ICYMI, a journalist from SBS ran a story about influencer marketing, and creating a fake profile on instagram, and her view that social media and influencer marketing is riddled with fraud and an unregulated and unsafe industry.
So what happened?
The journalised used real photos of herself, but bought 2,000 followers on top of her 900 real ones, and decided to try becoming an influencer. As part of her story, she created a profile on theright.fit as a blogger, influencer & talent, that despite our vetting, made it through as approved based on the very low total follower count, and high quality of her real photos and photogenic ability.
What’s the reality?
We have over 17,000 talent across models, actors, photographers, videographers, celebrities, makeup artists, stylists, MCs, artists, editors and over 11,000 clients in the marketplace, and over 16,000 transactions and over 14,000 5 star reviews of jobs complete. That’s a lot of people finding the perfect fit for their job, and having a great experience. That’s what gets me, and our team, up every single day to keep changing the way creative talent grow their careers.
Are there things we could do better? Of course. Ideally we’d meet or zoom every single person who applies to join our marketplace. But the reality of a global marketplace, growing at scale, just like Airbnb, Airtasker, or Upwork, the practicalities of that aren't possible. Which is why its so important in our marketplace that we provide transparency to both sides of the transaction on who they are engaging with, so they can make informed decisions on who to engage on any campaign, be it a modelling job, photographer booking, influencer campaign, or makeup artist job.
If you design a product or business to cater to the lowest common denominator - people who want to lie, cheat, or steal - you’ll never serve the needs of the 99.9% of people who are not this way inclined. We’d never get to have Uber, or have a business like Airbnb. And if you are afraid of failure and if you never take risks and if you never try to push the boundaries of what is possible — then you certainly will never succeed in break-through innovation, which is what I strive for in my businesses.
So is influencer marketing full of sh#t?
No. The stats speak for themselves. The industry is on track to be worth $15B by 2022, 90% of brands report it to be effective, and for every $1 invested you can expect a return of $18.
It’s a very new industry that is constantly evolving, and why I am so passionate about educating both influencers and brands on how to best navigate this space. I think the fact that this talent didnt book any jobs shows that people do see the importance of looking at the analytics tools and are becoming more educated on the importance of understanding the complexities of the influencer space. I think it's a damn amazing marketing channel if done well, and I want to see the industry thrive and be treated with the same viability as more established channels like TV and OOH.
Do I wish she the journalist hadn’t written this piece?
No, not at all, I think its really important that we have a vibrant free press in Australia. It’s an important part of a thriving democracy. Do I think it was the best use of taxpayer money to fund this for 6 months to learn that people can make fake profiles on instagram? Probably not. Do I think it’s a shame they didn't engage with instagram or facebook to really learn more about the space? Definitely. It was an interesting idea for a story, and with better execution I think could have really added value to viewers both as consumers and as marketers.
What does it mean for how theright.fit will work in future?
I believe in the inherent good of people. And thankfully, time after time, our community in theright.fit fit have proven that decision to be the right one. With over 16,000 successful bookings, thousands of hours of TV commercials shot, hundreds of makeup artists completing thousands of hours on set, untold numbers of models being booked to create a mind boggling number of images, the marketplace continues to thrive. We will continue to provide detailed analytics to each client on the followers of each influencer including their engagement rate, and any suspicious activity and engagement pod activity, so they can make informed decisions on who to work with. Because marketplaces are built on transparency and trust and we pride ourselves on that at theright.fit.
What Next?
Back to work. It’s such a shame the journalist didn’t use this as an opportunity to sit down and learn about the complexities of the space and the opportunities for creators, brands and agencies. Unnecessary drama, but that’s startup life. Innovation and disruption isnt for everyone, but I believe it’s the only way to create real and lasting change.