DTC POD: How The Best Brands Are Built

In this episode, Ramon discusses how to grow as a creator, along with some of the challenges you may face.In the old days, creators only had a few digital outlets to share their content. Now, there are dozens of ways to grow a creator’s brand.From videos on YouTube, to Instagram, to podcasts, to blogs, to maybe even selling your own product line online, options for creators today are endless.But, how do you manage your time and your challenges so that you can grow as a creator?Through differentiation and leaning on the skills of others.Ramon will discuss how you can tackle the challenges of limited time, and free up your time to work on new projects. He will also look at ways you can grow your personal brand and build a powerful audience across multiple channels.If you’d like to learn more about Trend and our influencer marketing platform for users and brands visit trend.io. You can also follow us for tips on growing your following and running successful campaigns on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

In this episode, Jay discusses how influencers are starting to gain more power over monetizing their content.In the early days of influencers, creators were left to fend for themselves to monetize their content. Social platforms ran ads but none of that money went to creators. So influencers had to sell themselves to brands, or create their way to monetize using tools like Patreon, their own merch, etc.Now we are starting to see a shift in the creator economy with platforms starting to share some of their revenue with creators.YouTube was the first to do so and now Instagram says it will share revenue through IGTV ads.We’re also seeing Instagram look into post embeds and discussing whether publishers will need to seek approval from creators before embedding content.We’ll discuss how these changes will impact the creator economy for both influencers and brands. We’ll also look at why it’s going to be more important than ever for brands to acquire licensing rights to content, and how they can do so.If you’d like to learn more about Trend and our influencer marketing platform for users and brands visit trend.io. You can also follow us for tips on growing your following and running successful campaigns on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

In this episode, Jay discusses what you can do if you need to create more content.If you need to scale your content production or don’t have enough content right now, we have some suggestions on where you can get it.With so many platforms for brands to be active on, it can be a huge challenge to produce the content you need to be effective on each channel. Plus, once you start producing engaging content, consumers expect you to continue to deliver the same amount of content on a regular basis.As content studios stay closed and new brands continue to be created, there is a growing need for content.We’ll go through a proven strategy to determine how much content you need. We will also go through different solutions you can use to start creating on-brand content now, for any budget.If you’d like to learn more about Trend and our influencer marketing platform for users and brands visit trend.io. You can also follow us for tips on growing your following and running successful campaigns on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

In this episode, Jay and Ramon are joined by guest Arnold Ma, CEO and Founder of Qumin.Quim is a people and experience business focused on China.With Qumin’s experience in ecommerce and marketing in China, Jay and Ramon join forces with Arnold to discuss why marketing in China is so different than the approach brands take in the US.eCommerce and influencer marketing has developed very differently in China than it has in the West. A focus on digital payments, livestream selling, and an increased value on peer opinions are just some of the major differences that exist in China vs the West.Are these trends that will transfer over to the West, or are there other factors that will create a different evolution of eCommerce here?We’ll take a look at social commerce in China, and how China’s lack of infrastructure for the desktop-era pushed brands and consumers to mobile.We’ll also go in-depth on specific campaigns that Arnold and his team have completed, and why they had to take a different approach than what would work in the West. To learn more about Arnold’s company, Qumin, visit: https://qumin.co.uk/If you’d like to learn more about Trend and our influencer marketing platform for users and brands visit trend.io. You can also follow us for tips on growing your following and running successful campaigns on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

In this episode, Jay discusses Facebook’s newest feature, Facebook Shops, and how it will impact eCommerce and influencer marketing.Facebook has been slowly creeping into the eCommerce world with features like Marketplace and Instagram Shopping. Now they are launching arguably their biggest step into the eCommerce universe, Shops.It comes at a time when small businesses are reeling due to the COVID-19 pandemic and as Facebook continues to add offerings to help small businesses.This free feature will allow any brand or business to set up an online storefront on Facebook and Instagram for free, and customize it to their brand.We’ll discuss the top reasons for why you will want to set up a Facebook Shop. We’ll also dive into what are all of the available features for Facebook Shops.For more information on this topic, check out:https://trend.io/blog/facebook-shopsIf you’d like to learn more about Trend and our influencer marketing platform for users and brands visit trend.io. You can also follow us for tips on growing your following and running successful campaigns on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

In this episode, Ramon discusses how brands can still grow without ads, and why it’s important to be not fully reliant on them.Social ads have become a powerful tool to grow brands.For many brands, adding a Facebook pixel and creating retargeting campaigns is the next step after building your website.While this can be an effective way to grow your brand, it’s expensive and puts your business at the mercy of platforms like Facebook.Positioning yourself as a thought leader, and a master of your space can be a more effective way to grow your business long-term, and build brand value.Ramon will discuss how you can position yourself as a brand leader and create a brand that consumers keep on coming back to, not just because of Facebook ads.If you’d like to learn more about Trend and our influencer marketing platform for users and brands visit trend.io. You can also follow us for tips on growing your following and running successful campaigns on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

In this episode, Jay and Ramon are joined by guest Raphael Paulin-Daigle, Founder & CEO of SplitBase.SplitBase specializes in building high-converting landing pages and strong on-site experiences for eCommerce brands.With SplitBase’s experience in landing page optimization, Jay and Ramon join forces with Raphael to discuss how brands can get even more for their influencer marketing efforts using personas.One-to-one marketing, or at least the idea of it, has become increasingly important as consumers have become tired of catch-all traditional advertising. Thus, brands have turned to user-generated content to break through stale advertising.How do you dial in your marketing efforts even more?By segmenting consumers into personas, and using that user-generated content to create an even push to the one-to-one marketing consumers are asking for.We’ll discuss why traditional product pages aren’t the best place to send audiences and offer some suggested tools you can use to improve your conversion rate. We’ll also dive into why brands need to continue to optimize and how not doing so could result in you missing your maximum potential ROI.If you’d like to learn more about Trend and our influencer marketing platform for users and brands visit trend.io. You can also follow us for tips on growing your following and running successful campaigns on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.If you are interested in using the tools that Raphael mentioned during the podcast, here are the links:Unbounce: https://unbounce.com/Instapage: https://instapage.com/Shogun (Shopify app): https://apps.shopify.com/shogunFor more information on Raphael's company, SplitBase, visit: https://splitbase.com/

In this episode, Jay and Ramon discuss how you can set up your eCommerce store and make your first sale.Despite current events, eCommerce is at an all-time high. Shopify is reporting record earnings while web hosting companies like GoDaddy are seeing the same.Since consumers can’t shop in-store as easily as they could before, they are now turning to online shopping to get purchase products.That’s creating a huge opportunity for brands to capture new customers by going digital.We’ll discuss how you can set up your online store, plus give you some tips as to where you should spend your first dollars, especially if you’re on a budget. We’ll also dive into what first time online stores can do to help win customer trust.If you’d like to learn more about Trend and our influencer marketing platform for users and brands visit trend.io. You can also follow us for tips on growing your following and running successful campaigns on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

In this episode, Jay and Ramon discuss how to create a strong relationship between brands and influencers.Most brands try to persuade influencers to join their campaign through wither brand recognition or by paying them. But does that really create an authentic relationship?When brands do influencer marketing this way, they end up spending a ton of money and time trying to convince influencers and creators to produce content for them.But there has to be a better way to get brands the creators they need and have creators enjoy working on a project for a brand.Enter the influencer network.We’ll discuss how influencer networks can help brands create authentic relationships with creators without having to waste time and money in outreach. We’ll also argue how networks are actually better than databases for everything from relationship management to the actual vetting process.If you’d like to learn more about Trend and our influencer marketing platform for users and brands visit trend.io. You can also follow us for tips on growing your following and running successful campaigns on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

In this episode, Jay and Ramon discuss the potential end of the influencer era. Or at least that’s what everyone’s calling it.Due to the coronavirus pandemic, many brands are holding their wallets tight. As a result, some influencers are finding it increasingly difficult to find partnerships and brand deals.A few writers are now referring to deals drying up as a sign that the influencer era may be coming to an end.With an increasingly difficult ability to create content in different locations, and brands putting less into influencer marketing, many are asking what does the future of the industry look like?Are some influencers being hit harder than ever? If so, who are they?We’ll discuss how the influencer marketing industry is evolving right before our eyes and what both brands and influencers can expect as a result of world events occurring.If you’d like to learn more about Trend and our influencer marketing platform for users and brands visit trend.io. You can also follow us for tips on growing your following and running successful campaigns on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.