Marketing Happy Hour - Your Guide to Social Media, Paid Media + Influencer Marketing | Halie Soprano of Traackr

Episode Date: April 28, 2022

In this episode of the Marketing Happy Hour podcast, we're chatting with Halie Soprano, Senior Professional Services Consultant at Traackr, an influencer marketing platform that helps brands with influencer discovery, outreach, management, measurement (analytics), and more! Halie brings to the table a wealth of knowledge and years of experience in social media, paid media, and influencer marketing, and has worked for some of the coolest brands including WeddingWire (a The Knot Worldwide brand), Under Armour, and Beekman 1802! Halie offers helpful and actionable takeaways around influencer marketing, social media, and paid ad management, including: How to navigate career advances + shifts that align with your passions What to do in order to understand your brand's persona and identity The steps to take to cultivate a community that loves and trusts your brand, and how to earn your consumer's loyalty How to build a social media and influencer strategy from a blank canvas, including how to identify influencers that are a good fit for your brand Common mistakes to avoid when managing influencer partnerships Her take on the future of influencer marketing and the unique perspective around consumers as influencers Why it's important to set aside some of your influencer budget to "throw fuel on the fire" How to set up effective and measurable paid ad campaigns + MORE! Grab a drink and listen in to this week's Marketing Happy Hour conversation! ----- Other episodes you'll enjoy if you enjoyed Halie's episode: Influencer Marketing 101: Building and Measuring Campaigns | Geena Massara of Girlfriend Collective Top Tips for Creatives | Lisa Meyer of Beekman 1802 How to Build Brand Loyalty | Kara Salazar of Southwest Airlines ____ Say hi! DM us on Instagram and share your favorite moments from this episode - we can't wait to hear from you!  Please also consider rating the show and leaving a review, as that helps us tremendously as we move forward in this Marketing Happy Hour journey and create more content for all of you. NEW: Check out our website! NEW: Join our email list! Follow Halie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hailsoprano/ Connect with Halie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/halie-soprano-69b57397/ Follow MHH on Instagram: https://instagram.com/marketinghappyhr Follow MHH on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/marketing-happy-hour/ Subscribe to our LinkedIn newsletter, Marketing Happy Hour Weekly: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/marketing-happy-hour-weekly-6950530577867427840/ Join our Marketing Happy Hour Insiders LinkedIn Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/9238088/ Say hi! DM us on Instagram and share your favorite moment from this episode - we can't wait to hear from you!

Hey there, welcome to the Marketing Happy Hour podcast, where each week we're learning career-defining advice, powerful social media strategies, unique creative tips, groundbreaking influencer marketing tactics, and more from marketing experts that represent some of the world's leading brands. Let's dive in. Grab a drink and join your hosts, Cassie and Erica, for this week's episode. Join us this week as Erica and I chat with Haley Soprano of Tracker, an influencer marketing platform that helps with discovery, measurement, analytics, and more when it comes to your campaigns with brand partners.

Haley tells us about her career journey of starting in social media with WeddingWire, venturing off into the paid media space with Under Armour, launching the social media efforts at Beekman 1802, to now working with Tracker as a senior professional services consultant. Haley is full of knowledge and shares insightful tips on building out effective influencer partnerships, how even beginners can build results-driven paid media campaigns, and how to launch a social media strategy from scratch. It wouldn't be Marketing Happy Hour without a ton of career insight as well. We had a great time doing this interview, and I know you'll learn a ton by listening.

So without further ado, grab a drink and listen in. Hey, Haley, how are you? Hi, doing well. How are you, ladies? Doing pretty good. We're really excited to chat with you today all about influencer marketing. But before we jump in, I have an important question for you that we do ask all of our guests and that is what is in your glass today, tonight, whenever we're recording this. It is marketing happy hour after all. So we always like to know. Yeah. So currently drinking water since, you know, it's still almost, almost happy hour for me, but God finished the workday strong. But I think as soon as, you know, work to end of workday

kicks in, I'll be drinking a glass of summer in a bottle, Rose for sure. Start the weekend. Summer in a bottle. That sounds so good. Is that the name brand of it uh yes trying to manifest you know warm weather summer vibes oh my gosh yes wait where are you located uh in upstate New York Saratoga Springs area okay so is it still a little bit like cold there it's like a very slow as molasses transition into full-on spring here like we just actually got snow the other day um man yeah I'm I'm in denial but it's about like 62 degrees out today so I'm I'm fully embracing it oh that's amazing that's awesome I am also sipping on some water over here uh just because of the time that it is when we're recording this but I will definitely be indulging a little bit later and probably a cab, I would say. What about you? Ooh, that sounds good. Yes. Water over

here as well. I was going to grab an Olipop. I'm a big fan of those right now. But also later, probably some wine, not sure what type. I kind of switch it up on a regular basis, but we will see what I'm feeling later today. Love it. We're big wine people over here. So yes, totally great. Absolutely. So Haley, we're so excited to chat with you, as Erica said, and you have such an awesome background from working with WeddingWire to Under Armour, Beekman 1802, and now Tracker. Can you tell us a little bit about your background and kind of how you got to where you are today? Yeah, sure. So my first job out of college was as an intern for Wedding Wire. They now are kind of overarching with The Knot, which I know a lot of people are familiar

with. And I started out as a social media intern. I did typical kind of social media intern roles and responsibilities. I wrote a ton of copy every day for Instagram, curated photos for Instagram feed, Pinterest. And then about, I want to say like two months after I started my internship, I got offered a full-time role. And of course, coming out of college, getting offered a full-time role, I was like, yes, absolutely. No negotiating whatsoever on my end, which now I look back and I'm like why Haley um but that was really my first role and I was a social media associate it was fantastic it you know my experience there was just packed with so many learning opportunities um I you know continue working on curating and writing copy I gotta got to go to amazing

experiences like bridal fashion make to capture content for our social channels. And I really learned kind of the basics and like foundation of social media and social media strategy. And I ended up working my way up to senior social media specialist by the time I left. And really that came from taking on more responsibility, just always saying yes to whatever was kind of put in front of me and figuring it out as I went. And I was always just really hungry for more opportunities to learn and take on new things. And so I was senior social media specialist after I think it was about three and a half years or so I spent at WeddingWire. And then

I was reached out to by someone at Under Armour for a paid social media manager role. And I was honestly really shocked at first. I was like, why in the world would Under Armour want somebody like me? Like I'm still very, you know, kind of young in my career. But I went through the whole interview process, which very intensive interview process there. Um, but I ended up landing the role as paid social media manager at Under Armour. Uh, I got to work on, you know, all the different sports that are kind of within Under Armour. I had plenty of nights where I had to be up, like watching the Superbowl to see what Tom Brady actually win. And we'd have to post about it or, you know, is Jordan's piece going to, you know, win this

tournament and golf. And so we could launch our paid strategy. So it was really interesting and so rewarding working there. I got to work alongside so many incredibly talented and smart individuals and working for a brand of that caliber. You're just exposed to so many different opportunities. And I really led the paid strategy there. So again, kind of from the organic to

amplifying their organic content, again, across kind of all their channels. And I worked really closely with our performance marketing team. And kind of by the time I left, I was also working on some different influencer marketing initiatives, which was also extremely rewarding. I got to travel to a million, not million, I wish a million, but a bunch of different places kind of all over the world and got to work with influencers, capture content, and really kind of be that person who figured out how does that fit within our paid social media strategy. So that was a really exciting and again, really rewarding time in my career.

And then I kind of got to this point after a couple of years there where I was like, you know, this is great. This is so, so amazing. I love this experience, but I don't really love sports. Like sports are great. Don't get me wrong. But at the end of the day, I was like, yeah, I just like, don't, I don't feel like my heart is in like the sports industry or like working out like first person to admit I am not someone who is an avid exerciser. And so it just wasn't really, I didn't really feel like the passion was there for my end. Loved what I did in terms of my job, but like kind of felt like I was lacking the passion. And at that point in time too, my husband and I were kind of thinking about, you know, like, what does our future look like in the next five to 10 years?

And, you know, we really thought, you know, we want to start a family, we'd like to live closer to family, and that kind of thing. And so we really kind of started thinking, and I started looking for different opportunities. But I really felt like, oh, I'm never going to find a role like this anywhere outside of like a major city. And then I was proven wrong. Beekman 1802, a skincare company based in Schenectady, New York, which is about like 30 minutes from where I grew up, was hiring a digital marketing manager. And actually, funny enough, my very first like real boss, I guess I would say, kind of like out of college summer job boss was doing a kind of consulting role there. And she had said like, Oh, Haley, you know, I think you might be a really great person for this job. I was like, wow, this seems too good to be true. I'm looking for a job back in New York. There's this role, it's skincare.

I love skincare way more than I love sports. And so I kind of took a chance, applied, and it all worked out well. And I ended up being given the role there as I was actually digital marketing manager when I first started. And then they realized, I think quickly like, okay, this person is really more focused on helping us create a social media and influencer strategy. So then I was eventually promoted to director of social and partnerships. And that is, that was really, again, kind of another amazing stepping stone in my career, where I got to create Beekman's social presence really from scratch and create their entire influencer marketing program, build up our brand partnerships, and also worked on our paid social media strategy. So I wore a lot of different hats there, but it was incredibly rewarding, really just getting

to see exactly the impact I had on that brand and watch it grow. Throughout my time there, we started as, you know, very small brand. And then within about a year, I think it was, we launched an Ulta, which was just absolutely amazing, incredible accomplishment for the brand. And to be a part of that was just so rewarding. And then fast forward again to another couple of years. Back last summer, I had a baby. So I was out on maternity leave kind of during the summertime. And during that time, I really took like a full hiatus from social media. I mean, when you become a mom, you kind of don't really have a choice to be on your phone all the time.

And I kind of realized like, wow, in the last seven years, I have never been so disconnected from my phone. I've always been logged into a brand account. And I kind of realized, you know, I think it might be time that I kind of take a shift from the really into it social media side of things and think about what else really sparks my passion. And when I really sat and thought about it, it was the influencer side of things for me about what else really sparks my passion. And when I really sat and thought about it, it was the influencer side of things for me. I loved building relationships with our influencer partners. I love the strategy behind influencer marketing. And I also really love kind of the idea of not having to always be on my phone, interacting on social with people

as a face of a brand. And so I came back from my maternity leave and just kind of kept an open mind. Again, I absolutely love working for Beekman. But then I was presented with this opportunity for a senior professional services consultant with this company Tracker. And Tracker is a global software as a service tech company that provides data-driven influencer marketing for beauty brands and other brands within different industries. And it really helps that you be able to optimize your investments, discover influencer partners, streamline campaigns, and scale your programs. And Tracker's clients really range from some of the world's largest beauty brands that you could imagine thinking L'Oreal, Wella, just amazing brands that work with this platform.

And so the opportunity presented itself with this role. And, you know, after meeting the team and talking with them and learning more about the role, I was just so like smitten with like, yes, I feel like this is the next step in my career. This is really what I'm looking for. And that is how I'm now a senior professional services consultant for Tracker today. Oh my goodness. So amazing. And we'll definitely dive into your experience a lot deeper here in a minute. But do you have any tips for people navigating different career changes similar to

what you've navigated and how have you known it's the right time to move on from one position to another in a different company? Yeah. So I think this is honestly one of the hardest things I think even that I faced in, you know, the time throughout my career. And I think it's especially hard for people that are even starting their career. But I think what it comes down to is knowing when it's the right time to move in your career is, you know, thinking about whether or not you feel like you're being challenged, whether you feel like you're growing, or do you feel like you're really just kind of remaining stagnant? As well as thinking about, you know, do you wake up in the morning? Or are you excited to actually like open your laptop and get started for the day? And like, sure, you might not be ecstatic every single day. But I think if, you know, majority of your days you wake up and you're like, yeah, I'm ready to do this. I'm excited about this work I'm about to put in. I think that's a pretty good indicator that, you know, you're pretty happy with where you're at. If you are waking up every day and you're dreading opening your laptop and you're like, oh my gosh, here goes another day. Like, I think that should

be kind of like a red flag to you. Like maybe I need to find something else that sparks joy for me. And I think the other kind of trap that we can fall into when thinking about making career changes is thinking about it from this perspective of, okay, if I make this career change, this is permanent. This is my next thing. I'm going to be stuck. And I think if I've learned anything too, it's like, you're never stuck. Nothing is ever permanent. And you really are, you can make your career, whatever you want it to be. So yeah, sure. Maybe you change jobs and you ended up, you end up absolutely hating your new role. That's okay. You might, you might learn something you might not, but at the end of

the day, like you can always make new changes. There's always going to be new jobs and opportunities out there. And at least just taking the leap, you know, that's one step in the right direction because otherwise you just, you never know. So definitely kind of thinking about what you want in the future. What do you want your future life to look like? And what are some of the different things that can help you get there? I think is a really good way to look at it. Yeah, that's fantastic advice. And just following up to that, if somebody is out there and they're looking to make that change, let's say they don't get excited when they wake up in the morning and start their, their day. What are your favorite places to look for new opportunities? Is it

LinkedIn? There's all sorts of places out there. Where do you start? Yeah, that's a great question. So I think, you know, definitely starting with, you know, your typical places like LinkedIn and Indeed are great, but I think what can even be even more powerful is reaching out to your connections and your network. I think like the relationships you build with people are what are just, they're so valuable. And, you know, being able to have a network of people that you can go to and whether it's bounce ideas off of or ask them questions or give you a referral for a job. I think that just thinking about those connections you have is a really good starting point. Because I think also too, like all, not all of my jobs,

but a few of my jobs, the way that I found out about them was through other people. I've had other people recommend me for jobs. And I've also, you know, when I've applied for jobs, I've reached out to past bosses and been like, hey, like, can you just like chat on the phone with me for 15 minutes and not tell me I'm and like, tell me like, I'm not a crazy person for taking this new role. And, you know, just having those connections and people you can lean on, I think is a really great resource. Yeah, that's definitely huge. Cassie is actually my go-to person for connections for jobs because I think she's gotten me at

least somehow connected to two of my positions that I've had so far. So that's amazing. Yeah, never burn a bridge because you don't know when that person could help you. Exactly. And community is huge, especially like the young professional space. I would say that's like one thing that I'm, I have even learned from past positions is like, if I am in that space of, I'm not, I'm not feeling thrilled by this. I'm not feeling challenged by this, but look at all these connections that I've made that I can take with me as a, as a big, like thought of hope as well. Um, so definitely something there that's rewarding. So, um, what shifting gears just a little bit in your last role, you were tasked

with officially launching the Beakman 1802 Instagram presence and influencer strategy. Like you mentioned a little bit before. Can you share some tactics that you focus on to initially grow that account and then those relationships with your team? Yeah, absolutely. And I love this question because Beacon was definitely, you know, one of the most rewarding times in my career. And what was so exciting about it is that I was essentially given a blank canvas from a social perspective and was just really empowered to leverage all of my experiences and skill sets that I had, you know, gained from my previous jobs and really apply it to my role at Beekman. And so one of the things first and

foremost, and whenever I'm really talking with anybody about like, okay, well, how do I get started in social media? One of the things I always recommend is this tip of in order to create your social presence for your brand, you really have to understand your brand's persona and identity. And so I always like to think of brands as people. I think like every brand kind of has its own, you know, certain persona. And so kind of the way that I first went about building the social strategy at Beekman was thinking, okay, if I were to come across this brand on Instagram, just like I would a friend, an influencer, how would I describe them? So I kind of use that as a first step and think about, okay, if I'm personifying my brand, what are some of the characteristics of the brand that I really want to shine through? And Beekman, you know, is such an

amazing brand. They're built on kindness, backed by science. And so as I thought about building the strategy, I really created that strategy around trying to make our social persona feel like we were your best friend, trying to hype you up while sharing interesting educational tidbits with you. So you felt empowered to make smart decisions about what you're putting on your skin. And you'll also notice the feed is like bright yellow. And, you know, that certainly evolved over time. It did not always look that beautiful. But that yellow aspect really was just another way for us to kind of really get across the point that this is a really kind and fun and just warm brand. And we really wanted people to feel that when they came to like our Instagram page, for example. So really thinking

about how can you personify your brand. Next, I would say community engagement is one of the most important tactics to think about when building a brand. You know, as you're building a brand, you really want to cultivate community and you want to cultivate a community of people that love and trust you, of course, eventually, so they buy your products. But first and foremost, they need to love and trust you. And, you know, you can't just talk to yourself and expect people to listen or care, you really need to engage with them, make them feel heard, bring their trust, listen to what they're actually saying, take their feedback to heart. And that was another tactic that, you know, was really at the top of our strategy. And we had such a phenomenal community engagement team there. And then, you know, when it was just me as a team

of one, when I first started at Beekmanman and then eventually I had another person join the team. But we really focused on identifying influencers of every size that we felt aligned with the brand and gifted them product. And so from that relationship building standpoint, we were just so eager to get our product in people's hands because we knew it was an amazing product. We just needed other people to learn about it and trust that, okay, what this brand is telling me is actually true. This product is great. And so we really just went all out reaching out to people. Again, of every follower size, they could have a thousand followers. They could have 50,000 followers.

And we really built these personal relationships with them. And even though we didn't have, you know, all these resources at the time to do a ton of paid partnerships, there was really value in the relationships with these people that we were outreaching that really earned us their loyalty. And I'll never forget one of the first people that actually accepted one of my emails of like, Hey, can I send you product was Lady Gaga's makeup artist. And I was just like, Oh my gosh, this is insane. I've been, you know, sending out hundreds of emails trying to get someone to respond. And he finally responded and it was like the most amazing thing. And so I think

it's just that like, there's so much power in personal relationships and you don't have to have a million dollar advertising budget if you can really build personal relationships with people and really make them feel like you care. I think that's the other thing, you know, we had like calendar set up where we knew our influencers birthdays, we sent flowers when they had milestone achievements, like hitting 100,000 followers. We did everything we could to just kind of go that extra mile and show them like, hey, we care about you. We're not just a brand like, you know, trying to get you to talk about our product, like we really care about you, what's going on in your life. And that was truly important to us. And then I think the third tactic that was really important in creating the strategy for Beekman was brand partnership. So I think, again, if you're a brand trying to start out and you don't have unlimited resources, but you have a very strong understanding of the audience you're trying to reach and you want to increase your awareness within that audience, you can do so by thinking about how you can tap into those audiences through like-minded brands that are reaching that same audience that you're trying to reach. We did a variety of giveaways and content collabs with a bunch of different brands that aligned really well with

our products and also allowed us to get in front of people within our target audience that maybe we weren't just reaching from like an organic effort. So I think that's another key element and tactic that can oftentimes get overlooked. But again, it doesn't take any resources besides, you know, just manpower and reaching out to like-minded brands, getting, you know, getting them product, having them take photos with your product and doing giveaways. And it's a really easy, like low hanging fruit kind of way to increase your brand awareness to your target audience. That's awesome. I know that you worked on a event with an influencer that Cassie actually

went to in New York. And I think you said that it was right before your maternity leave. So you didn't get to, what was the process of planning that like? Yeah. Well, I think, you know, one of the things with that event is, you know, we really had to think through obviously, you know, all the logistics side of things and people coming from different areas of the country. But I think the kind of overall process is really starting with thinking about what you want to get out of the event. So one, first and foremost to us, what was most important wasn't necessarily to have our influencer partners post about us at the event. It was, again, further cultivating those relationships with our influencer partners, because the more that we can really show up for our partners and we cared, we want to introduce them to this

product, and really make it about them and their experience using the product and making that really great. And then from there, it's like, yes, the content comes you, it's kind of like, you know, you put it out there, the people will come, the content will come. And so I think it's that like, first and foremost, thinking about like, what are you trying to get out of this? What is the goal of the event? And then of course, tail first and foremost, thinking about like, what are you trying to get out of this? What is the goal of the event? And then, of course, tailoring it down, thinking about the logistics, also thinking about, you know, how can we set up this event to make the most sense and allow people to capture content? I think that's huge right now. Like, you can't just create an event for event's sake anymore. It's like, you need to make sure that you have different elements that are going to entice people to want to capture the event, share it with other people.

And then that's really kind of how you catch fire there. Awesome. And you've already mentioned so much about how relationships comes into such a crucial role for these influencer partnerships, including relationships. What have you seen as kind of aspects to influencer partnerships, including relationships? What have you seen as kind of aspects to influencer partnerships over the years that as the industry continues to evolve, those things have remained constant? And this can be aspects to the actual partnerships you're creating or types of partnerships as well. Yeah. So that's a great question. I think first and foremost, partnerships that have the most longevity are the partnerships that are authentic and collaborative. I think it is, you know, a huge red flag for brands when you reach out to an influencer for a potential

partnership and they just want to talk money before even trying the product. You know, you can't expect every single person is going to love your product. The skincare space, for example, is a really great example of this because every single person has a different skin, different skin concerns, different reactions to things. And influencers are human. And even though I know sometimes people forget that, but just because their skin doesn't love a product, it doesn't mean it's a bad product. It's just maybe not right for their skin and that's okay. And I think that right there is, you know, something that people just need to keep in

mind from a marketing perspective. Um, but I think what that says is like, it's really important to just bake in a cushion of product trial time into your influencer program. So the influencer can really actually get to try the product and see if it works. And the good thing about that is if they do end up absolutely loving it, it makes the partnership that much sweeter and that much more authentic because you know, they're coming from a place of genuinely loving the product versus like forcing it. And I feel like too, consumers can totally sniff out if an influencer is just, you know, talking out their rear end about a product versus actually really loving

it and standing behind it. So I think authenticity is super important. And then another aspect I would say is just being collaborative. I think it is one of the biggest opportunities for brands and probably one of the biggest missed opportunities for brands to just listen to your partners. You know, when I was managing the influencer program at Beekman, one of the things that we always tried to make a point of saying during our intro calls with our influencers as we're getting to know them was, you know, if you have an idea or something else you want to try, tell us, like, bring it to the table. Sure, we might say, you know, maybe not this time, but like, we want to hear your ideas, like, we value what you have to say and what you're

willing to contribute to the partnership. And, you know, honestly, I loved, like, those were probably some of my favorite calls is when we would be talking about maybe a campaign we had coming up. And one of our partners would be like, hey, like this might sound crazy. I feel like it's always, nine times out of 10, we would be like, yes, absolutely. That's fantastic. Or, you know, they'd say like, oh, I just heard this song is trending. Do you mind if I use this? And, you know, that's like, great. There's so much value that they can bring to the table. And I think just really listening to them because influencers at the end of the day, like you're working with them because they are the creative genius and, uh, you know, just being willing to listen to them and the ideas they're willing to bring to the table and come from things as a collaborative way, uh, versus just being like, here's your brief, go create it. Cool. Can't wait to see your piece of content. Like, I think if you're open and being collaborative, you'll see

so much just more creative freedom. And I think you'll really see the influencers just have such a better, such better feedback and just produce better content overall. That's so awesome. So you kind of touched a little bit how you all look for, you know, in your past experience and your current experience, people are really collaborative. They are wanting to try the products out first before they post about it and tell their unique story with using those products. But besides that, the authenticity element and the collaborative element, are there any specific aspects that you look for in a creator, whether it's their personality type or the way that they

create content? Yeah, definitely. I think there are so many different elements that can make a creator successful for a specific brand. But I think overall, when looking at creators, some things that were always kind of on my checklist were one, looking for someone who's really intertwined in their audience, interacting and engaging with their community. I think that really tells you that, you know, they're listening to their audience. They really value cultivating a community and which as a brand, you know, their community is your target audience and the influencer is really your link to their audience. So I think that's really key. Also consistency. I think it's really easy to spot influencers who

are just kind of all over the map. You can see if, you know, a video they did only went, you know, viral or only took off probably because another brand was boosting it. Or, you know, maybe it's like some of their content looks really great and like they put a lot of effort in and some just is like totally false flat. And so, you know, it's easy to spot influencers who are kind of all over the place. And as a brand, if you're investing in a creator influencer to drive strong awareness or engagement for your brand, you obviously want to feel pretty confident that that influencer's content isn't going to totally flop. And so I think just making sure you're looking for influencers who show strong consistency in their views, looking at their average

views per video, looking at their view rate, looking at their engagement, making sure, you know, they're not just like hiding likes on an image or video because it didn't perform very well. I think that's really key as well. Yeah, that's a great point. So how do you view or come to find somebody's engagement rate views per video? How can you find that? Yeah. So, I mean, I think if you don't have any tools, you can of course do the very manual way of going through and looking at all their video views, divide their video view by their potential reach, which is of course their followers. But also shameless bug, if you are a marketer and you're looking for a more in-depth way to analyze your influencers or discover influencers and actually see, you know, some of their metrics in terms of engagement rate, B rate, average videos, uh, tracker is a great platform to use

a shameless plug minor there. Um, but it really is a great platform to use. And that's what we used at Beekman. And honestly, I don't think that we would have the influencer program that we did have without that, because I spent many hours putting together spreadsheets that wasted a whole heck of a lot of time. Meanwhile, then we got Tracker and you could very easily go in and see like, okay, this influencer has a 15% B rate, add them to our shortlist. And so that just really helps you understand their metrics and help you build your influencer programs. Awesome.

Yeah. I wanted to give you the opportunity to play. I knew that already, but I was like, I want her to talk about it. So yes, thank you for sharing that. Of course. You're taking into consideration all of your past experience and what you're currently working with now with Tractor. Do you have any predictions or trends that you're seeing for the future of influencer or content creator

partnerships? Yeah, absolutely. I love this question. I feel like my colleagues and I are always talking about this. And also I immediately think back to the earlier days of my career when influencer marketing was like just gaining traction. And there was like barely any little to zero budget within marketing programs for it. And now it is like the key thing on everyone's marketing budget. So I think it's just fascinating to see how it's evolved. But I would say my predictions are that influencers are really going to continue to grow into being more of an extension of a brand versus a transactional partner. Unfortunately, I think a lot of brands still look at them as just kind of like another media placement. But I think the brands that succeed and are really doing it right are brands that are really starting to see the value of influencers beyond just like using them for an efficient reach tool or like repurposing their content for ads. I think when brands can look at influencer partners and understand that influencers are key in giving them real-time feedback from consumers, they're like their ears on the ground

listening to what consumers are saying, what their ears on the ground, listening to what consumers are saying, what they're, you know, asking questions about. And that can really help inform brands of, you know, what kind of products are their audiences looking for? What do they need to maybe like tweak on a product or formula? And like, what pain points do these consumers have? Like, how can brands, you know, solve some of those pain points? I think that's where the value really comes into play and how influencers can just be really an extension of the brand and not just this media placement that they can use. I think the other thing that could be something of the future, maybe very near future, and

I think we saw this with meta launching product tagging for, you know, kind of your average Joe consumers is that I think the threshold of being an influencer is kind of like everyone's an influencer now in their own right. And I think we're going to start to really see more of this, you know, like consumers as influencers and brands really building these advocacy programs of loyal consumers versus just working with your kind of now typical influencers. And so I think that's something that's really exciting that hopefully will be on the horizon. And yeah, I think, and of course the metaverse, but I feel like I'm not versed enough to speak on that. I know I was so intrigued by your guys's last conversation with Ashley Head from L'Oreal and I feel like I need to

go talk with her about the metaverse but I do think it's it's coming and I think it's going to be something really interesting yeah absolutely I'm so interested to see how brands and also influencers dive into it even further because it's just getting started and it's it's kind of an intimidating thing especially for me being on kind of the agency brand side I have a lot to learn and so that conversation was really beneficial and I'm eager to look out for resources and things like that because I think it's going to be a whole nother world that brands are really going to have to hop onto really quickly. So it's an exciting, but kind of scary opportunity coming up for sure. Yeah. You just have to think of it as this is what people were saying about Instagram stories like five years

ago, like, Oh my gosh, what is this? Yeah. It's just everyday thing. That's how I know. I know. Oh man, it's crazy, but we're definitely excited to dive into that further. But with some of your campaigns that you've done in the past and even just current experience, are there any common mistakes that you see brands make with their influencer campaigns? And do you have any tips for avoiding them? Yeah, absolutely. So I think, you know, one of the, probably one of the prime mistakes that I think brands make is not having a clear understanding of what their goals are. I think it's really easy for brands to want to accomplish a whole lot, and then they set out to accomplish everything, and they end up accomplishing essentially nothing. And so I think really having a clear

understanding of your goals and basing those goals off of benchmarks, off of historical data can really help set you up for success. And just being very clear, like setting goals, making sure, you know, like, are these actually attainable? Sure, it's great to have reach goals, but if you're doing a program where, you know, you've never had an influencer marketing strategy as part of your campaign, you know, you have to start somewhere as in just starting with setting some goals that can be at least benchmarks for you, I think is a really good place to start. And also just making sure those goals are communicated to all levels and across the company. I think, you know, one of the things with influencer marketing

is, you know, people expect like, oh, well, we just spent X, Y, Z amount on this influencer marketing program. How come we don't have all these sales all of a sudden? And, you know, it's like setting goals that are realistic and attainable, but can also help set you up for success. I think it's really important in understanding that. And then I think also, especially when it comes to influencer marketing, some mistakes that people can make is looking at influencer marketing as purely transactional. You know, I've had my experience in paid social media, setting up social ads across Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest,

and working with, you know, different publishers for full-on media campaigns. And, you know, setting up a campaign in the back end of ads manager on Facebook is entirely different than partnering with an influencer. You have to really keep in mind that human element. And I think sometimes brands get lost in wanting to compare it, you know, one-to-one, but at the end of the day, I think you really have to keep in mind there's a human element to it. It's not a perfect science. And yeah, you can't really compare it to like a billboard or your, you know, different targeted ad you're running on Instagram.

So keeping that in mind and just understanding that there's that human element. You're also, when you're working with influencers, you already, you know, you're partnering with them because they are qualified to talk about a product. Perhaps they have a qualified audience. So again, just keeping in mind, it's not really that one-to-one as if you're setting up an ad and that's manager. And then I think the other thing too, that brands often make mistakes on, it's not being ready to pour fuel on the fire. I remember, I feel like it was one of my bosses at Under Armour kind of always talked about this, but, you know, making sure that if you have a campaign that is taking off, or maybe

you have an influencer where their content is like organically going viral, like be ready to pour fuel on the fire. Make sure you're set up for success. You know, do you have more advertising dollars you can put into an ad that's really performing well, so that you can continue to see that snowball effect of its successful performance. And also like if you're running an influencer program and all of a sudden, again, like maybe an influencer's content takes off, do you have the product supply to meet the demand that is being drummed up by the influencer? I think that can sometimes be forgotten and definitely is a mistake. And then I also think just being ready to optimize and constantly

learning, even if a campaign isn't, you know, one of your best campaigns, I think there's always something to be learned. And I think where, again, people can make mistakes is not taking even the smallest learning from campaigns to fine-tune future campaigns and inform future content, inform future partnerships. So really making sure that you're optimizing and looking at benchmarks, looking at historical data to help you make smarter decisions in the future so that you can constantly just be improving. Wow. You just hit on so many points that I'm just like, my mind is blown. I'm like, anybody who is in influencer marketing needs to listen to this because you just hit on like everything that someone needs to know when they're, when they're

just starting out or, or even just trying to revamp a influencer strategy. I think it's super important. The goals that you touched on, I know in my experience with some influencer marketing, I ran into the same issues. Like people higher up didn't really understand why we weren't seeing so many sales just from these huge influencer campaigns

that we were doing, but it really is about those relationships and even building that brand recognition and brand love and loyalty like you were speaking of. So thank you for all of those tips. It's super, super great. Just throwing it back a little bit to the earlier days of your career,

you mentioned being in paid media at Under Armour. For someone new in the paid media space, do you have any tips for creating effective ads or any strategies that you used at Under Armour that would be good? Yeah, absolutely. So I think first and foremost, kind of going back to this idea of setting realistic goals and even just knowing what your goals are. I think one of the first steps for creating effective ads is having a clear understanding of your goals and of your campaign objectives. You know, really thinking about what you're hoping for your campaign to achieve. What are the maybe, you know, kind of top line goals that your company has and how does this campaign map back

to those goals? Is it product sell through? Is it just purely product awareness or brand awareness? And, you know, thinking about, are you looking to increase consideration or purchase intent? Like what part of the funnel are you really focusing on? And I think that is a really good starting point. Just trying to understand that. And, you know, what are you setting out to try and achieve? And I think, too, the one thing to keep in mind there, similarly to just thinking about influencers, is if you're looking for your ad to accomplish everything, chances are it's probably not going to accomplish anything or anything very well. I think also thinking about your ad strategy for more of kind of a 360 view and kind of taking a step back and really putting yourself into the consumer journey and like thinking about, okay,

like how is my consumer going to see this ad? How are they going to see the product? And thinking about it from that way in order to really try and make it the most effective. I think you really have to think, you know, if you're trying to reach a new audience, what does that flow of your marketing funnel look like? And how are you going to spark interest in a consumer that's completely cold and then increase their consideration by maybe engaging them through influencer content? Or, you know, maybe it's then following up with a conversion product. Maybe it's an offer for like $10 off their first purchase order. And so I think that part too, in creating effective ad is really knowing like, what role does that ad play in your marketing funnel? And where does that come into play? And then I think another thing, this is kind of maybe

these two points are less about like the actual ad and more about the ad strategy. But again, I think understanding your audience ads simple as that, but I think really understanding your audience, you know, what kind of language do they use? Are you trying to speak to a Gen Z consumer? Are they using the word choogy? I feel like I still don't even know what that word means. But like, maybe that would be funny in an ad where if that same ad that used the word choogy, if that got served to like a 35 year old woman, they would be completely lost and be like, what in the world is this brand talking about? You know? So like, know, know your audience, know what they're talking about, know their interests, know what's happening in the space that they're really consuming content in. You know, know what platforms they're spending the most time on, where are they shopping? And what is the need that your product can solve for them?

I think that's really important as you really kind of understand your audience and, you know, everything about their demographic segment. I think also when it comes to audiences, don't expect to cast a super wide net and expect everyone to come biting on your ad. I think it's really important to be, have like a very tailored approach, make sure that your ad is very intentional for the person you're intending to reach. And again, by trying to be everything to everyone, you're just going to be nothing to anybody. And so just know your audience inside and out. And that of course will then play a role in your targeting, which is of course also extremely important for creating effective advertising strategies. And then from a more creative perspective, I would say, first and foremost, always test and learn and never, ever just rely on one ad to do all the work. I think, you know, where marketers can be really successful is not being willing or

not being afraid to test things and taking those learnings from the test and actually applying them to future decisions, future content, future ads, and just making sure you're ready to optimize with those different learnings that you get through testing and learning. And then I think from more of a creative perspective to just ensure your ad, of course, mentions the brand or product within the very, you know, first few seconds of the ads. You can't expect that every single consumer is going to stop on your ad and sit there and watch it for 10 seconds. Consumers and the way that, you know, media is served these days, it's a very short,

you know, cycle and it's a very quick scroll. So you need to have something within those first seconds that really jumps out and captures your audience. And then also don't forget that your creative has to really tell a story that compels your consumer to listen. So, you know, making sure that you're not just doing a basic, like overly polished ad that's doing your traditional, like, here's why this product is great go buy it blah blah blah no one wants to listen to that um and just really think too you know like what influences you to make purchase decisions how do you want to hear about a product and I think you know nowadays consumers are used to that very like scrappy, authentic, real raw feeling of video. And that's really what

makes them, you know, want to buy it. It feels like it's just a review coming from their best friend telling them how much they love the skincare product that's totally changed their skin overnight. And so I think that too is just don't overthink it. Don't go for the most polished piece of content. Really think about that real raw perspective that, you know, just feels so much more genuine. And then I think lastly, just having a really clear CTA. You know, it's great if your target consumer loves the product, thinks it's great, wants to go purchase it, but if they have no idea where to go purchase it or, you know, where they can find it, that's kind of a problem. So make sure you have a clear

CTA call to action of where to go purchase it or, you know, where to go to learn more details about the product. Amazing. That was so good. There were so many great points there, just like the last question. So I'm really excited for people to dive in and hear this episode. Thank you so much, those tips were amazing. I know paid media is something that I'm always trying to improve in my business. So these were great tips that I know I can definitely apply to different campaigns that I set up, but this is an awesome interview. And thank you so much for all of the wealth of knowledge that you have shared with us so far. But before we close, this is a question that we love asking all of our guests on the show. What do you know now that you wish you did at the beginning of your career? Yeah. Oh, I love this question. Okay. So if I

were to think about what I wish I knew, I would say take the damn leap, excuse the damn, but I think this is really important. Take the damn leap. You know, you'll never regret going out of your comfort zone. And I really wish I had someone telling me that. I think I definitely always took the leaps, but I was always really hesitant to. And, you know, I think back to times in my career where if I had said no to certain opportunities because I was a little scared or a little hesitant I definitely wouldn't be where I am or I wouldn't know what I know today if I didn't take those leaps so take the leap believe in yourself and it makes you uncomfortable it's probably a good sign that you're probably growing and going in the right direction you know I think too as you're growing in and going in the right direction. You know, I think too,

as you're growing in your career, there's so many times where we doubt ourselves and we don't give ourselves enough credit. But I think if you're truly passionate about what you do and you have perseverance, you can really make anything you set your mind to happen. And again, like there were so many times, whether it was in changing jobs or taking on a new project that I questioned, you know, like, am I actually good enough to do this? Like, why do they even want me for this role? Like, do I really know what I'm doing? And, you know, now I realize I'm as good and I'm as smart as I believe I am. And the only person who really truly knows my worth is me. And, you know, I think about it too now where, okay, if I don't know

something, I'm pretty dang good at figuring out how to do something, how to get past an obstacle. And so that doesn't really scare me as much anymore. And, you know, I'm so glad that I took all the leaps that I did to get, to get me where I am. And I think that's just so important. Just really having that confidence to go outside your comfort zone. Don't be afraid to take the chances and just take the damn leap. I love that so much. And I love how you touched on, you know, you have to have confidence in not only your current abilities, but your ability to learn how to do something else. I don't think we give ourselves enough of that credit.

And that's something that is going to go a long way and looking for new jobs and even in your current position that you're in. So that is such a amazing, helpful tidbit that you shared there. But again, thank you so much, Haley. This has been incredible. I cannot wait for everyone to give this a listen, but where can people stay up to date with everything that you're doing in your life and your career? Where can we follow you online? Yeah. So you can follow me on, or you can find me on LinkedIn. My name is Vassily Soprano. You can also follow me on Instagram if you want, although for being someone who works in social media, I don't post very frequently. Although I think that's probably a general consensus among a lot of social media people. But my handle is at Hale, H-A-I-L, Soprano, S-O-P-R-A-N-O. Just really

excited to be here. And thank you again so much to you and Erica for having me. This has just been wonderful. And I'm just so excited to follow along and see who else you guys get to have on here. Thanks for spending an hour of your day with us. And thanks so much to Haley for joining us on Marketing Happy Hour. I know I have a full page of notes from that interview. What a fantastic conversation that was filled with a lot of practical tips that anyone can benefit from. If you also enjoyed this episode, be sure to rate and leave a review for the show. And as always, go check us out on Instagram at Marketing Happy Hour.

That's at Marketing Happy HR. See you next time.