Representation In Marketing Is An Ongoing Commitment. Here’s How To Keep Up The Momentum.

We’ve been ecstatic to see brands significantly improve their diversity efforts in marketing, and we want to continue striving for better representation now and go forward. Let us help you get there so that diversity goes beyond surface-level marketing and truly reflects the core values of your brand.

At Lytehouse, we’ve made it our commitment to propose casts that are diverse and represent creators of different races, genders, sexualities, religions, disabilities, body shapes, ages, and cultures. While the majority of brands we work with are receptive to these casts, we have also dealt with brands that are hesitant to feature diverse casts, not out of prejudice, but out of budget constraints or fear of backlash on social media. We understand that budgets can’t possibly accommodate the entire spectrum of diversity in a single campaign, but as our partner, we can ensure that when you look back, your campaigns over the course of time are collectively inclusive.

Backlash, on the other hand, is inevitable, but we’d like to put it into context; the 90/9/1 Rule, a concept coined by Jason Nielsen, states that in online communities, 90% of users do not contribute to online conversations, 9% contribute a little, and only 1% of users contribute frequently. In other words, the vocal backlash comes from a small percentage of consumers and does not reflect the actual sentiment of the majority, and the digital conversation is never the full conversation.

The long-term benefits of representation in your marketing will also outweigh the short-term perceived negatives; earned media from press is one such benefit, as is gaining attention and support for the communities you are representing, expanding your brand’s audience base, and building a supportive and diverse community. Representation alone will not solve all the issues that plague our country, but it does help and it does have a tremendous impact on those who see themselves in media where they couldn’t see themselves before. It is why we here at Lytehouse have established a commitment to diversity in casting to ensure that the campaigns we work on affirm our own values.

Our Reminders for Brands

Utilize marketing as a way to highlight your brand’s values.

Your customer base is diverse. When your marketing reflects and represents your customers, they can clearly see where your brand’s values lie. Committing to diverse representation in your marketing lets customers know what your brand stands for and helps humanize your brand.

Remember: diversity comes in many forms.

The best inclusive campaigns celebrate diversity and intersectionality, featuring models, influencers, and/or everyday people of different races, genders, sexualities, ages, body types, religions, cultures, and disabilities. 

Represent, don’t tokenize.

It is apparent to consumers when brands are using diversity for some surface-level representation brownie points. Casting is only the first step; once your influencer partners have been selected, craft your brand’s creative briefs to highlight each individual’s story, providing plenty of creative room in your briefs to let the influencers guide the storytelling. Additionally, your diversity initiatives and support for social movements need to be backed up by your brand’s actual politics and policies. Publicize your brand’s charity and nonprofit partners, provide ways for your brand’s community to get involved with partner organizations, and speak out about social injustices.

Commit to ongoing goals for representation.

Truly diverse marketing does not simply mean working with LGBTQIA+ creators during Pride or Black creators during Black History Month. It is an ongoing goal that should be ever-present in your campaigns. Small brands may not be able to book a diverse roster of 100 creators every month, but across a whole year of marketing initiatives, you should be able to assess your influencer partnerships and see a diverse roster of creators represented.

Acknowledge pay disparities within marginalized groups.

The pay gap exists in the influencer world as well. Brands understandably want to maximize their budgets for influencer campaigns, but it is important to recognize that there is no set pricing rate for influencers and that influencers from minority or underrepresented communities might charge a higher rate than another influencer with a similar profile and following. This can be due to access to a diverse and highly engaged audience regardless of the follower tier they fall under.

Expand your goals beyond simply sales conversions.

Related to payment and maximizing budget, brands tend to sacrifice diversity goals in favor of sales conversion metrics, which we view as shortsighted and detrimental to a brand’s long-term goals. While we understand that sales are the ultimate end goal for brands, we encourage you to think beyond short-term sales conversion and consider additional metrics like community engagement, brand awareness, and brand permeance. These metrics will demonstrate if your brand is succeeding at building and maintaining relevance in culture, which will bring new customers into your brand’s community and lead to long-term success.  

Work with creators as partners.

Bringing in diverse creators as true collaborative partners will help ensure that your marketing initiatives move beyond surface-level representation and achieve true representation. Cast influencers as ambassadors, collaborate with them on upcoming launches, develop co-branded collections with them, ask for their feedback on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, and take their lead when it comes to speaking to the communities they represent.

The Main Advantages of Working With An Influencer Agency

Harness the expertise of a full-service agency.

Brands are investing more into influencer marketing than ever before, which means scaling up a marketing strategy and spending more resources planning, executing, and reporting campaigns. Below are 3 reasons why we recommend working with an influencer marketing agency like Lytehouse to facilitate your influencer marketing campaigns:

1) Agencies have fostered strong influencer relationships.

Agencies like Lytehouse have worked with a wide range of influencers of every following size and niche, with a database of thousands and the inside scoop on past campaign performance. We can assess your campaign goals and efficiently pair your brand with the right influencer partners, saving you countless hours of sifting through influencer profiles and wondering if they’ll get the job done.

2) Agencies can offer key learnings.

We are constantly monitoring campaign performance and assessing the data, utilizing a suite of analytical tools to provide brand clients with actionable insights along the way. With our years of insider knowledge, we can assess performance and help you recalibrate for the future, providing your team with key learnings that will make the next campaign even more successful than the last.

3) Agencies have full-time staff to quickly scale up campaigns.

Influencer campaigns are dynamic and ever-evolving. As you scale up your influencer programs, you’ll want to have an on-call team to help you quickly and effectively scale up your campaigns so that you can achieve your goals in our rapidly-changing space of digital media.

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Want to work with Lytehouse on your next influencer campaign? Let’s chat.

4 Reasons Why Brands Are Getting Into Gaming Marketing

The old cliché that gamers are either male kids with no purchasing power or social misfits still living in their mothers’ basements is long outdated: we've seen a 79% increase in sponsored streams on Twitch and YouTube, and there's a big reason why.

The fact of the matter is that gaming cannot be ignored. The gaming industry is projected to reach a value of $175 billion in the United States this year, with 227 million gamers in the United States in 2021 according to a study from the Entertainment Software Association. As it pertains to the world of influencer marketing, gaming influencers are incredibly popular, with 1 in 10 adults worldwide following at least 1 gaming influencer according to a study from market research company YouGov, and amongst teens in the United States, gaming influencers are the second-followed influencer type behind music personalities. 

Beyond the high usership, gaming audiences are highly engaged with the content they consume. 30 million people are tuning in to Twitch to watch live gaming content on a daily basis, there were over 800 million gaming-specific tweets in Q1 2022 alone, and the gaming spend is expected to exceed a record-breaking $200 billion this year. Across watching games, talking about gaming, and spending on games, a new kind of fan experience is being forged through this industry.

And while we are discussing gaming today, platforms like Twitch, YouTube Gaming, and Facebook Gaming have found success beyond video game live streams, with plenty of popular creators hosting cooking streams, conversational chats, and other lifestyle streaming content. The possibilities of activating within the gaming community are essentially endless.

1) Young Audience Demographic

With 38% of gamers falling between the ages of 18 to 34, the gaming space is ideal for reaching Gen-Z and young millennial consumers. It is also more gender-balanced than many assume, with 41% of gamers in the US identifying as female in 2021, meaning gaming is a great space to reach young consumers of all genders.

2) Hyper-Customization

There are significant levels of creative concepts and executions that can be pursued, especially compared to the established sponsorship formats of traditional sports, music, and film. Gaming integrations go beyond purely media and product placement, and into owned events, gamification, and experiential content. 

3) Audience Engagement

Creators on platforms like Twitch have subscribers that can pay a monthly fee for access to exclusive content, meaning that they have truly opted into the creator’s content and are more likely to engage with it, including branded content. Partner with gaming influencers who have a strong subscriber base if you wish to see high engagement and conversion rates.

4) Depth of Opportunity

While streaming apps like Twitch are dominant in the world of gaming influencers, influencers in the space activate across social platforms, including YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok, allowing for brands to develop powerful omnichannel campaigns that reach varied audiences. 

7 Places Where You Can Amplify Influencer Content

Expand your amplification strategy. Expand your campaign reach.

Most brands spend the majority of their amplification efforts on Meta-owned properties Facebook and Instagram (and if you need some tips on Facebook amplification, we have those), but there are a number of platforms that allow amplification:

1) TikTok

Brands on TikTok can amplify and whitelist influencer content to run as video ads. They can also boost brand-posted content to target audiences.

2) Pinterest

While Pinterest doesn’t support the option to whitelist influencer content at the moment, brands can run photo, video, shopping, and carousel Pins as ads.

3) Twitter

Twitter’s Promoted Ads feature allows brands to promote Tweets to specific audiences (these Tweets don’t have to show up on the brand’s profile). Brands can also whitelist Influencer content to create Promoted Ads that appear from the influencer’s handle.

4) Snapchat

Snapchat supports a number of advertising options, including pre- and mid-roll ads, branded filters and lenses, story ads, and catalogs. 

5) LinkedIn

LinkedIn provides a number of advertising options, including image, video, carousel, and event ads, as well as message ads and pre-filled forms for lead generation. 

6) YouTube

YouTube allows brands to run pre-roll and mid-roll video ads.

7) Hulu

Hulu has recently launched the Beta for their self-service advertising platform, allowing brands to set target audiences and market video content during Hulu content ad breaks.

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Now that you know where you can amplify influencer content, let’s work together to strategize your next influencer marketing campaign. Get in touch with us here.

Why Did My Influencer Campaign Fail?

What happens when a campaign doesn’t meet expectations?

When a campaign fails to meet expected benchmarks, this is typically a result of one of a few things:

Poor Budgeting

The most common culprit of underperforming campaigns is a lack of budget necessary to book quality influencers at a large enough volume to achieve a high return on investment.

Lack of Strategy

We see plenty of people try a generic strategy or one-size-fits-all approach that doesn’t translate to the product being marketed. Planning and strategizing your influencer approach is essential to seeing results.

Too Much Client Control Over Creative

Overly-strict creative briefs and scripts may seem like good ways to ensure all brand talking points are hit, but they can easily hinder an influencer’s creativity and ability to make branded content come across naturally.

Unrealistic Benchmarks

Industry standards are always shifting, which is why we are constantly keeping a pulse on major changes and adjusting benchmarks accordingly, but it’s easy to measure against outdated or irrelevant benchmarks. We also see brands—especially those focused primarily on sales metrics—fail to consider variables like product pricing, influencer content messaging, website UX, and other factors that can have an impact on conversions.

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Work with an agency like Lytehouse and we’ll make sure you are setting yourself up for success, not failure. We can guide you through budgeting, strategy, benchmarks, and everything in between to make your influencer programs a hit.

What Goes Into Influencer Rates?

What is the monetary value of influencer marketing? It’s a question we get asked all the time, especially when it comes to allocating budgets toward influencer programs.

After all, influencer marketing has been heralded as a way to receive a strong return on investment for smaller budgets than traditional advertising requires. So why are influencer rates all over the place, and why can it seem so expensive to launch an influencer campaign? Let’s break it down:

Know what goes into influencer fees.

When you book an influencer, you are paying for:

• Photography/videography

• Model(s)

• Creative direction

• Location

• Photo/video editing

• Copywriting

• Agency fees (potentially)

• Usage rights (potentially)

• Exclusivity (potentially)

All within that one influencer fee, whereas those costs are spread over multiple departments, employees, and outside services for most companies. 

While many companies measure traditional marketing efforts in terms of CPM, that metric traditionally only accounts for media fees. When calculating influencer CPM, you must also account for influencer, agency, production, usage, and exclusivity fees in addition to media fees, so it’s a bit of an apples-to-oranges comparison.

Additional factors can also have an impact on what an influencer charges for a project:

• Scope of work

• Production costs

• Exclusivity and usage rights

• Brand affinity

• Influencer demand

• Caliber of influencer

• Engagement and conversion rates

• Niche

There is no formula for influencer rates.

Each influencer has the ability to set their own price for branded content, combining both quantitative (following, engagement metrics) and qualitative (demand, brand affinity) factors to determine what they charge. This is why you can speak to two influencers who on paper have near-identical profiles and present two varied fees for the same project.

Working with an agency such as Lyehouse will help you understand the larger landscape of influencer rates. While there isn’t one “industry standard” for determining rates, we continuously monitor project fees in this ever-changing industry and can help you separate the realistic numbers from the outrageous.

Provide clear and fair payment terms.

Paid partnerships are the main source of income for many influencers, so it is important to present clear and fair payment terms when partnering with influencers. For one-off partnerships, a net-30 payment is typical, but for larger programs, we suggest being flexible with payment terms to ensure creators are receiving compensation in a timely manner. This may come in the form of 50/50 payment terms so that influencers aren’t waiting until the program is complete to receive any payment.

Including payment terms that are fair and get influencers compensated in a timely manner will only improve your reputation amongst influencers and help keep the influencer marketing industry transparent and fair for all.

If you're ready to get started on your 2022 influencer marketing campaigns, don't be afraid to reach out.

What To Include (And What To Avoid) In Your Influencer Campaign Brief

Creative briefs should be less prescriptive & one-size-fits-all to allow influencers to do what they do best: creating content that tells a captivating and authentic story that speaks to their audience.

What creative briefs should include:

Scope of Work

The content requirements for the campaign, including platforms and post types. Consider a flexible scope that allows creators to choose content types they are best suited for based on social presence and consumer relationships across those channels.

Timeline Details

Set expectations for when drafts should be received, when content needs to go live, and how long amplified content will run (if part of the scope).

Do’s and Don’ts

What must creators absolutely include within their content? This could be brand tags or hashtags, photo requirements...on the other hand, is there anything that would trigger an immediate reshoot? Spell out any do’s and don’ts plainly so that there is no confusion on what the brand is looking for.

A Holistic Overview of Content Guidelines

Provide an overview of key talking points, visual requirements, and the overall storyline of the campaign. 

Examples of Content the Brand is Looking For

Examples of visual and caption content that the brand loves help illustrate exactly what the brand is seeking out of influencer content. While brands should not expect influencer partners to directly recreate example content, it helps give everyone a clear understanding of content expectations.

Want successful influencer content? Don’t do these things in your creative brief:

DON’T Provide a script or caption that influencers must read/post word-for-word.

Social media users are savvy to branded content and won’t be moved by generic, overly-branded messaging. Allow room for each influencer to tell a story through their content and make the campaign their own.

DON’T include frame-by-frame guidelines on what content needs to look like.

Likewise, a rigorous frame-by-frame outline of requirements will stifle an influencer’s creativity and prohibit them from making the content their own. Instead, provide a holistic overview of required talking points but allow flexibility for the creator to make their content unique.

DON’T require influencers to post on a platform or create a content type that they’ve never shared before.

Unless you’re activating an A-list celebrity to create their first post on a social media platform (think: Jennifer Aniston finally joining Instagram to promote the Friends reunion) we advise against requiring an influencer to post on a brand new platform or create a type of content they haven’t shared before. It’s why we recommend a flexible scope of work that allows the individual influencers to select the content types they are best at making. If your brand is insistent that every influencer partner post to a specific platform, do the research into suggested influencers ahead of time to ensure that each one has the ability to create that type of content.

Need help crafting your influencer campaigns? Lytehouse can help! Let’s work together.

Lytehouse’s Influencer Marketing Dictionary

We use a lot of lingo in the influencer marketing world.

If you’ve ever come across an industry term you’re unfamiliar with, or an acronym you can’t decipher, this is your secret weapon to knowing all the essential industry terms and sounding like a total pro.

Affiliate Marketing

A marketing model in which brand affiliates earn a commission on sales made through their promotion for a brand, usually tracked through personalized affiliate links or codes.

Amplification

Putting ad spend behind social media content to extend the reach of the content beyond the poster’s pre-existing followers. 

Analytics

The numerical data available for social media posts and accounts. 

Also referred to as: metrics, insights

Average Watch Time

The mean number of how long a piece of video content has been viewed divided by the total number of viewers.

Why it’s important: Average watch time is an important metric in determining if the majority of viewers are watching a piece of video content all the way through. An average watch time that is close to the total duration of the video indicates that the majority of viewers are watching the video all the way through, while a lower average watch time indicates that most viewers are not completing the video.

Awareness

A common goal for influencer campaigns in which a brand seeks to extend the familiarity of the brand amongst consumers. 

Benchmarks

The hypothetical goal set ahead of time to gauge future campaign performance. Typically set using industry standards to present an approximate idea of how content will perform.

Boosting

A type of amplification tactic that allows a social media account to put ad spend behind a pre-existing post and amplify it to a larger audience. With boosting, you can add in a call-to-action but you cannot make edits to the caption or visual components of the post. Boosted posts also have limited audience targeting capabilities.

Learn more: To learn more about boosting and another form of social media amplification called whitelisting, check out this blog post.

Call-To-Action

A sentence, phrase, or button that encourages viewers to take a particular action. Common examples include “Shop Now” or “Learn More” with a link to the relevant product or website. 

(Campaign) Brief

the set of guidelines that a brand or agency shares with an influencer that details the creative expectations for the campaign. 

Campaign

A marketing program run by a brand or agency.

Celebrity Influencer

Influencers who are public figures and typically known for their profession outside of social media. Actors, musicians, athletes, authors, and television personalities can all be considered celebrity influencers. Like macro-influencers, celebrity influencers generally have large, general followings and are ideal brand partners for increasing brand awareness and securing press coverage.

Content Creator

Someone who creates photo and/or video content, typically shared to social media platforms or their own website. See also: influencer

Conversion

The ability to turn consumer views into purchases.

Cost-Per-Mille (CPM)

The price an advertiser pays to achieve one thousand views on a piece of advertising content. 

Also known as: Cost-Per-Thousand (CPT)

Cost-Per-Click (CPC)

The cost of advertising a piece of content compared to the number of clicks said piece of content earns.

CTR (click-through-rate)

The percentage of viewers that click through to a link on an ad or other piece of linked content compared to the total number of viewers.

Dark Posting

When a promoted social media post appears to come from an influencer or brand’s social media account but does not appear on their profile feed, or as an organic post in follower’s timeline feeds.

Deliverables

The assets that an influencer agrees to provide for a brand campaign. These can include social media posts, event appearances, photo or video assets for brand usage, etc. 

Demographics

The data behind an audience’s makeup. This can include statistical data on the locations, genders, ages, interests, and behaviors of social media followings.

FTC Disclosure

Identifying the relationship between the influencer and brand. This can be done by adding a “Paid Partnership” label, adding #ad, #advertisement, or #sponsored clearly in the caption of the post, or otherwise clearly indicating a paid business relationship between influencer and brand. NOTE: Gifted product does count as payment according to the Federal Trade Commission. For more on disclosure best practices, check out our blog post on FTC disclosure best practices.

Earned Media

Additional publicity gained outside of branded or advertising content. This often includes press placements or mentions as well as shares, mentions, and/or reposts of either brand or ad content.

Engagement

Most broadly, the number of interactions a social media post receives. Those interactions can be likes, comments, saves, or shares. 

Engagement Rate

The rate at which a user’s followers interact with their content. This can be calculated by the following formula: the total amount of engagement a post receives / the poster’s total number of followers x 100 = Engagement Rate %. Engagement rate is an important metric to measure when assessing influencer partners because it tells you what percentage of their audience is likely to interact with their content, providing a more complete picture of a user’s audience than simply their follower total.

Exclusivity

The terms that limit speaking on or working with competitor brands during a mutually agreed-upon period of time. 

Experiential Marketing

Immersive brand campaigns that invite consumers to experience the brand and/or its products. Popular examples of this include brand pop-ups, branded speaker panels, classes, tutorials, and other branded events. Experiential marketing often refers to in-person activations but can refer to virtual events as well. 

Following

The action of opting into a social media account’s content. When a user is “following” a social media account, the user will be served that account’s content on their home feed.

For You Feed (FYF)

The tab on TikTok that displays videos from both creators a user follows and suggested videos based on a user’s engagement with similar content, as determined by TikTok’s algorithm. Commonly referred to as the “For You Page” or “FYP”.

Gifting

When a brand sends free product to an influencer, typically in lieu of financial compensation. 

(Instagram) Guide

Guides are a way to share content, locations, and products as a collection. You can think of them as mini blogs or catalogues that are accessible directly on Instagram.

For more on Instagram Guides, check out this explainer: https://lytehouse.agency/blog/instagram-guides-explained 

Idea Pin

A type of post on Pinterest that allows a user to share a collection of up to 20 photos, videos and/or text pieces as a single post that viewers can click through. These are somewhat similar to Stories on Instagram, except for the fact that Idea Pins live permanently and are visible on the Pinterest home feed.

Impressions

The number of times a piece of content is viewed. This number includes people who have viewed a piece of content at least once, but will count each time they view the content; for example, if 1 person views a piece of content 2 times, that will count as 2 impressions.

Influencer

A person, typically on social media, who uses their platform to provide advice, recommendations, and inspiration to their followers through the content they create and share. Ideally, an influencer has the ability to guide or have an impact on followers’ decisions.

Interactions

A metric that adds up the total number of ways users have engaged with a piece of content on Instagram.

For a post, this will add up the total number of likes, comments, shares, and saves.

For a story, this will add up the total number of link clicks, shares, website clicks, sticker taps, and profile visits.

Key Performance Indicator (KPI)

The way to measure the success of the main objective(s) of your campaign. 

For more on how to measure KPIs, take a look at our infographic here.

Macro-Influencer

An influencer with an extremely large following on social media, typically with a following of 500,000+. These influencers are great to work with when you want to reach a general audience and increase brand awareness. 

Metaverse

A virtual world focused on social interaction.

Micro-Influencer

An influencer with a small following on social media, typically between 10,000 and 100,000 followers.

Mid-tier Influencer

An influencer with a mid-size following on social media, typically between 100,000 and 500,000. 

Nano-Influencer

An influencer with an extremely small following on social media, typically between 1,000 and 10,000 followers. These creators typically speak to a hyper-specific niche or demographic. Despite their small followings, they tend to achieve high levels of engagement and are ideal for when a brand wants to market to a hyper-specific audience. 

Niche

The specified category or categories that an influencer speaks to in their content. 

Objective(s)

The goals for a social media campaign.

Organic: 

Can mean:

1) Content that is shared without any brand relationship or financial incentive

2) The data results of how a piece of content performs without any advertising budget set against it

Paid Media

Content that has an advertising budget set for it to increase the reach of said content.

Performance

The actual results of the campaign based on the final influencer cast and actual performance. A combination of influencer and paid results if amplification is included.

Pin

A photo or video post shared on Pinterest.

Quote Tweet

When a Twitter user adds their own additional commentary to a Retweet.

Reach

The number of users who see a piece of content. Unlike Impressions or Views, this metric does not account for multiple views, so even if a user views a piece of content 10 times, they will only count as 1 account reached.

Retweet

When a Twitter user re-shares a Tweet to their own audience without additional commentary. 

Revenue Share

A payment model between brand and influencer where the influencer earns a mutually agreed-upon percentage of sales made through their promotions of the brand. 

Return on Investment (ROI)

The ratio of the net income generated over a period of time compared to the cost of the marketing campaign. 

Saves

Users can bookmark content for future reference using the save button. Examples of commonly-saved content pieces include recipes, tutorials, motivational quotes, and infographics.

For more on Instagram insights, check out our full explainer here: https://socialyte.com/business-of-influence/instagram-insights-analytics-explained 

Sentiment Analysis

The evaluation of audience or consumer attitude towards a brand product, or service being promoted, whether good, bad, or neutral.

Scope of Work (SOW)

The mutually agreed-upon list of deliverables and/or services a creator is expected to provide over the course of a brand partnership agreement.

Shares

Users can share a post by clicking the “paper plane” icon, either through direct messages with friends, or to their Instagram Story. A shareable post can be anything posted to Instagram, including your own, from a hilarious meme to a news update to a cute pair of boots that someone wants to share with their friend.

Social Listening

The process of tracking social media mentions and conversations around a particular brand, product, influencer, or another subject.

Story

A photo or video post that only lives on a user’s profile for 24 hours. These are typically in-the-moment, less-curated content pieces. Stories can be posted on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Snapchat.

For more on Story insights, read this.

For tips on using Stories in your influencer marketing, read this.

Story Highlight

A collection of Story posts that live on a user’s Instagram profile permanently.

Strategy

The approach a brand or company takes to achieve and execute their marketing objectives.

Total Watch Time

The sum of all hours (or minutes) all viewers have logged viewing a piece of video content. 

User-Generated Content (UGC)

Social media content that features a brand and/or its products but is created independently by social media users. This could include a customer sharing an organic review, posting a photo featuring a brand, an influencer featuring a brand in a post organically, etc. 

Usage

The mutually agreed-upon terms designating where, how, and for how long a piece of influencer-created content can be used for brand purposes.

Views

The number of times a piece of content is seen. This number tracks multiple watches by a single viewer, meaning that if a single viewer watches a piece of content 10 times, that will count as 10 views. 

Whitelisting

Whitelisting is where an influencer gives a brand partner access to their account in order to modify and promote content directly from their account. Through whitelisting, brands can ​​customize a post’s captions, images, and calls-to-action to target different KPIs and achieve various campaign objectives and can also create posts that appear to be shared from the influencer’s channel but do not appear on their feed. In addition to customization options, brands also have access to a vast number of performance insights such as reach, engagement, impressions, and clicks.

To learn more about whitelisting, read this.

Managing Long-Term Influencer Partnerships

Long-term partnerships between brands and influencers are the way to maximize the potential of influencer marketing.

As a brand, you’re able to establish a long-lasting relationship with both influencer partners and their audience. Now is the perfect moment to start securing influencers for brand ambassadors for 2022 programs, and we have a few tips for you so your upcoming influencer programs can break through.

Our tips for planning your upcoming influencer ambassador programs:

Select performance-based influencers: Long-term ambassadorships are an investment, and you’ll want to prioritize influencers who can deliver on the KPIs you are after.

Test creators with short-term partnerships first: Before you commit to working with influencers for a year, try working with them for a shorter period of time to test their content’s performance and ensure that their audience is aligned with your target audience. You can even use upcoming holiday programs as the trial run.

Look for organic brand supporters: Sponsored content fatigue is real. Audiences will be able to tell right away if a sponsored post is a poor fit for an influencer. Avoid this by partnering with influencers who are preexisting brand fans or whose content and style align with that of your brand.

Understand audience demographics: Not only will you want your influencer partner to align with your brand, but you’ll also want to check that their audience demographics make sense as well. When you hire influencers to promote your brand, you’re really looking to market to their following, so ask for their audience insights ahead of time so you know the content will be reaching your target audience.

Mix up posting types throughout the program: One way to keep a long-term campaign exciting is by switching up the post types throughout the program’s duration. Instagram Posts and Stories are always popular, but try out an IGTV video, blog post, live video, or another content type to see how various posts perform. We also encourage you to activate across different platforms such as TikTok, Clubhouse, or YouTube, as cross-platform campaign strategies extend the reach of the branded content to additional audiences.

Offer incentives to influencers to encourage above-and-beyond content: Ambassadorships are about relationship building, not just between your brand and the influencer’s audience, but between you and the influencer. Incentives like a commission system, gifting, and VIP experiences will strengthen your partnership and encourage the influencer to go above and beyond with their content creation. We recommend providing each influencer with a personalized discount code to provide with their audience, as it incentivizes the audience to purchase directly from the influencer’s content while at the same time providing your brand a way to track performance and sales conversion. 

Be okay with adjusting your strategy: Even the best-laid plans can go awry, which is why it’s important to know when to take a step back and recalibrate if a campaign isn’t performing as expected. Instead of continuing with content that doesn’t work, alter your strategy for the remainder of the program. Just know that such alterations may require contract edits and rate negotiations with the influencer

3 Benefits of Working With An Influencer Agency On Retainer

As you build out your brand’s influencer marketing strategy and consider amping up efforts, you may consider hiring an agency like Lytehouse on retainer.

Having an influencer agency on retainer means access to a dedicated team that can assist with strategy, casting, execution, reporting, and scalability on an ongoing, on-call basis. From one-off castings to nimble strategy-led programs, an agency retainer provides ongoing support.

Here are some reasons why you should consider hiring an agency on retainer:

1) Access team expertise whenever needed.

Agencies like Lytehouse are staffed with influencer marketing experts who have unparalleled industry knowledge and experience. Whether you need help building out your year-long strategy or simply have a question about the latest Instagram update, an agency on retainer can answer questions and provide insight on questions big and small.

2) Receive dynamic data analysis.

Hiring an agency on retainer cuts down on the time-intensive process of onboarding and reviewing previous data. Partnering with an agency like Lytehouse for a long-term retainer allows the agency to access campaign data and provide you with data-based feedback and recommendations for the next campaign.

3) Build up your influencer database.

Agencies have strong connections with influencers (especially one like Lytehouse which has a sister influencer management agency, Socialyte!) that your brand may not have the bandwidth to cultivate. With the agency team at the ready and familiar with your long-term marketing needs, the agency can establish a robust list of influencer partners for upcoming campaigns, whether that’s a one-off partnership or long-term ambassadorship.

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Want to work with Lytehouse on retainer? Let’s chat.

Best Practices For Your Holiday 2021 Influencer Campaigns

The holiday season is quickly approaching, which means now is the perfect time to get on top of your end-of-year marketing strategy.

Here are our tips on how to make your influencer programs for the holiday 2021 season incredible:

Start booking influencers now.

The sooner you book your influencer partners for holiday marketing initiatives, the better. Influencer content calendars fill up quickly, as they can limit the number of partnerships they accept so they don’t overwhelm their audience with sponsored content. Booking influencers last-minute means you risk being unable to book your top choices. As we get closer to the holiday season, influencers can also charge a premium fee for booking during an in-demand time.

Consumers will be shopping earlier than in previous years as well. Last year, 38% of shoppers planned to start their holiday shopping in October, and 60% before December, and this trend is expected to continue this year. Start booking your influencers now so that you can secure your top choices for a reasonable rate and market to consumers ahead of the competition. 

Enter With A Game Plan.

Start with the “why” of your campaign and work backward: set your goals and key performance indicators (KPI) from the beginning, identify the metrics you’ll need to track, then select influencer partners and build out your content strategy with these end goals in mind. You should also plan go-live dates ahead of time to account for key shopping moments like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and holiday shipping deadlines to ensure viewers see holiday marketing content in time to complete and receive purchases in time.

For more tips on how to pick your KPIs and track campaign performance, click here.

Book Influencers As Ambassadors.

Consumers respond well to brand partnerships that are truly genuine. They’re also more likely to turn into customers the more they are exposed to your brand messaging from the same source. Consider seizing on an influencer’s organic affinity with your brand (i.e. an influencer that has already been using your product/service organically) or re-book well-performing talent from one of your previous campaigns.

Influencer marketing is all about relationship building, both between influencer and follower as well as influencer and brand partner. The best influencer partnerships understand this, working with influencers not as one-off contractors but as trusted brand ambassadors. Whether this means seizing on an influencer’s organic brand affinity (ex. a cooking influencer has been using a specific brand of cookware for years and now works with that brand to create sponsored content) or building audience trust through a yearlong partnership with several rounds of branded posts, viewers will respond well to brand partnerships that feel genuine. They’re also more likely to turn into customers the more they are exposed to a brand’s messaging.

Video Is The Way To Go.

Instagram has already announced that it is no longer simply a photo-sharing platform, shifting its focus to video content on Reels, Stories, and IGTV. TikTok and YouTube are video-focused by nature, and even Pinterest has prioritized short-form video content with its Idea Pins. The bulk of your influencer marketing for the holiday season—and in general moving forward—should be short-form video content.

Not only are social media platforms prioritizing video in their algorithms, but video tends to drive stronger consumer engagement for marketers. 60% of marketers found Facebook videos to earn more engagement than images, according to a Databox survey, as well as higher click-through rates, and according to a 2021 report by HubSpot and Mention, organic video content on Instagram receives 38% more engagement than photo posts. Video allows creators to showcase products in an engaging manner and lead with personality, and the visual cues demand users to pause their scrolling momentarily and engage with the content for a longer period of time than they would a static image.

Have A Clear Call-To-Action.

Each piece of influencer content you book should include a clear call-to-action (e.g. a swipe-up link for conversion) that directs viewers with what you would like them to do after seeing the content. Is your goal to encourage purchases? Ensure each influencer includes a swipe-up link in their Story content that brings viewers to a product page. Are you hoping to have viewers create organic content? Create a dedicated hashtag and use influencers to promote the hashtag and start the trend. Does your brand have a charitable tie-in for the holiday season? Include specific information on how audiences can get involved and support the charity. A clear and concise CTA will ensure that your campaign turns viewership into action.

Amplify Strategically.

During a competitive season, paid amplification is the best way to extend the reach of your holiday influencer marketing to a wide, yet highly targeted audience while guaranteeing a strong return on your investment. We recommend allocating at least 20% of your overall campaign budget towards ad amplification. With this amount set aside, along with day-to-day ad performance monitoring and adjusting, Lytehouse has seen brands achieve close to 100% return on investment. Facebook and Instagram ads are tried-and-true amplification methods, but we also recommend sharing sponsored content on TikTok and Pinterest to reach additional audiences.

Use Content To The Fullest.

You’ve worked hard to secure quality influencer content for the holiday season, now make sure you’re maximizing your campaign. Secure usage rights in the contracting phase so that your brand can utilize influencer-created content on brand-owned channels. (Do note that the more extensive the usage rights, the higher the rate can become.) Develop an amplification strategy to reach new potential customers beyond the influencer’s and brand’s existing audiences. Book evergreen content that can live beyond the holiday season so that you can run longer ads and get a head start on 2022 marketing.

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Let’s recap:

• Book Influencer partners ASAP for holiday campaigns

• Set campaign goals and KPIs first

• Schedule out posting dates to hit key holiday moments

• Cast influencers as ambassadors for larger programs

• Prioritize short-form video content

• Include a clear call to action with all campaign content

• Amplify strong-performing content to reach wider audiences

• Secure usage rights so you can use influencer-created content on brand channels

5 Reasons Why Twitch Is A Great Space For Influencer Marketing

The surge in video game streaming throughout the past year has introduced a growing power in the influencer marketing space.

If you haven’t been paying attention to Twitch already, you should be. The streaming site boasts 3 million monthly broadcasters and 15 million daily active users, and its power only continues to grow. Video game enthusiasts aren't the only ones taking note of Twitch’s growth; Lytehouse has observed brands like e.l.f., Nike, and Wendy’s utilize the space recently, and we’ve received a lot of requests from brands looking for ways to activate on Twitch in the past couple of months.

Here are 5 reasons why you should consider making Twitch part of your influencer marketing strategy:

1) Gaming Is More Popular Than Ever

Gaming saw a massive surge in 2020, and while pandemic-related free time may be to blame, data indicates that there are no signs of decreased interest. In fact, Business Insider reported that there will be an estimated 177 million monthly gamers in the United States. In 2020, Twitch averaged 93 billion minutes watched per month.

In the competition between livestream gaming platforms, it’s the most popular platform by far, with 5.4 billion hours watched in Q4 of 2020, compared to 1.9 billion hours watched during that same time on YouTube Gaming Live and 901 million hours watched on Facebook Gaming. So if you are interested in the gaming space at all, Twitch needs to be your first priority.

2) Gen Z & Young Millennials Love The App

As you could probably guess, Twitch usership skews young and male. 41% of Twitch users are between the ages of 16 and 24, with another 32% falling between the ages of 25 and 34. For brands looking to engage with young audiences, Twitch is a great avenue to explore.

Twitch’s audience is also predominantly male, with 65% of its users identifying as male. This is much higher than other social media platforms like Instagram (49%) and TikTok (40%). Brands hoping to reach a young male audience should definitely prioritize Twitch.

3) Users Are Highly Engaged

While Twitch’s usership numbers are still much lower than other platforms like Instagram, and TikTok, those who are on the platform are incredibly engaged. The average user spends 95 minutes per day watching livestream gaming content on Twitch, an impressive number when compared to other apps like YouTube (40 minutes per day) and Instagram (32 minutes per day). When you’re activating on Twitch, you’re reaching out to a highly-engaged audience who will watch content for longer than on other platforms, providing your brand with more opportunities to speak to said audiences and get your brand in front of them.

4) Opportunities For Innovative Brand Integrations

So, how are brands activating on the app? Partnering with popular creators on Twitch is a logical first step, but brands are getting wonderfully creative with how they showcase their offerings.

In May, e.l.f. Cosmetics became the first beauty company to launch a branded Twitch channel, hosting livestream beauty tutorials, DJ sets, and gaming sessions to market their brand to Twitch’s Gen-Z audience. In December, Wendy’s partnered with Twitch streamers to create signature meals offered through Uber Eats to encourage customers to order Wendy’s for delivery so they can continue gaming all day long. The fast food company also has its own Twitch channel with over 115K subscribers.

As Twitch grows to become more than just a video game streaming platform, with creators using the app to live vlog, showcase beauty and cooking tutorials, and host music content, there are more opportunities to get creative on the platform everyday.

5) Ability To Speak To Niche Audiences

One unique aspect of the gaming world is that it is extremely segmented, with users extremely loyal to specific video game content and Twitch streamers. A Fortnite fan may want nothing to do with Call of Duty content, and vice versa. This high segmentation may seem difficult to navigate, but it offers an opportunity to market to niche audiences and tailor content to their specific interests and needs. A multi-pronged campaign that speaks effectively to different niches within the Twitch community, with curated content strategies for each niche, will help you reach audiences across the platform.

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Still have questions about how to market effectively on Twitch? The good news is that we’re here to guide you through influencer marketing on Twitch. Let’s chat about setting up your next campaign.

4 Ways To Create Campaigns That Break Through The Noise

The pool of influencers has never been bigger, but that also means the competition for eyeballs is fiercer than ever before.

This means that the standard one-and-done Instagram post approach to influencer marketing is not going to have the same effect that it did just a few years ago.

So, what content will cut through the noise in 2021?

1) Embrace Long-Term Partnerships

For one, long-term partnerships are going to help you tell a story through weeks or even months. According to the popular “Rule of 7”, people need to see an ad interact with a brand 7 times before they remember it, so seeing an influencer speak about a product once and then never again probably isn’t going to have much of an impact on converting those views to customers. On the other hand, if an influencer constantly mentions a brand month after month, followers are more likely to remember the brand, take it into consideration, and finally purchase the product. By incorporating repetition into your influencer marketing strategy, you increase the likelihood for an influencer’s followers to translate into customers.

2) Lean Into Relevant Trends

Social media apps from Instagram to TikTok to Twitter thrive on trending content and viral hits. Creators hop aboard popular sounds and hashtags to make their content discoverable, taking trending formats and making them their own. When it makes sense for brands to do so, they can also join in on viral trends and give it their own branded spin.

Take Nathan Apodaca’s insanely popular TikTok video of him skateboarding while drinking a jug of Ocean Spray cranberry juice while Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” plays. The video was viewed over 78 million times, spawned countless remakes, and even got multiple Fleetwood Mac band members to join TikTok to talk about the unexpected reemergence of their 1977 hit. When clothing brand KJP put a preppy autumnal spin on Apodaca’s video, they received over 5 million views. KJP’s take on the “Dreams” video worked because they tied it into their brand personality and made it their own (in this iteration, the skateboarder is wearing one of KJP’s pumpkin sweaters and has a carved pumpkin head; the cranberry juice is replaced with a preppy classic, a Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte). The organic plug of Ocean Spray came full circle for Apodaca, too: Ocean Spray turned Apodaca’s video into an official #DreamsChallenge trend and also gifted him with a brand new truck (plus all the cranberry juice he could ask for).

3) Capitalize On Authentic Moments

Which brings us to another opportunity for innovative marketing: take advantage of authentic moments in the space when you see them. When TikTok’s biggest star Charli D’Amelio was constantly sipping iced Dunkin’ Donuts drinks in her popular dance videos, Dunkin’ saw the opportunity to partner with D’Amelio and created “The Charli”, a signature drink that fans could order at Dunkin’ locations. Because the partnership stemmed out of D’Amelio’s natural love of the coffee, it proved to be a major success. It also required minimal effort on Dunkin’s part, as they didn’t need to develop a new product, just market Charli’s signature order.

Other food companies have taken this approach in recent months, like McDonald’s with the Travis Scott meal. With both of these campaigns, the brands noticed natural affinities and transformed those into official partnerships, and because D’Amelio and Scott were already fans of Dunkin’ and McDonald’s respectively, their audiences saw these partnerships as natural progressions rather than disingenuous, money-motivated collaborations. 

4) Do It For The Meme

Similar to capitalizing on trending content, Instagram itself declared 2020 the Year of the Meme. Their year-end review highlighted the most popular memes that took the Internet by storm last year, from the Dolly Parton Challenge to Tiger King to relatable jokes about working from home in quarantine. Such memes succeeded on Instagram not only because they were witty and clever, but because they were inherently sharable. Shares and saves have become increasingly valuable analytics to monitor on Instagram and other social media platforms, and we suggest this be one of your key metrics to focus on when developing your social media content strategy.

Take the recent proliferation of Bernie Sanders memes: one iconic photo of the Vermont senator donning his favorite Burton jacket and a pair of hand-knit mittens sitting by himself at President Biden’s inauguration became an instantly viral meme that flooded the internet in record time. Here he is, joining the cast of Sex and the City as the fourth member now that Samantha isn’t returning for the reboot. Here he is with fellow meme icon Guy Fieri. In fact, one man even created a website where you could insert an inauguration Bernie into any photo you desire, should inspiration for a meme strike (and over 9 million photos were created on the site in the week that it was live). Or you can transform yourself into the mittens-wearing senator with an Instagram Story filter. You get the idea.

As a case study, the Bernie Sanders memes encapsulates so much about the content that succeeds in 2021: it tied into a timely event, was easy to transform and turn into a trend where everyone could add their own spin on the image, created for hilarious memes that were highly shareable, and the image itself was incredibly relatable. Who among us hasn’t felt like a curmudgeonly old man looking moderately annoyed with everything after this past year? 

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Gone are the days of obsessing over magazine-quality photography and vague three-word captions. Social media users want content that is sharable, saveable, and relatable; in other words, content that educates, entertains, and inspires. With every new social media post and influencer campaign in 2021, ask yourself how each piece of content is achieving one of these 3 main goals and you’ll see your brand grow and foster a community of its own.

For more on the latest social media trends and where the influencer marketing industry is heading, download our State Of Influencer Marketing 2021 report. 

3 Ways To Maximize Influencer Campaign Success

You’ve spent valuable time and money on your latest influencer campaign. Now it’s time to make the most of it.

Here are 3 ways that you can maximize the results of your influencer marketing campaigns.

1) Secure Usage Rights For Brand Channels

You’re already contracting influencers to create content on behalf of your brand, why not utilize that content for brand-owned channels and digital ads as well? Internet-savvy consumers tend to prefer influencer-created content over branded imagery, so utilizing influencer-created content can help increase clicks and sales conversions. Note that usage and amplification may increase an influencer’s fee and should be discussed in the contracting phase of a campaign.

For more on using influencer content on brand channels, check out this blog post.

2) Strategically Amplify Influencer Content

The right content amplification strategy is the secret to a successful influencer marketing campaign. Whitelisting (which we break down in detail here) can extend the reach of your campaign beyond just an influencer’s existing audience, exposing your brand to new, like minded users who may also be interested in your brand. In addition to targeting lookalike audiences, you’re able to customize copy, imagery, and calls-to-action for whitelisted posts, ensuring that you can achieve a number of KPIs and test out different strategies until you find the perfect formula.

3) Re-Partner With Successful Influencers

When you find an influencer partner who exceeds campaign expectations, it’s time to brainstorm the next partnership! As the industry becomes more saturated, finding and fostering strong relationships with influencers will become essential to long term success. Continuous partnerships will also help build trust with the influencer’s audience, as they’ll see the influencer returning to your brand time and time again and be encouraged to do the same. Join forces with your best influencers to help support new launches and marketing initiatives on a regular basis and utilize them as brand ambassadors.

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Let’s plan your next influencer marketing campaign together so we can ensure all your goals are met. Connect with us here.

The Basics Of Influencer Campaign Contracting

Contracts: a time-consuming yet vitally important part of the influencer campaign process.

We know, contracts are no one’s favorite part of the campaign process, but they’re detailed and necessary for a reason. Contracts set expectations for all parties involved in the campaign, from what type of content is required to when and how an influencer will be paid for their services.

A contract that is too short or missing crucial information can lead to disappointment and frustration further down the road of the campaign process. A clear and detailed contract assumes nothing and outlines all expectations and processes so no one is left in the dark about a partnership’s requirements. 

Here are the basics:

Disclaimer: Nothing in this post is intended to be construed as legal advice. If you need assistance with any of the issues identified in this post, we recommend you consult with an attorney in your area.

Do influencer campaigns really need contracts?

Yes! Contracts protect the influencer, brand, and any other party involved in the campaign. Even if it’s just a one-off Instagram Story post, creating a contract with clear guidelines and legal verbiage protects all parties involved.

What should be included in a contract?

Scope of work: What is being asked of the influencer for this campaign? This should outline how many posts the influencer is expected to post over the course of the partnership, which platforms they need to post on, and so on.

Pro tip: if the campaign requires Instagram Story content, specify how many slides of Stories are required! We can’t tell you how many times we’ve had to clarify what counts as “1 Story” with clients.

Creative guidelines: This is where all the photo, caption, and/or video requirements are outlined. Include talking points, image requirements, required hashtags, example content, and do’s and don’ts of campaign content. Providing clear creative direction for influencers to refer to will minimize back and forth on approving content and give all parties involved a clear understanding of what the brand is looking for with influencer creative.

Approval process: How does the influencer go about submitting their content for approval? Is there a limit to how many times the influencer can be asked to reshoot content? 

Campaign timeline: This should include not only posting dates but also approval deadlines. 

Payment terms: How will the influencer be paid, how much will they receive for the project, and when will they receive payment? This section should clearly answer all 3 of these questions.

Content usage: If the brand would like to use the influencer’s content for brand-owned channels and materials, it is important to outline precisely where and for how long the brand will be utilizing the influencer’s content. An influencer should never be surprised to see their content on brand materials.

Note: usage may increase an influencer’s rate.

Exclusivity terms: It’s pretty understandable that a brand would not want an influencer talking about a direct brand competitor in close proximity to a campaign going live, so this section is a great place to outline any exclusivity details. It should be noted that the broader and longer an exclusivity term is, the more an influencer is likely to charge. When you can, get specific about your content category (for example, asking for exclusivity in the shampoo category as opposed to exclusivity in the beauty category). 

Indemnification and liability limitations: By working together and associating themselves with each other to the public, both the brand and influencer are taking on new legal risks. These types of provisions (which can get fairly technical) ensure that both parties are going to take responsibility for any issues they might have caused for the other party as part of the campaign, and also minimize the amount of legal exposure they might otherwise have.

Cancellation policy: Marketing plans can change for any number of reasons, and after 2020, we became especially aware of how important it is to keep in a cancellation policy should circumstances around the campaign change. 

FTC disclosure requirements: The Federal Trade Commission requires brand partnerships to be clearly and transparently disclosed, so it’s good to have a reminder of what you require influencers to include in their disclosures.

For more information on what does and what does not count as proper partnership disclosure according to the FTC, check out our article here.

Confidentiality: When working on a campaign, it’s possible that confidential information will be shared between the brand and influencer. A confidentiality paragraph will ensure that items like the influencer’s rates or the brand’s trade secrets are kept confidential.

What are the biggest mistakes when it comes to contracting?

Omitting details and requirements: Essentially, the more details the better when it comes to influencer contracts. The biggest issues with influencer campaigns often arise out of lack of communication or expecting influencers to just know things, even if they aren’t explicitly stated. 

Expecting exclusivity: While a lot of influencers will try to limit the partnerships they accept in certain categories, unless exclusivity terms are clearly outlined in a contract, you cannot expect an influencer to know that they aren’t “supposed” to be posting about other brands or competitors. 

What’s the biggest contract red flag?

Asking influencers to NOT disclose paid partnerships. This violates FTC guidelines and can lead to penalties and other legal actions. Not to mention, it just feels shady.

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For all the latest on influencer marketing, download Lytehouse’s State of Influencer Marketing 2021 report.

Whitelisting vs. Boosting: Breaking Down The Differences & Benefits

We’re firm believers in the power of amplification in influencer marketing, but it can be tricky to figure out successful tactics. Let’s break down the basics.

Whitelisting, dark posting, boosting...if you’re in the digital marketing world, you’ve likely heard these terms before, but understanding what they all mean can be complicated. The world of digital ad amplification is still relatively new, and finding the pathways to success can be difficult for newcomers.

For Facebook and Facebook-owned Instagram, there are two main methods of amplification: boosting and whitelisting, and in our opinion, one is far superior to the other.

Boosting

Boosting influencer content through Instagram’s Branded Content Tool is simple, but it’s options are limited.

The Limitations of Boosting

As we mentioned, boosting is a little too simplistic to create targeted ads that maximize reach and conversion.

For one, you cannot edit a post’s copy or imagery in order to run variant ads and figure out which ads are performing better and worth scaling. Another drawback is the inability to target lookalike audiences through boosted pos ts, and some features, like Instagram Stories, are not supported through Branded Content boosting.

Last, advertising partners can only access metrics of an influencer’s content for 14 days after the original posting date, making it difficult to run longterm ads and determine success over time.

Whitelisting

Whitelisting is where influencers will give brand partners access to their accounts in order to modify and promote content directly from their account.

The Benefits of Whitelisting

Brands can customize a post’s captions, images, and calls-to-action to target different KPIs and achieve various campaign objectives. Through whitelisting, brands can also create posts that appear to be shared from the influencer’s channel but do not appear on their feed.

In addition to customization options, brands also have access to a vast number of performance insights such as reach, engagement, impressions, and clicks.

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We love the customization opportunities and insights that come with whitelisting and definitely recommend it for your next influencer campaign. Have no clue where to start? Amplification is one of the many services Lytehouse can manage on your brand’s behalf. Let’s chat.

Think Beyond Traditional Influencers

Stretching your understanding of who an influencer can be will open up your campaigns to a wide audience.

Traditional influencers—creators known for their lifestyle content on social media—are essential for digital marketing in 2021, and we’ll be the first ones to advocate for the power of digital influence. Sometimes, though, a campaign requires an expansive approach that looks beyond the realm of standard influencer marketing and considers a broader definition of who can be considered an influential partner.

Influencer Employees

Look internally and cast employees within your own business to speak as brand advocates. They can share an inside look at the brand and speak as authentic (albeit somewhat biased) advocates for the company.

Customers

Why not tap into your network of already-devoted customers? Create a dedicated branded hashtag to capture user-generated content, encourage audience participation through contests and design decisions, and bring customers into your brand’s valued community.

Nano-Influencers

Defined as influencers with under 10,000 followers, these creators have smaller but highly engaged audiences and can speak to niche audiences, making them great partners for targeting specific or localized audiences for a minimal budget.

Trade Influencers

B2B and SaaS companies can benefit from partnering with professional influencers with specified backgrounds who can speak to fellow professionals about the products that benefit them.

Graphic Design & Meme Accounts

Shareability has become an increasingly valuable measure of success for social media campaigns. Educational and entertaining text and graphic-heavy content is ripe for sharing, increasing the overall reach of content.

Activist Influencers

Social media is where we’re having necessary conversations about race, politics, gender, the environment, and other important issues, and social media activists are becoming influencers in their own right. You can work with activists as you would traditional influencers and partner with them on sponsored content, but we encourage you to look at larger ways you can partner with activists, potentially bringing them on as brand consultants to address diversity in marketing and within your company as a way to holistically collaborate and enact change both internally and externally. 

Niche Creators

When you hear the term “influencer” your mind probably wanders to fashion and beauty lovers, or perhaps world travelers showcasing exotic locales. The truth is, you can talk about pretty much anything and hold influence; take TikTok creator Tony Piloseno, who went viral for his popular paint mixing videos, as an example. For brands with products that may not make sense for a traditional lifestyle influencer to promote, there’s a niche creator out there who can speak to your brand’s offerings.

Entrepreneur Influencers

Entrepreneurs are taking to social media to educate audiences on what it takes to start a business and inspire others to follow their dreams. These entrepreneur influencers have dedicated followings and know how to sell, so they are great partners for conversion-focused campaigns. They also often have various online offerings, including podcasts, e-books, and online courses, providing additional ways to partner on branded content. 

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With so many people turning to social media to share their passions, there are more types of influencers than ever before. For more information on non-traditional influencers and how to best activate them, download our full State Of Influencer Marketing 2021 Report here.

CGI Influencers: Why They Became Successful And Why They Won’t Last

CGI. What is it? How do we use it? Why is it relevant in influencer marketing? Computer Generated Imagery has been around for decades. We all remember the Atari game Pong, or the mobile-friendly Snake which came preloaded on every early-aughts Nokia cell phone. Nowadays, CGI takes form in highly produced video like Avatar or Black Panther and has even extended its reach to social media. 

The popularity of CGI influencers is hard to miss. From Lil’ Miquela to the new-and-improved Colonel Sanders on KFC’s account (a genius move on Wieden + Kennedy’s part), they’re nearly ubiquitous.

The rise of CGI influencers comes from shock factor. We’re sixteen years into the business of influencers: Myspace and Wordpress launched in 2003. People became attached to influencers based on their personalities and their senses of style - it was fully original and every standout influencer was unique.

The days of original style of bloggers is long gone: Bryan Boy, Man Repeller, Fashion Toast, Karla’s Kloset, Sea of Shoes all had exceedingly unique points of view and carved out their own version of success due to their eye-catching style. Most started as bloggers, and as our digital attention spans decreased along with content length, so did their focus. From WordPress to Instagram to Twitter to Snapchat - content length was shortened and there’s no doubt we’ve been attracted to shorter-form digestible content in order to consume more.

Now that ‘influencer’ is a legitimate job description, you’ll find young, ambitious internet stars on every corner of SoHo shooting near-identical imagery to each other. Filters are ubiquitous, captions are short, personality is lacking. Authentic audiences are coming harder and harder to find because there’s not much unique or eye-catching about this new type of content.

Enter the CGI influencer. They’re unique, offer shock value, provide a sense of camaraderie for outsiders looking in. Companies like Brud, the one who produces Lil’ Miquela, have started developing entire rosters of animated influencers to drive shock value and awareness (a great PR move, frankly).

Just as with anything that shocks, the CGI influencer will remain an intriguing fad and will end there. The draw of real influencers will remain for personality, for something unique, for a fresh perspective. The standout new influencers who offer that (Officially Quigley, Jera Bean, Orion Vanessa) will win in the long run for offering something that CGI can’t: a human perspective, a connection with readers, and a compelling reason to seek them out, again and again, like a digital best friend with great advice.

Why Female Influencers Are Killing The Game

The wage gap is no secret. For every dollar that a man makes, in the US, a woman makes $0.85. That gap becomes deeper (and darker - literally and figuratively) when we take into account the woman’s race. Intersectional feminism has never been more quantified.

When it comes to influencer marketing, though, we have been able to turn that wage gap standard on its head. Women influencers are consistently more successful, make more money, and in higher demand than men. Why?

Our team tells our clients that women consume and shop differently than men. It’s commonly cited that women control 70-80% of household spending. They buy for themselves, their household, children, male partners, pets, and parents. By hitting multiple target markets via marketing to women only, a brand is maximizing their potential for ROI as they reach 3-4x the intended target market.

This is backed up by the evidence we see in our influencer campaigns. Women influencers get better reception amongst their female audiences than men do with male audiences - controlling for size, we see higher click through rates, engagements, and conversion rates across the board.

Influencer marketing is one of the few industries where women command more dollars than their male peers. A tangential industry, one that’s not to be ignored here, is modeling. Women models consistently make more than men in their prime years. When income is based on body & appearance, women become the breadwinners. Influencers are an example of this in that their appearance (and their content) is the moneymaker; The rise of plastic surgery among the Instagram crowd is a result.

Combine a heavy focus on appearance with an appeal to the people who control the expendable income of most of the US’s consumer market, and you’re bound to find cashflow for women. Not only are these influencers running small businesses as simultaneous models, salespeople, stylists, art directors, and writers, but they’re also pursuing a gap in the market that traditional advertising was never able to: controlling your own media on your own platform and tracking sales of consumer-facing products... Now that’s entrepreneurial genius.

How To Price Out Your Influencer Programs

There are seemingly endless ways that influencers can price out their content. It’s no mystery that they’re making good money and there’s no real way to standardize payout. So how to you plan out your influencer campaigns?

Influencers charge depending on a number of different factors, some of which include follower numbers, engagement rate, influencer demand, interest in the product, brand alignment, or, quite frankly, an interest in doing work at any given time (influencers need time off too!). Further, per campaign, rates will also fluctuate based on total number of deliverables, which social channel(s) they’ll be posting on, usage rights, any exclusivities requested, creative control, and timeline.

As a general guideline, expect rates to land somewhere in the $12-25 CPM (cost per thousand followers) range. Further, as a trend, smaller influencers tend to have higher CPMs and larger influencers tend to have smaller ones due to an economy of scale (i.e. for someone with 10,000 followers you might pay $200 at a $20 CPM, but someone at 1,000,000 you might pay $15,000 at a $15 CPM). You'll get better value with a larger influencer because of this, but it'll limit overall number of pieces of content (assuming there are budget restrictions), and larger influencers can be more particular contractually due to their experience and overall demand within the industry.

These are ballparks and should not be quoted (as of course these rates are up to each individual), but can serve as a good general guideline to pricing structures for your managed campaign. To apply this to a conservative example at, say, $100,000, you should expect to reach about 5 million followers, in whatever way you'd like to divide that up: whether that's between 16 micro-influencers with 6 posts each (at 50,000 followers each on average), or with a handful of macro-influencers.