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The Boom Gazette
The Frontlines of Influencer Marketing – November 2016 – #3

Hi Devin,

Happy Thanksgiving. Since our October newsletter, we’ve seen a possible revival of Vine, a pending Snapchat IPO, a major acquisition of an MCN, 75 million Tweets on election day, and that’s only in the last 3 weeks.

But first, a BIG thanks to all of the brands, record labels, apps, studios, agencies and other clients who have made this past year such a

memorable one. The influencer community has really matured over 2016, and we’re so grateful for all the opportunities that have come our way. We’ll definitely be thinking of you on Turkey Day.

–Evan Aaronson (President of Boomopolis)

FUN FACT: Wait. Did we hear this right? Big brands are spending a collective $255 million per month for sponsored posts on Instagram alone – so says The Washington Post. What started as a marketing experiment grows into a mini-economy.

HOW DOES TRUMP’S ELECTION RELATE TO INFLUENCER MARKETING?

Authenticity. That’s the key word used around influencer marketing. Some others include relatability, organic, approachability, connectedness. These are the qualities that influencers have, and this is why marketing campaigns with influencers have a significantly better ROI than those with

celebrities (who generally feel more guarded and further removed from our own experience.) Whose recommendation are you going to listen to – a Hollywood institution like Brad Pitt or a relatable guy with 300,000 followers whose videos you watch regularly on your cell phone (a device associated with friends and family)? I think we know the answer.

According to a recent report, influencers like these get about twice the click-through rates of celebrities, and the cost per lead for their posts are about five times lower. This jibes with other research showing that only 8 percent of consumers say that celebrity endorsements resonate with them, even as 66 percent trust consumer opinions posted online.

I lead the newsletter with this thought for a very good reason. 2016 is the year where authenticity and “telling it like it is” really came into the spotlight. Love him or hate him, one of the key reasons Trump got elected and beat the odds is because he appears to have the very same qualities mentioned above. His no BS, approachable quality beat out Hillary’s more guarded, distant and fine tuned tone.

This trend did not start with Trump though. Journalism used to pride itself on being unbiased – simply reporting the news, however now, in order to compete, many journalists must have a strong opinion. The strategy is to get a core group of people who passionately agree with you on board as super fans. This then draws attention from the general public – some of whom may cross over to your side. The point is if you had been milk toasty from the start – trying to please everyone – you never would have gotten noticed in the first place.

THE BALANCING ACT FOR INFLUENCERS

So bringing it back to influencer marketing – this creates a balancing act for influencers themselves. They gained traction because they were true to themselves. They were not afraid to make a fool of themselves or even be politically incorrect.

But if they start to clutter people’s feeds with too many sponsored posts or execute them in a way that feels contrived, they’ll alienate their audience and people will call them sell outs.

This is why there is usually a push pull between the brand and the influencer. The brand wants it to be clear what product is being sold while the influencer prefers a more subtle approach. We, as the marketing company, must straddle that fine line and try to create the perfect balance where the post is not too “selly”, but also not so subtle that the viewer doesn’t even know what action to take. There’s definitely an art to authenticity, and after 4 years, we think we have the hang of it.

Should Trump Buy Twitter?

Crazier things have happened, right? The truth is that all of his tweets have certainly brought the company more publicity than anything else. And there were 75 Million tweets on Election Day.

INDUSTRY UPDATES

Spectacles by Snapchat
Snapchat released their new sunglasses equipped with camera technology that lets you record 10-second videos and upload it directly to your Snapchat profile.They were released to the public in very limited amounts (at a $130 price tag) throughout various major cities in really eye-catching vending machines called Snapbots. Snapbots are only at one location for a very limited time until they are moved to a different spot – not unlike the disappearing nature of the app itself. Fans will literally be hunting for these machines.

The Vine Drama Continues
Looks like Vine might not be gone after all! Per reports, Twitter is entertaining various offers from a handful of companies (some from China) looking to purchase the app. Potential purchase price is rumored to be about 10 million. This is not as simple as it sounds though – Vines are interconnected within Twitter. If another company controls that, many of the tweets would no longer read properly.In the meantime, many other apps are trying to lure Viners to join their platform – a few include COUB and HYPE which was actually founded by Vine’s co-founders. More info HERE.

Warner Brothers Finally Buys Machinima
This deal has been off and on for quite some time, but it looks like MCN, Machinima has found an exit via Warner Brothers. This will be a similar relationship to Disney and Maker Studios — exploiting IP and finding marketing boosts.

Facebook Under Fire for Spread of Fake News
Facebook has most often taken the position that it is non-editorial, and that content should be served neutrally. And while this may be a good argument for the wider internet, 44 percent of U.S. adults get their news from Facebook, and a good percentage of it is completely false. Maybe buying Snopes would fix the problem?

You Tube Upgrades Comments
Influencers can now pin comments to the top of the feed and hold back inappropriate comments for review. Influencers will also have their own usernames highlighted when they respond to commenters on the site, and they’ll be able to show their fans attention by “hearting” (favoriting) the comments they want to stand out.Instagram Stories Now Have Links
Instagram stories are now letting verified accounts include links to their stories. This is good news for marketers who like to be able to link out to their product pages. (Note that in traditional Instagram posts, you can still only put clickable links in the bio section of the profile). More on the importance of clickable links in social platforms in a future newsletter.

To Snap or Not To Snap.
That is the Question for Snapchat’s IPOWell, Snapchat (or now, Snap, Inc.) is going IPO soon, so are you in?

Well, I can’t speak for what it will do in the first few weeks when hype is at its peak, but long term, my personal vote is NO, I am not in.

Don’t get me wrong. On the surface, things are looking up. Despite the fact that Instagram basically stole Snapchat’s idea with Instagram stories, let’s look at the following:

*Snapchat users are watching over 10 billion videos daily.
*In any given day, Snapchat reaches 41% of all 18 to 34 year-olds in the U.S. To put that into perspective, the average top 15 TV networks reach only 6 percent of that same demographic.
*Last count, they owned 17 buildings in Santa Monica and that number is growing.

But currently, Snapchat, the app, is basically a fun toy, and young people tire of fun toys very quickly. In my view, most apps are like rock bands. Anyone remember The Thompson Twins or Kajagoogoo? At one point, they were at the top of the charts until people moved on to the next big thing.

I think Snapchat obviously understands this idea which is why they are now positioning themselves as Snap, Inc. (a technology company) as opposed to just the app, Snapchat, but the app is still its only proven product at this point, and despite the very impressive numbers it NOW has, the app will simply never be a Facebook. This means that if this company is going to thrive, it will have to do so on the strength of other new products and a killer team of leadership. None of that is proven yet. Just my 2 cents.

Star News
*YouTuber Grace Helbig Signs Deal with Lionsgate to develop both films and TV series, including a romantic comedy feature starring her collaborator, Mamrie Hart.*Aimee Song, whose Instagram feed has 4 million followers signed an endorse-ment deal with Laura Mercier cosmetics that is reportedly worth more than $500,000.

-Emily Schuman (Cupcakes & Cashmere) – 300K Instagram followers, now has a clothing collection that is sold at Nordstrom and Shopbop.

-Emmy award winner Rhea Perlman will co-star in YouTube Red Series, ME AND MY GRANDMA with YouTuber, MyLifeAsEva.

Influencer Spotlight

Trey Kennedy (originally a Viner) is rapidly growing on Facebook and other platforms. He received a ton of popularity with his hilarious dad videos, being featured by a ton of other Instagram accounts. A part from being a funny guy, Trey is also a talented singer. He just recently announced a new EP titled “Take Me to the River”, that’s now available for purchase on iTunes. Big things are coming for Trey, and we here at Boomopolis can’t wait to see what’s in store for him next. View more: http://boomopolis.com/treykennedy

Surprise. Surprise.
Boomopolis has partnered with a new technology platform which is guaranteed to get sponsored posts at least 5x more engagement on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and all the social platforms. The best part about it is that they are offering it to Boomopolis clients completely free for a limited time. So let’s jump on a call and we’ll tell you all about it. We think you’ll be as excited about it as we are.

WHAT MAKES A BAD CAMPAIGN? The Wrong Platform, Flakey Influencers, Non Engaging Content, A Bad Landing Page, Inefficient Reporting. Don’t make this mistake. Give us a call. Let us take care of it for you. We want to be the influencer marketing division of your company, and we’ll bend over backwards to make sure you’re happy with the results.

THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.

Email us 3 things you’re thankful for and get a $300 credit on your next campaign.
It’s our way of saying thanks.

Brands hire Boomopolis to organize the best social media influencers to do sponsored posts on their behalf. We have relationships with thousands of influencers, and we handle which ones to use, number of posts, best platforms, payment, strategies and more. Through our network, we have access to over 200 million combined followers spread out over various platforms. We’ve worked with brands ranging from Klondike to Fox to numerous apps. Are you next? See our highlight reel HERE

Ready to Start a Campaign? Need Paid Social Media or Consulting? (Yes, we do that too – one on one sessions either in person or via Skype).

Call 818-538-4011 or Email grow@boomopolis.com
http://boomopolis.com