What Fyre Festival Means for Influencer Marketing in 2019: The YouTube Power Hour Podcast 169
“There’s a level of responsibility that everyone has to have because when influencers are involved, people take action.”
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The Fyre Festival was one of the biggest scams in human history – thousands of people showed up for a party but got chaos instead. But it’s also a perfect example of the power of well-executed influencer marketing! On this solo round, I talk Fyre Festival details and what you can learn to do and to avoid as an influencer!
Imagine it: a magical escape, beautiful scenery, models and the promise of affluence and exclusivity… Who wouldn’t sign up for that dream? Especially when all the influencers you know, love and trust are all talking about it? The “Bigger than Coachella” Fyre Festival fell flat and it really cast a spotlight on influencer marketing. The huge question of the day is, are brands going to be more careful with their budgets – keeping most of it out of the hands of influencers from now on, or will they see it as a successful proof of what could be and dive in head first?
“The time frame was way too short, their budget was way too low.”
If you haven’t seen the Netflix or Hulu documentaries yet, try to watch them with a skeptical eye. Neither of them has unbiased accounts of the event. The Netflix doc was made by the same people who promoted the festival – and there’s a lot of controversy surrounding their hand in the scam. The makers of Hulu doc, though they interviewed the kingpin himself Billy McFarland, paid him for his side of the story. So, there’s dirt on both sides, but both are still worth the watch. What do you think: do Ja Rule, Bella Hadid, Kendall Jenner, and the other models and influencers share in some of the blame, or were they all duped just like everyone else?
“Influencer marketing works. Influencers are the new celebrities.”
4 Key Interview Takeaways
- An example of flawless marketing. You have to admit, Jerry Media executed a flawless campaign. They assembled hundreds of influencers and coordinated when they posted, what they posted, flying people around and getting images and video of what the event would look like. That took a lot of research into gauging the true influence of these personalities to pick the most profitable, and knowledge of what posts would drive the most engagement and spending. On the marketing side, it looked like it was successful. Minus the alleged deleting of comments and the eventual scam, it’s a good case study.
- Be upfront with your audience about promos. As an influencer, you need to be transparent with your audience. The platforms themselves are implementing features to force transparency, but you don’t do anyone a disservice when you don’t tell your people when they’re being marketed to. You’ll lose their trust and respect which – in the current state of YouTube – is almost impossible to get back. Add a “sponsored” hashtag to your tweets and Instagrams, say you’re doing a sponsored video on YouTube. Whatever you do, be clear and open with your people and keep that honest bond sacred.
- Do your due diligence before you take a dime. Whether the company you’re working with or thinking of working with, is established or not, things may not be legitimate. Do your due diligence – speak to other influencers who’ve worked for them, google for stories older than a few years and look at old content. If anything raises red flags for you, make sure you discuss it and clear it up with the company – in a way that satisfies you – before you proceed. You owe it to your integrity and reputation to ensure you’re doing business with above board companies.
- Follow your favorite influencers with a grain of salt. Influencing is now a business and its entirely possible that because of time, their size or their integrity, influencers may take shortcuts with their brand. They may – knowingly or unknowingly – promote bad companies or, like the Fyre Festival, bad events. If this scam teaches us anything, its to look at what’s being sold with a skeptical eye. Now, everyone shares in the responsibility and the blame if there’s negative fallout: the promoters, organizers and the buyers. Similar to Fyre, there have been issues with some of the fit teas making young girls sick. A lot of these influencers did not even consume these products themselves but advertise it to unsuspecting women. Let’s put a stop to that, you can see a difference when someone is sharing a product they’ve used themselves.
Resources
My favorite free SEO tool for YouTube: TubeBuddy
(Discount code ErikasBuddy for 20% off the paid version)
PR Guide: How to Get onto PR Lists and Get Lots of Free Product
Getting Started on YouTube: The #1 Downloaded Free Niche Discovery Workbook
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