’m answering your questions.

Well, one of my old social media pals ask me a question about influence marketing of sorts last week on Twitter. Sheila Scarborough and Leslie McLellan run Tourism Currents. It’s a blog and resource, with accompanying social channels, for destination marketers, tourism bloggers and journalists and those who fancy themselves influencers in the travel and tourism space.

I’ve been pals with Sheila and the other founder of the site, Becky McCray, for probably 15 years. I don’t know Leslie as well, but I love the content and advice they all dole out to folks in that niche.

Last week, the tagged me on Twitter to see what I thought about an article they published called, “Ask for these influencer campaign stats.” It was advice for destinations ... brands in the tourism industry like convention and visitor’s bureaus, hotels, attractions and such ... on what metrics they should ask influencers to provide them for a campaign to judge how effective their content is for your efforts.

Without having to look at the article, I certainly know Sheila and Leslie well enough to know it’s going to be sound advice. And it was. But it doesn’t just apply to destinations. Their advice is sound for all brands and agencies to hear to know what metrics you should care about from the influence partners and content creators you work with.

On this episode of Winfluence, I’ll share Tourism Current’s list, and add both some list items, and perspective of my own, to help your brand.

Winfluence is supported by Tagger, the complete influencer marketing software solution. Get a demo to see if Tagger is right for you at jason.online/tagger. Support also comes from LinkedIn Marketing Solutions. Claim your $100 advertising credit at linkedin.com/winfluence today.

Don’t forget to drop Winfluence a rating or review on your favorite podcast app. If you’d like a deep dive on an influencer marketing topic every so often, subscribe to my email newsletter at jason.online/subscribe. Finally, 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.

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