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Guide to Throwing an Influencer-Friendly Event

8/28/2017

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​I’ve attended more events than I can count as an influencer.  It’s something I really love to do!  
 
Influencer marketing is huge right now, and it’s still on the upswing.  One way to get a lot of marketing around an event you are throwing is to invite influencers.  There’s key ways to
  • Attract influencers to an event,
  • Ensure they have a great time while they are there, and 
  • Encourage them to create and post quality content to share with their followings. 
I’ve compiled an easy check list, as well as examples and explanations.  Download the 11-page guide below (free, no strings attached).
Crissibeth's Guide to Throwing an Influencer-Friendly Corporate Event
File Size: 31803 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

To my fellow influencers: have I missed anything?
​Read my tips on how to get invited to a swanky influencer event here.
Check it out: Here are some videos I’ve created of events I’ve attended over the last year or two.
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How to Make Your Social Media Business Legitimate for $35

8/14/2017

2 Comments

 
First of all, why should I do this?

​For me, it was about two things:
  1. I feel like it is a mark of professionalism, and a selling point when I approach companies
  2. It's easier to keep money organized for tax purposes
Let me explain that one.  If a company pays you more than $600 in a year, they will likely report it to the IRS.  And then you have to pay taxes on it.  And it ain’t cheap.

For awhile, I didn’t have to worry about this.  I got a few hundred bucks here or there via PayPal.  Of course, you’re supposed to report this income (so if anyone at the IRS is reading this, that’s exactly what I did!) 
​

I count myself fortunate that I find myself in a situation where more and more, I am filling out W9’s for companies that I provide social media services for.  If you fill out that form, it means that the company is going to tell the IRS that they gave you money and the IRS is going to come looking for their cut.

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Five easy steps.  I was in and out in less than 15 minutes. ​
​Wait a tick, how much will the taxes be?

It depends, but a good rule of thumb is to set aside ⅓ of the income you make for taxes.  
​

That’s stupid high.  But OK, back to what you were saying.  So how do I register the name of my business? 

Five easy steps.  I was in and out in less than 15 minutes.  Didn’t even get a ticket for parking illegally.  Wait what?

  1. You go to your local county clerk’s office.  Find this by Googling “county clerk.”  Get thee to thy county clerk.  Go very early to avoid lines.  I hate lines.
  2. Tell the person in the office you want to register a DBA (Doing Business As) or whatever your state calls it.
  3. Fill out the form.  It’s easy, as long as you know such information as your name and address.
  4. Hand the notary your license and sign where he or she tells you to sign.  You should receive two certified copies of the DBA.
  5. Pay your $35 (or whatever your state charges).  My county clerk took cash or credit (not checks, but honestly who uses checks?)

Congratulations!  You’re officially registered!  Why not celebrate? Celebrating is fun!

Next thing I did was get an EIN (Employer Identification Number) from the IRS.  Note:  You do not need to have a DBA to get an EIN if you are just using your legal name and not a business name. 

Now why would I want to get an EIN?

Again, for me, this was about the money / taxes.  I wanted a business bank account to keep things separate, and the banks require an EIN.  You can apply for one and get one immediately online here: Yay Instant Gratification! 

The IRS wants to make it as easy as possible for you to pay them money, so it’s really not a difficult process.  I had mine within 10 minutes.  When they ask you the questions with radio buttons, click “no” for all of them.  They generate you an EIN and give you a PDF (I emailed it to myself).  

Then you take that into the bank with your DBA paperwork and they will get you set up with a business account.       

So how do I open a business account at the bank?

I went to Bank of America because I already have a personal account there.  I’m not specifically recommending them, but I’ll say this for them: they aren’t awful.  I’m sure whatever bank you use has comparable options.  I was able to open a business account with no monthly fee if I spent $250 on the account’s debit card or kept a minimum balance of $3,000.  I had more than that to put in, and I figured I would try to pay for business expenses out of my business account with the debit card, so this worked out fine for me.  

Do I hafta do all this though?

No, you probably don’t.  If you work for yourself as a freelancer, and the companies make out checks to your legal name / wire money to your personal bank account, and you don’t have any employees, then you don’t have to register a DBA and you don’t have to get a business account.  The IRS is just as pleased to take money from your personal accounts and you can use your personal social security number instead of an EIN.  

Just know if the company you are working for reports the money they paid you, you will have to pay taxes on it regardless of whether you are considered a business or not.  At least if you’re set up as a business, you can deduct expenses from the crazy exorbitant taxes freelancers have to pay.    


If you have any questions at all, just let me know!  I will try to answer based on my experience.

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5 Early Suggestions for Amazon Spark

8/2/2017

1 Comment

 
Last week I mentioned Amazon Spark in the PR Week podcast I was on.  I've since had a chance to become entrenched enough in the community to feel qualified to complain about it a bit.  I mean, to offer constructive suggestions.

What is Amazon Spark?
Amazon Spark is the newest “social media” platform.  It looks like Instagram and Pinterest had a baby.  Users share pretty photos with descriptions.  Other users look at the photos and “smile” or comment on them.

Some Differentiating Features
Tagged Products
This is the most obvious difference between Amazon Spark and other social platforms.  Amazon is selling to you, and they are not bashful about it in the least.  This social media platform is for shoppers, by shoppers.  And so they make it easy to buy.  Instagram is notoriously unfriendly for hyperlinks, and while Pinterest allows linking out, Amazon makes the process of clicking through downright seamless. Users can tag specific products (sold on Amazon, of course) within Spark photos they upload.  When someone clicks on the tag, a small product photo, description, and rating appears and one more tap brings you to the page to purchase the item.  No one is wondering how Amazon is making revenue via this app.    

Influencers
With that, Amazon Spark is already heavy with #sponsored posts.  I recognize a lot of the  Sparklers(?) as heavy-hitters on Instagram.  These are people with a proven track record in producing quality content, professionally.  Amazon is doing something Instagram is not, though: while Instagram is shadow-banning, Amazon is throwing their support behind paid influencers.  Sparklers are not eating away at ad revenue; they are actively encouraging sales via Amazon.  

One of the influencers I reached out to very kindly told me he was not able to speak to press about his relationship with Amazon due to a contract he had signed, so naturally I was like, “Omigod you called me press that’s awesome.”  I definitely intend to do some more digging around this though, so stay tuned.     

The Feed Algorithm
Everyone is always talking about social media algorithms, namely why certain photos show up in your feed and others do not.  Amazon Spark serves up a feed that seems to have less to do with whom you follow, and more to do with discovery.  Users choose “interests” to follow, and Amazon delivers photos within those interest categories.  Right now, there doesn’t seem to be a an emphasis on number of followers at all - stats revolve around how many smiles and comments a user garners.   
Staff Picks
A Staff Pick is a pic the staff loves.  They award a little gold trophy emoji, and presumably this boosts the picture’s reach.  Going through recent Staff Picks photos shows that Amazon is looking for quality photography.  Mirror-selfies of the shirt you just got out of the Amazon box will not cut it.  They choose “bangers”--technically well-executed photos with subject matter that has broad appeal.       
Picture
Picture
My Top 5 Early Suggestions
  1. Make it easier to follow someone.  Ultimately, as much as I like exploring interests, I follow a person because I relate to that person and trust his or her style/judgment. I can’t even figure out a way to search for another user by name right now.  You need to have some socializing in social media in between the buying frenzies.  
  2. No hashtags? Wiggity what?  Right now you can only choose from Amazon-designated categories for photos, and hashtags in captions are inactive.  They will need to adopt this ubiquitous topic-categorization system.  Facebook had to do it, and you’re gonna have to do it too, Amazon overlords.
  3. Make getting to Spark easier. As of now, you have to go into your Amazon app, click the three lines in the upper left hand corner to drop the navigation menu, then click on Spark.  Three clicks to get to my feed?!  Who has this kind of time?
  4. Reviewer ranking should be better integrated into Spark.  Here you have a base of loyal Amazon customers who have a proven track record of contributing to the community.  Right now, the ranking is just a number in someone’s profile.  Leverage the high levels of trust those Amazon addicts have spent years building!
  5. A la Pinterest / Twitter / Instagram, allow users to save and / or "re-tweet" posts.  I may not be ready to buy today, but if I could easily add a pretty post to my Amazon wish list, I would.  I would also re-sparkle a post I really liked.

Have you tried Amazon Spark yet?  What are your thoughts?    
​
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    @crissibeth

    Blogging my path as a professional photojournalist / social media addict / influencer

    Shedding some light for others trying to make it in this ever-changing, developing space

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