Whenever the word “eCommerce” comes up, it’s impossible to avoid thinking about the mammoth of a business that is Amazon. The company has stood on the world stage as a leader in the space for over a decade. It can definitely be intimidating for emerging eCommerce brands. However, as social media and the Internet have hit critical mass and added new features to support a frictionless commerce experience, it has made easier it for challengers, particularly direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands, to build their own monster business. In a hyper-connected world, the brands that winning are the brands that are able to effectively use content as a point of discovery and purchase for consumers.

The intersection between eCommerce and content

Every eCommerce brand has to find its way around Amazon and other large traditional retailers, like Wal-Mart. The methods of discovery for these brands, though, have been tricky without a physical location for consumers to walk into. For online retailers that are looking to get discovered and hit critical mass, the way to go is content.

Between the 7 major social networks, billions of pieces of content are created every day. With an astronomical amount of content being poured out, a plane of influence has been created by the best creators, scaling from the Kylie Jenners of the Internet to your next door neighbor’s 14-year old kid who gets 36,000 views on Snapchat. This isn’t to mention the multitude of digital publishers and media companies, from Barstool to PopSugar, that have massive followings and influence. Consumer attention on these platforms have reached a record high since more people are turning their eyes away from cable television to their mobile devices.

Platforms across mobile devices have gotten savvy about the way they’re beginning to integrate commerce solutions for users. For example, Nike held an event in partnership with Snapchat during this past All-Star weekend to view and purchase a new release of Air Jordans.

Viewers were able to swipe up and immediately be taken to Shopify store for purchase. Facebook, Instagram and YouTube all have permanent commerce integrations for users. When powered with native content from influencers on the platform, the possibilities and opportunities are seemingly endless.

The intersection between culture and content

Good content isn’t just funny or evocative, but it should also play on the current dynamics of culture. This is one of the things that make influencers so powerful, they are constantly engaging with their audience, giving them real-time data on current trends. For the most creative influencers, media companies and digital publishers, there are opportunities to even influence culture rather than participant in it. Consider Showtime’s hit show, Billions. The show, which follows the story of a fictitious self-made billionaire hedge fund manager, Bobby Axelrod, has influenced the style of business casual for many of the 24–39 year-old men in its audience. A quick Google search of his name will turn up auto-suggestions of: “clothes”, “watches”, “shoes”, etc. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Showtime rolled out a commerce solution store merch to be overlayed on the screen during the show.

Later, shoe brand GREATS, a D2C company, launched a new limited edition shoe inspired in partnership with the show. The 100-pair edition sold out in under 17 minutes.

It’s no understatement to say that it’s crucial that every marketer–on the brand and agency side–should be agile enough to capitalize on what I like to call “moments of attention”. Many moments of attention are nothing more than that, a moment in culture. However, sometimes, moments of attention can actually become cultural pillars, influencing the behavior of consumers. This is where branding and media converge.

Content is one of the most important white spaces for building an your eCommerce brand. For D2C brands, the opportunity is even greater and that more crucial to your success in the long-term. At the end of the day, this is still a branding game, especially with new technologies, like voice, beginning to make some real noise in the market.

When most people think about a personal brand, they think about a website, maybe a blog on that website — and if that brand was a little more “forward thinking”, some videos. Traditionally, personal brands were a lot more passive in nature. Now, in the digital economy, with the internet and social media, personal branding has reached a new height as the benefits of developing a personal brand has exponentially increased. So much so that, if you are an individual who is serious about your personal brand, you have a higher chance of achieving great financial reward simply being yourself, than any other time in history. With less dependence on traditional gatekeepers, this has never been more accessible to the general population. The opportunity is even greater for entrepreneurs and business execs who have something of value to offer their audiences. Developing a personal brand that can drive traffic and sales to your business has slowly been becoming more and more beneficial for those who are willing to take the leap forward.

With more than 3.2 billion people using the internet in 2015 and 2.5 billion people on social media, there’s no other channel (television or print) with a higher reach. For business executives this is an opportunity that cannot be missed. There was once a time where reaching someone out of your state was a huge feat, then reaching international consumers meant you had a corporation doing billions (or very close) in revenue. Now, you have the ability to reach consumers nationally and internationally through the internet without spending or having nearly as much money — in fact, it’s possible that it can be done with little to money at all. Though everyone that connects with your brand won’t convert into a sale, just the recognition and attention could be worth much more money in both a short and long term view.

The traditional saying goes, “people do business with people they know, like and trust”. It has never been easier to create a large following of people who know you, like you and trust you enough to do business with you. Entrepreneurs and executives that take advantage of social media are literally one piece of content away from completely changing the nature of their business. Social media’s virality has catapulted countless entrepreneurs, actors, comedians, and musicians into the public light and even around the world.

Traditionally, press releases are the way most businesses announce major news: leadership changes, expansion, awards and recognition, and other company updates. However, smaller players may have a harder time getting the word out there or may even have to pay a hefty premium to get picked up by a network or publication. With social media, company updates and news can now be tracked through the CEOs podcast or vlog or blog. The gateway to success in growth in business through social media is content. The more content you create, the more opportunities you have to build your awareness, grow your audience, and reap the benefits. With a personal brand, you have less need of traditional gatekeepers. When you have the ability to publish your own updates and place it in a context that makes your audience feel like they’re apart of your journey, you can create a deeper relationship with the people you’re intending to inform than what is possible through traditonal updates, such as press releases.

Content creation has many benefits when you’re building a personal brand, but the most important is the ability to become discovered by going to directly to the consumer. With platforms like YouTube replacing reality television shows, CEOs can now create their own reality show tracking their day-to-day business life and connect directly with their audience in the way they want to. There’s no show editor cutting out pieces of the film that may put the company in bad light — it’s all controlled and directed by you. Personal blogs, like this one on Medium, can replace the need to pay large publications to give your company coverage. Creating a podcast show that airs regularly gives you the ability to always be in your audience’s pocket rather than just on their car radio. This move to push traditional gatekeepers aside and publish content that self-owned and controlled has created a wealth of opportunity for entrepreneurs. An added benefit is that your content is evergreen, meaning that it doesn’t go away or disappears (unless on Snapchat). This really works for creating more credibility for your brand by having a archive of older content for consumers to reference. You also have the ability to create content that can be relevant for several years after being published and drive sales to your business. To be clear, though, there may be times where traditional media coverage is appropriate or even necessary, but it won’t be as often as in past times.

The opportunities that are afforded to those of us who live during this digital economy is incredible. For entrepreneurs and business executives specifically, it has never been easier to increase the ROI on your advertising without spending a dime. It has never been easier to create so much attention and awareness around your brand that clients/customers come flocking to you. With an understanding of social platforms, content creation, and a little bit of sweat equity, it is possible to drive massive growth in your business.

For most people, Friday is the pinnacle of the week. It’s the last day of the work week; you get paid; the work day is more relaxed, and the list can go on. When Friday comes around, there’s just a certain sense of relief that you get. People even celebrate with their friends on social media that the weekend is almost here, posting the popular #TGIF. This is common, this is the norm. Be honest, have you been waiting all week to go to the movies this weekend? Or, maybe it’s a party?

See, here’s the reason I hate weekends: its takes me out of my game — business. Friday is the days when I’m anxious and frantic. Why am I anxious and frantic? Because Friday is the last business day of the week, and the weekend puts a hold on my grind. That doesn’t mean I stop working, but it means the process and flow slows down until Monday. This is not unlike any professional sports player — they really love the game more than anything, more than the money, the cool points, or the swag. But, if a professional player is benched for an injury or even disciplinary action, it is completely agonizing. This is because, they want to play whenever they can and as much as they can.

Living for only 2 days out of the 7 in the week is a terrible strategy. These 7 days represent seven different opportunities to move your life forward, yet many people opt to throw away 5 days to “relax” for 2 days on the weekend. This is backwards, my friends. This is not living at all. The weekend accounts for 48 of 168 hours in a week; that’s only 30% of the week. Why can’t you instead live for 5 out of the 7, 6, 7 out of the 7?

This all boils down to one thing: mindset. So many people tread around spending the majority of their lives at work, just to pay their bills. Wrap your head around this: if you spend majority of you life, at a place where you’re unhappy, angry, bitter, depressed, miserable, or all of the above — something’s really wrong. If the weekend comes around, and it’s the only time you feel like you can breathe, you need to take inventory of what’s going on in your life. This is a vicious cycle that many people are in and the question needs to be asked, “at what point do you break this cycle?”

If you want to really live in life, and you want to stop playing the game by someone else’s rules, you’ve got to change the way you think about how your week should look. There is no greater feeling in the world than to play the game of life by your own rules. It brings freedom, satisfaction, fulfillment, and deeper sense of purpose. The “game” that you want to play might be spending more time with your kids, or building a bigger business, or playing a sport, or volunteering with a local non-profit, or playing video games all day on Twitch, or being a YouTuber. What it is doesn’t really matter. What matters is that you have a strong desire to play the game by your own rules.

Ladies and Gentleman, to forfeit 70% of your life just for a few hours is ridiculous. After reading this article, please take a serious audit of what you want your life to look like and begin to map a plan to getting there. Let this be the day that you finally begin to play life by your own rules and stop living for the weekends.

1. Social media has matured

Social media is at a unique point, the space before the inflection point. It’s not too new that no one know what it is, and it’s also not at the point where it’s massively overcrowded–and God knows it’s nowhere near the point of death. For you, this means that it’s a good time to build and still be able to grow as more and more people begin to get on and make it part of their daily routine.

If you were smart enough to have started building your personal brand 5 or 6 years ago, even if you were inconsistent, this is an even greater time for you. The reason why is because there is context behind your brand; people are able to “go back in history” and see where you came from, what you did, and who you were. If you are were authentic with your social presence, this will be a big score.

2. Technology is advancing

The robots are coming! The robots are coming! Seriously, they are coming, but nothing you should be too concerned about for a few more decades. That’s unless you have an occupation where your job is some mundane task. If you work the cash register at a fast food restaurant or grocery store, then you have something to worry about. With the advancements of artificial intelligence, very soon the day will come where you will no longer be needed — at least not in that capacity.

The same goes for things like augmented and virtual reality. If you aspire to speak on stages and give talks for money, building a personal brand is hugely important for you. While social still hasn’t become oversaturated, you can still build a personal brand and start side income now. However, once augmented and virtual reality become adopted by the masses, getting in front of people will be much harder than it is right now with social media. People will be able to watch their favorite influencers and celebrities for 24 hours non-stop, if they wanted to.

Technological advancements will clutter people’s lives even more. In order to make sure you’re one of the things that have they’re attention, you need to start building now. While it won’t be impossible to achieve your dreams and build a strong personal brand in the future with the maturation of those types of tech, it certainly be much harder than it is right now.

3. The cost of entry is little to zero

One of things that works about social media is that it eliminates the cost and need for traditional gatekeepers. You can have 1 million people watch you talk about your dog chasing its tail around the house, without the need for some large publication or broadcaster to pick up your story. In fact, with the way virality works on social media, you can have 1 million people watch you talk even if you only have one 100 followers.

You don’t need to hire a full-time copywriter to write your blog, you don’t even need to build your own website (initially), you don’t need an entire video crew to film your vlog or a full production studio to record your podcast. You just need your phone and/or a computer.

The time to build your brand is now. Whether you work the cash register at a fast food restaurant; or you plan to speak on large stages; or you want to be in the botanical science field; or you want to be the leading authority on baroque music from 1607–1610, the key to creating a future of your choosing that can withstand layoffs, recessions, terminations, culture shifts, etc. is building a personal brand. And, here’s the thing: the amount of opportunity available to those that are willing to work for it is unbelievable–and, if you go for it now, you’ll create incredible reward for the future.

Originally published at daartmedia.com on March 12, 2018.

There’s been a lot of talk around the collapse of traditional retail and the rise of online shopping. Not to be left out, Amazon has also had its fair share of press, due to its growing market share and consistent innovation. These things have pushed brands to go direct-to-consumer on sales, instead of going through the traditional distribution route. But, to win at the game of retail brands have to be smart about how they get their customers’ attention.

What exactly can small and medium-sized brands do to actually attract the attention of consumers in this saturated market?

The answer is simple: sell to them using people that have authority. This technique, called influencer marketing, has grown popular among brands in the past few years. When people see something they like from people they trust, they’re much more likely to buy it. Whether you’re selling strictly online, offline, or both, influencers can help maximize your dollar spend.

To run an effective influencer marketing campaign, you want to make sure you’re doing it right.

1. Find influencers that fit your brand

One of the worst mistakes you can make when deciding to start an influencer campaign is choosing a random social media user with a large following to promote your products. This is a terrible idea, and quite frankly, a waste of money. Influencer marketing is a method to grab your target audience without seeming too “salesy”. So, it is necessary that the influencers you use are good fits for your brand. Don’t get caught up in the numbers, because they can be manipulated with things like people buying large pages from a different niche or buying fake followers. Engagement is the best way to measure whether a social media user is an influencer or just a page with a large number of inactive followers.

You can find them using different tools or by searching and scrolling through hashtags related to your niche (this is great for finding micro-influencers). Though it may seem obvious, you don’t want to pay an influencer who’s in the kids’ toys niche if your product is a caffeinated energy drink.

Another thing to consider when choosing an influencer is whether they frequently partner with different brands. When influencers promote different brands frequently, their audience begins to see through it. This will turn them off, decrease engagemnent and create less of an impact for your brand. Beyond that, most influencers who work with a large amount of brands seem more likely to be in it just for the money.

2. Develop a relationship

Many brands take a very transactional approach to the work they do with influencers. Usually it goes something like this: brands would negotiate a price, send a payment, wait for the influencer to post, and move on to the next. This isn’t just unpopular with influencers, it’s also bad for the results of a campaign.

When you are only transactional, it’s difficult for influencers to be genuine and personal about your product(s). This is picked up by the influencers’ audiences causing lower conversion rates. Unenthused influencers make for an easy way to waste money.

Instead, you should focus on developing real relationships with the influencers that they plan to work with. You should watch and engage with the content that a potential influencer is posting before approaching to try to make a deal. This way, you get a feel for the tone that an influencer has and how they engage with their own audiences.

Developing a relationship also helps your bottom line. When influencers are genuinely interested in working with your brand, they’re more likely to go above-and-beyond and show true enthusiasm. It also opens the door for you to work out long-term deals, versus a one-time engagement.

3. Use multiple platforms

Although Instagram is the biggest of all social media platforms for influencers, it is not the only platform available. You should take advantage of the other platforms, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Musical.ly, Twitch, etc.

The first 3 platforms mentioned are very well-known. However, the other 3 are not to be underestimated. With the recent updates made to Snapchat, influencers can now grow their audiences easier and have more visibility as the platform’s layout favors accounts with large audiences. This makes Snapchat ripe for brands whose target audience is between the age of 13–24.

Musical.ly is also a great platform for 13–24 year olds, but the context of the platform is a bit different than Snapchat’s. Similar to Vine, which died before its time, Musical.ly allows users to create snackable content, most of which are lip-sync videos. Additionally, users can recreate popular pieces of content and aggregate them under a trending hashtag positioned on the front page of its “search” tab.

What makes Musical.ly easy for brands is that their content genres are already categorized, so finding influencers will be less difficult than on other platforms. This app is best for brands looking to create funny content that can increase brand awareness. It’s not unlikely or unusual that video clips that are genuinely humorous will go viral, with hundreds of thousands or even millions of views inside the app.

Twitch is a gaming-broadcast app. Users broadcast their game sessions, with a wide variety of games being chosen, from sports to first-person shooters. It has also built a place for its creators to connect more personally with their audience, called Twitch IRL. With high retention rates, it makes sense for brands looking to grow or target a predominantly male audience. Twitch is a growing platform, that will only grow larger with the rise of eSports, with a particularly underpriced opportunity for brands.

4. Be creative

Some brands have made the mistake of handing influencers products in return for a post on their platform. Even though this may seem like it’s enough to work, it can actually be more damaging than helpful. The only thing that will set you apart from your competitors is how creative your brand is. The novelty of your products may wear off, but if your brand is creative, you’ve already won half the battle.

How you choose to market and promote your products can take many different forms, but one of the best things about partnering with influencers is that you don’t just have to rely on your own creativity. It’s a great idea to allow influencers to have more control over their delivery. Yes, you should have less control over something you’re paying for. The reason why is that influencers know their audiences best. They’ve built a relationship and connection with their audience and that makes it easy to effectively communicate without their audience feeling like they’re being forced to see another ad.

When planning out your influencer strategy, find ways to be interactive. Instead of only posting a picture with your product in the shot, consider bringing your product and brand to life with an engaging experience. There are different ways to do that: make a video series with a vlogger that goes behind-the-scenes at your stores, host a series of meet-and-greet mixers in different cities/regions with local influencers, or dig into hip-hop culture with a brand rap video featuring a music influencer.

Influencer marketing is the greatest opportunity right now for any brand that does not have the advertising budget to compete with the largest brands out there. It has effectively translated the most powerful form of marketing, word-of-mouth, into the digital arena. Your creativity is the limit to what you are able to do with when partnering with influencers.

Originally published at daartmedia.com on February 27, 2018.

What Is Generation Z?

As a Generation Zer myself, I must start with establishing a clear definition of who we are. Often confused with our older siblings, Millennials, Generation Z was born from 1995 to 2012. We are a digital-native group, being the first generation born to the digital world. 96% of us own a smartphone, and we spend up to 10 hours a day online. We hold $44 billion in buying power right now, and will account for 40% of consumers by 2020. We are a very diverse group, the first non-white majority generation in the United States.

Getting Gen Z’s Attention

With years of experience on digital platforms, we have developed a sixth sense for advertising and aren’t very tolerant of its intrusiveness. This sixth sense is what many are calling an “8-second attention span”. Actually, it is more of an 8-second filter that lets us know if something is worth our attention. The internet and social media has become laden with ads and self-promoting brands, forcing us to make quick decisions about what we see, so we can continue consuming the content we are interested in. Many of us go a great distance to avoid, block or skip ads. This makes advertising more difficult for marketers targeting our generation. But, there are ways to get our attention.

Be Creative, But Don’t Sacrifice Quality

Developing aesthetically pleasing and creative content is a must. We have a pretty good idea of what graphics and videos should look like. Videos that look like they were made with a camcorder from our birth year will be ignored. Likewise, boring content will be ignored and likely reported (not really, but it’s annoying). Brands should film good quality videos, and consider adding comedy and music for better engagement. The use of technology like augmented and virtual reality, or 360-view are also good strategies. Due to the amount of content we see a day, we tend to build an affinity for the things that engage us most.

Connect, Don’t Sell.

Engagement is also hugely important. Because we were practically born with smartphones in our hands, we know the ins and outs of social platforms. We expect brands to be well-versed just the same. Brands should know what their audiences think and say of them, and engage with them. For Gen Z, this is how to make or lose a lifelong customer. Our favorite brands are such, because they engage with us authentically, and act more as a human-brand than machine-brand. Marketers should take advantage of social and messaging platforms like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and both Twitter and Instagram’s direct message, to engage with Gen Z, as they are more closely-related to texting and very natural for us. We repel brands that are just looking to sell their products to us. It’s similar to someone approaching you and asking something of you without first connecting with you, and it creates a horrible experience.

Gen Z Trusts Influencers

Influencer marketing is a great way to target our generation, because we trust the people that we follow. Using micro-influencer strategies and campaigns can turn big rewards for brands. Micro-influencers are almost always better than A-list celebrities, because we relate to them, trust them and have a more personal investment in them. Influencer marketing is a better way of advertising than the pop-ups and pre-roll ads we abhor so much. It is seamless and creates more experiences for us to connect with the things that we care about through the people we care about.

We Appreciate What We Love

Though our demands might be a little different than Millennials and Generation X, we appreciate the brands that we love. Creating memorable experiences and engaging with us creates greater return for brands, as we will likely recommend them to our friends — and no one wants to be the odd friend out of the group.