Latest / Influencer Confidential / How To Make Money as an LTK Creator | Reesa Lake Interview @Shop_LTK [Creator Currency Ep. 15]
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: If you're a creator, chances are you have heard of,
- 0:03Speaker 1: Like to Noah, LTK, the social commerce platform that influencers
- 0:07Speaker 1: and creators love. I'm so excited to bring to you guys,
- 0:10Speaker 1: Resa Lake, who is the VP and Head of Creator
- 0:13Speaker 1: Agency and Partnerships over at LTK, to spill the beans
- 0:16Speaker 1: on what it takes to be a successful LTK creator
- 0:19Speaker 1: and more. Resa helps creators grow their income by expanding
- 0:23Speaker 1: ltk's reach across new platforms, industries, and audiences. She focuses
- 0:28Speaker 1: on building strong relationships with creators and their talent managers
- 0:31Speaker 1: to help them succeed across all channels. But before LTK,
- 0:35Speaker 1: she was partner and Executive VP at Digital Brand Architects DBA,
- 0:39Speaker 1: where she was the company's first talent manager. She played
- 0:43Speaker 1: a major role into turning influencers into million dollar businesses
- 0:48Speaker 1: and redefining what it means to be an influencer, bringing
- 0:51Speaker 1: both online and offline talent into the spotlight. Resa has
- 0:55Speaker 1: worked with top lifestyle names like Camilla Coheo, Rachel Parcel,
- 0:58Speaker 1: and Pola Allie. She is a trail blazer in the
- 1:02Speaker 1: influencer space and deeply understands how this industry works and
- 1:07Speaker 1: I can't wait for you guys to listen to today's
- 1:09Speaker 1: episode where we're going to talk to her about all
- 1:11Speaker 1: things monetization on LTK. We'll talk to her about the
- 1:14Speaker 1: creator economy and trends, and I'm also asking her advice
- 1:18Speaker 1: as a past talent manager when it comes to negotiations
- 1:21Speaker 1: and advocating for yourselves. I can't wait for you guys
- 1:23Speaker 1: to listen in. Hi, Resa, welcome to Influencer Confidential. We
- 1:27Speaker 1: are so pumped to have you on here as an
- 1:29Speaker 1: OG in the creator space and pick your brain. Welcome, Welcome, Welcome.
- 1:33Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you, thank you. I'm loving the pink blazer.
- 1:36Speaker 2: I know.
- 1:36Speaker 1: I feel like it's like on brand for you guys,
- 1:39Speaker 1: like we have to be like fashionable.
- 1:41Speaker 2: You do. I want to click through to your ltikit.
- 1:43Speaker 1: I love that. Well, Resa, We're so excited to have
- 1:46Speaker 1: this conversation with you because, as I've said before and
- 1:48Speaker 1: as I said in my introduction, you've been in this
- 1:50Speaker 1: industry forever and ever, which is a great thing. And
- 1:53Speaker 1: I think you're going to be able to share so
- 1:54Speaker 1: much insight, especially to our community of creators that are
- 1:57Speaker 1: listening in, that are getting started, that are hungry, that
- 1:59Speaker 1: are excited, But before we dive into all the good stuff,
- 2:02Speaker 1: if you could just start us off, you know, telling
- 2:04Speaker 1: us a little bit about your role at LTK and
- 2:06Speaker 1: kind of how you got there.
- 2:08Speaker 2: Yeah, of course, so you say og, I say dinosaur,
- 2:12Speaker 2: others say seasoned. But I have been in the space
- 2:15Speaker 2: for a very long time. And I started my career
- 2:17Speaker 2: in traditional pr where you know, my goal was to
- 2:21Speaker 2: get placements in magazines and traditional media dress celebrities for
- 2:25Speaker 2: rent carpet. And when the market crash and my brands
- 2:28Speaker 2: were not advertising, I had no way to fill up
- 2:30Speaker 2: my status reports for my clients. So I started to
- 2:32Speaker 2: start to see at the time, what were bloggers, which
- 2:35Speaker 2: were more so online blogs where people were taking stock
- 2:39Speaker 2: images and you know, writing their description of whatever the
- 2:43Speaker 2: products were. But it was nowhere near what influencer is today.
- 2:47Speaker 2: The first time I ever started working with bloggers in
- 2:49Speaker 2: that sense. And then fast forward A ended up taking
- 2:52Speaker 2: a role at DBA, which was the first agency representing
- 2:55Speaker 2: influencers before Instagram existed. Spent ten years at that company
- 3:00Speaker 2: managing talent, representing talent, and then launched our brand partnership
- 3:03Speaker 2: team helped grow, create and cultivate into your media, all
- 3:06Speaker 2: which were really focused on the intersection of creator, influencer,
- 3:11Speaker 2: brand and media. Did that for ten years. We were
- 3:13Speaker 2: acquired by United Talent Agency UTA and went on to
- 3:16Speaker 2: spend a couple more years at DBA, and then I
- 3:19Speaker 2: decided that there was kind of like no other big
- 3:21Speaker 2: growth moments there for me. And I have such an
- 3:23Speaker 2: entrepreneurial spirit that I love to always be building and
- 3:27Speaker 2: doing something different and being able to kind of like
- 3:29Speaker 2: pivot in my role even though still doing you know,
- 3:32Speaker 2: my main scope of services under whatever that role is.
- 3:34Speaker 2: But I want something new. So I made the really
- 3:36Speaker 2: difficult decision to leave DBA, and Amber Ven's Box, the
- 3:40Speaker 2: founder of LTK, was the first person that I reached
- 3:43Speaker 2: out to. I just really, really strongly believed in the
- 3:46Speaker 2: power of creator commerce and that was a big focus
- 3:48Speaker 2: of what I did at DBA, was really recommending what
- 3:51Speaker 2: platforms creators should lean into because I saw firsthand the
- 3:54Speaker 2: opportunity for them to make seven figures in commission. So
- 3:58Speaker 2: I called Amber, she said, let's figure out how to
- 4:00Speaker 2: get you into the org. And I joined the company
- 4:02Speaker 2: to really build out our Creator Agency Partnerships team, so
- 4:06Speaker 2: we work with all of the talent agencies from the
- 4:09Speaker 2: DBAs to the Shines, to the Sociable Societies to w
- 4:13Speaker 2: ME to UTA to CEA and kind of everyone in between.
- 4:17Speaker 2: And like, our goal is to make agencies feel like
- 4:20Speaker 2: they have the sport that they need to make their
- 4:22Speaker 2: creators as successful as possible. So I lead a team
- 4:25Speaker 2: that focuses on that. I also have a heavy hand
- 4:27Speaker 2: and a lot of events that we do, from smaller
- 4:29Speaker 2: regional events to our LTK cons and I touch a
- 4:32Speaker 2: bunch of other things, including the onboarding of really high
- 4:34Speaker 2: profile creators and celebrities to LTK as well.
- 4:37Speaker 1: You literally do everything basically.
- 4:39Speaker 2: I am like, it's like it's also like self inflicted
- 4:43Speaker 2: because I know already we enjoy being busy and always
- 4:48Speaker 2: having a new special project. If I don't have a
- 4:50Speaker 2: calendar that is booked every half an hour, I feel
- 4:54Speaker 2: like I'm not doing a good job. And again that's
- 4:56Speaker 2: all self inflicted, and that's something maybe I should be
- 4:59Speaker 2: like talk to therapists, but I always want to feel
- 5:01Speaker 2: like I'm working on something exciting that is going to
- 5:04Speaker 2: drive the business beyond again, like what my job.
- 5:07Speaker 1: Is totally and you're living with purpose, like you love
- 5:10Speaker 1: what you do, so you're just like in a full swing.
- 5:12Speaker 1: You know, It's just one of those spaces. I get it.
- 5:14Speaker 1: So I think what's interesting is because you've worked with
- 5:17Speaker 1: some of the world's most powerful influencers and most successful influencers,
- 5:23Speaker 1: you know, I wonder, are there patterns, traits, you know,
- 5:26Speaker 1: things that you see amongst the top creators that you're like,
- 5:29Speaker 1: she's a star, he's a star. Like what are some
- 5:32Speaker 1: of the you know, elements that separates these big powerhouses
- 5:37Speaker 1: from the rest.
- 5:38Speaker 2: Yeah, And you know, I think it's not even the
- 5:39Speaker 2: big powerhouses. I think that it's also what can separate,
- 5:43Speaker 2: you know, more of an emerging creator as well, is
- 5:46Speaker 2: really the depth that they're building with their community and
- 5:49Speaker 2: how they engage with the community. And a lot of brands,
- 5:52Speaker 2: you know, they have dedicated teams that are focused on
- 5:54Speaker 2: community management. Creators are their own community management. I think
- 5:58Speaker 2: the ones that are most successful for the ones that
- 6:00Speaker 2: have a deep relationship with their audience and their fans
- 6:03Speaker 2: and their followers, where if that follower to meet them,
- 6:06Speaker 2: they feel like they already have a relationship with them,
- 6:09Speaker 2: because that means that that influencer or creator most likely
- 6:13Speaker 2: is commenting back to them. They are giving you know,
- 6:15Speaker 2: hearts back on comments. There's a really deep trust and
- 6:18Speaker 2: engagement between the creator and the follower, and I think
- 6:21Speaker 2: that that happens at almost every life cycle of a creator.
- 6:25Speaker 2: I also think that truly drives the engagement so that
- 6:27Speaker 2: when you're looking at you know, from brands and when
- 6:29Speaker 2: they're investing in creators, it's beyond just the reach. So
- 6:33Speaker 2: like the mega creators may have millions of followers, but
- 6:35Speaker 2: if their engagement rate is point two and they're not
- 6:37Speaker 2: commenting back and they don't have that trust relationship, the
- 6:40Speaker 2: content is not going to hit the algorithm on that
- 6:43Speaker 2: creator's profile. So the brand is not going to get
- 6:45Speaker 2: that reach in too. If it is a campaign or
- 6:48Speaker 2: a partnership that's tied to sales, that creator doesn't have
- 6:51Speaker 2: the trust with their audience to drive the metrics needed
- 6:54Speaker 2: for success in that campaign. So all successes of creators
- 6:57Speaker 2: is tied back to the deep trust that they have
- 6:59Speaker 2: with their community and the ability to continue to engage
- 7:02Speaker 2: with that community.
- 7:03Speaker 1: I love that it's interesting though, because I find that, like,
- 7:06Speaker 1: as creators grow and they hit this like not point
- 7:09Speaker 1: of no return, but that engagement gets harder and harder
- 7:12Speaker 1: to manage. Right, because one of my friends was like,
- 7:14Speaker 1: imagine three hundred and fifty thousand people having your phone number,
- 7:18Speaker 1: like the amount of texts right, DMS or like yeah,
- 7:21Speaker 1: just measurement that I get. But I guess for a
- 7:23Speaker 1: creator to scale, and this idea of trust and community
- 7:27Speaker 1: is they can't let their foot off the pedal, so
- 7:29Speaker 1: to speak, like you can't just get like huge and
- 7:31Speaker 1: then be like, Okay, I forgot about the people that
- 7:33Speaker 1: brought me there, so kind of keeping that energy towards
- 7:36Speaker 1: the engagement. So is engagement sort of I guess from
- 7:39Speaker 1: a brand perspective or on your side, a metric that
- 7:42Speaker 1: brands are still looking at, like in order to kind
- 7:45Speaker 1: of determine if a creator is potentially worth working with.
- 7:49Speaker 1: Is that still one of the big KPIs that brands
- 7:51Speaker 1: are interested in a.
- 7:52Speaker 2: Lot of the brands that we work with or focus
- 7:54Speaker 2: on sales or focus on row as like what is
- 7:56Speaker 2: this spend going to result in after a partnership wraps?
- 8:01Speaker 2: And we're also working on a lot of upper funnel
- 8:04Speaker 2: campaigns that are really focused on the entertainment content. So
- 8:07Speaker 2: I'd say it really depends on what the brand is
- 8:09Speaker 2: some wants, some want to see a return on their spend,
- 8:12Speaker 2: and some just want, you know, content that is really
- 8:14Speaker 2: sticky and engaging and is going to pull in that
- 8:17Speaker 2: consumer and is truly you know, more so the entertainment,
- 8:21Speaker 2: where where I'd say a lot of brands are focused
- 8:24Speaker 2: on really what is the sales, But you're not going
- 8:26Speaker 2: to get entertainment and you're not going to get sales
- 8:28Speaker 2: if you don't have engagement. So I'd say engagement is
- 8:30Speaker 2: like the underlying metric for success. You can't have a
- 8:34Speaker 2: successful campaign if the audience is not is not engaged,
- 8:37Speaker 2: and you know we're seeing across social media is just
- 8:40Speaker 2: you know, the algorithms are continuing to deprioritize creators in
- 8:45Speaker 2: their followers feeds. Like I see it firsthand. I'm going
- 8:47Speaker 2: through Instagram and I'm like, oh my gosh, what happened
- 8:50Speaker 2: to this creator? They completely fell off the earth? And
- 8:52Speaker 2: no they didn't. They're posting. They're just not in my
- 8:54Speaker 2: algorithm anymore. They've fallen off. But now I'm seeing suggested
- 8:57Speaker 2: accounts that that I should go follow. So I think
- 9:00Speaker 2: that building that that true engagement is going to drive
- 9:04Speaker 2: the success metrics, whether that is entertainment, whether that is
- 9:08Speaker 2: pr value, it all goes back to the deep trust
- 9:11Speaker 2: with the community.
- 9:12Speaker 1: You mentioned the idea of creators not being able to
- 9:15Speaker 1: get seen, right, So there's that underlying frustration of like,
- 9:19Speaker 1: I'm doing everything, I'm posting, I'm creating and researching, I
- 9:21Speaker 1: have a hook, I have it all right, but reaches
- 9:24Speaker 1: down and it's down across all platforms, and there's like
- 9:27Speaker 1: this immense frustration. And even though we'll say to creators,
- 9:30Speaker 1: you know, don't tie yourself to your likes or your worth,
- 9:33Speaker 1: but I mean it's hard. You put a lot of
- 9:34Speaker 1: effort in a piece of content and no one's seeing
- 9:37Speaker 1: it and you're frustrated. So what would you say to
- 9:39Speaker 1: creators that are feeling frustrated with like these algorithm changes,
- 9:42Speaker 1: how can they kind of find solace of so to speak?
- 9:46Speaker 1: Or how can they make amends with it? Because it
- 9:47Speaker 1: is frustrating.
- 9:48Speaker 2: Yeah, And I really feel for creators. They're spending so
- 9:51Speaker 2: much time and energy creating this content sharing it, and
- 9:53Speaker 2: they've also built the community. They have spent years, some
- 9:56Speaker 2: have spent decades building up who they're following. It is so
- 9:59Speaker 2: to now not be able to reach them is really
- 10:02Speaker 2: you know it. It has created a lot of like
- 10:05Speaker 2: insecurity and it has created a lot of frustration and
- 10:09Speaker 2: a lot of creators are feeling like there's there's a
- 10:12Speaker 2: mistrust in platforms as well. And you know, I think
- 10:15Speaker 2: with LTK, you know, our sole focus has been to
- 10:18Speaker 2: build a platform. So we have two apps. We have
- 10:21Speaker 2: one the creator app into the consumer app, where consumers
- 10:24Speaker 2: can discover creators, follow creators they love, get engaged with
- 10:27Speaker 2: the creators that they have a deep relationship with that
- 10:30Speaker 2: they've maybe found on social media, but they can really
- 10:32Speaker 2: keep up with them on lt K, And everything that
- 10:34Speaker 2: we're building on LTK is to make sure that creators
- 10:36Speaker 2: really can reach that audience so that when you are
- 10:39Speaker 2: following a creator and you were going into LTK and
- 10:42Speaker 2: you're scrolling, you're seeing all of the creators that you follow,
- 10:45Speaker 2: you are not being inundated with, you know, advertisements or
- 10:48Speaker 2: creators that maybe you don't know within your following feed.
- 10:51Speaker 2: We recently launched a watch tab which allows creators to
- 10:55Speaker 2: get more visibility to new followers. But on LTK, everything
- 10:59Speaker 2: that we're doing is so that you could reach that
- 11:01Speaker 2: audience in a trusted place and building out tools that
- 11:04Speaker 2: allow you to have deeper connection with those audiences.
- 11:07Speaker 1: So it feels more of like of a home base, right,
- 11:09Speaker 1: So that's kind of where you guys.
- 11:10Speaker 2: Are spent that. I mean, that's what Amber says, our founder.
- 11:14Speaker 2: LTK is your home base. It's where you can meet
- 11:16Speaker 2: and keep that audience and you don't feel like you're
- 11:20Speaker 2: going to lose them to another another motive of a platform.
- 11:25Speaker 2: So everything that we're doing in LTK is to make
- 11:27Speaker 2: creators as economically successful as possible. So all of the
- 11:31Speaker 2: push notifications, all of the messages that we send out
- 11:34Speaker 2: on behalf of creators. Last year we sent close to
- 11:36Speaker 2: one billion push notifications to consumers to bring them back
- 11:40Speaker 2: into LTK and bring them to that creator's profile. We're
- 11:44Speaker 2: not sending them off to a brand's website. We are
- 11:46Speaker 2: not sending them off to a third party. It's truly
- 11:49Speaker 2: to bring those audiences to them so they can one
- 11:52Speaker 2: increase sales that they have from that community, but truly
- 11:55Speaker 2: to help them build a deeper connection with that with
- 11:57Speaker 2: that audience.
- 11:58Speaker 1: No, that and I think that's amazing. I think it's interesting.
- 12:00Speaker 1: I'd actually love if you don't mind sharing a little
- 12:03Speaker 1: bit more about this watch Creators and New You functionality,
- 12:06Speaker 1: because I feel like it is in you update that
- 12:08Speaker 1: you guys are rolling out, So it'd be nice to
- 12:10Speaker 1: maybe kind of hear from the horse's mouth direct what
- 12:13Speaker 1: is what are some of these changes that are coming
- 12:15Speaker 1: down the pipeline over l LTK for creators who are
- 12:18Speaker 1: maybe already on the platform and excited to hear more.
- 12:22Speaker 2: Yeah, we are really excited about all the work. It
- 12:24Speaker 2: started really in December of last year. We decided to
- 12:29Speaker 2: build a whole new consumer app. So the goal was
- 12:32Speaker 2: to create an app that was very rich in video
- 12:35Speaker 2: content and really centered around video entertainment content. A watchtab
- 12:41Speaker 2: and a following tab, so your following tab will always
- 12:43Speaker 2: be be sacred. It's where you can follow and catch
- 12:46Speaker 2: up with the creators that you have already opted in
- 12:48Speaker 2: to follow. You already probably can have a connection to
- 12:52Speaker 2: them in some way. But we launched a watchtab where
- 12:55Speaker 2: now creators video content will be surfaced up in the
- 12:59Speaker 2: watch tab, and within the watchtab, you can sort and
- 13:02Speaker 2: search by different categories. So you could search by interests,
- 13:05Speaker 2: which is really exciting. So if you know that you
- 13:07Speaker 2: love beauty creators, and then you can also search by
- 13:09Speaker 2: location and find creators news. So say I'm going into
- 13:12Speaker 2: New York City this weekend, and I want to see
- 13:14Speaker 2: what creators are wearing in New York City, I can
- 13:17Speaker 2: toggle over to New York City and then I'm going
- 13:18Speaker 2: to see Brooklyn Blonde in my watch feed and I'm
- 13:21Speaker 2: going to see what her style is. Then if I'm
- 13:23Speaker 2: really interested in beauty trends in New York, I can
- 13:25Speaker 2: search beauty in New York to see what kind of
- 13:28Speaker 2: the beauty trends are in that market. Again, a way
- 13:31Speaker 2: to give creators another way and alt kate a build
- 13:34Speaker 2: and grow their community, but also for consumers to give
- 13:37Speaker 2: them what they're interested in and to make it easier
- 13:39Speaker 2: for them to discover creators in a market that they live.
- 13:42Speaker 2: So it's something that we've been really excited about. And
- 13:44Speaker 2: then we've also just rolled out so many new tools
- 13:48Speaker 2: for creators to make posting more efficiently and also create
- 13:52Speaker 2: content that we know that they want the tools to create,
- 13:56Speaker 2: So we rolled out a whole new editing suite of
- 13:58Speaker 2: tools where you can now add music to to content
- 14:00Speaker 2: in LTK. You can do captions, you can do overlay,
- 14:03Speaker 2: is voice. All of the needs that you have for
- 14:05Speaker 2: content editing is now available in LTK. It's not fully
- 14:09Speaker 2: rolled out to all creators. We're still in a beta phase,
- 14:12Speaker 2: but we're rolling out Chat where creators can actually create
- 14:16Speaker 2: a chat with their with their audience.
- 14:18Speaker 1: That is so exciting.
- 14:20Speaker 2: Yes, we're very excited about Chat. We're already starting to
- 14:23Speaker 2: see great success with the creators who have access to that.
- 14:25Speaker 2: But you know, when we sit around, we have over
- 14:28Speaker 2: eight hundred and fifty employees at LTK, and our entire
- 14:31Speaker 2: focus is how do we build like products that make
- 14:34Speaker 2: creators' lives easier to build and grow a community. How
- 14:36Speaker 2: do we make products that make it really easy for
- 14:39Speaker 2: consumers to discover creators, to shop from creators, to spend
- 14:42Speaker 2: time with their favorite creators, and then also tools that
- 14:45Speaker 2: really help optimize brands campaigns that they that they are
- 14:48Speaker 2: running in all different shapes and forms. But when we
- 14:51Speaker 2: sit around with our product developers and I'm lucky that
- 14:54Speaker 2: I get to be in those rooms and we're talking
- 14:56Speaker 2: about what do we build next, we are brainstorming like
- 14:59Speaker 2: what our our customers asking for? What are creators asking for?
- 15:02Speaker 2: And then two, what can we build that will future
- 15:04Speaker 2: proof their business so that if for some reason and
- 15:07Speaker 2: a social media media platform is no longer in existent
- 15:10Speaker 2: or if the algorithm continues to depreciate the content, what
- 15:14Speaker 2: can we build that will make sure that they are
- 15:16Speaker 2: still able to have an income from the audience that
- 15:19Speaker 2: they've built.
- 15:20Speaker 1: So let's talk about the income piece, because there may
- 15:22Speaker 1: be people here that are listening in. You know, my
- 15:26Speaker 1: community is all creator centric and we're always talking about monetization,
- 15:30Speaker 1: just different ways to monetize. And I think originally when
- 15:33Speaker 1: we think LTK, especially for creators that are just kind
- 15:36Speaker 1: of getting in and putting their toes in, you know,
- 15:38Speaker 1: we're thinking of standard affiliate, but I know that you
- 15:41Speaker 1: guys also work brand deals through LTK as well. So
- 15:45Speaker 1: I would love just to take a second and talk
- 15:47Speaker 1: about monetization very specifically. How are creators using LTK to
- 15:53Speaker 1: fuldproof their businesses but financially right, like, how are creators
- 15:56Speaker 1: making money on LTK? What are the different ways?
- 15:58Speaker 2: Yeah, how are you future proof and how are you
- 16:00Speaker 2: diversifying that modification. I know that when creators I remember,
- 16:04Speaker 2: you know, when I manage talent and I'd sit down
- 16:05Speaker 2: in a conference room and say what are your dreams?
- 16:08Speaker 2: Everybody said, I want to land brand deals. I want
- 16:10Speaker 2: to land brand deals. But I think that sometimes they
- 16:13Speaker 2: land that brand deal and they're like, oh my gosh,
- 16:15Speaker 2: there's so many requirements with this brand deal, and you know,
- 16:17Speaker 2: the brand is really trying to take control of the content.
- 16:20Speaker 2: And what's incredible about the opportunity to monetize on LTK
- 16:24Speaker 2: is you don't have to wait around for a brand
- 16:26Speaker 2: to bring you a brand deal. You can monetize content
- 16:29Speaker 2: from follower one. So being able to earn commission across
- 16:33Speaker 2: over a million brands on LTK is an incredible way
- 16:36Speaker 2: to increase that monetization again not having to wait around
- 16:40Speaker 2: for a brand. But then on our brand side, we
- 16:42Speaker 2: are operating campaigns on behalf of brands in many different ways.
- 16:46Speaker 2: So we are running you know, large scale paid campaigns
- 16:50Speaker 2: with big retailers and brands like Quints and Amazon and Target, Adidas.
- 16:55Speaker 2: And then we have a marketplace where creators can actually
- 16:58Speaker 2: go in and they can pitch themselves to brands so
- 17:00Speaker 2: they can provide all of their data and information, they
- 17:03Speaker 2: can you know, try and secure partnerships with these brands
- 17:06Speaker 2: that are are offering paid and gifting campaigns. We also
- 17:10Speaker 2: have an obligation free gifting platform, or creators can tin
- 17:14Speaker 2: to receive a gift from a brand. We are launching
- 17:19Speaker 2: new new collaboration opportunities which will be coming and announced
- 17:24Speaker 2: very soon. But they are all different ways that creators
- 17:27Speaker 2: can work with brands because it's not a one size
- 17:30Speaker 2: fits all and it gives you the opportunity to have
- 17:32Speaker 2: more control instead of having to sit around and wait
- 17:36Speaker 2: for brand campaign.
- 17:37Speaker 1: And it looks like you don't have to choose, which
- 17:39Speaker 1: is the lovely part, Like you can do the affiliate side.
- 17:42Speaker 1: You can opt into certain brand campaigns. You know, there's
- 17:45Speaker 1: like a little bit of both, so they're not they're
- 17:47Speaker 1: not at odds with each other. It's not like I
- 17:49Speaker 1: have to be one or the other. Like you got
- 17:51Speaker 1: to have a little bit of both in your in
- 17:53Speaker 1: your mix, you.
- 17:54Speaker 2: Know, and leaning into you know, leaning into LTK and
- 17:58Speaker 2: being able to show a conversion story for a brand
- 18:01Speaker 2: is only going to help to elevate you to that brand.
- 18:04Speaker 2: For those bigger paid collaborations. Think of LTK as almost
- 18:08Speaker 2: your resume to brands, because you're able to show them
- 18:11Speaker 2: not only the content, but then being able to brands
- 18:14Speaker 2: will have access to the analytics. They're able to see
- 18:16Speaker 2: leader boards of creators that are performing for them, which
- 18:19Speaker 2: then really opens the door to bigger partnerships, and we
- 18:23Speaker 2: have over two hundred millionaires on LTK who have made
- 18:27Speaker 2: a million dollars in just commission earnings. You know, there's
- 18:30Speaker 2: this incredible success story of a creator who we met
- 18:33Speaker 2: with back in twenty twenty two. Her goal was to
- 18:36Speaker 2: go to LTK Con, which is our conference that we
- 18:38Speaker 2: host once a year in Dallas. It's all of our
- 18:40Speaker 2: top creators and those that are rising. It's a credible
- 18:42Speaker 2: opportunity to build community and to really bring them into
- 18:46Speaker 2: what we're working on, what we're launching for them for
- 18:50Speaker 2: the coming year. And that was her goal. And we
- 18:53Speaker 2: saw that she was posting content consistently across social media platforms,
- 18:57Speaker 2: but in LTK she wasn't sharing that. So we really
- 19:00Speaker 2: worked on a strategy for her to build out that content,
- 19:02Speaker 2: make sure that she was posting her tiktoks, and fast forward,
- 19:06Speaker 2: she's earning five hundred thousand dollars in commissions on LTK.
- 19:10Speaker 2: So I think for creators who are getting started and
- 19:13Speaker 2: trying to think about really how do I elevate to
- 19:16Speaker 2: the next level on LTK, really thinking through what that
- 19:19Speaker 2: content mix is and that's really going to resonate to brands.
- 19:23Speaker 1: Yeah, you guys are like basically the ultimate case studies.
- 19:26Speaker 1: Something we tell creators here a lot is like, look
- 19:29Speaker 1: at your ability to convert, right, look at your not
- 19:32Speaker 1: only your clicks, but your conversions, like you're saying, and
- 19:34Speaker 1: this is going to help creators eventually on the brand
- 19:37Speaker 1: deal side, charge more, maybe pitch longer term campaigns because again,
- 19:41Speaker 1: you it's like the proof is in the pudding, you know.
- 19:43Speaker 1: And LTK has like this ability to be like, hey,
- 19:45Speaker 1: look my content converts. It's not just posting something funny,
- 19:48Speaker 1: but like people buy what I say, you know, I
- 19:51Speaker 1: mean the true definition of influence. Right, people are acting
- 19:53Speaker 1: when you tell them to do something, which is quite awesome.
- 19:56Speaker 2: Also like evolving, you know what it is that we're showing.
- 19:59Speaker 2: How are we give brands more information on creators so
- 20:02Speaker 2: they can make really you know, informed decisions about who
- 20:05Speaker 2: they partner with. So we recently launched new casting cards
- 20:08Speaker 2: to brand So any creators who are listening, make sure
- 20:11Speaker 2: that on LTK you have filled out your brand profile,
- 20:14Speaker 2: make sure that you have authenticated your socials because those
- 20:16Speaker 2: are like step one and two of landing those brand deals,
- 20:19Speaker 2: because now all of your insights are going to be
- 20:22Speaker 2: shown to brands and the casting cards. So previously brands
- 20:24Speaker 2: would only be able to see row as they weren't
- 20:26Speaker 2: able to necessarily see your social reach and all of
- 20:29Speaker 2: the value that you brought in terms of earned media
- 20:31Speaker 2: to the brand, which is now something that we are
- 20:34Speaker 2: showing to brands across a couple of different surfaces on LTK.
- 20:37Speaker 2: So thanks you.
- 20:38Speaker 1: That's major. Yeah, yeah, that is major. And what about
- 20:42Speaker 1: the creators that are looking to join? Are their requirements?
- 20:46Speaker 1: It's application based correct, So what makes a creator ready
- 20:50Speaker 1: to apply and ready to start their LTK journey?
- 20:53Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say make sure that you you have
- 20:55Speaker 2: a public Instagram that it is step one. Make sure
- 20:59Speaker 2: that you have an engaged audience. And what's really exciting
- 21:03Speaker 2: about LTK is that while we may have started being
- 21:06Speaker 2: very heavy in fashion and beauty, we've now expanded into
- 21:09Speaker 2: many different verticals. So we have travel brands on LTK,
- 21:12Speaker 2: we have food brands on LTK, we have more like
- 21:15Speaker 2: CpG and consumer brands on LTK. So I think some
- 21:18Speaker 2: creators might be like, I don't know if LTK makes
- 21:21Speaker 2: sense for me. But with all of the diversification that
- 21:24Speaker 2: we have made across our over one million brands on LTK,
- 21:27Speaker 2: there is truly an opportunity to monetize content. And then
- 21:31Speaker 2: I would say, just apply. And then what we've done
- 21:33Speaker 2: is we've built out, you know, a really rich experience
- 21:36Speaker 2: for onboarding. So we have one oh one webinars and
- 21:39Speaker 2: one oh two webinars, so you feel like you really
- 21:41Speaker 2: have an opportunity to hear from an LTK and like
- 21:44Speaker 2: how to actually get started, how to create a post?
- 21:47Speaker 2: What are those best practices? And then i'd say in
- 21:49Speaker 2: terms of like starting off, making sure that your LTK
- 21:53Speaker 2: truly is you know, a representation of who you are
- 21:56Speaker 2: as a creator and content that you're sharing, like thinking
- 21:59Speaker 2: out of just what is maybe like one vertical that
- 22:03Speaker 2: you're sharing giving them a glimpse into your entire life.
- 22:05Speaker 1: Cool. And lastly, before we move on to some talent
- 22:08Speaker 1: management questions, just to wrap up here at the LTK
- 22:11Speaker 1: monetization in terms of your own algorithm, like does LTK
- 22:15Speaker 1: have its own algorithm? Because I know this is I
- 22:18Speaker 1: always call the algorithm kind of like the Wizard of Oz,
- 22:20Speaker 1: like the person behind like no one knows, and people
- 22:22Speaker 1: always like algorithm, algorithm and growth and like is that
- 22:26Speaker 1: something that we're seeing Also over on the platform, Like,
- 22:29Speaker 1: are there specific things that creators should be doing because
- 22:32Speaker 1: you mentioned, oh, those collage styles don't do well, so
- 22:34Speaker 1: like what does do well over on LTK for people
- 22:37Speaker 1: who are looking to put effort into growing their presence
- 22:40Speaker 1: over there.
- 22:41Speaker 2: The goal is for creators to be able to reach
- 22:43Speaker 2: their community. So on your following tab, that is not
- 22:46Speaker 2: an algorithm base feed that is based on the creators
- 22:49Speaker 2: that you follow when they post, and then but the
- 22:52Speaker 2: watch tab that is an opportunity for more discovery to
- 22:56Speaker 2: find and engage with more more consumers. I would say,
- 23:00Speaker 2: just making sure that you're providing really authentic content that
- 23:04Speaker 2: kind of touches every level. I don't want that upper
- 23:07Speaker 2: funnel content like that, truly engaging content that is entertainment
- 23:12Speaker 2: focused that like brings in that follower so they're invested
- 23:15Speaker 2: in you as a creator, and then you're going to
- 23:17Speaker 2: want the lower funnel content. We want content that's really
- 23:20Speaker 2: going to convert for those brands. So really thinking through
- 23:22Speaker 2: the diversification of still content, image content, really engaged videos
- 23:27Speaker 2: is going to do really well and going to surface
- 23:30Speaker 2: on that watch tab. Right now, the watchtab is only
- 23:32Speaker 2: video content and focused on more of the upper funnel,
- 23:36Speaker 2: like truly like why do you go and like death
- 23:39Speaker 2: scroll on a platform like that's what the watch tab is,
- 23:42Speaker 2: Like our consumers are really engaged in that tab and
- 23:45Speaker 2: they're able to discover new creators follow directly from that page.
- 23:48Speaker 2: And I'd say for creators like really making sure that
- 23:51Speaker 2: they're front and center, that their main character energy of
- 23:53Speaker 2: their content, that it's truly representative of who they are,
- 23:57Speaker 2: and that is you know, a resume for different brand
- 23:59Speaker 2: prop partnership. So if you are food creator, a chef,
- 24:03Speaker 2: a culinary expert, and you want, you know, you want
- 24:06Speaker 2: to move more into the fashion vertical, LTK is also
- 24:08Speaker 2: a great place where you can do that. So sometimes
- 24:11Speaker 2: people don't want to feel like they don't want to
- 24:12Speaker 2: disturb their feed on social media. LTK gives you the
- 24:15Speaker 2: opportunity to really merchandise your entire life, so you can
- 24:18Speaker 2: create content, you can save it's collections, you can create
- 24:21Speaker 2: product sets, and it gives you the opportunity to truly
- 24:23Speaker 2: build out what would be you know, the entire like
- 24:27Speaker 2: Nina's lifestyle, all all in one platform, giving you the
- 24:30Speaker 2: ability to really expand into two other verticals.
- 24:33Speaker 1: As well also humanize your brand right, Like, for so
- 24:36Speaker 1: long my company has been that like a company. It's like,
- 24:39Speaker 1: you know, but removing Nina from the company building and
- 24:42Speaker 1: humanizing myself like what I'm doing, what I'm wearing, and
- 24:45Speaker 1: it kind of adds this element for creators here that
- 24:48Speaker 1: are you know, potentially in my issoes right, have a
- 24:51Speaker 1: business and they're pulling themselves out of it to also
- 24:54Speaker 1: build their personal brand. I feel like there's because people
- 24:57Speaker 1: ask me all the time like, oh, where'd you do that?
- 24:59Speaker 1: Or whe'd you do this? You know, and it's like
- 25:00Speaker 1: giving them another place. So for creators not feeling like
- 25:03Speaker 1: they have to almost kind of fit in a box,
- 25:05Speaker 1: especially if we're in the business niche So I do
- 25:07Speaker 1: kind of want to pick your brain because there's a
- 25:09Speaker 1: lot of creators in here. Again, monetization brand deals, that's
- 25:12Speaker 1: our specialty at Sidewalker. We really help creators and we
- 25:15Speaker 1: get to see behind a lot of brand partnerships. It's
- 25:18Speaker 1: actually really exciting to hear the data that you shared
- 25:21Speaker 1: those case studies about over two hundred millionaires just on commissions.
- 25:25Speaker 1: Because I don't get to see a lot of the
- 25:26Speaker 1: commission stuff. I see rand sale stuff, but that is
- 25:28Speaker 1: so exciting to see that element as well. But let's
- 25:32Speaker 1: talk a little bit from the talent put your talent
- 25:34Speaker 1: manager hot on. I know it's back in the day,
- 25:36Speaker 1: but I get asked like do I need a manager?
- 25:39Speaker 1: Is this something I should be looking at as I grow?
- 25:41Speaker 1: Or are the barriers to entry a little easier like
- 25:43Speaker 1: people are direct pitching on LinkedIn? Or people are creators
- 25:47Speaker 1: are kind of managing themselves. Would you say that in
- 25:50Speaker 1: today's world, like do creators need a manager to be successful?
- 25:53Speaker 1: And if at what point should they start looking for representation?
- 25:57Speaker 2: It's a great question. I don't think that a creator
- 25:59Speaker 2: needs a manager to be successful. I think it's important
- 26:02Speaker 2: to really think about, like what it is that you're
- 26:04Speaker 2: really looking for from this manager. And I think this
- 26:07Speaker 2: also goes for influencers who are thinking about maybe moving
- 26:10Speaker 2: management companies because they're not happy with their current management company,
- 26:13Speaker 2: And like there truly has to be like value in
- 26:16Speaker 2: it for the manager and value in it for the
- 26:18Speaker 2: creator because you think most management companies they're only making
- 26:21Speaker 2: you know, anywhere from fifteen to thirty percent on commission
- 26:25Speaker 2: on what the creator's making, so they already have to
- 26:27Speaker 2: have a track record of securing brand deals and having
- 26:30Speaker 2: income to I think be ready for management. Otherwise management
- 26:34Speaker 2: might not necessarily be as excited because how is that
- 26:37Speaker 2: manager going to make money? But I also think for
- 26:39Speaker 2: a creator, sometimes there is the opportunity for them when
- 26:43Speaker 2: they're first starting out to be more nimble and to
- 26:45Speaker 2: take advantage of you know, platforms like LTK in our
- 26:48Speaker 2: marketplace where you can go in and you can pitch
- 26:50Speaker 2: brand partnerships and you can kind of like start to
- 26:52Speaker 2: build up that rolodex of opportunities that you have secured
- 26:56Speaker 2: and that you have managed and executed and then kind
- 26:59Speaker 2: of scale that to bring it to management. And I
- 27:01Speaker 2: think it's really important to think through management of like
- 27:03Speaker 2: you're going to have a very very very close working
- 27:06Speaker 2: relationship with your manager. And I think it's really important
- 27:09Speaker 2: when you're signing on with the manager is to be
- 27:11Speaker 2: really explicit in what expectations are. Because if you're expecting
- 27:14Speaker 2: that a manager is going to quadruple your income and
- 27:18Speaker 2: the manager things that they're only going to double, you're
- 27:20Speaker 2: much better to have those really honest conversations at the
- 27:23Speaker 2: onset and then make sure that you feel really comfortable
- 27:26Speaker 2: with that manager. So if you're talking to a management company,
- 27:29Speaker 2: you may be talking to somebody on that team that
- 27:32Speaker 2: is responsible for acquisition. I would always recommend that you
- 27:36Speaker 2: have a phone call with who your actual manager would
- 27:38Speaker 2: be to make sure that you get on a call
- 27:40Speaker 2: and you feel like there's a synergy with this person,
- 27:42Speaker 2: because they're going to be deeply ingrained into your business
- 27:45Speaker 2: and there's going to be so much you know, confidential
- 27:47Speaker 2: and proprietary information that this manager has access to, and
- 27:51Speaker 2: making sure that your working style is really align if
- 27:53Speaker 2: you expect to have you know, daily communication from this manager,
- 27:58Speaker 2: it's important to state that upfront because that manager may
- 28:01Speaker 2: have other clients that don't really want to hear from them.
- 28:03Speaker 2: They just want to get a weekly report of what
- 28:05Speaker 2: is upcoming, what they're being pitched for, versus that consistent
- 28:09Speaker 2: day to day communication. So making sure that there's value
- 28:13Speaker 2: in it for both partners, otherwise you're not going to
- 28:16Speaker 2: be successful. But I think being really really explicit and
- 28:19Speaker 2: what those expectations are and how you want to work
- 28:21Speaker 2: with that management company and making sure that you get
- 28:24Speaker 2: to talk to who your actual manager would be, and
- 28:28Speaker 2: not all management companies are created equal, like all of
- 28:31Speaker 2: them and with the managers within those companies everybody has
- 28:34Speaker 2: different working styles of how they work with clients, and
- 28:36Speaker 2: I think making sure that you find somebody who's truly
- 28:39Speaker 2: passionate about you, somebody who's invested in you and your
- 28:42Speaker 2: business and wants to see you grow and succeed. Like
- 28:45Speaker 2: back when I was a talent manager, my greatest joy
- 28:48Speaker 2: was when I was able to make my client's dreams
- 28:51Speaker 2: come true and when we were able to land them
- 28:54Speaker 2: that book deal together, and then we were able I
- 28:56Speaker 2: remember clients call me up and saying, you know, I
- 28:58Speaker 2: was able to actually buy my first home becase because
- 29:00Speaker 2: of the work that we have done together. So making
- 29:03Speaker 2: sure that all parties are invested. But just because you
- 29:06Speaker 2: have one hundred thousand followers does not mean that you're
- 29:08Speaker 2: ready for a manager. Are you have an influx of
- 29:11Speaker 2: campaigns that you need assistance in negotiating and then managing
- 29:16Speaker 2: all of those campaigns. Because that's a deep value than
- 29:19Speaker 2: a manager brings to a creator is not only getting
- 29:21Speaker 2: the deals, but negotiating the existing deals. And then the
- 29:25Speaker 2: other value that managers bring beyond just having a depth
- 29:27Speaker 2: of knowledge of what's happening within the industry, they also
- 29:30Speaker 2: know what the market will bear. They likely know what
- 29:33Speaker 2: these brand budgets are. Also a lot of brands they
- 29:35Speaker 2: don't want to work with a million creators just one off.
- 29:38Speaker 2: They would they would much rather bring a budget to
- 29:40Speaker 2: a talent agency and say, here's fifty thousand dollars, who
- 29:43Speaker 2: should I work with? What should the scope of work be?
- 29:45Speaker 2: Versus having to go and negotiate fifty individual creator contracts.
- 29:49Speaker 2: So there's definitely more opportunities that come with management in
- 29:53Speaker 2: terms of brand collaborations. But if you're not at the
- 29:56Speaker 2: point where you have brand collaborations, you should start seeking
- 29:59Speaker 2: those out on your own, and I think that LTK
- 30:01Speaker 2: Marketplace is a great way to start.
- 30:02Speaker 1: And what about the affiliate side of the business. Would
- 30:05Speaker 1: I know, you said every talent agency has they're going
- 30:07Speaker 1: to do it their own way, and every manager is
- 30:09Speaker 1: going to run their own way, But would you say,
- 30:11Speaker 1: typically like would that fall outside of the scope of
- 30:14Speaker 1: what a manager would be able to be compensated for.
- 30:18Speaker 1: So when we think about like brand deals, that's clearly
- 30:20Speaker 1: under the management bucket. You mentioned a book launch, Okay,
- 30:23Speaker 1: the managers involved, but does a manager also in your experience,
- 30:27Speaker 1: get a percentage of the affiliate business as well? Or
- 30:31Speaker 1: is that how does that kind of fall into the puzzle.
- 30:34Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean that's a great question, and it really
- 30:36Speaker 2: depends on the creator and they're signing a contract. How
- 30:39Speaker 2: much does that creator currently making through affiliate or on LTK.
- 30:44Speaker 2: And if they are, you know, one of those those
- 30:46Speaker 2: millionaire creators that have reached that status, it's very unlikely
- 30:50Speaker 2: that they are going to give a percentage of that
- 30:52Speaker 2: commission because on their own, without the support of the manager,
- 30:56Speaker 2: they have built up that revenue. But I think for
- 30:58Speaker 2: many new and emerging creators, the management company or agent
- 31:03Speaker 2: does take a percentage of their commissions because as their manager,
- 31:07Speaker 2: their job is to not only secure the deals, but
- 31:10Speaker 2: their job is to help grow them, help give them
- 31:12Speaker 2: the strategy to get more opportunities leverage their relationships. Like
- 31:16Speaker 2: on my team, we do monthly meetings with our agency
- 31:19Speaker 2: partners giving them the best tips and tricks of what
- 31:21Speaker 2: we're launching on LTK that really can help provide creators
- 31:25Speaker 2: the opportunity to grow. We also elevate creators for brand
- 31:28Speaker 2: collaboration opportunities through our agency partners, like we will go
- 31:32Speaker 2: out to them with asks and they pitch back their clients.
- 31:35Speaker 2: So if the agencies not incentivized to earn, then it's
- 31:39Speaker 2: not going to I feel like, drive as many opportunities
- 31:42Speaker 2: for that creator. Again thinking about people who are not
- 31:44Speaker 2: making millions already, but I would say for creators, making
- 31:48Speaker 2: sure that you're looking at the contracts and looking at
- 31:50Speaker 2: what those percentages are. I know that some management companies
- 31:54Speaker 2: will take a lower percentage of affiliate commissions. I know
- 31:57Speaker 2: some will completely take it off the table if there's
- 31:59Speaker 2: already a track record of success. I know some will
- 32:02Speaker 2: also create a contract where they're only commissioning on you
- 32:06Speaker 2: the delta. So say, as a creator, you're making one
- 32:09Speaker 2: hundred thousand dollars in commissions, but you sign with a
- 32:11Speaker 2: management company and they're able to grow you, and now
- 32:14Speaker 2: you're making two hundred thousand dollars in commissions. Maybe they're
- 32:16Speaker 2: only commissioning on fifty thousand of the delta between what
- 32:20Speaker 2: you were previously making. So it's not a one size
- 32:22Speaker 2: fits all if you're new and you don't have a
- 32:25Speaker 2: proven track record. A lot of management companies are starting
- 32:28Speaker 2: to take that percentage.
- 32:29Speaker 1: The way you explain it makes sense because think about
- 32:31Speaker 1: it from the manager's perspective, they're sitting in on meetings
- 32:34Speaker 1: they're sitting in on LTK meetings, so hopefully your LTK
- 32:37Speaker 1: growth then lands you a brain deal. I mean, they're
- 32:39Speaker 1: involved in your business, so to kind of cut them
- 32:41Speaker 1: out from that space kind of feels funky too, because
- 32:43Speaker 1: they're sitting in on these like growth calls and they're
- 32:46Speaker 1: just embedded in your business. So I think it's ultimately
- 32:49Speaker 1: just track record, track record, track record. And when they
- 32:51Speaker 1: join you, are they from the ground up or they're
- 32:54Speaker 1: joining you once you're already at a certain point. I
- 32:56Speaker 1: think that's a great, great way to look at it.
- 32:58Speaker 1: And lastly, before we move on to just creator economy trends,
- 33:02Speaker 1: to wrap up a bow on talent management for creators
- 33:05Speaker 1: who are negotiating for themselves. Now, any sort of negotiation
- 33:10Speaker 1: tips or what should creators understand when it comes to
- 33:14Speaker 1: you know, rates and advocating for yourself and knowing when
- 33:17Speaker 1: to walk away and all these scary things that you
- 33:19Speaker 1: only can learn through doing, not through like theory. But
- 33:23Speaker 1: any thoughts on that negotiation piece, because I feel like
- 33:26Speaker 1: that is such an instrumental part of the manager's rule.
- 33:30Speaker 1: And I'm sure you've done your fair share of negotiations, Yes, yes.
- 33:34Speaker 2: I have. I think it's really important to know your
- 33:36Speaker 2: value and know your worth beyond just what like your
- 33:39Speaker 2: audience loves you, and yes, engagement and hearts and comments
- 33:45Speaker 2: can help fuel your growth and your engagement, but that's
- 33:47Speaker 2: not necessarily visible to brands. So most likely when a
- 33:50Speaker 2: brand is getting, you know, a pitch from you or
- 33:53Speaker 2: your or your bio, they're like just flipping through pages
- 33:57Speaker 2: of bios and they're like, okay, like these metrics, these metrics,
- 34:00Speaker 2: these metrics. So I think if you're pitching yourself making
- 34:03Speaker 2: sure that you are really beyond just your name, you
- 34:06Speaker 2: kind of almost have to assume that this brand doesn't
- 34:09Speaker 2: know who you are, which is like really really unfortunate
- 34:12Speaker 2: in some cases because you may have millions of followers
- 34:14Speaker 2: or you may have hundreds of thousands of followers. But
- 34:16Speaker 2: I think, really, how can you show your value, so
- 34:18Speaker 2: including your engagement rate, including any kind of like you know,
- 34:22Speaker 2: success metrics that you have so that you just don't
- 34:25Speaker 2: expect them to read a bio and see your reach
- 34:27Speaker 2: and then offer you five thousand dollars. I think it's
- 34:30Speaker 2: about really showing kind of you know, what is the
- 34:32Speaker 2: value that you can bring to a brand partnership, and
- 34:35Speaker 2: you know that's kind of like the great thing about
- 34:37Speaker 2: the new casting cards and LTK is that that is
- 34:39Speaker 2: wrapping that up in a bow for that brand, which
- 34:41Speaker 2: is why we built this out because we're not only
- 34:43Speaker 2: just showing your row as, we're showing all of the
- 34:45Speaker 2: engagement that you have for campaign. So i'd say for
- 34:48Speaker 2: for creators who are just trying to pitch themselves and
- 34:50Speaker 2: land those opportunities. Even if you're trying to get a
- 34:53Speaker 2: brand partnership on LTK and you have a creator a
- 34:56Speaker 2: creator success rep, or you're managed by an agency like
- 35:00Speaker 2: often these agencies are giving us these six success metrics
- 35:03Speaker 2: that creators have so that we're able to drive additional
- 35:06Speaker 2: partnerships for them.
- 35:07Speaker 1: Awesome. That's awesome, So creator economy, because we're always trying
- 35:11Speaker 1: to make predictions, whether we're right or wrong, any sort
- 35:14Speaker 1: of current trends that you're seeing in our world or
- 35:18Speaker 1: magic ball predictions for what's next. Of course we're not
- 35:21Speaker 1: going to hold you to it, but just more to
- 35:23Speaker 1: think about, like what are you currently kind of seeing
- 35:25Speaker 1: that's kind of you know, that is big and it's
- 35:27Speaker 1: happening and creators should move on and anything that you
- 35:29Speaker 1: and vision coming down the pipeline.
- 35:31Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I would say community, community, community. At
- 35:34Speaker 2: the end of the day, beyond you know, the content
- 35:37Speaker 2: that you're creating, your community and the trust that you've
- 35:40Speaker 2: built with that community is your value. And I think
- 35:42Speaker 2: that brands are going to continue to lean into creators
- 35:46Speaker 2: who have built community across platforms and have that truly
- 35:50Speaker 2: trust with their audience, because that's going to drive all
- 35:52Speaker 2: of their success. Metrics. Influencer marketing is not going anywhere.
- 35:56Speaker 2: Golden and Sachs estimated twenty twenty seven it's going to
- 35:59Speaker 2: be a five hundred billion dollar industry. It's kind of
- 36:01Speaker 2: crazy to think back from like my original talent management
- 36:04Speaker 2: days and I was like, is this going to be
- 36:06Speaker 2: a thing? It's certainly a billion dollar thing. So I'd
- 36:09Speaker 2: say it's going to be driven much more by community
- 36:11Speaker 2: and then diversification of content and for new new creators
- 36:16Speaker 2: to be able to have a place to build out
- 36:19Speaker 2: really rich audiences. And I think that like creators that
- 36:22Speaker 2: have millions in reach, there's just as much opportunity for
- 36:26Speaker 2: creators who have a deep trust relationship with fifteen thousand.
- 36:31Speaker 2: Like there's this one creator who I'm friends with and
- 36:33Speaker 2: she had fifteen thousand followers on Instagram. She has more
- 36:36Speaker 2: followers on LTK than she does on her Instagram channel,
- 36:39Speaker 2: So I'd say it's not going anywhere. Can figure out
- 36:42Speaker 2: a way to continue to diversify your monetization and then
- 36:46Speaker 2: focus on building that community. And on an LTK, we
- 36:49Speaker 2: truly give you that opportunity to build it and to
- 36:52Speaker 2: nurture it, and it really is that home base.
- 36:54Speaker 1: So it's not saturated then, because there's always that horrible
- 36:58Speaker 1: s word, it's saturated the markets. Would you say for
- 37:01Speaker 1: you creators that are just getting started, I guess based
- 37:03Speaker 1: on what you're telling us, it's not going anywhere. So
- 37:05Speaker 1: it's not saturated.
- 37:06Speaker 2: I mean, it's certainly saturated, but there's such this appeal
- 37:09Speaker 2: from audiences to engage with creators and that's not going away.
- 37:13Speaker 2: We're just seeing more of it. And if you I
- 37:14Speaker 2: don't know it's so interesting, well we'll be you know,
- 37:17Speaker 2: casting for a campaign or I'm trying to find a
- 37:19Speaker 2: speaker for an event that we're doing, and I'll post
- 37:20Speaker 2: in our gen Z Slack channel to day who would
- 37:23Speaker 2: you love to see? And the people that they bring
- 37:25Speaker 2: up I have never heard of. And granted I'm a
- 37:28Speaker 2: millennial and I'm back to a dinosaur, and they're much
- 37:30Speaker 2: younger and they're spending many more hours on TikTok than
- 37:33Speaker 2: I am. But also, some of these creators, they have
- 37:36Speaker 2: thirty thousand followers, they have ninety thousand followers, and to them,
- 37:39Speaker 2: there's so much more value in that creator than some
- 37:42Speaker 2: of the ogs that have seven million followers. They're like,
- 37:44Speaker 2: I'm not as excited about that creator. And I also
- 37:47Speaker 2: think there's just like a huge opportunity for creators to
- 37:50Speaker 2: blow up and truly, you know, go beyond viral. I
- 37:53Speaker 2: think Bran Flakes is a great example. He recently spoke
- 37:56Speaker 2: at our Upfronts event, and he is somebody who you know.
- 37:59Speaker 2: He over the past year, he has taken off and
- 38:02Speaker 2: he's built a really large successful business. But he is
- 38:07Speaker 2: authentically himself. He is out there and he's truly engaging
- 38:11Speaker 2: back with the community. He is liking back, he is
- 38:14Speaker 2: commenting back, He's he's engaging.
- 38:16Speaker 1: I don't know.
- 38:16Speaker 2: I mean if I don't know, if you follow jazz
- 38:18Speaker 2: I do as his wedding, I mean that whole crop
- 38:21Speaker 2: of influencers were not who they were a year ago.
- 38:23Speaker 2: Nobody would have known who they were and it's incredible
- 38:26Speaker 2: that now they you know, I just saw that Jazz
- 38:28Speaker 2: is on the cover of the Cut on my Instagram feed,
- 38:30Speaker 2: so there's broom.
- 38:32Speaker 1: I know, they're like in Super Bowl commercials. I'm like, Hi,
- 38:34Speaker 1: I know you Hi. You know, it's just a different
- 38:36Speaker 1: it's a different world. I love to hear that. And
- 38:38Speaker 1: just to wrap up, final words of wisdom or one
- 38:41Speaker 1: thing you wish more creators understood, especially again for our
- 38:45Speaker 1: creators that are just listening. In a lot of the
- 38:47Speaker 1: people my community, I always call them like level two.
- 38:50Speaker 1: That's to say they're not just they already have something
- 38:53Speaker 1: brewing and they're like, Okay, I need to like I
- 38:55Speaker 1: need to make this real. You know, they're not learning
- 38:57Speaker 1: how to grow. They they've kind of figured that part out,
- 39:00Speaker 1: but now they're like, I want to make this real.
- 39:01Speaker 1: I want to quit my nine to five. I want
- 39:03Speaker 1: to do this for real real. Any words of wisdom to.
- 39:06Speaker 2: Those creators consistency, consistency, consistency, community, community, community. I say
- 39:11Speaker 2: that those like you need both for success. You have
- 39:14Speaker 2: to create consistent, engaging content that is going to keep
- 39:19Speaker 2: your audience coming back. Like I remember when Instagram Stories
- 39:22Speaker 2: first launched. I remember advising my talent that they needed
- 39:25Speaker 2: to post stories every single day, otherwise they are going
- 39:28Speaker 2: to follow off off the grid, and then the consumers
- 39:30Speaker 2: are like, oh, that influencer isn't around anymore. The influencer
- 39:33Speaker 2: is around, but they're just not in your algorithm. So
- 39:35Speaker 2: the same thing on LTK. Being consistent in your posting
- 39:39Speaker 2: is the only way that you're going to reach those
- 39:41Speaker 2: those consumers that you're going to drive those engagements and
- 39:43Speaker 2: then ultimately drive those sales and then community. Make sure
- 39:47Speaker 2: that you are that you're putting in the time. I
- 39:50Speaker 2: know that you said at the beginning of this call,
- 39:51Speaker 2: and I truly believe that creators have so much on
- 39:54Speaker 2: their plate. They are you know, they are the face
- 39:56Speaker 2: of the content. They are shooting the content, they are
- 39:58Speaker 2: editing content, and then the and then make me community
- 40:00Speaker 2: manage on top of that. Like I understand, it is
- 40:03Speaker 2: a lot. But if you can time block at least
- 40:05Speaker 2: I don't know, maybe it's an hour while your you're
- 40:07Speaker 2: multi screening Love Island and your LTK and Instagram feed.
- 40:10Speaker 2: Make sure that you're re engaging, make sure that you
- 40:12Speaker 2: are commenting back, that you're liking those posts, and it's
- 40:15Speaker 2: truly going to help drive that engagement and being consistent.
- 40:19Speaker 1: I love that you touched on the consistency part as
- 40:21Speaker 1: we wrap up, because everyone's always looking for cheat code,
- 40:24Speaker 1: you know. It's like we always want the get rich quick,
- 40:26Speaker 1: to lose weight fast, like all these little pieces, and
- 40:28Speaker 1: it's like, consistency is the cheat code. You know, you
- 40:30Speaker 1: have to kind of go through it to get out
- 40:32Speaker 1: of it. And I love I love hearing that this
- 40:34Speaker 1: has been so lovely. Thank you so much for sharing
- 40:37Speaker 1: your wisdom and sharing so much nuggets of information. We're
- 40:41Speaker 1: really loving this and being able to kind of hear
- 40:43Speaker 1: from your perspective but also the changes that we're going
- 40:47Speaker 1: to see. And I think all of us need to
- 40:48Speaker 1: focus on community. Recently was speaking to Marina Middleton of Create, Cultivate,
- 40:54Speaker 1: and you know, they're so focused on in person events
- 40:57Speaker 1: and I love that, you know community too. She said
- 41:00Speaker 1: something so brilliant. It's just like you can't force community, right,
- 41:03Speaker 1: like it's such a buzzword, but it's like, no, it's
- 41:05Speaker 1: truly this like get in the ground with your people,
- 41:09Speaker 1: like talk to your people. We all like we forget
- 41:11Speaker 1: what that is. You can't automate that. You know, you
- 41:13Speaker 1: can't outsource that. It's like you have to be living
- 41:17Speaker 1: and breathing it for that trust factor, because even though
- 41:19Speaker 1: trust is not a tangible asset, it's it is the
- 41:23Speaker 1: element when you are building your you know, influencer business.
- 41:27Speaker 1: It's the hidden, invisible string that ties it all together
- 41:30Speaker 1: is trust.
- 41:30Speaker 2: Yeah, And i'd say it like for you know, creators
- 41:33Speaker 2: who are looking to be successful on lt K, also
- 41:35Speaker 2: say join a webinar, like here are the best practices.
- 41:38Speaker 2: There's so much content that we're putting out to help
- 41:41Speaker 2: creators strategize success. And you know, we have a ton
- 41:44Speaker 2: of learnings and a ton of key studies, and like
- 41:47Speaker 2: we bring in other successful creators to share their stories,
- 41:50Speaker 2: and we're launching so many new features that are truly
- 41:53Speaker 2: meant to help you increase opportunities on LTK. So I
- 41:56Speaker 2: would say, you know, also following LTK creators on Instagram
- 42:00Speaker 2: and we always post any new feature that we're launching
- 42:02Speaker 2: on that platform. We also share success stories and kind
- 42:05Speaker 2: of what's happening within within the LTK world, what events
- 42:08Speaker 2: we have coming up. But there's a lot of new
- 42:10Speaker 2: features coming out and adapting to those new features will
- 42:13Speaker 2: truly help you elevate your your profile and LTK and
- 42:16Speaker 2: your earnings.
- 42:17Speaker 1: It's kind of like that first to act, right, So
- 42:20Speaker 1: you know, I had a different word for twenty twenty five,
- 42:22Speaker 1: but like twenty twenty six and like speed, it's just
- 42:24Speaker 1: like the faster you are, you know, to act on
- 42:27Speaker 1: something that is elevating, you're gonna probably grow fast. So
- 42:29Speaker 1: if LTK is launching a watch now feature, it's like
- 42:32Speaker 1: jump on now before you know what I mean, and
- 42:35Speaker 1: two years from now it's like different, it's just acting.
- 42:38Speaker 2: Be a first adopter exactly. We saw the same thing
- 42:41Speaker 2: across other social media platforms, like those that were quick
- 42:43Speaker 2: to jump on you know, like I know a lot
- 42:45Speaker 2: of times, and I remember back when you know, we
- 42:47Speaker 2: first were talking to brands about getting them on Facebook
- 42:50Speaker 2: and they're like, what other brands are on Facebook? I'd
- 42:53Speaker 2: never be on Facebook. And it only took like I
- 42:56Speaker 2: don't know if it was like Balentciago or Louis Vuitton
- 42:59Speaker 2: to get on Facebook. And then I was able to
- 43:01Speaker 2: get all of our other brands on Facebook because they
- 43:03Speaker 2: just wanted to. Who else was like be the.
- 43:05Speaker 1: First who's at the party?
- 43:07Speaker 2: You know, the first at the party.
- 43:09Speaker 1: Yeah, I love that well, thank you so much, Lisa.
- 43:11Speaker 1: I'll be sure to include in the show notes the
- 43:13Speaker 1: LTK creator account link, as well as maybe a link
- 43:17Speaker 1: to your resources or an upcoming webinar, so you guys
- 43:20Speaker 1: can go ahead and check that out if you want
- 43:22Speaker 1: to connect with Resa, her team, LTK, the community sign
- 43:25Speaker 1: on all those good things, and we're so grateful you
- 43:27Speaker 1: were here.
- 43:27Speaker 2: Thank you so much, thank you so much for having me.