Happy fall everyone, I’m exhausted! Today I wanted to touch on (gripe about) influencer tools and platforms. It’s part of the reason I started this newsletter, because the tools that cost us 5-6 figures a year, actually suck big-time for finding quality influencers and executing engaging collaborations. I’ve worked with 5 of them in my career, and harassed countless sales reps about where they get their data and if it’s accurate (spoiler, it’s usually 3rd party and it’s not accurate).
I can see the allure of tools like GRIN or AspireIQ for ambassador programs at scale, with the same homogenous brief to push brand awareness to new audiences, with a lower cost product. (However, and I’ll save this for another time, I think ambassador programs aren’t viable anymore.) But as a lot of voices in the industry have written about like Rachel Karten’s interview with Away’s Dr. of Social and Community and Clare Moore’s interview with Crown Affair’s Social & Influencer Manager, the best creator collaborations are custom to each person, bespoke, and require humans building relationships over time via phone and even in-person, not chat bots and automated email flows (that usually break or go to spam) that these platforms sell us.
Reading Max Read’s article that came out today about AI Slop got me thinking. The article sheds light on the booming economy of AI-generated content across social media, libraries, and concerning places like the scientific research community. This is also a topic that directly impacts us as social and influencer professionals who are creating content to consume on the internet, and are increasingly fighting against AI and budget cuts in favor of “efficiency”. Can’t AI just run an influencer program for us? No.
“Fifteen years ago, Wired magazine heralded the “good-enough revolution” in low-cost technology: “Cheap, fast, simple tools are suddenly everywhere … We now favor flexibility over high fidelity, convenience over features, quick and dirty over slow and polished.” Generative AI as a technology exists in this lineage. That it can create adequate texts and images is an astonishing leap forward in machine learning, but the texts and images are still only adequate, “good enough” and cheap enough for people to thumb past on their phones.” - Drowning In Slop, Max Read
I think that influencer platforms that focus on automation and ‘scale’ produce influencer slop, and to no real fault of the (quality) influencers. It is our job to find the right people, brief them correctly and help them execute creatively. Influencer slop is what clogs our feeds and exhausts our consumers.
At the end of the day, we as influencer marketers may just need to keep it manual. But this is a good thing. Instead of investing upwards of $80k!!! into an influencer platform per year, build an influencer team in-house or hire a great agency. If the influencer software is AI in my analogy (which we know they are chomping at the bit to sell us “AI-optimized influencer search and management”) don’t fall for it. Hire humans, and read newsletters and strategy breakdowns from humans like me and all the other cool folks making awesome content out here and doing the manual work. End rant! In the spirit of saying f*ck (can I curse here? idk) you to expensive platforms, today’s full list is free.
[Boilerplate description incoming] Every Wednesday, I’m sharing a fresh list of 10 creators across industries to help you find unique talent for your influencer campaigns. The first 3 creators are free, while the full list of 10 is available for paid subs. Volumes 1-3 are currently free in the archive. You can upgrade to a paid subscription here. Please let me know if you have any requests, feedback, thoughts, etc. and as I’ll say every week, thank you for being here!
Let’s get into it.
The list follows this format, numbered in no particular order: Handle Linked to example post | Category or short description | My two cents
@reallygoodimpressions | Comedy | Kel has been blowing up this month with an impeccably made video (link in handle) that is quickly becoming meme lore. The delivery, the music, the wolf T-shirt, it’s perfect. Luckily they are a comedian with other hilarious short n’ sweet videos and I think would be an excellent pick for up-and-coming/currently trending comedic sponsored content.
@sophietruax | Music & Puppets! | Sophie is a talented creative, a renaissance woman, if you will. She is a musician, and handcrafts puppets of her ex-boyfriends, herself, and taps into trends in a fun and unique way. Of COURSE nuuly has partnered with her, kudos to them for being everywhere, but I couldn’t find any other partnerships on her feed. I think Sophie’s incredibly creative mind would cook up something special for your brand that certainly wouldn’t be your average influencer sponsorship.
@nandi.connor | Couples | We love love. There’s many couples on TikTok but Nandi & Connor really caught my attention because of how effortless their content is vs. being staged and set-up, because they’re just in love, simple as that. She calls him a golden retriever boyfriend but really he just seems like an incredible partner. Not to mention they are currently blowing up and getting big views. I see partnerships and 1M+ followers in their future. I’ve said this before but couples make great content because you get two different perspectives, and the dynamic of the two playing off of each other can be so endearing, hilarious, and wholesome. Hopecore, if you will.
@em0n33y | Motion Graphics Artist | Emonee LaRussa is a 2x Emmy Winning motion graphics artist and although Adobe sponsors her frequently since she uses After Effects, naturally, I see a big opportunity for a brand to hire her to make a surreal social-first ‘commercial’ for TT and IG. Jo Malone London has sponsored a few, but they’re so short! She could even work with another creator as the model, like the link in the handle, for a two-touch collaboration, creating a mini universe within the activation. There could be BTS content, the creator’s POV, and the actual finished product. I would love to see content like this from a brand show up on my feed.
@spongemike123 | ??? | New series dropped. ‘Naming my appliances’ comes from Mike Liebenson. This is one of those moments where as a brand, you need to get on this now to keep it relevant because I would imagine he’s running out of things to name in his house? He posted part 4 yesterday so it’s still going. Very shareable content, this one has been shared 38.7k times. Enter you, an appliance, gadget, furniture, or kitchen brand. Send him your product and have him conduct a naming ceremony of sorts. How does he come up with the names? Just gut reaction or does he make a list and whittle it down like it’s his first born? You could even get the commenters involved, whoever’s name gets the most comments or picked by Mike wins their own [your product here].
@grincysabrincy | Fashion… | I’m not sure what this person’s name is and I’m not going to guess but the chaos and uniqueness of this concept is riveting especially in this increasingly curated world. They dress every day by the ‘first shirt first pants’ (#fsfp) method to pick out their outfit. There is a niche audience here, but I love a repeating series (if you can tell) and people usually keep coming back for things like this, and some are starting to copy the method. It’s freeing to not have to decide on a new outfit every day! It’s clearly resonating. I think it would be hilarious if a clothing brand gave them a few shirts and pants, not too many, but then you just have to wait until they pull those items, and that becomes the sponsored video…crazy? Maybe. If you’re a shoe brand that may be easier because they just pick a pair of shoes every day. Just make sure your vibe matches their style! They are more sustainably-minded vs. someone who’s going to do a ‘haul’. Reminds me of the girl that would put a gap in her boyfriend’s wardrobe. Just fun and silly things! A great example of TikTok providing a window into every day lives you wouldn’t normally see.
@elsienotelisee | Music Curation | I’ve always liked the idea of brands curating playlists as a cool and free activation for their communities. As a musician myself I come across a lot of awesome curators on TikTok who put me on to new music, like Elsie. I love the idea of a brand hiring someone like Elsie to curate a playlist with their brand in mind, but from her POV. Would obviously have to be the right brand, but with cozy times fall around the corner, I think this would be a unique influencer activation that provides extra value for a brand’s social followers beyond the advertisement.
@sailormel69420 | Comedy | I’ll say right off the bat this is for brands willing to take more risks, but I love the unhinged nature of Melissa’s content, it feels slightly adjacent to the Nutter Butter discussions that have been circling the social sphere. She’s obviously on TikTok too. Sometimes when a brand wants this content but doesn’t necessarily want to be on the creator’s feed, I recommend contracting them to make a video for YOUR feed instead. In a perfect world, your brand name or product is short and can be applied to this “Heck Yeah” series she has, and would be a self-deprecating angle. But I’m sure she could make something unique for you too, collaboration is the name of the game.
@jamie_janejira | Fashion | Jamie has a few smaller sponsorships like with Pop Sockets and Youth to the People, but her content is begging for a fashion collab, it would feel more natural than these other sponsorships imo. I thought she killed this Nuuly ad. Her style is unique, she’s stunning, and with fall around the corner, fall outfit idea searches will be spiking once again!
@wandering_jessica_ | Outdoor/Travel | A lot of my current and past clients were in the outdoor industry and it has a special place in my heart. I’ve seen and worked with so many travel and outdoor influencers, that they can start blending together with their picture-perfect sceneries and aspirational quotes. Jessica stood out to me because her personality really comes though her content. With fall colors just around the corner, I could see a fun outdoor brand working with her for outdoors/travel content that has a bit more edge. She’s had a couple partnerships, but I consider her still up-and-coming!
Stop the slop! Hire creators :)
Thanks for reading! Have any feedback for me about this newsletter? I’d love to hear it as I’m just getting started. My goal is to help professionals and agencies in social and influencer marketing discover new people or just get your creative wheels turning for the week. I also love supporting creators!
Disclaimers:
PAY CREATORS FAIRLY. Never expect free work, we don’t live in a ‘product for post’ world anymore.
I’m aware of my internet bubble, but I aim to dive outside of it each week to attempt to plug all different types of creators and walks of life.
I am a 32 year old woman living in the US so most of these recs will definitely fall in the gen z/millennial demographic in the US, but not always.
My creator recs will mostly be on TikTok, Instagram and sometimes YouTube, but there may be other platforms featured.
These are my personal opinions. I am in no way paid, associated or sponsored by anyone in this list including their agencies, unless I explicitly say so.
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