July insights ??

At ThoughtLeaders, we pride ourselves on keeping up with the latest industry trends and news and putting the big messy world of the content into some kind of context. From our podcast to Linkedin, we are constantly sharing important insight about influencer marketing - everything from up-and-coming YouTubers and brands that are killing it with influencer integrations to advertisements spreading misinformation and the murky world of NFTs.?

This month has been quite a whirlwind - and the sweltering heat hasn’t helped. Read on to keep up with the latest influencer marketing news and trends:

Cannes you believe it???

It looks like prestigious film festivals are the next large force to dip their toes into the wonderful world of influencer marketing. And Cannes is leading the pack with a bang. A few months back, the invitation-only festival that hosts some of the world’s most powerful and beautiful, announced that TikTok would be an official partner of the festival - and you know what that means, creators rubbing shoulders with Hollywood’s top names.?

But, why has Cannes suddenly had a change of heart towards social media??

For years, Cannes has frowned on social media, even trying to keep red carpet selfies to a minimum. But just like many other luxurious, traditional events, Cannes (and other film industry establishments) have become desperate to stay relevant - which means luring in younger viewers. Organizers understood that welcoming familiar faces from social media platforms - TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube - would help set the stage for the new audiences they are looking to attract.?

Khaby Lame, the Senegalese-Italian TikTok personality that has more than 138M followers and recently became the most followed person on TikTok, was one of the influencers invited to Cannes. The former factory worker told The Hollywood Reporter, “I’m convinced this strategy will help attract the younger generation…It will give them the opportunity to aspire to work in the film industry”.??

Inviting social media's biggest stars has also led to another phenomenon - influencers branching out into acting and even directing. Take Casey Neistat for example - he’s created videos for YouTube since 2010 and has racked up over 12M subscribers. In 2019, Neistat decided to take his filming and creativity beyond YouTube and began filming “Under the Influence”, which followed the YouTube phenomenon, David Dobrik’s, rise to becoming one of the most infamous influencers of his generation. The documentary premiered at South by Southwest (SXSW), allowing Casey Neistat to add ‘director’ to his YouTube description.?

What’s your take on inviting influencers to prestigious events as a way to attract younger audiences?

Understanding YouTube sponsorship rates?

Have you ever wondered how much money YouTube influencers make? The answer is: It's complicated. Thankfully, we’ve worked with thousands of creators and helped them maneuver around the minefield known as YouTube sponsorships - so we thought, why not share a thing or two about YouTube sponsorship rates.?

We cover:

How much to charge for a YouTube sponsorship??

What are other ways to get monetized on YouTube?

Why should you be using a YouTube sponsorship calculator? Specifically - why you should be using a sponsorship calculator that doesn’t only look at your subscriber count (like ours!).?

Whether you are new to brand sponsorships or a veteran, this article can help you nail your YouTube sponsorship strategy (or at least make sure you ask the right questions when negotiating your next sponsorship opportunity).?

How does Skillshare show off its skills??

Skillshare is an online learning platform that allows curious minds to expand their educational horizons across various disciplines and topics of interest. Its primary mission is to make education available and accessible for anyone who wants to learn something new - and, boy, do you have a lot of courses to choose from.

But how does Skillshare remain a leader in the online learning industry??

In short - Influencer marketing.?

We took a closer look at Skillshare’s strategy, specifically their sponsorship strategy. So make sure to take notes.

Brands that sponsor LGBTQ+ creators all year?

June is the beginning of summer, the start of summer break, and of course, Pride month. Throughout this month, the LGBTQ+ community is put in the spotlight - everything from the Pride parade to brands turning their logos rainbow-esque. However, as much as we love supporting the LGBTQ+ community during the month of June, we believe that LGBTQ+ creators should be supported all year round.?

While a few brands make sure to create campaigns and partner with LGBTQ+ creators during Pride month, we wanted to highlight the brands that partner with this community all year round.?

Take a guess - which brand sponsors the most LGBTQ+ creators on YouTube?

Check your guesses here.?

Influencers are charging more for their services - is this good or bad?

Remember when we touched on the importance of pay transparency among content creators? How about all the times we preached about the significant role influencers can play in your brand marketing??

Well, it’s happened - influencers are charging more for their services. Marketing Brew shared that over the last year, influencer rates have gone up significantly, adding that “an influencer agency saw influencer rates rise by 44% from 2020 to 2021 and 45% from 2021 to 2022 thus far on average”. Why is it happening? Pay transparency and the spike in demand for influencers - in short, influencers are understanding their worth.?

However, this is a double-edged sword.?

Creators across different social media platforms are increasing their prices (great), but they are doing so without concrete reasoning to back up their rates. In other words, the higher influencers price themselves, the more they have to actually deliver, and when creators base their rates around ‘charging their worth’, brands are left scratching their heads - “is this influencer actually worth this rate?”.?

So, how are brands dealing with this shift? Brands are handpicking influencers who actually have the analytics to back up their higher rates, ensuring the rates can ultimately lead to a successful campaign and ROI. And, let’s be honest, brands are also finding cheaper influencers - creators who are more concerned with working with the brand than sticking to their higher rates.??

At the end of the day, business between brands and creators is a partnership (ideally a long-term relationship), which means both sides need to work together to succeed. Developing long-term partnerships is a great way to overcome this rift as it gives the creator assurance that they have more consistent work and protects the brand from future possible economic inflation.?

Brands and influencers, here’s what you can do about this shift in the creator economy - We want creators to ‘charge their worth’ (backed up by actual numbers) so we developed a YouTube sponsorship calculator that takes into account a number of aspects (average views, channel category, past sponsorships) and calculates any channels rates. That’s right, you can know exactly how much to charge your channel and brands can feel rest assured that they are partnering with an influencer that is ‘worth it!’ - win all around.?

How BarkBox’s influencer marketing makes customers sit and stay

Remember back in 2020 when everyone was forced to stay at home so the only logical thing to do was to adopt pets and spoil the furry companions??

While many brands suffered during these uncertain times, BarkBox, a pet subscription service thrived. Due to some paw-some influencer marketing and adapting to the current climate, BarkBox experienced a major uptick in business.?

We took a closer look at their influencer marketing strategy and where they stand today.

VPN providers that nailed their influencer marketing strategy

Fifteen years ago, nobody talked about VPN providers - but, to be fair, did we really know the inner workings of the world wide web? Suddenly, ‘VPN’ has become quite a regular topic in conversation, especially on social media channels. Why? Possibly because of the huge surge in internet dependence and content consumption or simply because VPN providers have turned to influencers to help spread awareness and gain more customers.?

Why are influencers great marketers for VPN companies?

• With so much of their personal information available on the world wide web, influencers know all the risks that come from having so much information circling the web with no way to protect themselves and have to rely on a good VPN service themselves.
• VPNs can be hard to understand and influencers will find a way to explain them in a more down-to-earth manner for their audience. Influencers from different categories can explain the significance of VPN services accordingly - taking into account what is most important to viewers.?
• Personal experience emphasizes the importance of VPNs - more than a billboard on the highway or the sales clerk at the computer store. The fact that influencers can share a personal anecdote as to why they use a VPN provider increases the chances of persuasion.

So, which VPN providers have already tapped into influencer marketing and partnered with content creators? Check it out for yourself.?

VidCon is back and MrBeast shared his insight

Between Cannes and VidCon, influencers were thrown into the limelight over the last few weeks. Brands and creators who have become major forces in the creator economy have opened up about topics that are on all our minds (aside from the Roe vs. Wade decision), such as the threat of recession looming on influencer marketing, why it's crucial for creators to diversify their business and content they create, and of course, the most important - how to get on social platforms’ algorithms' good side.?

Obviously, MrBeast and Todd Beaupre, YouTube director of product, were the ideal figures to discuss this topic.?

During the VidCon panel titled YouTube's Algorithm Explained, an important statement was shared - creators should focus on ‘how do I satisfy the audience?’ rather than ‘how do I satisfy the algorithm?’. According to both Jimmy Donaldson and Todd Beaupre, YouTube’s algorithm and its creators focus on the same strategy - seeing what worked in their past videos to predict future success. Beaupre continued to explain that YouTube’s algorithm takes two major things into consideration - personalization (what do we understand about each viewer) and performance (how is a video performing) when creating its recommendations. And, Donaldson highlighted that this is precisely what creators should take into account in order to “make good content” - thinking about their audience and the future.?

Of course, Davidson shared a little bit of advice for up-and-coming creators:

• Aspiring creators are encouraged to make 100 videos and “improve one thing each video”
• It can take a full decade - “like me” - to refine your skills and make good videos (in short - it doesn’t happen overnight)
• Short-form content is here to stay and “it’s only going to be bigger and bigger”. Donaldson emphasized - “if creators aren’t making short-form videos yet, they should be”

You know we love our memes

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