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Answering Your Questions from the DMs
92 Plays2 months ago
In Episode 10 of The Influencer Sisterhood Podcast, we’re answering some of the most common questions we’ve received straight from our DMs. From navigating the “messy middle” of influencing to figuring out how to price your work, this episode is a candid conversation about the real challenges creators face as they grow.
We talk about what it’s like to be in that in-between stage—when you’re no longer a brand new creator but you’re not quite landing those big brand deals yet either. What do you focus on when most of your collaborations are gifted or smaller paid partnerships? And how do you keep growing without getting discouraged?
We also tackle the awkward situation every influencer eventually encounters: agreeing to promote a product that arrives and doesn’t quite live up to expectations—whether it’s sizing, quality, or just not something you’d truly recommend. We share how to handle those moments professionally while still protecting your integrity and your audience’s trust.
Finally, we dive into the business side of influencing—how to start thinking about your rate card, what should actually be included in a media kit, and how creators can begin positioning themselves for better paid opportunities.If you’re building your platform, figuring out your value, and navigating the ups and downs of creator life, this episode will feel like sitting in on an honest conversation with friends who get it.
In this episode we cover:
What to do when you’re stuck in the influencer “messy middle”
How to handle brand products that miss the mark
When to start charging and how to think about your rate card
What brands actually want to see in a media kit
Staying authentic while growing your influencer businessBecause the truth is… the middle of the journey is where most creators actually live. And no one talks about it enough. 🎙️
Sister Shout Outs:
@southernmtngirl @tammyroshea
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Transcript
Introduction to Influencer Sisterhood
00:00:06
Speaker
Hey, I'm Leslie. Hi, I'm Lauren. And we're Influencer Sisterhood. Your weekly coffee date for real, unfiltered conversations about life as a midlife influencer.
00:00:17
Speaker
No gatekeeping, no fluff. We're two women at different stages of the journey, sharing the wins, the struggles, and everything in between. This is safe space where all influencers belong.
00:00:29
Speaker
So grab your drink, get comfy, welcome to the sisterhood. Let's dive in to this week's episode.
Answering Listener Questions
00:00:38
Speaker
Hey, y'all, we're back with another episode of the Influencer Sisterhood podcast. Lauren and I are here today answering your questions in the DMs, which I'm super excited about. how about you?
00:00:50
Speaker
Absolutely. I think it's super fun when we have something that we absolutely know somebody else wants to know about. Do we have all the answers? Absolutely not. But we can talk about from our personal experience and then maybe point people in directions that they have other resources that could maybe help or maybe just normalize whatever the questions are, if it has to do with feelings or whatever. i So I love a good i love a good answer, a DM.
00:01:16
Speaker
Q&A. It's always good, even if we don't have the exact answer, just to start the conversation. I think that's the piece that's always missing when you are you know, in a business by yourself, same thing goes for photography. You're one person running your business. Who do you ask questions to, right? So in this world, in the content creator world, it's just nice to be able to ask questions.
00:01:39
Speaker
So on that note, A, if you ever have questions, please send it to our DMs at the Influencer Sisterhood Podcast Instagram. But let's get started with the first question.
Dealing with Subpar Products
00:01:51
Speaker
So the first question is What do you do when an item you've committed to promoting isn't good? So maybe it's too small or it's really poor quality. It's a brand you maybe never have dealt with before worn before. What do you do?
00:02:08
Speaker
Okay. Well, I'm going to start with, there are going to be two answers. One is what do you do prior to agreeing to take that deal that will help?
00:02:20
Speaker
But let's say you already took it, which is what it sounds like this is. What do you do? Because I have had that. If it is a fit issue, i have gone back to the brand and said, hey, I would you know i would love to show this I thought this size would work, but it is totally not what I thought it would. I don't know that it's going to show well.
00:02:43
Speaker
If you'd like me to send it back to you and send me another one, we can do that. Or like I give them options. Right. And in that one instance, that I can remember, they said, don't worry about it. Just show it anyway, which I was like, well, okay then. So, you know, right away, it's not going to sell well, but okay. You know, and I, I talked about the fact that it was just the wrong size and I would, how you may want to size down next time or size up something like that. Yeah. I to um actually had a purse.
00:03:16
Speaker
i I remember the purse. So I was gifted a purse and, handbag, whatever. Sorry, the dog's playing with his toy. um So I had a handbag and I ordered the large size.
00:03:30
Speaker
And I'm petite and I'm short. And the handbag literally swallowed me. Like it was so big. It did not have an adjustable strap because it's this special strap made out of like um rope from like a boat. So it couldn't be adjustable. So I went back to the brand and
Contracts and Influencer Obligations
00:03:50
Speaker
I said, listen, I absolutely love this purse, but I don't think it's the right proportion for my body. And I think it's going to make the video not look as good as it could. Can I send it back?
00:04:03
Speaker
Get the small. Yes. So I sent it back, got the small and the small was so much better. So I definitely think, you know, whether they want you to send it back or not, I mean, like, you know, in your case, you didn't have to send it back, but you talked about it in a way that wasn't derogatory to the brand.
00:04:22
Speaker
But so people understood, right? And then some cases they would take it back and send you the right size. Well, let me also say, so let's now talk about quality.
00:04:32
Speaker
So it's not good quality. um I can remember there being a time where, and it's been a while, but I thought, this is terrible. Like, no.
00:04:47
Speaker
Now they were not paying me. to do it This was a gifted item. And I told them i am not I'm not comfortable showing this. So, i mean, I didn't have a contract with them. I didn't have, we had an agreement, but I went back and said, you this quality, um I appreciate you sending it to me, but the fabric is just not something that,
00:05:08
Speaker
I can in good conscience talk about as good. And they were like, oh, okay, no problem. That was it. So it was like, no, don't do. And so I just didn't do it and they didn't do it. And I always offer to send it back. They never want it to come back because it's more work for them to take it back right with the brand the brands I'm talking about. Like, I mean, if it's a huge brand or like the the purse situation, I mean, that was a high high quality, yeah a higher price point. They would take it back and sell it. You know what i mean? Um, so, and it's not coming from overseas and all that kind of stuff. So, but the key is conversation with the brand and open conversation. And to be afraid to just be honest with them. Exactly. As long as you don't have a contract and didn't sign something, even if you do have a contract, maybe you can say something, but obviously if it's just gifted, I don't think you're obligated to do anything, right?
Negotiating Terms for Gifted Items
00:06:03
Speaker
No. I mean, some of the, I will tell you some of the, um, Amazon brands,
00:06:08
Speaker
And not even the Amazon brands, actually. Some other ones will send you a contract type situation that says you agree to post a reel, give them um opportunities you know for revisions. They want to see it ahead of time. And they're not paying, but their payment is the product.
00:06:28
Speaker
That's what they're, you know, that, so that is your compensation. So it has value. So there are times when you do have a contract of sorts, but I think just being honest and if it's something that is just not so objectionable there,
Creating Media Kits and Setting Rates
00:06:43
Speaker
I think there's always a way that you can couch it like,
00:06:49
Speaker
this is not something I normally would have thought that I would wear. i don't know how I feel about it. You know, like if I, if I have to ultimately show it, you know, i can say, i really, i wasn't sure when I got this in and I'll tell you, I don't know that this is like the best quality, not quality, but i would say, I don't know that this is the best quality,
00:07:07
Speaker
look on me. And I might talk about look more than quality, or I don't know if this fit is exactly the best one on me, but if you are, and then I would think about in the case of who would it be good for? And then I would talk about that without saying like, but if you're into cheap crap, I mean, I would never say that, but like, I would put it in a way that it's probably not good. Yeah.
00:07:28
Speaker
That wasn't derogatory if I had to, and then I would never work with that brand again. However, i will say what I have learned because of those experiences is now, if I enter into any deal, I look at the product, whether it be paid or gifted.
00:07:46
Speaker
And I think, especially if paid, do I already know this is going to be good quality? Like if I know the brand, i've bought purchase I've purchased things from them before myself or whatever, and I know the quality is good, I'm not worried about that.
00:08:03
Speaker
um I might say, I'm going to order this size. I'm not positive. If you want to send me two sizes, then that's fine. So what I have learned from the experiences that I've had is now,
00:08:20
Speaker
whether it's gifted or paid, especially if it's paid. Typically, I will know ahead of time I've already either worked with the brand or I've used the products before and I know that they're of good quality, I'm not concerned about that. If I'm really worried about sizing, I might have a conversation with the rep ahead of time about this is my height. This is my weight. This is what I typically wear. How does this fit? Is it true to size? Is it, you know, whatever. And sometimes they've sent me two different sizes because I wasn't sure. And it depended on if there was like this major timeline. So that's one thing. The other thing is if it's a brand and they're paying me and they've I've never worked with them before, I have no idea what it is. If it's like a technology something, I will say, somebody wanted to send me an e-bike and I was like, hey, I'd love an e-bike, but um I have no idea what that's going to be like. I would require opportunity to try it before I would agree whether or not I would follow through with this deal. So um And I used ChatGPT to help me come up with the language, but basically it was like, you know,
00:09:32
Speaker
My audience is built on trust and, you know, that's obviously what you are trying to capture with working with me. So in order to maintain that and to protect that, i there's no way I can agree to something unless I've actually seen it, tried it, so on. So there's that.
00:09:49
Speaker
um If it's gifted now, what I say almost every single time about gifted is I would, you know while I work mainly on a paid basis, I am open to gifting.
00:10:02
Speaker
with the caveat, of course, I don't use that word because it's usually non-English speaking first language people. I will say with the caveat that um there are no posting obligations. If I like it, if the quality, I usually say if the quality is good and the fit is good, I don't say like it. I usually say if the quality is good and the fit is good, I will share it at some point if it works organically in my content. And I use the word if, and doesn't mean they're not going to come back at me and continually ask me even after they have agreed, we say you've received it. Have you, you know, when are you going to show it? And it's like, and then I just copy and paste that and say, I did not agree that I would, you know, I prioritize paid campaigns as I'm sure you can imagine. That's my priority. Um,
00:10:47
Speaker
And that's kind of how i I deal with that. So now I really, unless there are very, very, very few exceptions, that's a bigger brand that is gifting me something. I'm willing to do that with pay with um posting requirements. But every other thing I say, um i don't guarantee anything. A lot of them will still send it to me.
00:11:07
Speaker
Or I'll say, if you're if you'd like to move forward on a paid basis with you know kind ah guaranteed deliverables, I'm happy to send over my rates. So basically the answer to the question is
Determining Influencer Rates
00:11:20
Speaker
if you already have it, either ask the brand if you can exchange it for the right size, if it's a sizing issue, or you can potentially go back to the brand and say it really doesn't fit well in my content.
00:11:38
Speaker
if Especially if it's gifted and you didn't sign a contract, you can do that. um Or just from now on, any gifted, any and especially gifted, you can say, i am happy to try it out.
00:11:52
Speaker
But until I try it to see how it fits, if it's good quality, I'm not guaranteeing any sort of post. if Yeah, but I would say if you are beginning and in the new newer parts of your business, you're going to be taking and using gifted collaborations as if they're paid to build your portfolio, to get practice under your belt of working with briefs and the types of timelines. So you're going to want to do them with everything.
00:12:25
Speaker
deliverables that you agree to. Unless you're like me, who basically doesn't and doesn't say yes to a whole lot of stuff. Right. Exactly. But if you want to build it that way, which is my suggestion is that's what I would suggest you do. So if you want to do that, then you're going to take them. if Again, but if it's if you know by looking at it, you like you on those instances, you know. Yeah. i mean, it's it's an automatic no. Yeah. It's a no. I've never put it on my body ever. Right. I'm talking about for
00:12:57
Speaker
the person who absolutely they would wear it, they would show it, whatever, you know, go ahead and agree with certain deliverables and and treat it like a paid campaign because you can have analytics and insights to be able to send to them and show in the future that gets you more money and all of that when the time comes. But you know I wouldn't automatically today, if you're brand new, say, i don't do gifted unless only and at my discretion. that did like I wouldn't go that hard in the beginning, but I would definitely have a clause in there that if if it doesn't fit, I'm going to come back to you and say it doesn't fit. if it you know mean i would You could definitely do that to work around it. But you always have... the The key is communication with the brand. That's it. Well, right. Yeah. The key is communication. As long as you haven't signed a contract, then there can be a back and forth. You can go back to them and say, hey, I'd rather have a smaller size or a bigger size. Or can I try... i mean
00:13:58
Speaker
Was it going to hurt to say, can I try a different item? Right? Like the brand didn't have a different item that you feel is a better quality, fits better with your audience, whatever. I think the conversation can be had. I think them and my guess is people are scared hello to say, okay,
00:14:18
Speaker
this isn't really right for me. What can we do differently? Because you don't want to not work with the brand. Like that's probably where this question is coming from. Like, can I say that to a brand? Yes, you absolutely can.
00:14:31
Speaker
Yeah. You are your own business and you know, you are building and in each one of these conversations that you have with a brand is, experience. You're practicing. It's always practice for the next one. Practice for the next one because one day, God willing, you're going to get a huger deal right and you're going to be like, you don't want that to be the first time you've ever negotiated anything. Right. like Because that is really stressful when you have a high dollar, at least it was for me. And high dollar for me is not the same as high dollar for somebody who's bigger than I am and whatever. But it's all relative. But right you don't want that to be your first opportunity to have those conversations. And I always offer to send it back knowing they're going to likely say don't. But I always offer
00:15:19
Speaker
And it's just it's just a good way, good practice. Yeah. Okay. So we're speaking a little bit about gifted and paid. So on the paid side of things, the next question is how to figure out the best rate card and media kit info. And I'm not really sure if this question is talking about how to figure out your actual price to charge could be, or if it's talking about what info to include, or if it's even talking about how to even create a media card or media kit, rate card, like the design of it. So we're kind of going to touch on all of that because we're not positive. So from the design standpoint, because I design these things all day, every day, Canva is your best friend. um
00:16:08
Speaker
They have templates in there. easy to create. If you need me to show you how, I'm happy to. But you can literally search in Canva, Rate Card, Media Kit, and it will have a template that already has it laid out, designed, that you can customize, of course. But it also will tell you kind of what info typically goes in there. I'm sure ChatGPT will too. But as far as info, I would say you need, you know, who you are,
00:16:39
Speaker
what your audience is, your analytics, like followers, et cetera, your social media channels, right? um And then your example, I probably would put, especially in a media kit, some examples of your work, right? And then your rates. Now, as far as rates go, don't currently charge anything. So I'm gonna let Lauren take that one.
00:17:06
Speaker
Okay, so, um Leslie is correct with um Canva is a wonderful place to do that. I am not very Canva savvy. So I learned about, and and the thing is, is when you do it in Canva and there's nothing wrong with doing Canva, I would say most people do.
00:17:24
Speaker
You have to continually update the information because Canva is only what you put in. right And the types of information that you want in your media kit,
00:17:36
Speaker
are going to be brands you've worked with before. um The number of followers, your engagement percentage, your follower engagement, total posts that you, you know your views on total posts, total impressions on those views, 30-day total reach, your total engagement, the average likes, average reels watch time, um total reels watch time over a certain number of hours, average story views, the breakdown, your demographics, men versus women, what countries, Are you mainly US? Are you, do you have a lot of people overseas? um That is a, those are the things that the age, male, female, what the age break, break down is. And what I have learned about and I use is something called beacons.ai. And I'm happy to send anybody a link. If you want to check that out, you're more than welcome to. um But it,
00:18:32
Speaker
attaches to you answer a few questions and then you attach it to your socials. And so it's constantly updating all of that information. And then when a brand asks for it, there is a link you share to your beacons.ai media kit, and it literally gives it to them real time.
00:18:50
Speaker
So that's been super helpful for me. um There's a lot more you can do in that in that website app, whatever. It's not an app, it's a website. that I have absolutely no idea what it means, nor do I even look at it. So I'm sure there's a lot more you could do with it, but I only i only do media kit. And for the person who doesn't know what a media kit is, because I didn't know what a media kit was for a long time, and people would say, do you have your media kit? Can I see a copy of your media kit? And I'm thinking, what is that? And basically it's what I just said. Some version of that. You're going to absolutely want your follower count. You're going absolutely want to have your age demographic breakdowns. You're going to want to say brands you've worked with. You're going to want to say how many, like your clicks, your average reach, that kind of thing. Those are the things that the brands want to know because they want to see what are you doing.
00:19:41
Speaker
Now, um you can also do, you know, screenshot your insights for the last 30 days. Sometimes brands will ask for that. um But this is like, is for me has been very helpful. There's also a place where you can include your rates.
00:19:56
Speaker
you can have them show automatically that if somebody looks at your rate kit, it's going to say how much you charge for a reel, how much you charge for stories, how much you charge for like an infeed post, just a plain post, like a carousel kind of thing. That most people don't pay you for carousels, but, and it will ask you how it'll ask you certain questions and then it'll take the information that already knows about you. And this is, I'm not paid by this company. Believe me, I wish I was, but um it will ask you how you know information and then say, based on accounts, your size, with your reach, with your whatever, this is the average amount that people charge for a reel, which gives you something to go by. But let me tell you, you always want to start high because they're going to negotiate with you. People aren't going to be like, okay, great. That's per rarely. Are people going to say, you know, if you say it's $700 for a reel, one reel with a share to your stories or whatever. And they'll be like, sure.
00:20:55
Speaker
Nine times out of 10, they're going to say, would you take 250? And you're like, okay, that's not even close. right And when you are determining how to what it costs you, to you need to think about what does this cost you to actually do, put together? Like how long does it take you to make a reel?
00:21:12
Speaker
How does it take you to open the package, to steam it, to figure out how you're going to style Yeah.
00:21:19
Speaker
How does it take to produce the reel? How does it take to edit it? How many revisions are they going to want? Like, are they going to want paid ads usage? Because that's additional price. So when you are working with, that's another thing you might want to have on your media kit is yeah I usually say ads usage and whitelisting. i will say, um you know, varies depending on timeframe or something like that.
00:21:45
Speaker
So you don't want to just give the farm away and you also don't want to undercut yourself because you don't know what their budget is. You don't want to be like somebody with who hasn't been doing this very long and doesn't have a very big reach or following that's very engaged because it's all about engagement. That's what brands are looking for.
00:22:04
Speaker
You don't want to be one of those people and say, it's $1,500 for a reel. i mean, give it up. That's not going to happen. but and Or let me say this, it might happen and then the chances of it being, you being able to deliver are going to be slim to none. Because brands, when they're looking at your media kit, they want to know, and your rates, they want to know that the rate they are going to pay you, they are going to be able to recoup.
00:22:31
Speaker
one and a half to two and a half to three times more than what they've either gifted you, the price of the gift, or how much they've paid you. So you need to make sure that you can actually deliver. So, but, but again, start on the higher end.
00:22:44
Speaker
How long do you think, like, is it worth your time? I was doing things for a while that were just, I was not charging enough and I hadn't thought about it. And my husband was like, Lauren, Wait a minute.
00:22:54
Speaker
This makes no sense. You're exhausted. You're doing so many of these things for $300. You're paying somebody to help you edit your content. You're doing this. You're with $15. you're ending up with fifteen dollars ah d That sounds a lot like photographers because I help photographers all the time price their work. And, you know, in the beginning, when you start, you just want the client, right? You want to get booked because if you don't get booked, you can't get booked by other people. So you price yourself really low, right? Because you just want people to say yes. And I imagine the same thing yeah goes for this and probably other industries. you're you're new, you're you're green, if you will. You want the deal. So you might would do it for a lot less. But then as you do it, as you get experience, you realize, all right, this is a lot more work than what I thought. I am now getting them. So I feel a little more confident raising my price to be more what my time is worth. I think, you know, obviously the Beacon's AI will help you with a starting point, but also factor in what is it actually worth to you? In the beginning, it may not, it may be worth doing for a lot less, right? And that's okay. But just know that your price is not permanent. You
Adjusting Pricing with Experience
00:24:19
Speaker
can change it. You can experiment with it. You can, you know, raise it and you can factor in. all right. Now i've been doing this a year.
00:24:29
Speaker
Let me look at my pricing and raise it. So in the photography world, we always say after a year, raise your prices. After another year, raise your prices because every year you're gaining experience, right? so And you're growing your business. So maybe a whole year isn't necessary, but after a set amount of time of doing them, raise your price. After a set amount of time and you've got so many under your belt, raise your price, right? And like Lauren said definitely start out a little on the higher end so you have room to negotiate.
00:25:08
Speaker
um But I think
Advancing in Influencing
00:25:09
Speaker
the most important thing is to really at, look at What's it worth to you? What something is worth to me is different than what something is worth to Lauren, right? Like, and and what's even the same person, what's worth it to me when I'm not getting any might be 50 bucks because I'm not getting any. So $50 is better than no dollars, right? But if I start getting them, I'm pretty sure that my tune will change a little bit.
00:25:38
Speaker
I would say if you are brand spanking new and you have the opportunity and somebody asks you a rate, I would say $100. you're brand spanking new, I would say $100. And you negotiate down to possibly 50?
00:25:54
Speaker
Correct. Then I would move to 150. Then I would move to maybe 200. And remember, i always, this is the other thing. You need to say,
00:26:04
Speaker
That the brand is going to cover the fees associated with the payment because oftentimes they pay you through PayPal. Right.
00:26:17
Speaker
And they send it as friends and family, you get charged a fee. and they And they don't do it as friends and family. They get charged a fee. And I can't tell you how many times I've negotiated to say $250 for And I end up with or something. And I'm so aggravated. Because I'm like, seriously? So now I say, and so take this from me because I have, it has happened so many times. And I, you know, so please remember when you offer, when you give a rate,
00:26:49
Speaker
say the brand will cover any fees associated so that I will walk away with X amount of dollars. Right. Period. yeah That's like, oh, my God. That's actually a really great tip. I mean, you know, part of running a business is paying fees. Like, unfortunately, i mean, the amount of photographers who complain about I don't want to take a credit card because I have to pay a processing fee. And I'm like, well, then you shouldn't be in business. Like, sorry, but nobody pays without a credit card or debit card these days. So having a payment processor that you do unfortunately have to pay a fee for it in order to use it is part of doing business. However, in this instance, it's part of them doing business, not you.
00:27:35
Speaker
So that would be the difference. And I would say, I meant to say this about the Beacons AI before I get off, before we move on to the next question, but it is free. Okay. That is a free thing. You do not have to pay for it. I mean, I'm sure maybe there's a paid portion. I don't use paid. It is free. You can get a lot of info for the free side of it. And I screenshot that on a weekly basis, excuse me. And I upload that into ChatGPT and I say, here is the, here are my insights.
00:28:06
Speaker
For the past week, tell me what I'm doing well, what I could do better at, and what steps do I need to improve? And it gives you a wealth of knowledge. And it will give you wording based on what you actually do that helps you with brands to be able to justify your rate.
00:28:24
Speaker
So do that. Awesome. Okay. So then the last question for today's episode, again, you guys don't hesitate to send us questions. We can do another one of these. But today's last question is the messy middle. When you aren't new, but you're not big yet, you have the basics down, but you're ready to hit the next level. What does that look like?
00:28:49
Speaker
Or how do you get to that next level? I think it's a guessing game mostly. That's my answer. Short and sweet. It's a guessing game.
Adapting to Algorithms and Engagement
00:28:56
Speaker
um Much of it is. There is strategy.
00:29:00
Speaker
um But understanding that that strategy is never guaranteed. Okay. So right that's where you come back to the guessing game. But it's not just like... like with no information. i mean, you have some strategy, but it does. That strategy you might not always pay off. I mean, case in point, you might have a reel go crazy and then you try to redo that exact same reel and the redo of the reel may not reach the same way the first one did.
00:29:29
Speaker
Exactly. And that's why you have to realize that what sometimes that's because we assume these are the reasons the reel went wrong. Went and did very well and performed well. And I'm not going to say viral because virality is not necessarily what we always want. We want to it we want sales and we want um the right followers. so But you want to be able to reach and get out to people and have them respond to your content. the Every time you go from one level to another is a messy middle.
00:30:01
Speaker
And I'm going to tell you that as somebody in the, you know, over a hundred thousand followers. And I don't say that like, Oh, I have over a hundred thousand. Cause I can sit here and tell you. I'm just kidding. Right. Exactly. Like that is, I, I struggle with the same things that somebody going from zero to a thousand is struggling with, which is,
00:30:19
Speaker
Why did this one work and this one didn't? Why did this reel or why is nobody- doesn't drive you crazy. Like, yeah I mean, people don't know this about me, but Lauren does. Nothing drives me more crazy than not being able to figure out why. Like on anything, like when I had a newborn and I didn't know the exact reason the baby was crying, literally drove me insane. So not knowing exactly what to do or why to do this or to do this different,
00:30:50
Speaker
drives me up a wall. Well, yeah. And I, I mean, I, I could let myself go there, but I refuse to live in crazy. Like my brain is crazy.
00:31:01
Speaker
yeah My brain would like that would not work well for me. um So in terms of like my life, because it's it is crazy making. You can make yourself crazy. And if you make yourself crazy, this may not be the right business for you. And I don't mean that you, Leslie, I mean, in general, to whoevers how like you need to quit right now. Never. ah Never. we pretty much yeah But never.
00:31:28
Speaker
But it is something that like I made a decision a long time ago that at some point I have to detach from the outcome of what I think I'm supposed to be having, which is why I say i may have over 100,000 followers, which is small potatoes to somebody who has $950,000 or $550,000 or $250,000, whatever. But to somebody just starting or to myself, even last week, you know if I'm gaining or I'm doing something like this is my business, this is what I work on, I want to always be honing my craft. But at some point I have to detach from the outcome, do the work that...
00:32:06
Speaker
I can control. All I can control is what I put out. and giving myself the best possible chance by trying to understand, do the use best practices, do the things that I know to do and that are working with the algorithm today because it may not work tomorrow. You always have to be refining. I know that what got me to where I am today is not going to get me to where I want to go tomorrow. Right.
00:32:34
Speaker
in it Totally. like The algorithm is going to change. So yeah i have to change with it while still staying true to who I am, what is what matters to me, what matters to the community that I'm building, and the people who put their trust in me. So as long as I keep those
Using Analytics for Growth
00:32:52
Speaker
things in mind, okay? Okay.
00:32:55
Speaker
That's important. Now, all that being said, I um if i think i think you mentioned that she the question and was um like, you're not you're taking some gifted and a few, you're taking gifted and a few smaller um deals.
00:33:12
Speaker
And it feels like maybe how how do I get to the next one? Well, I think that you may want to start If you feel like you're not getting enough inbound opportunities, you might want to start pitching yourself to brands. If you're on LTK, if you're on Mavely, which has the later platform, if you're on ShopMy, if you're in Amazon. But like there are ways that you can ask for gifts and codes or you can um you know try other brands. try like Start seeing if there's a way that you can...
00:33:50
Speaker
get new relationships with brands. Because if you ask for a gift or a code with a brand through one of the platforms and they give you something, that's an opportunity to do well for them. If you do well for them, they may likely come back to you or they likely will and ah and think, let's use let's use her again for the next campaign. So those are the things that help you move the needle.
00:34:17
Speaker
um You have to try Being proactive instead of reactive is always- Correct. You need to try new things. you need to try new things. You need to look and see, are there, um you know- if this type of, that's when you start really deep digging deep into your analytics, you start looking at your analytics, you start trying to understand, and this is where I am in terms of the messy middle. For me, it's always, again, going to the next level is it's always a messy middle. I am going and looking at my analytics. I take each reel. I do the screenshots of the analytics um at an hour or
00:34:56
Speaker
12 hours, one day, whatever. And I upload them into ChatGPT and I say, Here it is. This is because this is, you know, what why, it you know here's the here's what I did.
00:35:07
Speaker
Here's the real, here are the insights after an hour, after 12 hours, after 24 hours, whatever. um Tell me what you glean from this. And then ChatGPT will come back to me and say, and interpret the analytics in a way or the insights in a way that I wouldn't have known to do. Now I'm learning how to look at them differently and use them strategically. So it will tell me like,
00:35:34
Speaker
It's being shown to, obviously, to non-followers. they're you're getting a This one got a lot of views, and that is great. However, you didn't get many followers. So people are stopping on your content and in looking at it and obviously enjoying it enough to look at it long enough that it counts as a view.
00:35:53
Speaker
But there's something missing that says, I want to follow this person. Okay. So what do I need to do if I want the follow part to happen? I need to put more content out in my weekly content world. I need to put more content out that attracts new followers. And that's a different type of content. Then if I'm getting a lot of views, a lot of whatever, but I'm not getting a lot of sales. So what does that mean?
00:36:24
Speaker
Well, likely my content, my CTA is not clear. I don't tell people what I want them to do. Could be in the caption, could be in, in, in the wording, or if I'm not getting many views, which I got to tell you, I just literally sent something to Carly who works with me and said, I'm going to spend this afternoon outside of filming Looking at, I had great, great views the last three days tanking for mine too. Mine too. not in a while. I got like 200 views on something. And not that I ever get a lot of views at all. I don't, but 200 sucks.
00:37:01
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, when you, it's all relative, right? And so when you are getting certain amount and then all of a sudden it drops drastically, what is going on? It could be something with the algorithm, but it likely is more than likely, and this is where the algorithm comes in, is I am not catching people quickly enough.
00:37:21
Speaker
Now, the people who are looking at it are are buying, which is good for me, but it's not... getting out beyond a certain warm audience. It's the people who already follow me, which is great. And there's a place, time and place for that. But like, I don't want lit to live in that place only. So, and that doesn't look good for brands. So I'm like, okay, so now what do I need to do? And so I need to figure out. And what I think for me is i have to get better at
00:37:53
Speaker
giving the payoff sooner for people, whether that be that be visually, verbally, text on screen, in general, in general. And I have to do that myself. And Carly, who edits with me, she needs to do a better job with that too. Between the two of us, we've got to do better at that.
00:38:15
Speaker
So That's what it's telling me. So when you're in the middle and you want to go to the next level, that's when you dig into your analytics and you try to hone your content for what you have as your goals.
00:38:28
Speaker
Remember your goals, but you also have to detach from the outcome. Start doing the work, giving it data, giving it stuff to work with, give it content, make it look so that you can gain data that you can then read and understand.
00:38:41
Speaker
Does that make sense? Yeah,
Celebrating Fellow Influencers
00:38:43
Speaker
totally. Great advice. Okay, this is one of our favorite parts of the show. It's time for our sister shout out. Each week, we each share a fellow influencer who is standing out.
00:38:56
Speaker
We'll tell you what she's doing so well, why her content stands out, and why you need to hit that follow button. Because supporting each other is what the sisterhood is all about. And when one of us shines, it lights the way for the rest of us. Okay. those were the questions for the day. And now it's time for our favorite part of the show, which is our sister shout outs. So i will shout out first. um I am shouting out Julie from a Southern Mountain Girl. I will link her in the show notes. Julie is very, very sweet. She has reached out to me in DMs. We've kind of formed a friendship that way, which i love. And she not only shows great fashion, but what I think I love the most is her amazing tablescapes. It makes me want to throw a party and I never throw a party, um but they are beautiful. i don't even know where she stores all the china and all the place settings and placemats and tablecloths and all the things. But I just think it's so cool.
00:40:05
Speaker
pretty. um And I honestly would love to just go to her house and have dinner so I can see these tablescapes in person. um So anyway, I'm shouting out Julie.
00:40:17
Speaker
Okay, great. paul um She is a great follow. I enjoy following her as well. Um, Okay, my shout out for the week um is Tammy O'Shea. And her account is Tammy R. O'Shea. And let me tell you why. First of all, I've known Tammy since high school. We've been friends since high school. And she decided in August or September that she wanted to start doing this. She is a corporate banking ah CMO, chief marketing officer for a bank.
00:40:44
Speaker
Works high pressure job. But Tammy... is Tammy. I mean, Tammy is, if you look at her account, you're going to know exactly who Tammy is. Tammy says in a former life, she would have been a, um, she'll probably die if I say this, but i'm saying it anyway. Actually, she won't. She'll appreciate it. Like she would have been a drag queen in another life. I mean, she is like her whole thing is about affordable glam and corporate style. She is all about a theme, all about a I mean, she is an over the top. Like she she is the opposite of me in that I always want to be like dressed down. You know, like if I could have on jeans or cutoffs in a pair tennis shoes every day, i would do that.
00:41:24
Speaker
that is like, or ah or affordable set that be me. She is the opposite of that. Like she is always going to be overdressed and there's nothing wrong with that. That's actually awesome. It makes her who she is. And if you love to be inspired by, um,
00:41:43
Speaker
a way to show up with a presence and not afraid to be too big in your life, you want to follow her because she can do it affordably. And she shows you how to do it affordably. I had no idea that a lot of things, she goes to so many events and has to wear all these big, huge, like sequined gowns and all the things. And, um, she gets them from Shein.
00:42:05
Speaker
ah It amazes me. I mean, like it absolutely amazed me. i'm like, wow. Okay. But she's growing and I'm really proud of her because she shows up consistently every day. And um I think she has a very specific niche. And I think...
00:42:19
Speaker
if If you are, she's a great example of being completely who you are and just going all in on who you are. And I think that's important for a lot of us when we're like, I don't know if I can show that part of me or whatever. I think that she's a great follow for that. So that's mine.
00:42:36
Speaker
Awesome. Well,
Closing and Listener Engagement
00:42:37
Speaker
we will link both of these in the show notes and you can give them a follow. As always, we appreciate you guys listening. Definitely send us questions so we can do more of these. You can DM us on the Influencer Sisterhood podcast Instagram. And we just thank you for listening.
00:42:56
Speaker
Absolutely. I'm glad y'all were here. Thank you. We'll see you next time. Thanks, guys. See y'all next week. Thanks, guys.