Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin - "A lot of you have been asking about my skincare routine" and Other Instagram Marketing BS

Episode Date: March 7, 2022

Not all influencers are transparent about their deals or their marketing tactics. In fact, there is a lot of BS that goes down in influencer-dom, and that BS can hurt you, and your bottom line. Today, Nicole unpacks three social media marketing tricks that you should watch out for. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Well, it doesn't. Charge for wasting our time. I will take a check. Like an old school check. You recognize her from anchoring on CNN, CNBC, and Bloomberg. The only financial expert you don't need a dictionary to understand. Nicole Lappin. We've already had two episodes about the finances of social media influencing.

On episode 38, we had Bachelor alum Kendall Long on the show. And then on episode 41, we had TikToker Matt Waring. The short story, there's a lot of money in influencing. And that's awesome if you're an influencer. But what if you were the one being influenced? Some people call me a finance influencer, which I don't love. I consider myself an educator. I'm not trying to influence anyone into making a certain decision.

I'm really here to empower you to make your own decisions. I honestly think I get that title because I'm a woman with a blue checkmark next to my name on Instagram. Like, no one is calling Dave Ramsey or Jim Cramer influencers. And is what I do that much different from what Dave Ramsey does? Well, other than the fact that I'm right and he's wrong, but I digress. Now, I will say that I do make money from social media by entering into partnerships with brands I believe in. And I've always been 100% transparent about that. But that word, transparency, is the key between what I do and what the word influencer makes me think of. There seems to be a very fine line between influencing someone and manipulating someone. And as my career has gone on and more brands

have wanted to partner with me, not saying that as a flex, but just being honest. I've always vetted the opportunities based on whether I can be open about the deal I'm making. For example, in my books, I break down how much money I make from different streams of income. Social media partnerships, this podcast, the very books where you can find my breakdown of these streams of income. It feels like something that doesn't need explaining, but just for the sake of connecting the dots, that transparency is super important. It keeps me accountable to you, and that is the only way this money rehab journey can work. But not all influencers are as transparent about their deals or their marketing tactics. In fact, there is a lot of BS that goes

down in influencer-dom, and that BS can sometimes hurt you and your bottom line. So today, I'm going to unpack three social media marketing tactics that you should watch out for. Here's number one. And this episode's namesake, a lot of you have been asking me about my skincare routine. I am calling a hard BS on all of that now and forever. Sure, maybe the first person who ever made a video opening with that line did have people asking about their skincare routine, but I am seeing those videos every day. And I'm certain that the mega influencers out there are getting questions about bigger topics than their moisturizer. The strategy behind that wording is to make the influencer sound like an authority on skincare and importantly, skincare products. Even if you

haven't spent your time DMing an influencer about their skincare routine? If you stumble across a video where they say, gosh, I have been flooded with DMs about my skincare routine, your ears might perk up and think, wow, so many people are looking to this person for advice on skincare? I should tune in. No, you shouldn't. Number two, a scarcity strategy. The Kardashian-Jenners are the queens of this strategy. It's the strategy that allows Kylie to post a story to her 313 million followers and say, my Kylie Jenner lip kit sold out in three minutes. That's so crazy. No, it's not that crazy. crazy. No, it's not that crazy. Because what Kylie won't tell us is how many lip kits she had available for sale in the first place. But the point isn't how many lip kits she sold. It's that they're gone. And now all of a sudden you want one and you're not really sure what a lip kit is. Number three, the hashtag ad. As you've probably noticed,

influencers will add a hashtag ad or hashtag sponsored to the caption of an Instagram photo if that post is a paid partnership with a company. That's not something they're doing just for funsies. That is something that is required by the Federal Trade Commission, the FTC, the government body tasked with protecting consumers. The rationale here goes back to what we were talking about at the top of this episode. Transparency is key here. You might think about a product endorsement differently if an influencer is paid to give an endorsement and therefore asked to give an endorsement versus if they're not. But not all influencers make it easy to pick up on the disclosure. There is now a geotag, aka the location tag at the top of an Instagram post, that's formatted for paid

partnerships. So instead of having the location of a post be Los Angeles, California, it will be something like paid promotion with bang energy drink. That's a relatively new feature. So if you're looking to assess whether a post is a paid partnership, don't just check the caption, check the location tag as well. Also, the FTC requirement isn't as simple as saying hashtag ad in the caption of the photo. It counts as a disclosure if an influencer says they're a partner with a brand collab or thanks, when what they're actually getting at is that they received some sort of compensation for their post. A new one that I just saw is hashtag AF, short for affiliate, which is ultra confusing because on Instagram,

it, which is ultra confusing because on Instagram, AF means, well, you know, as fuck. Influencers, they can be a sneaky breed. And some may just straight up ignore the guidelines. Stars like Naomi Campbell, Ciara, Sofia Vergara, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson, Lucy Hale, and Shea Mitchell have all been accused of not disclosing sponsored posts on Instagram. In fact, Ashley Benson, Lucy Hale, and Shea Mitchell have all been accused of not disclosing sponsored posts on Instagram. In fact, in 2017, it was reported that 93% of sponsored content posted by A-list influencers on Instagram did not follow FTC guidelines. This was an especially hot button topic following the Fyre Festival, which was hugely promoted by huge influencers like Bella Hadid and Kendall Jenner. With Fyre Festival being the disaster it was, people started to wonder, are influencers responsible for the things they promote? That answer seems like an obvious yes

to me. I will say, though, since the study came out in 2017, I do think the monitoring of sponsored posts on Instagram has gotten more strict. I'm not a betting woman here, but if I was, I would bet that the majority of influencers now do follow FTC guidelines, but not all do. So you should take Instagram with a grain of salt before buying. For today's tip, you can take straight to the bank. The best way to decide on whether to buy a product is to test it yourself. Money Rehab is a production of iHeartRadio. I'm your host, Nicole Lappin. Our producers are Morgan Lavoie and Mike Coscarelli. Executive producers are Nikki Etor and Will Pearson. Our mascots are Penny and Mimsy.

Huge thanks to OG Money Rehab team, Michelle Lanz for her development work, Catherine Law for her production and writing magic, and Brandon Dickert for his editing, engineering, and sound design. And as always, thanks to you for finally investing in yourself so that you can get it together and get it all.

We spend our money, money, money. in yourself so that you can get it together and get it all.