Thread by @Cody_Wittick

The New Influencer Economy (thread)🧵

DTC brands, alongside influencer marketing, have evolved.

Cheap acquisition ‘FB heyday’ = unsustainable

Prime influencer marketing ‘pay for post’ = untrusted

Here's the present & future...

Community driven commerce = inviting influencers to a seat at the table, with the ability to curate & earn on their own terms.

This is what you are seeing in the market today. Here's a couple examples of some brands getting it right with major influencers.

@SeatGeek x @PatMcAfeeShow authentic integrations

https://twitter.com/PatMcAfeeShow/status/1387938989093576708?s=20

@HollisterCo x @charlidamelio @dixiedamelio creating a new brand together

And then there's the major influencers themselves. What are @MrBeast or the D'Amelio sisters - just influencers? More like empires.

If you're lucky enough to work with them - it’s now 360°

• content integrations
• limited merch collabs / products
• whitelisting paid spend
• omnichannel usage rights
• equity or % of rev deal structures

But the hardest part of marketing...

Consumers see 10,000 ads PER DAY.

One-off posts and the transactional nature of working with influencers that many still hold to, just doesn’t cut it any longer. It has to be 360°

Although this entails you giving up equity, paying handsomely, or both.

And you better give them the keys to lead. The New Influencer Economy doesn’t need you anymore.

90% of brands can't afford a MrBeast or to give up equity, so what do you do? How do you have community driven commerce with influencers?

Take a look at what West Elm is doing.

modernretail.co/retailers/west…

Creators with their own storefronts, earning a commission. This isn't a money grab for them. Although, you don't stick your face on a brand's website for nothing. But bigger than this, these creators LOVE west elm, and they already wear the products.

What's different is the brand is not just asking for placement on the influencers platform, but offering their own to them. Hence, an empowered seat at the table. "Come join us!" but they actually mean it.

Next, AdoreMe's Creator program.

modernretail.co/startups/why-a…

Brands have been launching ‘affiliate’ programs such as these for several years now. This is not unique. While AdoreMe gets 100’s of posts, rights to reuse the photos, etc. more importantly, they get to see who "rises to the top."

IOW, what influencers care about the brand more than others? Long-term partnerships happen, just like in other areas of life, where both parties are invested. What is unique is that they are using this approach as, "Most of all - we want to create a sense of community.”

Ahh, there’s that word - community - root word: common. Common goals, common values, common interests. What does authentic community with influencers look like? How do you go deeper with the influencers that rose to the top? Look at Tula Skincare.

adweek.com/commerce/tula-…

The beauty company worked with @Tess_Holliday Tennille Murphy, @nymatang @ChiziDuru & Weylie Hoang to create kits that addressed specific skincare problems. The influencers interacted with followers via tutorials and conversations about self-care/confidence

This is great, but you want to know what's even better?

They are working with these five to identify additional creators to ensure inclusive, diverse representation in the beauty industry. Imagine that - a brand asking those already in the space - to be their recruiters.

This is empowerment. This is a seat at the table. I'm beginning to be a broken record.

"Cody, this all sounds great, but at the end of the day, this is still business and both parties are in it to make money." 100%!

This isn't just everyone sitting around in a circle, singing kumbaya for no reason. Every business I mentioned cares deeply about bottom line.

However, think of it like a sports team. Let's use my favorite - the Lakers (sorry not sorry).

When the Lakers (brand) signed Lebron (influencer), both parties are interested in making a lot of money. Lakers believe Lebron will lead to more money. Lebron wants the best contract possible. Now imagine if that's all they cared about - nothing else but money.

Lakers ticket sales and Lebrons' bonuses. Sounds silly, right? And oh, winning a championship? Unlikely.

The brands that have championship influencer programs trust that sales will be the bonus of going about building and pursuing this channel the right way.

And this is my point, this New Influencer Economy: community driven, community focused commerce and the brands participating in it, are the ones that are winning and will continue to win. Success in influencer marketing doesn't happen overnight.

The 500k sales TikTok video are outliers and if not, it's years of foundation underneath it, building the right way.

What's the foundation? Everyone begins at the same place: 0 influencers with their product.

I don't care who you are or how much money you offer, no authentic person joins your team without owning the product and enjoying it. Influencer seeding is the precursor to every success within this channel.

Now, to be clear, it does not guarantee success but it does set you up for the potential for success within IM. There's no other way around it. You have to draft well to build championships teams, you have to seed to build championship influencer programs.

So how do you do this? Great question and more reading for you 😂 (bookmark it)

commonthreadco.com/blogs/coachs-c…