Stephanie Stabulis

Knowing just HOW influential you are is pivotal to so many conversations around your value to brands (yes, including pay). Greater influence yields greater value for brands which can increase your power of negotiating when it comes to rates. It’s especially key for helping to understand the influential value in smaller influencers and everyday customers. So how do you measure that? Generally, “influence” means you have the ability to “move” people; so we measure movement. I call it “transference” for ease - your ability to transfer people to a certain idea, link, product, etc. You can follow the five steps above to get a sense of your transference (“influence”) and how to work on it (in general. We all know how to “influence” is a bigger discussion all on its own). Personally, I feel like running these tests or asking from the data from brand campaigns gives you the most bullet proof backing to your worth, because it allows you quantify and estimate the actual impact you have on a brand in a “no BS” kind of way. So KEEP TABS ON YOUR INFLUENCE!! #influencertips #creatortips #influencers #influencermarketing #influence #contentcreatortips #contentcreator #contentcreators #contentcreation #brandpartnerships #branddeals

🚨 newsflash: blogs are not dead. Episode 16 is live with @fairytalemindy / @influencereducation where we talk all things BLOGS and how they fit into the monetization equation. Listen links are in the bio! Don’t sleep on this one ☝🏽 #blogger #bloggertools #blogtools #bloggersofinstagram #influencerlifestyle #influencertips #creatortips #entrepreneur #selffunded #bloggerlife #bloggingtips #brandingtips #personalbranding #personalbrandingtips

What if you knew just a little bit more about marketing that would help you consistently create 🔥 content for brands? What if you knew what they needed - even if THEY didn’t know what they needed? In my free webinar in early 2021 I went over content strategies on the “funnel” (his name is now “Frank” the funnel) and my biggest feedback was that content needed it’s own workshop - so here it is! I will be releasing the workshop, details around what it looks like and how I will be offering it soon - but if you want to be notified via email when this launches you can go to the first link in my bio and RSVP to the event. ❤️ I’m so excited to offer this, that I’m holding myself accountable to working on it by letting you all know it’s comingggggg ✨✨✨

Culturally, we place a 💩-load more power in titles and accomplishment than we do in genuine happiness and meaningful work. ⁣ I spent so many years of my life wanting to be a leader or at the top of something. Even in recent weeks, I’ve cultivated this feeling like I “earned” and have the talent to be at the top - that anything less is settling for less than my worth. I’ve been at the top - so is anything less stepping down? ⁣ I get out of it by asking myself if it ever really matters. It’s not leading that makes me happy and gives my actions meaning, it’s impact. Leading or being at the top doesn’t always mean that you make more impact - impact can exist in all kinds of opportunities and scenarios. Impact exists at all scales - big or small - with bigger impact not necessarily making me “more” happy. ⁣ It’s so important to have something to ground your opportunities by - so you aren’t swayed by those things you think you SHOULD care about, or those things that others care about - you are guided by what’s most meaningful to you. ⁣ What actually matters to you? What has significance? I can guarantee it’s not a number and guarantee that it’s not validation from others. Find that thing that matters to you, because the chances are that it matters to other people too - and that’s your value.

Affiliate linking programs are suppose to make up your PASSIVE income. That’s why you will continue to see some of your favorite brands, like @express , launching affiliate programs. 1️⃣ affiliate works under the premise that regardless of payment or partnership, you are going to post anyway. Because that was how influencers rose to such value. Fashion bloggers will always post their outfits, they will always tag the brand, because that is what provides additional value to the audience - so why not get paid for what you convert? 2️⃣ most people wrongly confused inputs and effort as exploitation. But with affiliate no one is controlling your effort. You can go as raw and easy as you want to or as particular and detail oriented as you want. But that’s on you and your preference. Many affiliates succeed with low effort stories that convert due to established trust! 3️⃣ inside the brand, they have various goals and needs. Affiliate programs serve one of them. Brands will not have the budget to take on and pay every creator that wants to work with them - it’s just not realistic. Affiliate provides a pathway for creators to work with brands and get paid for any impact they make to that brand. Since affiliate programs can often be less expensive to run and manage, it provides an additional layer of creator partnerships and ….. 4️⃣ …. Opportunity! While I don’t know the inner workings at express, I would bet money as a strategist that the affiliate program will feed into their paid campaigns and ambassador program. They will invest in those who can show their audience is active. Fraud is a real brand challenge, this is one opportunity to gather the necessary data on how “influential” you are that can be leveraged with other brand PAID opportunities and give you the data to push your rate higher because you can prove effectiveness. Affiliate is right for you when you can justify that the content will be created anyway and for you to create opportunity to earn as one income source (among many!) When you have the opportunity to re-leverage your results to grow your bottom line, and to give additional opportunity to work with coveted brands.

I’ve officially finished onboarding into @dovetale ‘s Expert Program 🎉 We’re celebrating 🥳 , but we’re also grounding in mission. I’m excited to add another partner in the mission to help shape the future of influencer marketing strategy & structure - and for likeminded companies that want to put the “humanness” back in influencer marketing. I feel like it’s equally important to call out that I’ve refused exclusivity with any platform partner (right now) in order to make that mission a reality. The goal is change, education and innovation - and my hope is that all platforms, teams and the brands that use them are working toward it. No matter who they are. Any large or small part I can play in that is welcome. To the brands following me; never hesitate to reach out to me, I’m committed to honest referrals for your needs first & always ❤️

Didyaknow this FREE resource existed? I gave this workshop live in January, but it’s still available as a download. Swipe to see what you’ll learn in the download + head to the link in my bio (second link down!) to download. 🙌🏼❤️

If you immediately shut down affiliate partnerships and gifting opportunities - you are missing the bigger picture. If you continually talk about creators accepting “lipstick as payment” with less attention to bigger picture, you are missing valuable opportunity to increase the factors that increase your effectiveness and therefore your worth to brands. It’s all interconnected, yet we aren’t having a conversation about how these different partnership set-ups affect one another - we just see this as pay v. no pay and we dismiss. The cold hard truth is that there are many great affiliate programs that can earn you additional income with little effort. The cold hard truth is that gifting partnerships give you an opportunity to build trust with your audience WHILE establishing a relationship with the brand. Your life cannot be 100% sponsored, it’s not authentic and doesn’t lead to the kind of trust in recommendation that gives influencers much of their power in negotiations (their actual ‘influence’) Many experience creators and influencers have at least 2-3 different kind of partnerships arrangements that all help create both active & passive income streams - as well as value. Note: *pie chart for visuals only, these are not meant to represent exact percentages - just “smaller and bigger”.

There’s a cost-benefit to following me. You’ll get REAL-TIME, accurate and up to date industry knowledge…. But you’ll have to deal with me being actually IN the industry. 🤭 mmmkay? ⁣ 40hrs of my week are spent dedicated to major agency work. ⁣ 10+ to outside consulting, partnerships and relationships like those I have had with @influenceco , @perlusocial and a new partner on deck to advance the mission of Social Creates Impact) Shhhhh 🤫🤫🤫) ⁣ I can’t be in your newsfeeds everyday. But did you know that’s okay? ⁣ Or are you too busy listening to someone else tell you that quantity > quality because they care more about “winning” social media than they do about serving a true purpose on social media? ⁣ Or did you maybe forget that side hustles are still a real thing because we are bombarded by stories about the side hustle turned full time passion business likes it’s the new American dream? Like the side hustle is no longer “good” enough if you haven’t made it to full time?! ⁣ SCI was created to help bridge the gaps between the brand “industry” side of influencer marketing and the “creator” side, by sharing the perspective of the brand - an underrepresented perspective in influencer education. ⁣ There’s a real mission here. ⁣ One that I’m not going to give up because for 12 weeks of my LEGACY, I have to deal with other priorities. One that’s WORTH making part of my legacy, even if it’s only a PART. ⁣ That’s the beauty of creating from your passions. You won’t give up on them. You’ll always come home to them. And it won’t matter whether they make some or all of your income. It just matters that you do it. ⁣ [id love to also thank @amberskincarediary for inspiring this….tap into your audience, you’ll learn many care about quality more than quantity.]

Have you heard of the vehicle analogy for social? Reels, feed, stories, social in general - are all vehicles that carry messages from point A (you) to point B (your audience) and much like ACTUAL vehicle shopping, you have to assess what you actually need in order to choose what the right vehicle is for you. Would you spring for a pickup if you had no intention of ever using the bed? No. Would you buy a coupe if you constantly carted 4 full size adults in the back? Prolly not. Would you change your strategy to be around the production of Reels to establish a deep relationship with your audience as an expert? Please don’t - preliminary research on short form content and patterns the brand analysts are seeing show short form content like Tik Tok and Reels as great entertainment; but difficult to establish deeper engagement. Are you an entertainer? Or an expert? Entertain to grab attention, but be an expert across other media forms better suited for it. Ask yourself: 1. What’s the objective of this post? Reels are great for relating and great for exposure. But most creators need to build trust, engage and flaunt expertise in other ways too - meaning you’ll need to use different media forms. 2. Can I get my point across in a short amount of time? Consider how the user will experience your Reel. If you have to cram or overload a short Reel to make a point, Reels is probably not it. 3. What kind of engagement do you need? Preliminary data is showing that people will often watch a Reel but neglect to like, comment or share. Their “engagement” is watched minutes. If you want to start a public convo? Make sure it’s in feed. Drive up via a link? Stories. PS. This kind of data is also most valuable to the brands you are working for in justifying better pay. Watched minutes is “reach” and for many brands, we expect more from working with influencers.

STOKED to resume the podcast on THIS episode; because its part of MY why to keep putting out content that makes us think differently about the creator / influencer economy and my conversation with @ecovegangal does just that. If you are a brand, there are also some gems in here for you too! Whitney and I chatted about where the influencer economy came from and how much it’s changed and how that has led to these greater implications and strain on our mental health. We chat: •passion, purpose and her why •navigating when new platforms emerge •who we create for •”measurements” - what really matters and how it impacts our mental health •the brands role in creating better mental health •the role of self awareness in content •the implications of what you post •habits for better mental health as a creator •having integrity as a creator •setting mental health boundaries …. And more that I can’t fit in this window, so you’ll just have to listen! Links are in the bio. 🙏🏼

Creators and Instagram have 2 different business models. 🛑 letting Instagram dictate what’s best for your business. 👆🏽 this was something I posted in reaction to stories that hit hard with a lot of people and I wanted to expand on it and post it to feed so you can save it. Instagrams business model relies on keeping people in-app - they can serve you more ads the more you scroll. They don’t care about the depth of the interaction - because deeper, longer interactions that take you away from scrolling don’t benefit their bottom line. Tik Tok is winning attention right now - but I can tell you as someone who has spent the last year on Tik Tok is that it leaves much to be desired when it comes to deeper engagement. Creators & influencers - and businesses - have the most opportunity to generate $$$ through deep engagement. The more you can “influence”, the more you can monetize. You can reach thousands with a piece of content and not engage - entertainment and engagement = 🚫 not the same. Your context mix needs to be determined not by an algorithm - but by how you can beat gain trust, have deeper interaction, show off your passions & expertise, and simply just share what people want to hear. Short form video doesn’t always cut it. Monetizing based on who you REACH as a creator or business is only 1/10th of the equation - take a look at the bigger picture. ‼️‼️

Sometimes stepping into your power involves letting go of your need for others to recognize how “right” you are. No one will ever know your heart more than you. You can let it run cold, you can stoop and settle to the pettiness of those without it, or you can let it beat and run wild and free and know that rewards will always come. the Universe is the greatest rewarder.