Eliza (00:00)
Welcome to Online Offscript, where we discuss trending topics and all things new on the internet. I’m Eliza Filo, Digital Ads Senior Coordinator.
Meara (00:08)
And I’m Meara McNitt, the Senior Social Media Director. So this week we’re talking about cracking the code and unveiling the strategies behind successful influencer campaigns in 2024, plus some tips on how to leverage micro influencers for maximum effect.
Our guest today is Esther Kim, founder and CEO of Maven Reach, a female-owned, female-run, affordable, full-service influencer marketing agency. Maven Reach specializes in seeding and gifting campaigns for the world’s leading consumer brands such as Jack Daniel’s Gentleman Jack, Botanical Tonics, New Wave, and more.
Eliza (00:04)
Thanks for joining us, Esther, how are you?
Esther Kim (00:05)
I’m good. Thank you so much for having me today.
Eliza (00:08)
Awesome. Yeah, we’re excited to have you on the podcast. I think before we get started, it would be good to give our listeners just a little bit of information into who you are and then maybe also into what micro influencers are if some of our listeners aren’t necessarily sure what constitutes that.
Esther Kim (00:27)
Sure. So a little background on me. I am a Korean American and I was born and raised in LA. And I am the founder of Maven Reach, which is a influencer marketing agency. I’m very proud that it’s female founded. It is female run. All my employees are female. And it’s interesting how I got here. I mean, I, influencer marketing, wasn’t around when I was younger. So
I started my career in market research, so really data-driven insights. Found that a little too dry for my taste and then moved into a whole slew of jobs, right? Account manager, customer success manager, sales. I even had an Amazon, an Amazon FBA. I was doing a bunch of stuff, Etsy.
And once COVID hit, I wanted to be able to travel while working and thought it was the perfect opportunity to start my own company. And it’s been a wild ride since.
All right, and to answer your second question, well, actually, I think Meara would probably be better at answering this question since she is a micro influencer herself. But just to talk about micro influencer, just influencer marketing in general, I think micro is the new macro. I think time and time again, my clients are experiencing that smaller, people with smaller followings just,
it feeds into higher engagement and trust, and their audience is more likely to buy when they feel a personal connection with that influencer. everyone I follow, they’re all my girlfriends. They don’t know me, but we’re friends. And I think with micro-influencers specifically, it’s really about quality over quantity. So yeah, Meara you feel free to jump in. You’re an actual micro-influencer, would love to hear more about your experience on that side of the front.
Meara (02:22)
Yeah, for anyone wondering what the difference between a micro and a macro or a full-size influencer are, it’s the amount of followers that you have. Everyone’s numbers change, but you can have a nano influencer, which I think is typically up to what, 10K? I don’t know if the goalpost has moved. Ten to, I would even say, up to 100,000 is micro, and anything over that, you’re into a traditional influencer space. My friends love to be oh my God, you’re an influencer. I’m like, I have…
32,000 followers, I am a micro influencer. But it’s nice because people know that I’m not making my living off of being an influencer. So whenever I have a recommendation, it’s my recommendation. It’s not that Dove Soaps came to me with a campaign and they’re paying me $10,000 and that one video paid my rent. Yeah, and so it’s just it’s all about the trust. And I think that…
businesses that keep going to the Alex Earles of the world are missing out. And especially there’s this thing on TikTok where people are just, they’re just your girlfriend posting on TikTok talking to you. And then they grow and they grow and they grow. And they grow from micro influencer to a full fledged influencer and they move to LA and they become a different person. And then everyone starts unfollowing them or blocking them and doesn’t want anything to do with them anymore because they’re not the relatable everyday person that they were. And I think that’s kind of
like the full point of a micro influencer, is there just some person just like me that just is comfortable in front of the camera?
Esther Kim (03:51)
Absolutely. And I wanted to jump in here. So I think from a brand’s perspective, what is the power of micro influencer marketing specifically? I would say if you’re a brand, one, like I mentioned, the higher engagement, but two, like Meara mentioned, these influencers, there are no gatekeepers. They don’t have an agency or a manager upselling their services.
So from a brand’s perspective, you know when you do see content go viral or where you where you do think there might be a Good fit in terms of a long-term collaboration when you follow up with a micro influencer. They’re generally very excited there You know when you’re they’re flattered and I feel like it’s more of a collaborative Environment where when it comes to macro creators, it’s very transactional. Here’s my media kit. This is my rate I’m not taking anything below. I don’t know 10 grand per real
With micro influencers, there’s a lot of nuance. You can work together and be like, hey, this product is $700. Would you be open to doing a product exchange first? If the content does well, happy to pay and partner with you the second time, because you’ve proven yourself. So from a brand’s perspective, there’s a lot more flexibility when it comes to micro influencers.
Eliza (05:10)
Yeah, you’ve touched on thus far a lot of the pros. Um, but I’m wondering if there’s some that you haven’t mentioned yet, just from a brand’s perspective and maybe from, um, more of that micro content creators perspective as well, what are the benefits of that partnership?
Esther Kim (05:26)
The benefits, well, one, it’s way more budget friendly from a brand’s perspective. They get to test the waters before fully committing to a long-term collaboration. I have macro creators reaching out to me and they’re all six months to annual contracts. It’s why would a brand, it’s really tough for a brand to opt into that or the engagement rate is, it doesn’t really translate to sales.
With micro influencers, I don’t know if you guys have heard of the theory of 1000 true fans. They actually move the needle in terms of sales. So there’s a there’s a theory called I don’t I’m probably going to butcher it, but 1000 true fans, essentially, if that’s all you have an influencer or a person in power needs to make a change in terms of revenue or change in society. 1000 true fans, people who actually listen to you and make purchasing decisions.
based on your recommendations. Honestly, at the macro level, it gets a little diluted. So there’s not, I’ve had a client pay like $100,000 to one macro creator. They partnered for a year and they didn’t make one sale. One sale. I think it was amazing for brand awareness, like very top of funnel. But at the end of the day, brands don’t care about like reach and impressions. They’re really looking at sales.
Eliza (06:35)
Oh.
Esther Kim (06:47)
Um, so with micro influencers, like you do see the snowball effect of like, okay, there’s like two sales here and then next month there’s like four sales there and then we can talk about this. Um, I know this is one, like one of the, uh, Campaigns that I’m most proud of is with Lunya we drove $85,000 in revenue for them over a course of seven months or 78 months. Um, so yeah, at the end of the day for a brand, what they’re really caring about is driving sales.
Meara (07:16)
How many influencers did you work with for that campaign and what size were they?
Esther Kim (07:21)
Great question. So at Maven Reach, we have a different strategy. I know other agencies out there might promise a client, hey, we can solidify 10 influencers or 20 or 30. We kind of approach it from casting a wide fishnet approach where we reach out to 350 unique micro influencers per month. We align on the target demo with the brands and say, OK.
Are they women? What age are they? Where are they originally located? Based on that and like their niche, we will email 350 unique micro influencers month over month. Um, and people are bound to opt in, right? Like we’re going to find someone. It’s a numbers game at this point. Um, so the people who do follow up, um, one, they’re genuinely interested in what you’re offering. Obviously there are times where, you know, you have influencers who are looking for free product, but even in that case you’re introducing your product to them and if they love it, they’ll post about it.
If they don’t, no harm, no foul. So for Lunya, we had partnered again with them for about eight, at that point, six to seven months. So we are reaching out to 350 unique influencers month over month. But out of that, we found 176 core influencers who are really moving the needle in terms of driving sales. So we invited them to a brand ambassador type of platform. And then…
what initially started as a product seeding campaign, we expanded the scope of work because we were honestly just really aligned with who we’re targeting going after, that we expanded the scope to like fully building out their affiliate program, sourcing influencers, shipping product, staying in contact with all of them month over month so that the brand has a continuous cadence of content month over month.
Meara (09:11)
You said one of our buzzwords here, which was seeding. So what is seeding or gifting campaigns and what are the benefits and the drawbacks?
Esther Kim (09:19)
Yes, great question. So product seeding, to put it simply, is you’re sending free product to creators, affiliates, customers, whoever it is. In the sense of influencer marketing, it’d be creators with the intention of building relationships or getting product feedback or getting content. For lower price point items, I would personally recommend a no strings attached approach. You really want to think like an influencer, right? Like if I’m an influencer and a brand reaches out, a brand I’ve never heard of,
is selling chopstick. And I have like 10 other brands that are offering a bed frame, a desk. Like obviously, I’m not really going to be interested in the chopstick. If they’re requiring like, hey, I’m going to send you this chopstick if you post about it. No, man, like it’s $2. If I like it, I’ll post about it. But I don’t want to be contract obligated to post about it. So that’s my recommendation there. For products with a higher perceived value,
going back to my original example of the $700 HIPAA air filter. Brands aren’t just going to give that away willy nilly to everyone that asks. So in those cases, we can negotiate requiring content in exchange for product. And we do product seeding because it gives us the opportunity to work with a wide range of influencers. And we can test who’s driving engagement. And from there, we can pinpoint, OK, here are the two.
champions who are authentically championing our brand, and then dedicate resources to building relationships with those when it comes to paid collaborations. Look, as an agency, I’m kind of that middleman, right? Brands are like, oh, influencers are so expensive, I don’t want to pay them. Influencers are like, fuck you, pay me. There’s that whole movement. Sorry, I don’t know if I can cuss, but, F you, pay me. So I’m that middleman where I have to find a happy medium where the brand is happy and the influencer is happy.
Eliza (11:03)
Thank you.
Esther Kim (11:13)
With product seeding, it’s a nice way, the no strings attached approach, to kind of meet in the middle, and then based on the performance of the influencer, the brand can then decide, okay, a paid collaboration is something we’re willing to invest in.
Eliza (11:28)
I have so many questions about tracking. Like how, what does tracking look like for you all? And I feel like a lot of these actions take place not on platforms necessarily that you’re tracking their actions specifically. Like what does that look like for you all? And
Esther Kim (11:44)
Ooh, Meara, I’m going to give you some dirty secrets. No, I’m just kidding. OK, from the brand’s perspective, it’s tough because I want to give insight from what brands want from influencers specifically. And this episode, I want to advise brands on what recommendations and what not to do. But to answer your question, how do we track everything? So we have software that scrapes. There’s a bunch of software out there. We use one platform.
Eliza (11:47)
Thanks for watching!
I’m sorry.
Esther Kim (12:13)
and it scrapes hashtags, it scrapes media based on hashtags and mentions, then it aggregates all the influencers and the media. So it’ll show kind of like a grid of everyone. We can sort it based on highest engagement, most views, and you can see the engagement rate of the post versus the influencer’s average engagement rate. So that’s a metric that we use. We do have a client dash, so all of our clients have a client dashboard.
that not only scrapes the media, so there’s like a media tab, but there is a dashboard, it’s almost like a bird’s eye view of where the campaign is at any given moment. That includes like number of influencers, reach, impressions, media value. We can integrate it with Shopify so you can see the click-through rate, we can connect Shopify promotion code so the brand can see the exact dollar amount that each influencer is generating. So there’s a lot of ways to track it, but I think the most important.
If you are a brand that’s pretty new and just launched, like you have a couple of hundred or thousand followers on Instagram, then I would recommend really looking at impressions and reach. Whereas for Lunya, they were pretty established, they took off during COVID. So if you’re a pretty established brand, what they’re really tracking is sales.
Eliza (13:35)
Mm-hmm.
Esther Kim (13:35)
Yeah. And I would say the drawbacks of product seeding, right? So influencer marketing is a huge umbrella. Product seeding is just one strategy that our agency really focuses on. I would say specifically with product seeding, one drawback that a lot of my clients get a little bit nervous about when we first sign them on is timing. So we require a three-month minimum
the retainer. We’ve tried one month, we’ve tried two months, but it honestly doesn’t work. Like, you won’t see the fruits of your labor at two months. Month three, just due to the nature of product seeding, you know, first month is onboarding, aligning with influencers, outreach. Month two is where we begin shipping product. Influencers are busy. Like, like Meara mentioned, like this is not her full-time job. So she might receive a package. Some might be traveling. Like, you’ll send package
one week and then three weeks later, four weeks later, six weeks later, the influencer opens it up and is like, oh my God, I love it. So you can see media posted. Like sometimes we’ve had, we’ve even had one influencer, not the greatest example, but like six months later, she’s like, oh my God, I love this product. And I’m like, oh, I wish you would have posted earlier because they’re no longer a client. So I would say that’s the drawback. Like you in influencer marketing is, is definitely a long-term investment.
Brands, I’m telling you, patience is key. Quick wins are rare. Yes, we would all love a viral video. But one, viral videos don’t really mean sales. And I would personally give it three to six months for meaningful results, because building relationships take time.
Meara (15:16)
I can also say that my videos that go viral are so non-promotional. I can make a TikTok about a book that I loved and it might only get 5,000 views, but I get at least 20 comments of people being like, I just went and bought it, just got it on Kindle, I want it versus my video that has a million views right now that’s still going. It’s just me complaining about something. It’s like the substantial content usually isn’t the stuff that goes viral, but-
Esther Kim (15:38)
I’m sorry.
Meara (15:45)
When I go viral, people are going to come back to my page, and then they’re going to see the substantial content. So that’s the value there. And whenever a brand is like, we want our product to go viral, I’m like, OK, well, that’s not really the point of that video. Yeah. And people aren’t going to, unless it’s someone being this cleared, solve this big problem, most of the time, no one’s going to be saving, sharing, commenting, adding virality to something that’s just promoting something.
Esther Kim (15:48)
Totally.
It’s usually chance. Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Totally. And a note on viral video. So as an agency, it’s our responsibility to follow up with those creators, right? Like, OK, we found our person. So what’s next? It’s so interesting because influencers always share how shocked they are when a video goes viral. It’s always the video that they spent the least time working on. They’re like, OK, this video I poured my heart and soul into has the least amount of views. But I think that just goes to show.
that people are really looking for authenticity, right? Like influencer marketing, I remember, I mean, to this day, I like clean talk. Like I buy everything that influencers recommend. And you can tell when someone is like pushing a product, but when someone it’s like truly authentic and you feel like they’re not selling you something, they’re like, no, it’s almost like that big sister vibe. This worked for me, it’s gonna work for you. Those are the videos that actually drive sales.
Meara (17:12)
Truly and like when I tell you that the video that I have that has 1.2 million views I didn’t think I was gonna post it. I literally was sitting here working. I saw a video that made me mad I Recorded myself just talking to my phone complaining about it and I was like, do I really want to post this? Within three hours. I had over 500,000 views like it like went crazy and It’s always that stuff that you’re like, this is what you guys wanted from me. This is what you like, but like
Esther Kim (17:39)
Mm-hmm.
Meara (17:41)
That thing about it being the big sister recommending, I literally have glass straws because there was this girl who was like, I found the perfect 2PM Diet Coke recipe. Here’s what I do. And she was like, the glass straw makes it. And I was like, well, I need glass straws. And she wasn’t sponsored by Big Glass Straw. She didn’t have an affiliate. She wasn’t like, go shop it in my Amazon. She was just like, here’s everything that I do. And I was like, well, I need to do that to have this satisfying experience.
Esther Kim (17:46)
Yeah.
Exactly.
Yes, and actually to add some numbers, some data behind this. So it’s interesting. I always tell my client, 93% of consumers find UGC helpful when making purchasing decisions. We’re visual creatures. And it’s fascinating because there’s a stat. Let me read this here. UGC is nine times more impactful than macro influencer content and delivers a 28% higher engagement rate on social.
And I mean, the numbers are not like it. That’s not the important thing. I mean, Meara, I think you can attest to this. Like on the brand’s end, we can attest to this as well. Like, yes, they can do paid ads and there’s a time and place for performance marketing. But UGC again, is really every like item sell out on Amazon and TikTok shop because of word of mouth. And again, going just back to that word authenticity, it’s really key.
Meara (19:04)
Don’t know if y’all are on TikTok, croc boots, crutes. Those are my latest thing that I was influenced to. I ended up not buying them because they were sold out. It wasn’t even that there wasn’t a big influencer campaign. It was literally just girls being like, I bought these and they’re so ugly, but look, I’m not slipping. Or, I bought them and they’re so warm, and they’re not as bad as I thought they were going to be. One of my friends, it was a video with 500 likes, showed up on her For You page. She sent it to me because I am the queen of crocs amongst my friends.
Esther Kim (19:07)
Nope.
Yep.
Yeah.
Meara (19:32)
And I was like, just, and then, you know, TikTok is a search engine now. People are using it to verify purchases. So I went through and I was looking at these people in their crutes and I was like, I need a pair, but they were sold out in my size. But on the flip side of that, there was this room freshener that I was thinking of buying. I can’t remember the brand, but it was like on Amazon, it was like $50 for two containers and then the gel, that’s like the odor eliminator. And I was like, this is a big purchase. I don’t know how I feel about it. Tried searching on TikTok every single video.
was a gifted or partnered campaign. And I was like, there’s no real opinions. I don’t know if this is gonna be any good. So I ended up not buying it and just going back to my like $3 target one.
Esther Kim (20:13)
Exactly. Oh, sorry. I just wanted to jump in right there. So because you saw that it was sponsored, it almost turned you off. Right? And I feel the same way. I’m like, do I trust what you’re saying right now? Which is why, again, going back to the strategy I mentioned before, the no strings attached approach, when you do a no strings attached approach, the brand isn’t legally required, or the influencer actually also isn’t legally required to say, sponsored, gift, you know. They can.
Eliza (20:14)
Yeah.
Esther Kim (20:41)
They can say, oh, this was gifted to me, but these are my honest opinions, which I see all the time. But even that difference of saying gifted, and when influencers share constructive feedback but still say, I still love the product, yeah, that’s what the branch, that’s the goal.
Eliza (20:59)
Mm-hmm.
Meara (20:59)
If I could even, my viral video is about reviewing books and everyone’s talking about, there’s people in my comments saying, if I only see someone giving products five stars or books five stars, I don’t trust their reviews. If you don’t have that criticism in it, which you’re more likely to get with a micro influencer as opposed to a macro influencer is the willingness to critique a product because again, they’re everyday people. If they don’t come with those critiques, this is, it’s a lie. It feels like a lie.
Esther Kim (21:26)
Yeah, absolutely.
Meara (21:28)
And I know brands are hesitant to let people say bad things about it, but everything has a flaw.
Esther Kim (21:35)
Absolutely. Usually in, oh yeah.
Eliza (21:36)
Yeah.
Meara (21:37)
How do you, I was gonna say, how do you deal with brands whenever an influencer posts something negative or whatever?
Eliza (21:43)
Yeah.
Esther Kim (21:44)
I was just about to touch on this. So it’s interesting. I would say 95, 96, 90, I would even, no, 96% of influencers are very respectful and if they have constructive feedback, they will email us first. They will say, hey, I don’t wanna just bash you guys. I know you guys went out of your way to ship me this. I’m still genuinely interested in this product, but.
packaging, it’s too hard to open. The bag was open when I received it. We work with like a hair extensions company. Oh, like they were, they were like nuts when I got it. There were not perfect people. Like things happen as products get shipped. And I think influencers understand that and give the brand the benefit of the doubt. I think when you see negative like criticism online, it’s usually, I would guarantee the influencer did their due diligence of
sharing that feedback with the brand. And either one, the brand didn’t respond, or two, they didn’t like how the brand responded. So now they’re like, okay, it’s a free for all. I feel justice. I’m gonna say what I feel. So for any brands out there that are thinking about doing influencer marketing, I know it’s scary. I know you’re like, it’s so big. It’s time consuming and it’s a little scary because you can get negative feedback,
That is just a sliver of how much value it could drive for your brand, not just in terms of awareness, but also in revenue. So give it a try. I think the biggest mistake brands make with influencer marketing is one, just not even trying because they’re like, we’re going to do that next year. We’re going to do that next year. Let’s just focus on performance marketing. But yeah, there is real value in influencer marketing.
Eliza (23:33)
Yeah, where do you see it going in the next 12 to 36 months, like the next couple of years? Do you see big changes on the horizon? Do you think this will move into like kind of a new arena somehow?
Esther Kim (23:44)
I think video content will still remain king. And short form content is going to be more popular. Everyone’s attention span is getting shorter and shorter. But I would also say authenticity. I know I keep saying authenticity. But it’s because literally every influencer looks the same. It’s like, have you guys seen that hashtag, like sad beige house or whatever?
Like all of all influencers is like white furniture, white walls, white cushions. I’m like, one, how does anyone live in this sterile environment? But two, everyone has the Stanley. Everyone has clean girl makeup. You know what I mean? Like you know what an influencer looks like in your head. So I think over the next 12 to 36 months, what I’m starting to notice is I’m unfollowing the Amazon storefront.
Stanley Cup girls for quirky, weird ass influencers who are like, this is art that I made and it’s like a duck made out of Play-Doh. And I’m like, I don’t know why, but I like that. It inspires me to be different and celebrates being different. So I think a lot of people are getting annoyed of just seeing the same content over and over and you know the trends.
creators will literally take the same audio or like the same verbiage of creators used before and just act it out themselves. And this is like the biggest pet peeve, like have a point of view. And so with influencers, I think just be yourself. Like there’s already, there’s no one else like you out there. Brands are looking for people that are different and you can only be you. So just be you, like don’t try to fit into all these trends. In terms of the brand side,
I think we’re going to see TikTok shop. I mean, it’s already taking off, but TikTok shop right now kind of seems like the wild west. It almost feels like Amazon back in the heyday, like I used to sell on Amazon, like people are buying reviews. Like it just a product can go viral. So I think for brands, especially brands that have products that are priced under $20, really leverage open collaborations, target collaborations,
really leveraged the ad manager platform. Like I think TikTok at one point was covering 30% of the product cost and 30% of the commission for the creator. So they’re basically just printing money for brands to be like, please sell on this platform. So I think TikTok Shop is gonna start to blow up over the next couple of years.
Meara (26:27)
Do you have any campaigns currently that are using TikTok Shop? Because my free page is full of people being like, I’m over it, I’m tired of it, get it off my page. So are you doing anything with it? Are you seeing success?
Esther Kim (26:39)
Yes. So great question. Yes, we are. I mean, it’s interesting. I think from a consumer standpoint, I’m with you. Like, I don’t, I don’t want to be consistently sold something and like have products shoved down my throat. Um, but yes, a lot of my clients are on TikTok shop. Um, for any brands out there, I would say the biggest, I have certain prospects that come to me and say like, I can’t, it’s taking forever to get approved on TikTok shop and
A trick that I learned is your business address for your initial application has to match the business address that you have on your EIN. That’s tied to your EIN. So there’s a little tip there. And then with TikTok Shop, I mean, I think it’s just the future. So it’s almost like a necessary evil. Like brands are going to have to be on there if they already have a TikTok. But I’m curious to hear your perspective. Because
I’m a millennial. I personally only shop on Amazon. But what we’ve been hearing, and what we’ve seen from the demographics, is Gen Z is just like adding to cart and just checking out and just kind of testing the waters when it comes to products that are priced under like that $25 price point.
Meara (27:53)
I have not purchased anything on TikTok shop, period, because I’m adamantly annoyed by it. Because I feel like there is a lack of authenticity, specifically because of that time where TikTok was just handing out money, people were just buying stupid products and just promoting them to get, they were like, I got this, the beach waiver, the hair beach waiver was everywhere. And I was like, go away.
Esther Kim (28:00)
Yeah.
Yeah.
and the headphones.
Meara (28:20)
Yes, I’m like, I got these and I’m like, I don’t care. This doesn’t have anything to do with me. So like maybe if TikTok got better at like showing things that are relevant to me, I might be more willing to do it. But like, I’m so not interested in like supporting this thing that’s annoying me right now. And then also I’m a big like researcher into the price of something. And like, especially I’ll like see something for sale on TikTok shop and I’ll be like.
Esther Kim (28:29)
Yes.
Meara (28:44)
is this a drop shipping ripoff? And so then I like go search it online and I’ll be like, oh, it’s on Alibaba or something like that. So like, and I’m a, a Zillennial. So like, I’m like right in this middle space of like, distrust of the internet, but still like early adaptation. So I’d like, I do a lot of research before I’ll like commit to something, but Eliza, are you on TikTok? Are you seeing this?
Eliza (29:08)
I am on TikTok. I would say I think I’m an outlier of all my friends because I’m constantly hearing my friends be like, I bought this on TikTok. So in my age group, I’m 25. So I feel like in my age group, a lot of my friends are actually finding products and purchasing them from TikTok. I do think the platform probably has some ways to go in terms of algorithm.
Esther Kim (29:32)
Yeah, that’s fascinating.
Oh yeah, it’s still in its early days.
Eliza (29:38)
And yeah, it means to mature, but what were you going to say, Meara?
Meara (29:42)
sucker for Instagram shop though, the amount of times that I get an ad on Instagram and I’m like, I got all my checkout information loaded in there. I am buying it. No questions, no research. Like, and I think it’s just because they’re better at like matching their algorithm. I’m like, they know what I need. They’re like, you need this jacket. I’m like, I didn’t need that jacket.
Esther Kim (29:44)
Yes!
Yeah. Building trucks. Yeah. Exactly.
Totally. And I’m glad you brought that up because I think that is the future of TikTok shop. Like it only launched a couple of months ago. They’re still like figuring it out. Um, the search bar in TikTok is terrible. Like even when I’m searching for my clients, like official TikTok, it doesn’t come up. I’m like, what is happening here? The fact that TikTok shop is only available on mobile, it’s not available on desktop. Like, hello, there are people working from a computer who will need to look like, pretend like they’re working. Um,
So like little things like that, I think there are gonna be huge leaps when it comes to targeting. So I’m really excited to see how it goes because I do think like I do honestly all of my shopping on TikTok. Like Amazon storefronts, like I will click on it, it’ll link up in Instagram, I’ll check out within the Instagram app. So I don’t know, I do think that’s the future and I’m really excited because that.
It almost with TikTok shop kind of being the wild west right now, it almost left, um, evens out the playing field for these brands that are a bit smaller. Maybe they’re newer to the game, near to the market. Um, so it’s exciting for, if you’re like a new brand, like I would 100% recommend getting on TikTok shop now because, um, I took a screenshot for one of my clients actually on TikTok shop and the platform completely changed from that screenshot three weeks ago, like they are updating it every day. So.
Yeah, we’ll see how it goes.
Meara (31:34)
I will say I joined TikTok in January 2019, ahead of the curve. They are the best platform at listening to its users and making changes. So all these things people are complaining about, I wouldn’t be surprised. Like you said, if in like six months TikTok Shop is not annoying, it’s serving me the right products, it’s an easy checkout process, all of that, because they are constantly adapting.
Esther Kim (31:43)
Absolutely.
Meara (31:55)
Okay, no, go ahead, Eliza.
Eliza (31:55)
Are there any? No.
I’m just, I’m curious if there’s any campaign specifically that you felt like throughout the time that you’ve run this company that have like really blown it out of the water and like what strategies were you using in those scenarios? And maybe you already touched on this, but.
Esther Kim (32:14)
Yeah. Yeah, no, no. So yeah, it was the example that I brought up with LUNYA. So L-U-N-Y-A, they’re a luxury woman’s rest wear company. And they really took off during COVID because they, I mean, women were working at home, but they needed to look professional on Zoom while feeling comfortable. So yeah, I’m really proud of that campaign because the initial scope of work was product seating, right? Reaching out to 350 unique micro influencers per month.
We give them a promo code, see how many sales they generate, scrape all media, all of that. I think we did a really good job of aligning on exactly who we were targeting, like not just lifestyle, they’re like elegant, elevated lifestyle, you know, chic, you know. So because we targeted the right influencers, month over month, we had like…
we were almost overwhelmed with the amount of influencers that were opting into the campaign. So we actually had to move them into a, create like a brand ambassador program where, okay, let’s send them one thing every month. Let’s give them like commission tiers so that like they’re working towards 10% commission, 15, 20. Then you have like, then we say, okay, who are our core influencers that are driving sales? I think, you know how I mentioned, you know, we drove 85K.
in revenue for them, I think two or three influencers were a majority of that pie that drove like 75% of that revenue. So again, it’s really finding like these key influencers and you won’t find them unless you test it, unless you’re reaching out. It’s kind of like you mentioned, like you almost didn’t post that viral video, the video that went viral. You have to like, it’s almost like the universe rewards action.
and keep showing up over and over again. And then you’ll get a bull’s eye over time. It’s gonna happen.
Meara (34:11)
Exactly. Especially, I find maybe every once every three months, I have a video go viral, and that’s a pretty good rate, and you just have to keep posting to make that happen.
Eliza (35:00)
All right. Well, towards the end of the podcast, we always like to give our guests an opportunity to plug themselves. So we want to let our listeners know where they can find you and anything else you want to call out. Stage is yours.
Meara (35:10)
again.
Esther Kim (35:15)
Awesome. So again, my name is Esther Kim. I am the co-founder of Maven Reach, and we are a low-cost influencer marketing agency that connects consumer brands with a wide range of creators. Our success is really built on the philosophy of giving and not asking. And that’s just a fancy way to say that our bread and butter is product seeding and TikTok shop management.
Essentially, we help reduce brands, reduce the time and resources that they use by over 85%. So if you guys have need any help or support in terms of strategy, in terms of execution, I think influencer marketing, it just takes a lot of time and we want to help take that off your plate. So you can find more information or how to contact us at mavenreach.com or [email protected]
Eliza (36:09)
Awesome. Well, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. It was such a pleasure to talk to you. I’ve learned so much.
Esther Kim (36:13)
Yes, it was great. Yeah, I’m happy to do another episode some down the line if you guys want to chat. There’s so much to talk about influencer marketing. So yeah, if you guys want to talk more, happy to do it.
Meara (036:22)
Thanks so much.
Awesome. Thank you.
Eliza (36:24)
Awesome. Thank you.
Esther Kim (36:26)
Thank you guys. I hope you have a great day.
Eliza (37:00)
Thanks for joining us today. Be sure to subscribe and rate the podcast. And if there’s anything you’d like to hear us discuss, reach out on Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn.
Meara (37:08)
And as always, stay Optimistic!
