Investigating Influence - The Podcast | Blether Digital

Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy followers. Charlotte's talking about the ways influencers build inauthentic audiences online, and how to spot dodgy behaviour.Visit investigatinginfluence.co.uk for moreFind me elsewhereInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/bycharlotteann_Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/bycharlotteann_My blog: https://www.bycharlotteann.comMy business: https://www.bletherdigital.co.ukEnjoying the podcast? Leave a review! You can also support me via my Ko-fi page, where you can buy me a virtual coffee that I can turn into a real caffeine fix. Yassss. Ko-fi.com/bycharlotteann_Music from https://filmmusic.io"Fearless First" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Website security, advertising regulations, intellectual property... being an influencer isn't quite as easy as throwing up a website or an Instagram account. Let's talk about some of the responsibilities influencers have to keep their audience safe.Visit investigatinginfluence.co.uk for moreFind me elsewhereInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/bycharlotteann_Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/bycharlotteann_My blog: https://www.bycharlotteann.comMy business: https://www.bletherdigital.co.ukEnjoying the podcast? Leave a review! You can also support me via my Ko-fi page, where you can buy me a virtual coffee that I can turn into a real caffeine fix. Yassss. Ko-fi.com/bycharlotteann_Music from https://filmmusic.io"Fearless First" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Find me elsewhereInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/bycharlotteann_Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/bycharlotteann_My blog: https://www.bycharlotteann.comMy business: https://www.bletherdigital.co.ukEnjoying the podcast? Leave a review! You can also support me via my Ko-fi page, where you can buy me a virtual coffee that I can turn into a real caffeine fix. Yassss. Ko-fi.com/bycharlotteann_Music from https://filmmusic.io"Fearless First" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Andy’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/AGFitTrainingAndy’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/agfitnesstraining/Andy’s Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AGFitnesstraining/Andy’s Website: https://www.agfitnesstraining.co.uk/Find me elsewhereInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/bycharlotteann_Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/bycharlotteann_My blog: https://www.bycharlotteann.comMy business: https://www.bletherdigital.co.ukEnjoying the podcast? Leave a review! You can also support me via my Ko-fi page, where you can buy me a virtual coffee that I can turn into a real caffeine fix. Yassss. Ko-fi.com/bycharlotteann_Music from https://filmmusic.io"Fearless First" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Nowadays, influencer is mostly used as a catch-all term for someone who has a large following on social media – be that a blogger, reality star or that girl who lives down the street and likes to post her outfits on her Instagram.The growth of dodgy practices on Instagram and the increasing number of *cough* Love Island *cough* reality stars who will push diet pills on their unsuspecting audience for a quick buck have resulted in some negative connotations associated with the word.That being said, however, it’s undoubtedly the best way to quickly summarise what content creators and social media personalities do – they’re influencing people to buy certain brands or visit certain places through their recommendations.When it comes to consumer behaviour, anyone can be an influence on your decisions, and it’s not limited to social media. Typically, an influencer can be defined as “a person with the ability to influence potential buyers of a product or service by promoting or recommending the items”. That might be your best friend, the people you work with, or just about anyone you come into contact with. My mum influences me to try new things – but she has a grand total of 46 followers on an Instagram account she hasn’t used since 2016.It’s hard to define what an influencer really is in modern marketing, and I don’t think it’s possible to draw a line in the sand to create a clear cut definition that ticks all of the boxes. Influencer marketing is not a new thing – at its core, it’s all about word of mouth recommendations. I’ve been making word of mouth recommendations since before I knew the internet was a thing, so why is it suddenly such a big deal?Find me elsewhereInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/bycharlotteann_Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/bycharlotteann_My blog: https://www.bycharlotteann.comMy business: https://www.bletherdigital.co.ukEnjoying the podcast? Leave a review! You can also support me via my Ko-fi page, where you can buy me a virtual coffee that I can turn into a real caffeine fix. Yassss. Ko-fi.com/bycharlotteann_Music from https://filmmusic.io"Fearless First" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

People seem to be so caught up in “beating the algorithm” that they stop creating authentic content and become a bit of a slave to the likes. Yeah, I’ve been there. I’ve lived that life, and I am a hell of a lot happier just posting photos I love instead of thinking about what’s going to perform “well”. Thats easy for me to say when I care considerably less about my Instagram now than I did three years ago.I do think there’s a balance to strike between content that resonates with your audience and content that you genuinely enjoy creating - especially as an influencer. In fact, most of what I’m going to say in this episode is more related to influencers and bloggers than businesses.What happening to creating content because you love it? Because you enjoy it and it’s about things you’re passionate about? Instead it’s become this game of creating content because it performs well. Does that kind of shit actually resonate with people? I know that I’m fed up of following accounts that all look the god damn same. This obsession with beating the algorithm seems to be killing creativity.Find me elsewhereInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/bycharlotteann_Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/bycharlotteann_My blog: https://www.bycharlotteann.comMy business: https://www.bletherdigital.co.ukEnjoying the podcast? Leave a review! You can also support me via my Ko-fi page, where you can buy me a virtual coffee that I can turn into a real caffeine fix. Yassss. Ko-fi.com/bycharlotteann_Music from https://filmmusic.io"Fearless First" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Introducing Investigating Influence. More about me, Charlotte, and find out exactly why I wanted to start this podcast. I'm a freelance digital marketer, copywriter and occasional blogger who's passionate about the world of influencer marketing.I used to run a project called Blog & Beyond, where I took everything I’d learned from my years as a blogger and my professional and academic experiences in digital marketing and created resources and workshops for other bloggers who wanted to take their own blogs up a level. That lasted just under two years before I burnt myself out in a big way and decided to call it a day.One of the reasons I called it quits with Blog & Beyond was my own disenchantment with the current “state” of blogging.Investigating Influence is a passion project of mine, focused on showcasing the good, bad and ugly sides of influencer marketing. I want to shine a light on what’s good about the blogosphere, and examples of it being used well. I want to share the people I think are worth shouting about and the campaigns I love.At the same time, I want to draw attention to where we can do better. There are a lot of shitty influencers out there, the ones buying followers and never declaring their ads. I think there are a lot of things that need to change about the world of “influencing” (ironically I hate the term influencer) and I’ll talk about that a lot too.This podcast is not going to be about top tips for beating the instagram algorithm or becoming a blogging boss. It’s not that kind of podcast. There are podcasts like that out there if you want to listen to them, but I’d take them all with a pinch of salt.Find me elsewhereInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/bycharlotteann_Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/bycharlotteann_ My blog: https://www.bycharlotteann.com My business: https://www.bletherdigital.co.uk Enjoying the podcast? Leave a review! You can also support me via my Ko-fi page, where you can buy me a virtual coffee that I can turn into a real caffeine fix. Yassss. Ko-fi.com/bycharlotteann_