The Art of Influencing

Is Influencer Marketing Creating Occupational Goals for Younger, More Impressionable Generations?

By: Carli Aldape | November 11th, 2019

Remember in elementary school, when teachers asked students, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” The answers would usually be doctors, firefighters, or ballerina. Nowadays, teachers are receiving more interesting responses — doctors, firefighters… social media influencers? (Kix 2019).

Americans have always pushed the value of working hard to achieve goals; that is not always an easy ride. Influencer culture has created an occupation with an easier way to success, without the obstacles of a traditional career, where some form of training/schooling is required. In this career path, the creator just needs a cellphone with a video camera and brief access to the Internet in order to produce content. With success stories posted everywhere, it is easy to misconstrue the reality of how easy it is to become big on YouTube.

With popular YouTubers of any category, impressionable target audiences are exposed to the lives of the famous and given the idea that success is as easy as saying, “Hi, welcome to my channel!.” Social media, mainly YouTube, has created a new breed of social celebrities that children look up to. However, the reality of success is becoming harder to reach with new rules implemented by YouTube that widen the gap between small channels and popular ones (Frankel 2019). According to Matthew Humphries at Entrepreneur Media, “it was reported that new channels will require 4,000 hours of watch time within a 12-month period and at least 1,000 subscribers.” (Humphries 2018, PARA 3). This changed the dynamic of profit on YouTube, raising the bar and limiting access to earnings.

In his statistical analysis of YouTube, German professor Mathias Bӓrtl found that an average of 85% of total views go to 3% of all channels, making it difficult for the smaller channels to receive views, in turn decreasing their chances to profit off advertising (Bӓrtl 2018). Bӓrtl makes the case that YouTube advertising profit is a “rich get richer” phenomenon. A cycle is created where the biggest channels collect views and therefore increase advertising profits, while smaller channels cannot breakthrough (Figure 1). Many people are becoming YouTube creators thinking that it will end in mass profit when really lots of time is spent and they never get to the base requirements to get paid. When going into this newfound field, people need to realize that YouTube might not be the get-rich-quick scheme it seems to be.

Figure 1
Graphic by Carli Aldape with information credit to Mathias Bartl

How to Use Beauty Advertising as a Way To Appeal to Younger Audiences

By: Jordan Vonderharr | November 11th, 2019

The beauty industry is a very lucrative business that continues to grow in today’s market. Some aspects of the industry have remained the same but the audience is shifting from millennials to Generation Z, who are relying less on traditional marketing and are utilizing social media as a part of their pre-purchasing rituals. They still browse within stores, but in order to stay relevant, brands must have a strong social presence. (Mintel 2019 pa. 9).

An interesting trend to note is that original brands known as heritage brands such as Maybelline, Covergirl, and L’oreal continue to reign supreme with the overall market. However, brands with stronger digital presence are gaining power (Mintel 2019 pa 9). Due to being heritage brands, these larger brands did not have to work as hard on a digital presence, but it is becoming apparent that the market is becoming more segmented and those with a higher presence are rising (Kestenbaum 2019 para. 1).

The younger audiences are branching out in their interests. The members of Generation Z have taken a liking to brands such as Kylie Cosmetics, a brand owned by influencer Kylie Jenner, and Glossier (Mintel 2019 pa. 19). These brands do not rank highly within the overall market but are very influential towards younger audiences. Both have a massive online presence and a strong following that is highly appealing factor to those of the younger generations (Mintel 2019 pa. 19).

On the other hand, one thing millennials are also looking for is eco-friendly products and packaging. Due to the Internet and its ability to spread information, the target market has grown up in a time more concerned with the environment and its well-being, which results in an increased likelihood to purchase products that are advertised as environmentally friendly (Mintel 2019). Brands must meet user’s preferences such as what it puts in its products and how its products are made.

At this moment, the beauty industry is at an impasse where both the traditional brands and new more influential brands are continuing to make money. If the traditional brands do not learn to rely more on their younger audiences and appeal to them, these brands could begin to lose their audiences to brands more aware of what a young audience wants. For success, it is very important that heritage brands learn from newcomers to the industry and develop a stronger digital presence.

The Beautiful World of JeffreeXShane

By: Talia Davis | November 8th, 2019

Shane Dawson (left) and Jeffree Star (right) in a promotional photo | photo from *Twitter/*@shanedawson

Shane Dawson has been in the YouTube scene since 2008. His early work consisted of sketch videos, but as time progressed, he switched to conspiracy videos and documentaries. As a result, his content has been considered not “Advertiser-Friendly” due to the conspiracies and past statements he has said (Hale 2019). Although he has 23 million subscribers on his channel, shane, he is constantly demonetized due to YouTube’s rules (Alexander 2019). He has had a couple of sponsors here and there, for example, Honey, a browser but compared to other YouTubers, it is not enough.

YouTube/shane

Dawson and Star have been working together on a documentary series titled, The Beautiful World of Jeffree Star, which follows the process of creating a makeup and merchandise line from scratch. Star, the CEO of Jeffree Star Cosmetics, which sells an estimated $100 million a year (Robehmed & Berg 2018), partnered with Dawson to revamp his merchandise line and create The Conspiracy Collection, a collaboration line between Dawson and Star (Dawson 2019a).

Collaboration lines have been known for increasing brand sales and awareness. They tend to be limited edition, exclusive, or are hyped-up (Mintel 2019b), which is done through this documentary series. Viewers watched every moment of the creation process, leading up to the palette reveal video where Dawson and Star filmed their photoshoot for the advertisement and revealed the final palette line (Dawson 2019b).

YouTube/shane

When The Conspiracy Collection was released on November 1st, Jeffree Star Cosmetics’ website crashed and the other stores that had the collection were wiped out immediately. This collection broke records, with the entire collection being sold out in less than 24-hours (Shane Dawson 2019).

I cant believe it. everything in the conspiracy collection sold out. i cant believe how supportive u guys have been through this. i genuinely cant put into words how overwhelmed i’m feeling. we’re internet dinosaurs and the fact that you guys are still there for us is insane :,) pic.twitter.com/0gRgLtuuE2
— Shane Dawson (@shanedawson) November 2, 2019

Dawson, entering the beauty scene with the most anticipated makeup line and series of the year, positions himself as one of the top YouTubers, which can impact his future sponsorships. Companies will want to partner with whom has a large presence, especially with a new beauty influencer, whom broke the Internet with its new makeup line (Jeffree Star 2019).

Having the series and makeup line was an effective marketing strategy on both Dawson and Star’s part. They generated enough talk, to the point where #JeffreexShane was trending #1 on Twitter for hours (Tenbarge 2019).

This new business will change the way advertisers view Dawson, as his platform can generate more attention for their own brand (Mintel 2019b).

The History of Beauty Advertising

By Kirsten DeZeeuw | October 30, 2019

In today’s digital world, advertisers are scrambling to keep up with and capitalize on the latest trends to sell products. Today, advertising in the beauty community revolves around social media influencers, with consumers relying on their recommendations for sources of information (Christine, 2019). While the savvy consumer might understand how products are currently marketed, what past practices made advertising in the beauty industry what it is today?

Early history

According to a 2003 article from AdAge, some of the first cosmetic advertising appeared in European newspapers in the 17th and 18th centuries. The product that was advertised was a powder that were intended to lighten the face and hair of users to achieve a more fashionable complexion (Adage, 2003).

The 20th century

It was not until the 1920’s that cosmetics and their advertising became commonplace. For the first time, it was socially acceptable for women to wear noticeable makeup. Women embraced this trend, which led to a boom in the number of products that became available to them. Advertisers at this point in history were mostly focused on introducing the plethora of new products to women, and exploiting their emotions and insecurities to sell products (AdAge, 2003).

Advertising in the industry became more recognizable to current consumers in the 1980’s, with the popularization of celebrity endorsements (e.g. Nike’s Air Jordan’s). The celebrity endorsement was a common and effective tactic for advertising, until the “credit crunch” of 2008 and the popularization of social media made consumers more skeptical (Mintel, 2017).

Today

Social media has made celebrities more accessible, so consumers were, for the first time, able to see if celebrities actually use the products they endorse. This accessibility has decreased the credibility of such promotions to the point that these endorsements’ influence on consumers are currently at an all time low. However, it was this drop in credibility that created an opportunity for influencers to gain popularity, particularly on platforms like YouTube (Mintel, 2017).

It was events like these that helped transform the beauty advertising industry into what it is today. Now it is just for time to tell what the future has in store for advertising in the beauty industry.

Adpocolypse

By: Jordan Vonderharr | October 30th, 2019

Drost Video/ YouTube

Demonetization is a word that sends shudders down the backs of most YouTubers. Recently, YouTube has been cracking down on the content that it finds acceptable to be sponsored. YouTubers depend on these monetization policies so with many videos being demonetized for what seems like there is no reason many creators are getting concerned (Allsop, 2019).

There are many reasons that content creators can find their videos not making money. Some of these reasons being: “nudity or sexual content, harmful or dangerous content, hateful content, harassment and cyberbullying, spam, misleading metadata, scams, threats, copyright, privacy, impersonation and child safety” (YouTube, 2019 para. 3). With many reasons and no clear explanations of some of the more vague categories, it can be hard to know why an influencer’s content is no longer being sponsored.

YouTube deciding it needed to tighten the reins on what could be sponsored came in 2016, when popular influencer “PewDiePie” was found to have been posting videos containing anti-Semitic jokes. This sparked a conversation about enforcing stricter monetization rules and letting brands have more of a say of what type of influencers it is sponsoring. This new policy let advertisers pull advertisements from a video if it felt that the video’s content did not align with its brand (Thomson, 2019 para. 8).

Once again, in 2017, a popular YouTuber, Logan Paul found himself in a scandal that put Youtube in a tricky situation. After a visit to a Japanese forest, he uploaded a vlog where he showed a body and made fun of a suicide victim, and YouTube was forced to take action. It decided to create a stricter influencer marketing plan, this time limiting what creators were eligible to be a part of its program. This put creators on hold for six months not making revenue, waiting to learn if their videos would still make money (Thomson 2019).

YouTube creators issues with monetization come from the fact that often times videos can be demonetized without clear reasons of why they have been demonetized. One example of this is Mr. Allsop History’s channel. Mr. Allsop creates videos used by history teachers. In June of 2019, he found himself banned on the platform under the grounds of “hate speech.” The flagged content was World War II educational material flagged by an algorithm. The problems do not come from harmful content being demonetized, but from wrongfully flagged content (Allsop, 2019).

YouTube have banned me for 'hate speech', I think due to clips on Nazi policy featuring propaganda speeches by Nazi leaders. I'm devastated to have this claim levelled against me, and frustrated 15yrs of materials for #HistoryTeacher community have ended so abruptly.@TeamYouTube
— Mr Allsop History (@MrAllsopHistory) June 5, 2019

Mr. Allsop History/ Twitter

James Charles v. Controversies—How Was He Affected?

By: Talia Davis | October 28th, 2019

When deciding who to sponsor, companies want an influencer that has a positive relationship with their fans and the public. When drama between YouTubers arises, this not only brings a hit to their subscriber count and reputation, but also its sponsorships (Freedman 2019).

Consumers now tend to turn to influencers who are transparent and give honest opinions about products before they purchase them (Mintel 2019). There are a wide range of beauty influencers on YouTube, and not all of them get along. The beauty community is known for its drama, but once a major controversy hits the right people, creators with correct information. Soon after, social media gets out of hand and as a result, influencers’ reputation are affected, followed by companies who sponsor these influencers being notified about the drama occurring (Freedman, 2019).

For popular beauty influencer, James Charles, he has found himself in multiple controversies. Back in 2017, he joked on Twitter about getting Ebola in Africa. At the time, he had recently become CoverGirl’s first male spokesperson. Although he apologized, he ended up losing his brand deal with CoverGirl due to tweet (The Cut, 2017).

Flash forward to the biggest feud of the summer, between Charles and fellow beauty guru, Tati Westbrook. Charles had posted an ad on Instagram promoting SugarBearHair, a rival to Westbrook’s Halo Beauty. This caused Westbrook to post a YouTube video not only calling out Charles for the ad, but also exposing him for other actions he has done. As a result, Charles lost almost 3 million subscribers, which can impact the amount of money he gains from sponsorships, since follower count and follower engagement determines the rate an influencer charges a company (Freedman, 2019).

The type of controversy influencers gets caught up in will determine how its sponsorships are affected (Freedman, 2019). For racist and insensitive controversies, influencers can lose out on brand deals and the fate of whether it can fix its reputation — which Charles had to do. For the recent drama, Charles’ only consequence was his merchandise store being down for a couple of days. To this day, he has his makeup line with Morphe, a new merchandise store, and has 16.2 million subscribers. In regards to sponsorships, he is still posting videos today, with coupon codes with companies he’s partnered with in his description box.

Influencers, Brands, and FTC Guidelines

By Sonya Ricker | October 23, 2019

While influencer marketing is extremely effective, the many risks brands face when working with influencers is definitely cause to be wary. Especially now that influencing has taken off in recent years as a new and successful form of advertising, it is becoming easier and easier for companies and the influencers they choose to work with to cross ethical lines or Federal Trade Commission guidelines, purposely or otherwise (Lurillo, 2019).

One of the major downfalls of influencer marketing for many brands is the disregard of FTC guidelines. The Federal Trade Commission requires influencers to explicitly state if they are sponsoring content for companies by saying it within the content they post, such as using hashtags like #ad or #spon to show that they are being sponsored. However, most YouTube influencers do not abide by these rules unless explicitly told to (Lurillo, 2019). For example, Olivia Jade is a beauty and fashion YouTuber. In 2017, she posted a video in which she reviewed products from the makeup brand Glossier for the first time. While she clearly stated in the description of the video that this particular content of hers was not sponsored by Glossier, she did not disclose that if a viewer was to click on the affiliate links to products in her video description, she would get a percentage of the sale (Matsakis, 2018). It is this inauthenticity and outright lack of accountability that can be a danger for a brand, especially if it wishes to reach a broader audience through YouTube. If the influencers companies partner with do not follow FTC rules, it is not only illegal (which is not a good look for the company or the influencer), but it also paints the picture that the brand itself is sneaky, manipulative, and inauthentic- not qualities any brand wants to be known for or associated with. Not all YouTube influencers lie about sponsorships or advertisements, and not all brands know that the influencers they work with are not being completely transparent. At the end of the day, however, both companies and influencers have a responsibility to be upfront and honest with their consumers and audience, and both must take accountability for any pitfalls and lapse in judgment.

How Sponsors Pick and Choose Their Influencers

By Carli Aldape | October 20, 2019

Youtube’s popularity has grown within the past ten years, and with that, marketing and advertising jumped on the opportunity to adapt with it. With the extensive reach these influencers now have, advertisers “piggyback” off them to reach their mutual audiences. Choosing who to sponsor, however, can be tricky. While there are multiple factors for companies to consider before picking up a YouTube influencer to sponsor, it can be generalized into two main deciding factors: reliability and controversiality.

Reliability

When looking into reliability, companies are judging how reliable the influencer’s views are. If they only attract views every once in a while, it is less reliable. This is because, to sponsors, a steady stream of views on the video equals a steady stream of views on the advertisement. If the company cannot trust the influencer to pull a regular, fairly predictable range of views, that might not be the YouTuber to choose. Youtubers with more committed fan bases are better sponsorship targets, and many popular creators have dedicated fans who watch every video that is released. While a subscriber count is valuable, if a makeup channel is bringing in a steady amount of views, it increases the chances that returning viewers will buy the product (Andrus, 2018).

Controversiality

Controversiality in the beauty category is a major factor sponsors need to consider before reaching out to influencers. This YouTube category tends to have more drama than others, mainly because it is product-based. These videos include topics like makeup tutorials, hauls, and reviews. Contention arises when the voicing of an influencer’s opinion of a product goes against another’s views. During the summer of 2019, influencers James Charles and Tati Westbrooke began a social media meltdown over what began as two competing product endorsements (Freedman, 2019). Major stir-ups like these can get devoted, highly opinionated audiences speaking for or against a product solely based on association with a particular influencer, which can be harmful to the advertiser.

Another example that directly affected brand deals is when makeup artist Laura Lee had racist tweets exposed that caused her to lose hundreds of thousands of subscribers. Not only did she lose these subscribers, but also every business sponsorship she had built discontinued their partnership with her (Staff, 2019). These included Ulta, Morphe Cosmetics, Diff Eyewear, and Boxycharm (Staff, 2019). This is the risk that companies make when choosing who they sponsor, and can potentially be catastrophic to a company’s reputation due to association.

So, How Do Sponsorships Work?

By Kirsten DeZeeuw- October 13, 2019

Sponsorships are one of the ways YouTube beauty “gurus” make a living. In addition to monetizing videos by placing ads before the video starts, sponsorships are one of the main ways these influencers earn money for the content they create (Edinger, 2017).

On Youtube, a typical outside sponsorship means that a company gives an influencer some form of compensation (money, gifts, etc.) in exchange for exposure in the creator’s videos (Edinger, 2017). This is a subtle form of advertising that can be very lucrative for both the sponsoring company and the influencer.

Sponsorships first became popular when companies realized the practice is a cost-effective way for “regular people” to advertise a product to a large audience (Carlier, 2018). Aside from being cost effective for companies, this alternative to celebrity endorsements is popular because it is more relevant to the viewers, the advertisement comes to the audience, and the endorsement sounds like a typical word-of-mouth recommendation — something that many people tend to trust.

Influencers can benefit greatly from these partnerships. Allegedly, some beauty “vloggers” can make over $60,000 to talk about a sponsored product in one of their videos (Robin, 2018), even when the sponsored product is not the main topic of discussion in the video.

During makeup tutorials, it is common practice for these creators to identify the products they are using and leave links in the video description for viewers to purchase the mentioned products/find more information. When a product is sponsored, it is not immediately clear to the viewer that the “vlogger” is being paid to talk about the particular product, which is an effective form of advertising because it works around the distrust younger people have toward traditional advertising (Mintel, 2017).

Sponsorships in YouTube videos, particularly in the beauty community are completely changing the advertising strategies of companies all over the world. As time passes, some may find it interesting to observe how this concept will continue to evolve, and to see if this trend passes the test of time.

How Influencers Earn Money

By Sonya Ricker | October 13, 2019

The most commonly asked question when thinking of the influencers of YouTube is how do they earn a profit? Influencers have various means of earning a living through YouTube, but the two most impactful are the advertising revenue paid to influencers using YouTube AdSense and by partnering with or being sponsored by companies. It is important to note that for every 1000 views a YouTube influencer receives on a video, they are paid anywhere between three to ten dollars (O’Connell, 2018). By partnering with YouTube AdSense, influencers will have advertisements embedded in their content. For every click or full play-through an advertisement has, YouTube will take 45% for itself and give the remaining 55% as commission to the influencer (Dutta, 2019). However, not all ads pay the same. Factors such as the size and affluence of the brand advertising and the region the advertisement is playing in determine how much money an influencer will make. Another aspect to consider is that YouTube can choose to demonetize videos influencers’ create if it believes the content does not meet strict advertisement-friendly guidelines. Relying solely on ad revenue for profit can be confusing and frustrating for influencers, which is why many also partner with brands (O’Connell, 2018).

Larger YouTube influencers have little to no problem seeking brand deals and sponsorships as another stream of revenue. A company wants its products to be seen by as many viewers as they can. By partnering with an influencer, who has tens of thousands of subscribers, it can reach more people and a specific niche audience than if it stuck with traditional marketing. Sponsorships are more beneficial to influencers, as well. They receive added perks as well as monetary funds, such as free products and free trips (O’Connell, 2018). Making money as an influencer is more complex than it seems.