The Dumpster Fire that is Today's Influencer Marketing

After reading about more dumb deaths as a result of getting that perfect selfie, I was very much interested in publishing the conversation we had with Erica Ehm, media pioneer, founder of YMC.ca (formerly Yummy Mummy Club) and now Ehm&Co. In our conversation, Erica talks about how real influence works and how the automated platforms of today have completely missed the point.

And if you're wondering how people dying to get the perfect selfie is connected to the terrible state of influencer marketing, that's simple. The influence that is taking place on these social networks is on people's behavior, but not in the way marketers want it. What the audience has learned from the Fyre Festivals, Logan Pauls and the F*ckJerrys of this world is that any attention is good attention and will be rewarded financially. The worse the behavior, the higher the payout.

As Erica laments (and I agree with), "It's the money. When people smelled out that there was money, people who don't have a good understanding of the true meaning of what influence is started to appropriate the industry."

I was incredibly nervous going into this interview as Erica is one of the greatest interviewers ever, but she's also one of the greatest guests ever, so the conversation is fun and full of zingers. Enjoy it here:

• Apple Podcasts
• Google Podcasts
• embedded in our blog/links to many other podcatchers

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Anatomy of a Strategy is a weekly podcast hosted by Carlos Pacheco and Tara Hunt of Truly Inc. Each week, they explore the components that go into a strategy - through research, rants and brilliant guests. If you're interested in business and marketing strategy, you'll want to subscribe. Tara has been a strategist (digital and analog) for 20 years and Carlos has spent most of his 15-year career being the digital guy in analog media.