This article and podcast were initially published by Jason Falls on January 13, 2021
There’s a reason Winfluence often features people representing the influencer marketing software solutions and it isn’t sponsorship dollars. These are the people working in and thinking about influencer marketing every day, so they have great insights and perspective to share.
I thought I knew most of the players in the software space until I recently stumbled upon Find Your Influence, an end-to-end influencer marketing software and managed services company based in the Phoenix area. Its co-founders, Jamie Reardon and Cristine Vieria, sat out to build the first complete software solution for the industry. They’ve been around since 2013.
We did a deep dive into their software platform, but then chatted about what 2021 has in store for us in the influencer marketing space. Jamie even opened up the conversation about performance-based influencer marketing, which triggered a slightly different context for me, but we had a very informative and insightful conversation about that and other topics you’ll be smarter for hearing.
Winfluence Podcast Transcript – Jamie Reardon and Cristine Vieira – Find Your Influence
Jason Falls
Hello again, friends thanks for listening to Winfluence – The Influence Marketing Podcast. We’ve heard from and about a lot of influencer marketing software platforms on this show, and rightfully so. These are not only the companies that provide services that benefit brands, agencies and influencers. But the folks I invite on are the people working in and thinking about influence marketing every day. And I’ve been around a while watching the social technology space for almost two decades now. So it’s rare when I stumble across a software company that has been around a while seven or eight years or so that I haven’t heard of. Now, perhaps I’m not as plugged in as I think I am. But Find Your Influence surfaced on my radar lately. They’re quietly tucked away in the valley and Arizona — the Phoenix area — and they are believed to be the first end to end influence marketing solution for brands. So search discovery, engagement, content, collaboration, measurement payment all in one place. They also have a managed services division. So whatever your need as a brand or agency from an influence marketing solution, they’ve got it and have had it for a while.
Jason Falls
I wanted to get to know them better, not only so I can speak intelligently about what they provide. But if co founders Jamie Reardon and Cristine Vieira built and have managed this platform for eight years, you know they have a finger on the pulse of what’s happening in the space. We sat down recently to chat about find your influence to get a good feel for the platform and services. But then got into a neat discussion about what brands agencies and influencers should be watching for in 2021. Jamie even opened the door to talking about performance based influencer marketing, which is a hot button topic to be in the space I think not sure many influencers are gonna like it, but I sure know brands want to see more of it. I walked away from this conversation smarter about the industry with some different insights and perspectives. But also glad that I found find your influence Jamie and Cristine, the dynamic duo behind influence marketing platform Find Your Influence, Jamie Reardon and Cristine Vieira next on Winfluence.
Jason Falls
So Jamie, Cristine, I want to start out Find Your Influence is a software solution, an end to end software solution for influence marketing, but you also have a talent division. So if I’m reading that correctly, you’re not only a platform for identifying and managing influence campaigns, but you also have a stable of influencers. You represent … Am I reading that right?
Jamie Reardon
That’s correct. We, we like to look at ourselves as all things influencer marketing. So the foundation of our company is certainly the technology and the platform. But there are other divisions that feed into influencer marketing holistically.
Jason Falls
So I’ll throw this at Christine, then we’ll go back and forth. And that way, you know, everybody knows who’s answering one question, I guess. And if you guys can correct the course of that, if you need to. So Christine, how does the talent agency side and the platform side work together? Or do they? And do they have to?
Cristine Vieira
Good question. So to Jamie’s point, we’re all things influencer marketing, and the foundation, the way that FYI started was really on the technology side. So providing brands and agencies and all in one solution for influencers. We are two sides of the platform. So we have all influencers opted in, they’re connected to their API’s. It’s a wonderful way for influencers, to really manage their book of business and their income and campaigns and programs. And for agencies, you know, they have an easy way of searching for influencers, managing their campaigns, messaging back and forth of those influencers, and really building that relationship as well as tracking the results. And so FYI, talent, was launched a couple of years ago, really isn’t an easy way to leverage additional influencers in building those relationships and managing the those up and coming influencers. So we saw a need in the space, and we have a small roster of influencers that we currently manage. And it just felt like, you know, an easy extension to FYI.
Jason Falls
So let me throw this out there to both of you. I guess we’ll start with Jamie. The question that popped pops into my mind when I hear that, and let me explain the question to I don’t want to, you know, throw you for a loop here. But I’m wondering about the potential conflict of interest with having both of those. And the way that I’ve come about that question is, if I come to you for a platform to engage influencers and drive campaigns as a brand, one thing I’m concerned about is getting the best bang for my buck. But if my software software platform is using its own stable of influencers, then you’re motivated, probably to get the best fee you can get for the influencer. So how do you account for that? Jamie? We’ll start with you. And then Christine, if you have something to add, that’d be great.
Jamie Reardon
Sure, absolutely. So the good news here, Jason, is that the the rates for the influencers from a platform standpoint, and when we’re managing them, they don’t change. So their rates are already in the platform as, as established. So in terms of our clients, leveraging the influencers, that may be managed by FBI talent, it’s again there. As long as that KPIs that the that the clients are looking for the reaches there, and the budgets in line based on the impressions and engagements or estimated sales metrics, and if there, there is no concern.
Jason Falls
Cristine, do you have anything to add there?
Cristine Vieira
Nope, that’s exactly right. So in terms of, you know, pricing, it’s really based on our, on our algorithm, our pricing algorithm, and it’s, you know, seven years of data, and it looks at the influencers, category, their content, what the ask is on the campaign side, and then it provides kind of that baseline pricing brands and agencies obviously have the ability to negotiate back and forth with those influencers. But at the end of the day, you know, that pricing is established at the beginning.
Jason Falls
Interesting. Okay, so you’ve got a pricing algorithm, and I’m really interested in that, because that sounds pretty unique, from what I’ve seen out there in the marketplace in terms of influence marketing tools. And and and so tell me a little bit more, let’s go into more detail about what the pricing algorithm is and how it’s beneficial for a brand coming to you.
Cristine Vieira
Yep, good question. So, again, the platform is really to leverage the data of the influencers to make you know, the best decisions about your campaign and so pricing and, and content are big one, so if a brand is coming in, and they’re looking to leverage an influencer on Instagram, and Facebook and and YouTube videos, then the pricing is going to change really based on the content based on the size of the influencer, how niche they are, you know, depending on what they’re talking about. So it takes all of those factors and and gives you a baseline price that you can then start negotiating with the influencers on.
Jason Falls
Okay, so So Jamie riddle me this, because I think you were the one who said earlier that the conflict of interest goes away because the pricing is kind of set. But if the pricing is set, I’m confused, then how the influencers and the brands can negotiate Is it just the baseline pricing is set, and then there’s that, you know, direct, you know, kind of negotiation back and forth, or is there something else there that I’m missing?
Jamie Reardon
That’s That’s correct. So the baseline pricing is set. And then if, for some reason brands have additional requirements or licensing fees or exclusivity clauses, or if for some reason seasonality plays a part for the influencer, then that’s when they can go back and forth, and they can negotiate on the program.
Jason Falls
Interesting. So I wonder that the next sort of line of questioning I have is I’m wondering, I mean, obviously, you guys have been around I think, since 2013. That’s a that’s pretty long in the tooth in terms of, of influence marketing software, how do you ingest influencers? Because we’ve heard, you know, a number of different ways that systems do it explained here on the show, you know, some are invite only and very curated, other platforms, scrape you know, anybody who has an account, others scrape anyone with a certain number of followers. So give me the methodology behind your your database of influencers? How do you get them in there?
Jamie Reardon
Sure. Absolutely. Great question. So we are a opted in influencer platform. And so the, the benefit to that is that the the team and our clients have worked with a large number of these influencers over the years. The other piece of it is that that influencers are heavily engaged in the platform. So when, when there’s a product that an advertiser is looking to push out quickly, the response rate from these influencers is very quick. So that was always very important to Christina and I, from the early stages, when building the technology, as marketers ourselves, is making sure that we could be actively speaking with these influencers in a timely fashion. So having them opt in was, was really beneficial. We also have an out of network search, search engine that allows our brands and agencies and our internal team to, to work with influencers and from outside of the network as well.
Jason Falls
Interesting. So Christine, tell me this, who’s the ideal influencer for Find Your Influence? Who, who’s really the sweet spot for the types of influencers? You have the based on the types of brands that you work with? Based on the types of content that’s required? Give me your sweet spot? Who are your Who are your best influencers?
Cristine Vieira
That’s a really good question. I mean, I think I would say it really depends on the agency and the brand, who they’re looking to work with. You know, you can be an influencer with 1000 followers, if you’re talking about something very niche, and, and you have a good understanding about that, that industry. Or you can be, you know, the power influencers, the youtubers that that we all know, and love. So it really depends on the brand or product for find your influence, again, what Jamie mentioned is they’re all opted in. And so they’re connecting to FYI, they’re registering, they’re connecting to the social API’s. And from there, we’re gathering all of that data, and tearing those influencers. So that when you’re logging in as a brand or agency, you have a good understanding of their, their size, you know, what categories, they’re really talking about their topics, as well as their audience demographics.
Jason Falls
Cool, how many influencers are in there, because that’s another concern if it’s opted in. And, you know, it’s basically what I would would call basically a curated database of influencers. It’s not necessarily going out there and finding everybody and anybody, how many people you got in there for me to go look for?
Cristine Vieira
Yeah, okay, good question, we have access to just over 100,000.
Jason Falls
Okay, that’s pretty fair amount, not not bad. Now, if I’m a brand, here’s a good another question. And again, I’m asking questions, like, I’m a client, because I think that’s what the audience probably has, on their mind, too. If I’m a brand, and I have a list of influencers, either that I’ve worked with in the past, or I’ve done some other, you know, research, either using a third party tool, or just manually compiling a list of accounts that I see, can I use those influencers? And if so, how?
Cristine Vieira
Absolutely. So, we, um, this happens quite often where the brands send their info, we provide the brands with the link for their influencers to register to the platform, and they the influencers from there, get all set up, and then they can create the campaigns, you know, from the the interface, so it’s a pretty easy and seamless process and influencers are very used to it.
Jason Falls
That’s nice. So let me ask you this, either Jamie or Christine either one can chime in here. I have always had and I take it from our conversation here especially, you guys mentioning that there’s the opportunity for brands and influencers to negotiate that one of the problem I’ve always had with managed services, which I don’t think is what you offer, correct me if I’m wrong in a second, but the problem I’ve always had with managed services is it takes that relationship out of the equation, it does not allow really for the brand to connect with the influencers directly, because that’s the definition it’s a managed service, the brand doesn’t necessarily need to fool with it. But for me, that’s a problem because I’m a PR guy by trade, I want that relationship. And I want to know that influencer, were you guys intentional in setting it up that way? So that you knew you weren’t necessarily running managed services? Or do you run managed services? And, and and how do you balance that potential conflict of having an influencer, talking to you and then talking directly to the brand because that can create some issues.
Jamie Reardon
So we do have a managed service division of the of the company, in terms of in terms of the the needs of the client, it very much goes back to what the bandwidth looks like for brands or advertising agencies, if they’re to your point, if they prefer to come manage the relationship themselves, or have the FYI team manage it, we’re very open to all different types of structures. So we’re not one to tell our brands that they can’t have interaction with the influencers. You know, we welcome that the relationships, influencer marketing and the key our relationships. So we promote manage service side, like to think of ourselves as the extension of the brand’s team, and have a really good understanding of their products and services as well as the people behind it. And so again, it very, very much goes back to, you know, the structure that it’s needed for that brand or or agency.
Jason Falls
Very nice. So, now that we’ve kind of got a nice understanding of kind of what you offer, you know, an Indian solution with a combination of approaches, which I certainly appreciate that because, you know, some people just don’t offer one way or the other. Let’s let’s talk a little bit a little bit about the industry. One of my perspectives on influencer marketing is that we’re often led to believe by the media, mainstream media primarily that influencer marketing is about celebrities with large followings, you know, some some content creators are in most of the content creators are in fashion and beauty, and that influencer marketing lives on Instagram and YouTube. But in my, from my perspective, frankly, that’s one small percentage of an overall world. I wonder how you would describe the world of influencer marketing to someone who asked in terms of the size and scope? And is your platform? Does your platform lean toward that sort of CPG instagram youtube influencer? Or do you have b2b and other you know, sort of people within your network for those types of businesses.
Jamie Reardon
And so we very much lean with you Jason in terms of, there’s one there’s an influencer for every category. And the other piece is verse, we very, very heavily encourage, you know, all social channels, and you know, and then on top of that, utilizing everything from affiliate marketing to paid social to DSPs that’s all becoming part of the whole influencer, marketing landscape in one form or another, whether the micro influencer so the macro influencers, the celebrities, again, that’s, that’s, you know, very wide and we see it all and from a b2b perspective, what works for a b2b company versus a b2c company is very different. However the you know that it’s that goes back to the strategy when executing a campaign because there is a an appropriate strategy when it comes to different categories when it comes to different verticals when it comes to different brands and influencers that you’re working with but fully agree with your with your mindset and influencers you hit on it too with even the celebrity piece influencers are now creating their own product lines and as our traditional celebrities have been doing for for ages. So in terms of that influencer marketing landscape, it’s it’s pretty large.
Jason Falls
Christina, I think a lot of the brand campaigns that I see anyway and influence marketing these days, especially with you know, consumer product goods and or b2c companies have a tendency to lean to you know, very, very in a in a direction of being transactional so it’s Hey influencer, here’s money in exchange for a post or a link or, or even a piece of content if they treat them as creators, more so than influencers, and it’s very much set up to be transactional. And in in in terms of scale, especially with brands that need to scale up, it’s it’s almost it’s almost anonymized. It’s almost as if they’re just like, go find me 100 influencers, I don’t even care who they are, here’s the product, here’s the money, go do it. And they they miss the point, in my personal opinion, of connecting with those influencers and building longer term relationships where there’s benefits and value on both sides of the exchange. I wonder from your perspective with your client base and the influencers you work with? Does that seem to be the tendency with the clients you guys work with? Or or where does the what what percentage of them are transaction based versus brands who come to you and really want to build those relationships?
Cristine Vieira
Yeah. Okay, good question, and Jamie, feel free to add here. What I’ll say is, at the end of the day with influencer marketing, it’s all about connections. And it’s all about really that authentic content. So if you have the ability to build that long term relationship with the influencer, those campaigns are the, you know, the best, most optimized campaigns that we see in the space. So with influencers and leveraging that the the influencers, I mean, it’s all about the connection that they have with their audience, they know how to build the content that really performs the best. And if you have the ability to optimize a program with an influencer long term, that that content only starts performing, you know, at a stronger at a higher rate.
Jason Falls
Jamie, I’m going to ask both of you this question. I’ll start with you. I want to know, if as you look out into 2021, what are the what’s the biggest issue that is facing the influencer marketing, you know, sort of industry? Whether it be from a software perspective, or from an influencer perspective, or from a brand perspective? What’s the biggest challenge we all need to be watching for and sort of thinking about, as brands or as influencers? Or as you know, vendor software providers? and Christina asked you the same question. So I’ll give you some time to think about it. While Jamie answers. Jamie, what do you think?
Jamie Reardon
Sure. Absolutely. So I think it very much goes back to the compliance piece from from my perspective. So again, how, when it comes to transparency, when it comes to like compliance within content, there’ll be a lot more we see, you know, more regulations out there more consistency as it applies to the data and the measurements and how one brand is, is measuring their campaign or one influencer marketing company for that matter, and how the reporting looks at being provided back to their clients. So that’ll be something that we will, we’ll continue to see a lot more conversations around in 2021. And in I believe, more advisory boards from that perspective.
Jason Falls
Christine, what are your thoughts on what’s big and emerging that we need to pay attention to this year?
Cristine Vieira
Yeah, I completely agree on the compliance side. I think, as I mean, we’re an influencer marketing automation tool. But the ability to build really, that relationship with the influencers and focus on content, I think, is a big one in the space. So, you know, we offer automation, an easy way of searching influencers, creating campaigns, managing your campaign, so that you can really focus on what really matters in this space, you know, which is building those relationships with the influencers. And then the second thing is data and access to more data, you know, as this space evolves, really finding new ways of tracking your campaign and the success of that campaign.
Jason Falls
I love the fact that you said data, because every time I hear that I think of I think of LinkedIn primarily, because because I deal with b2b a little bit. And I am you know, technically, you know, in the marketing space, sometimes considered an influencer myself, and I can’t stand the fact that LinkedIn just does not share their data like it. They act like influencers don’t exist there and it’s crazy to me.
Cristine Vieira
Absolutely.
Jason Falls
Gettin’ a lot. I think I’m getting a lot of “amen”s on that side of Jamie, what were you gonna say?
Jamie Reardon
Um, the other piece is and we’ve already honed in on it a bit, but it goes back to the data is that 2021 will be the year of performance based influencer marketing. We’re already very much there in 2020. But influencers are doing a great job of developing their own brand. Deliver solid and quality assured content and hit the advertisers goals, maintain deadlines, act professionally, all those pieces while again, going back to the the key the key KPIs, and that the sales goals will be the ones collaborating with a large number of brands. And then with that, it goes back to those long term relationships that you were talking about Jason, the Evergreen campaigns.
Jason Falls
So let me ask you about that performance based, you know, perspective, because when I hear that, what as from a brand and an agency perspective, that’s kind of music to my ears, because I wish I could wave a magic wand. And every influencer that I use is paid on a performance, you know, basis, so that it aligns more with cpms and cost per clicks and things like that, because then the math becomes a lot easier. And I feel like I’m getting, you know, equal value for the dollar that I am in other channels. Are you saying that we may get to a point at some point when influencers out there are willing to say I stake my ability to drive conversions or, you know, cpms, or whatever, on the dollars that you’re going to pay me and not ask for fees for their time and whatnot? Are we going there?
Jamie Reardon
You know, there certainly are influencers that that will do that. But really, we’re seeing though, is on the paid social side. So it’s taking the organic influencer content, and then it’s amplifying it with pink social with pixel, anyone for that matter, other other distribution channels. And that way you continue with that organic content coming from the influencers, while also having them include things like promo codes, and getting creative with how they’re driving more of a direct response program. So it’s, it’s certainly an integrated campaign. The other piece of it is for influencers. Absolutely, they all take that all day long. If we’re if, if one, the brand is working with them for three or four months. And the brand is able to say, hey, based on these, this last three months of engagements, if we pay you on a cost per sale basis, versus the flat fee that we’re currently paying you on, we’re going to be making X amount more, then that’s where influencers will do it all day long. But they’re certainly not going to, they’re certainly not going to do it for purely a CPA or cost per sale program, when they are not sure what the conversion rate is based on, for example, what may be the marketing strategy on the site that they can’t control the transaction of.
Jason Falls
Here’s an interesting idea I, when you when you talked about supporting it with paid, I’ve come across an idea recently, where I’ve said follower count no longer matters. Because as a brand, what your job should be, from my perspective is finding the great content creators who also have, you know, a level of excellence on engagement. So people who can create good content and engage their audience no matter how big their audience is, because the brand can then put paid spin behind that content and amplify it. But But as you were talking, I sort of came across this idea that might be an interesting approach. If I were an influencer and a brand came to me and said, we’re gonna pay you, you know, kind of a freelance content creation fee for you to create the content. So that you’re, you know, we’re invested in you a little bit. But we’re not going to pay a fee. But what we’re going to do is we’re going to pay you a percentage of sales, or we’re going to pay you on a cost per 1000, or whatever basis. However, if you do this with us, we’re gonna put $25,000 in paid spin behind your content, to drive traffic to your content so that we help you drive conversions. If a brand approached me as an influencer, like that, I’d be game I’d be like, Okay, let’s do that.
Jamie Reardon
Absolutely.
Jason Falls
Christine, tell us where people can find out more about find your influence. If they’re a brand and they want to learn, what do they do? And then if they’re an influencer, who might want to be connected with your network, what do they do?
Cristine Vieira
Wonderful. That’s an easy one. So the first place we go is FindYourInfluence.com. And that’s for both brands, agencies as well as influencers. We’re also on all social channels. So LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, you name it, and we’re here to connect with you soon.
Jason Falls
Awesome. Jamie, last question for you. How awful are most people on TikTok these days?
Jamie Reardon
Know what this is that I will say this this is the best year for for TikTok right now. We need it with our current environment.
Jason Falls
I can’t I can’t I can’t I, I understand why the platform works because every time I open it up, I can’t put it down. I sit there for an hour and then realize, Oh, crap, I gotta go do things. But for for whatever reason. I mean, maybe I’m an old fogy. And I guess I am because I’m, you know, hell, I’m almost 50 but I cannot for the life of me figure out how to be interesting on that platform because it seems like it’s not just videos, you got to put bells and whistles and music and flashes and stuff. And I’m not stuff kind of guy.
Jamie Reardon
I feel like my seven year old has Tick Tock down but I guess.
Jason Falls
Well, my 12 year old daughter taught me how to use TikTok when she was 10. So I know I know how it feels. Ladies, thank you so much for joining me today. I hope everybody goes to check out find your influence. We’ll make sure the links are in the show notes and really appreciate your time and insights.
Jamie Reardon
Thank you Jason!