DTC POD: How The Best Brands Are Built

In this episode, Jay and Ramon discuss whether influencer marketing actually works. SPOILER: It does.Influencer marketing has seen tremendous growth over the past few years, growing at more than a $1 billion per year.89% of marketers say they receive comparable or better ROI when using influencer marketing while the average return on influencer campaigns is more than $5 for every $1 spent.Instagram has become the biggest channel for influencer marketing with Instagram influencers benefiting and turning their posts into a highly lucrative business.We’re going to discuss how brands can find success with social media influencers and Instagram marketing, and how to improve their influencer marketing ROI.For more on this topic, check out our blog post: https://trend.io/blog/influencer-marketing-case-studies/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 17 things you can copy to improve your Shopify store.Online retail continues to grow at blazing speed. With Gen Z spending almost twice the amount as millennials on online shopping, it’s clear that online retail isn’t going anywhere.With so many stores popping up, it’s important for your brand to stand out in what might be considered a sea of sameness.We’ll take a look at 15 of the most successful Shopify stores today and give you some actionable tips that you can copy right now.Plus, we’re even including 2 bonus tips that aren’t available on our blog post.For more on this topic, check out our blog post: https://trend.io/blog/15-most-successful-shopify-stores/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 user-generated content (UGC) and its role in building audiences for both brands and influencers.Brands and influencers are always trying to create engaging content to grow their audiences. To create the most engaging content, brands and influencers have turned to user-generated content due to its authenticity and its ability to connect with audiences.UGC is especially important for brands as it has been proven to be highly influential in the purchasing decisions of potential buyers.Over 60 million images are posted to Instagram every day making one of the most scalable ways for brands to market products, recognize fans, and drive sales.In this episode, we’ll discuss how to create and acquire great UGC, how users interact with UGC, and how brands can reuse UGC to scale their business.For more on this topic, check out our blog post:https://trend.io/blog/user-generated-content-guide/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 two viral campaigns, Barstool Sports Zillion Beers and Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s meme campaign.The Zillion Beers challenge started from Barstool employee named Dana tweeting about drinking a zillion beers while working.Barstool’s president Dave Portnoy called out Dana and Dana responded by saying if he could sell $100k in merch that Dave would have to leave him alone and give him a cut.That bet quickly turned into a $1 million bet for $100k. As of recording the podcast, Zillion Beers had sold $720k. That number is now up to over $1.5 million.Our other story is how Mayor Mike Bloomberg decided to run meme ads through meme accounts on Instagram.Bloomberg partnered with Jerry Media to create fake conversations with meme accounts that were then posted on popular meme pages.Will Bloomberg’s risk pay off in the primaries? We discuss.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 Casper’s IPO launch and how it’s been built on influencers.Casper is the first company to mention in their S-1 filing that influencers adversely affect the brand and subject them to penalties.They are also the most recent money-losing “unicorn” to go public. We’ve seen it with Uber and Lyft, both of which haven’t gone so well.It’s incredible that Casper reached a $1 billion valuation, sometimes selling themselves as a tech company with an app, podcast ads, and more.How will they fare in the public market though?As of this podcast publishing, Casper’s stock has already dropped almost 20% from its initial list price.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 KOLs, more commonly known as key opinion leaders.KOLs have become increasingly important in China due to a distrust of advertising from brands.They have some similarities with influencers in the sense of the power of their voices but their goals tend to differ.Key opinion leaders are viewed as experts in their field and their presence drives credibility and sales to a brand.We’ll discuss KOLs play an important role in influencer marketing in China along with exploring China’s $17 billion influencer marketing industry.For more on this topic, check out our blog post:https://trend.io/blog/kol-influencer-marketing/.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 power of everyday influencers.When most people think of influencers they think of celebrities. Often left out are everyday influencers. They are the hidden gems of Instagram.They live normal lives, which makes them highly relatable, but they have a specific passion that post about, such as baking, fashion, the best restaurants around town – you name it.As a result, they have built an audience that is interested and trusts them when it comes to that specific niche.We’ll discuss how this makes them more credible for sponsorship and why brands should be working with this group.For more on this topic, check out our blog post: https://trend.io/blog/everyday-influencers-explained/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.