Micro-Influencer Magic: Turning a Small Audience into Big Opportunities with Gwen Lane

Andréa Jones (00:00):
If you have a small following, a micro following, less than 10,000 followers, you my friend, are still available, eligible to get a brand deal. That's why I'm excited to talk to Gwen Lane today. She's going to walk us through all of the details and more. Let's get into it.

(00:18):
Before we get into it, this episode is sponsored by Riverside, which is the all-in-one podcasting tool we now use for our show. And y'all, they feel super luxurious. Riverside is the All-in-one podcasting and video platform that gives you studio quality recordings right inside your browser and y'all, it's super intuitive and easy to use. Once your recording is done, you'll be able to automatically download separate audio and video tracks and edit it all within a few clicks. It's really very easy. So head over to Riverside and you'll get 15% off. That's one 5% off using my code Drea, DREA at checkout. But y'all, it's free to get started. So click the link in the show notes and get started today.

(00:59):
Gwen Lane, founder of CREATORIZE, welcome to the show.

Gwen Lane (01:04):
Hey, Drea, so great to see you.

Andréa Jones (01:06):
I am so excited to pick your brain all about being a content creator, especially with your vast history of working in digital marketing, the past brands that you've sold and the brands that you work with today. Like super big names, Disney, Target, Starbucks, just a few casual brands, but I know that you really are leaning into the content creator space. Can you define for us who is a content creator?

Gwen Lane (01:37):
Yeah, so I think that's what people overcomplicate and content creator to me is anyone who creates content online in an intentional way to serve their audience. And the big thing that people think that they need to have is a large following. When they think of content creators, they think influencers, millions of followers Kardashian level. And there are some of us out there that don't have millions of followers and are still creating profitable businesses by creating content online.

Andréa Jones (02:09):
Yes, I don't know if I've ever told this story of the podcast before, but I was a fashion blogger back in the day, simply fashion tv. I would do budget fashion and I worked with brands like Macy's, Steve Madden, Goodwill Giant Tiger here in Canada. And I think I had 2000 YouTube subscribers. I didn't have a massive following and I still was able to get brand deals from these major brands just by creating content. So it is definitely possible with the smaller brand and I think it's like's a growing industry. Talk to us about how much it's grown over the past couple of years.

Gwen Lane (02:52):
Yeah, it is growing exponentially. So I started in 2015, so it's been a long time. This was before TikTok existed, Instagram existed, and really it kind of boils down to the origin of celebrity endorsements. If you think about Serena Williams only wears Nike and then Roger Federer wears Rolex. These are what the origin of those brand deals were. And what happened is you don't need to be a celebrity anymore because now with a rise of, I think it was mommy bloggers first, and then it became YouTubers and then Instagrammers and then tiktoks and now podcasters. And really the platform doesn't matter, it's just about people who have an audience. They talk about a certain topic, like you said, fashion blogging. My first brand was lifestyle and travel in Los Angeles. That was the LA Girl was my first brand. And I talked about things like fitness and hiking, and I created this audience that it wasn't about me being a celebrity or having a ton of followers, it was about sharing valuable information and then working with amazing brands that I was already using, that I was already buying and they were paying me to actually feature them as if they're an ad in my channel.

(04:18):
And so I think that's what happened with influencer marketing and the creator economy, which is now the new word for it used to be influencer marketing and now a creator economy is the democratization of entertainment. So it's no longer about Fox or ABC or Disney and Hulu and Netflix. Now it's like you have a YouTube channel, you have an email newsletter, you have a podcast, and you can run ads to sustain that business. And there are millions of creators. I think about 2 million creators are out there right now making a full-time income as a content creator.

Andréa Jones (04:59):
Oh my gosh, it's so wild how much this has changed. I was talking to my nephew recently, he's 11, what do you want to be when you grow up? I want to be a YouTuber. He's super into Minecraft and he will watch people live streaming. He has his favorite creators, I don't even know who they are, not in that space, but people legitimately have entire careers now creating content, just like doing the things that they love, which is so wild to me.

Gwen Lane (05:29):
Yeah, that's the number one thing with that age nine to 12 is to be a YouTuber and they follow a lot of these YouTubers. My stepdaughter, she's also a gamer, and so she follows all these people. I don't know who their names are. A lot of them don't even show their face. They're just live streaming and they're getting paid by getting gifts, subscriptions. There's so many ways to monetize, and if it's something that you're really passionate about and that's something that you can consistently do, it's definitely possible for you no matter how many followers you have.

Andréa Jones (06:02):
Okay, so a lot of the people listening to this podcast have a business already. They're usually a service provider. Maybe they have a couple digital products and they're listening to this episode like, oh, I need to add some additional streams of revenue and creating content. They're already doing it. So how do they then start integrating or what's kind of a first step to start integrating some of this style of content into what they're already doing so that they can attract the right brands.

Gwen Lane (06:33):
And so for course creators, online business owners, I think they need to kind of shift their mindset into thinking about it as a media company as a whole. So for example, if you think of the big podcasters out there, like Mel Robbins or even Amy Porterfield, she does sponsorships. One of my friends, Ellen Yin, she does sponsorships as well, and she has a podcast. So you have to think about, it's not an online business that just sells courses, but you've been growing your audience probably for years, and you have all these assets. You have your podcast, your YouTube channel, your email list, your Instagram, your Facebook. You can literally list it out and see all the things where you can have ad placements and thinking about it as a media business rather than just whatever it is you're thinking. Online business, course creation, business, whatever you want to call it.

(07:29):
There's so many names. But thinking about it in that way, where are there partnerships that you want to do? So I've seen some amazing partnerships come through the online business space. I've seen one coach do one with Staples, one with Target. And if you think about it, we're already buying these supplies, we're already talking about it in our content, and so it becomes an aligned partnership that isn't just like, oh, I am doing this as just an ad thing or a sales thing. But actually I feel like if you do it in the right way, it's something that you're already talking about, your audience already knows you love it, and it's just an added revenue like you said. And so the first thing that I would do is actually make a list of all the assets in your business. So what does that look like?

(08:20):
And creating a media kit similar to what you would do if you were trying to get featured in a press publication, but it's the same thing. It's like how big is your list? How many podcast listeners you have? And not just the following, but also how much engagement are you getting? Even more important to brands? Have you talked about the brands before? Maybe you've already talked about Target. Maybe you create content while you're at Target or the Target parking lot. I've seen that as well. And so if you're already thinking about that, those are possible partnerships. So number one, figure out all your assets, put it in one place. You can do a media kit template. I have one of those on my site as well. And then the second thing would be think about what brands you're already talking about. And what I like to do is actually the head to toe method. So I like to go, okay, what do I use on my hair and my face and what do I wear clothing wise and what do I wear for pants, for shoes? And then go to your fridge, your car, your house and start writing about all the brands that you already buy that you are already a fan of and that you already talk to your friends about because those would be the most aligned partners for you to work with.

Andréa Jones (09:40):
Oh, I love this head to toe method. I love it so much. Then it's easy to talk about something that you're already using. And I think it could apply to so many different areas too, like head to toe, what are the tools you're using in your business? I think about this all the time with how much I refer people to Canva. I'm like, I should work with Canva, but I've just literally never asked.

Gwen Lane (10:03):
Yeah, exactly. And so in our case, for online businesses, we use all these tools and then when people ask us, what do you use? We're already sending them there, but we haven't set up the affiliate part, which is another version or another layer on top of the brand partnerships is also getting those referral fees through affiliate. So having the brand partnership as something that is paid upfront and also creating affiliate revenue because those can also be a two-tier thing, and that's even more revenue for your business.

Andréa Jones (10:37):
Yeah, that's brilliant. Okay, I have homework to do now. I need to go through all of these brands that I use and recommend all the time. So once I make that list, how do I start a conversation with a brand? And I'll just be transparent for those of you listening too, I've worked with brands before. If you've listened to the podcast for a long time, we had a very long term sponsor over three years working with them, they came to me though. So anytime you hear a sponsor on the show up until this episode, they've all approached me. And now that I'm looking at, there's so much potential here, how do I start the conversation? I feel a little shy like, hi, can you give me money,

Gwen Lane (11:21):
Dréa, that's just like I always go back to dating, right? It's like, yes, we want to date, but we want them to show up. We want them to knock on the door and ask us out. Of course we would want that, but in reality, that's not usually how it works. So I like to think about it as a job. If you want a job, what do you do? You apply to jobs, you go online, you probably go on LinkedIn to see who's on the team, maybe connect with them, see who's connected to the connection to see if you could do a warm introduction so it's not a cold pitch. So that's kind of how I think about conversing or reaching out to a brand. And also I feel like with social media, it's become so much easier. There's actually this one guy on TikTok that he really wanted to work with his brand champion.

(12:10):
I don't know if you've saw that, but what he did was he created content wearing champion and tagging champion in about a hundred posts, and he is day 30 of trying to get champion to work with me. And it became a whole thing. And then people would start tagging champion, and I was like, you got to work with this guy. He's making creative content. And so if you really want them to notice you and to come to you, you could do that where you're creating content about the brand. You're already tagging them, you're featuring them. Someone's going to notice. And what a lot of these brands have is someone on the marketing team is a social media manager. They're probably meeting weekly, monthly, quarterly. I came from the marketing background, so I know all these things. We paid a lot of money for software and data analytics to see who are our top fans, who are super fans.

(13:03):
And once they see like, oh, there's this person, this content creator who's creating content about our brand, we are not working with them, it's not sponsored and they're trying to get our attention, let's work with them. And so people on the marketing team are already looking for creators to work with. This is not a new thing. And if it is a new thing, then even better because they're going to be like, who is this person and why don't they work for us? Or why aren't they paying them? And so that's the first thing you could do, is to attract the brand by creating content already mentioning them, already tagging them already. Second, I always say engage with the brands, make sure you're following them. This is one of the biggest mistakes that I see creators making is that they say they want to work with a brand, but they're not following them, they're not engaging with them.

(13:50):
And I'm like, okay, that is a red flag for the brand. I always check when I was on the brand side looking for creators to work with if they're even actually fans of the brand. A lot of campaigns actually, if you've never posted about the brand before, they won't work with you because they really want to see that brand loyalty. Yeah, I think TJ Maxx was one of those brands. So you want to make sure that when they do go to your profile after you're tagging and mentioning them that you have talked about them. And it's not just like that one and done, you're just trying to get that campaign. So that's the two things that I would do. And then the third thing would be to pitch to them. So if you think about, like I said, applying for a job, what are you going to do?

(14:35):
You're going to look at who's applying and who's hiring and apply for the job. You think about if you want to get on a podcast and they don't know who you are, what are you going to do? You're going to pitch the podcast if you want to get on Forbes or Business Insider or whatever, you're going to pitch the writers who are writing and keep an eye out on Twitter because a lot of journalists are there and threads now to see who's writing stories and pitching your stories. And so I think that all of those things work. It just depends on timing, budget, what you say, how you present yourself. It really is all about the value of what you're showing and the content that you're creating. But it's all doable. And I know it can be nerve wracking because nobody likes to be rejected, but I always say, even if it's not the right for time for them, you are going to be top of mind because in my marketing jobs, we always had campaigns every quarter. And so if maybe I already spent my money for holiday, for example, now it'd be kind of too late. We're recording in November. It's a little too late for holiday campaigns, but it's not too late for New year, new year or spring campaigns. And that's where you have to start thinking of yourself as an ad sales executive where you're going to have your list of potential clients and you're going to follow up and make sure you're top of mind so that you can get those deals.

Andréa Jones (16:00):
Oh, this is so good. Okay, we're going to take a quick break. When we come back, I'm going to get a little bit nosy about this. We'll take a break first.

(16:08):
[Podcast Ad break] It's our birthday and I am hosting a birthday party. So online, Andréa is celebrating 10 years of business, and I believe I started this business in March, 2014, and here we are 10 years later with this birthday celebration. I am doing a 10 day super sale. And I'm not talking about little 10% off here, little 20% off there. No ma'am. We are doing 5 5 0, 50% off select of offers throughout this 10 day birthday sale. But the catch the kicker is you have to be signed up to our email list to get the offers that are coming out every day. So you can sign up by going to onlinedrea.com/birthday to online, drea d.com/birthday, sign up, put your little email address in there, and then every day of the sale, I'm going to email you what's on sale for that day. And you only have 24 hours to grab that offer and away you go. Away you go. So if you're ready to celebrate our birthday with us, come to our Fab Fiesta and let's have fun. Let's have a party. I'll see you there. [Podcast Ad break]

(17:21):
We're back. So one of the things that often comes up in this conversation, especially with newer content creators, is the free gift brands are so willing sometimes to give you something for free, I'll give you the free subscription. Let me send you some swag, let me send you a sample. How do we get out of the cycle of the free stuff and move into like, oh, well actually I'm charging for this now.

Gwen Lane (17:50):
So there's a lot of ways you can look at it. So I did free stuff all the time when I first began. Why? Because it's fun When you think free stuff, great. I would get invited to all these cool events and then I would get stuff in the mail. And then even on TikTok or YouTube, you see the unboxing of the PR stuff and you're like, great. And now you're stuck with 50 boxes of products that I haven't even used and $0 in the bank. And here I am filming all these inboxing and doing hours on editing. And then you realize, oh, wait, free is not free because literally it's spending your time and your resources. It could be outside playing with your dog or your kids and you're inside filming for free. So I think it's more of a per person boundary where you start to say, oh, I can't do this for free anymore.

(18:55):
For people who are just starting out, it might be good if you feel okay doing it. Some people feel great doing it, some people don't. And then there's people in between that are like, okay, I'm going to work for them for free to just get my foot in the door like an internship. And then I'm going to say, Hey, I usually charge for the first one. I'll work for a sample. And then after that, we need to discuss a deal. Here are my usual rates. I like to go in already with payment, but that's just me because I've been doing this for so long. I have worked with some of my students who started free and then it became a paid deal. So that works too. I feel like there is no right answer. It really depends on the brand. It depends on how much, one of my clients, she got a free washer and dryer.

(19:43):
So it's kind of like, okay, would you do that for free? Maybe I'm available for that. One of my sponsor trips, I got an international sponsor trip. So would you do that with airfare, five star hotel, all the meals massages. So is that free? So it really is more of a personal decision on what you're willing to accept and what you're willing to be like, okay, I'll take the washer and dryer. That's better than getting a $300 payment. So it really depends on you, your experience, who the brand is. I'm more strict with my payments on the bigger brands because I know they have a budget. But let's say it's a mom and pop Etsy shop that sells two things and they're just trying to get their name out there. I don't say no. I call it more pro bono work. If you think about lawyers, they have one to two clients a month.

(20:45):
They take on pro bono for volunteer work and they're not expecting those people to pay. And so you could be like, I'll do a pro bono partnership with a smaller brand that is making less than $50,000 a year. So that could be something that you do on the side for fun and it's fun to partner with, let's say women owned brands or bipoc brands or something like that where they probably can't pay you a $5,000 partnership or something like that. So let's say you have been getting lots of free stuff and now you're ready to take that leap to paid only. So the first thing is really that shift in mindset of okay, boundary drawn and everything moving forward is paid, and everyone who is not able to pay can come back when they have the budget. And I can't tell you how many times they've come back with a budget because I was willing to say no and walk away.

(21:41):
It's like when you're bargaining at the farmer's market and you're like, no, I am going to walk away. So it's like poker a little bit where you kind of just have to be willing to stand your stand guard and just know that, okay, I'm not willing to work with this brand who has the money, has the budget for lesson X amount. So what I would do is making sure you have your media kit, your rate sheet, your rate card with your prices. I like to do packages versus one-off posts. And you are just like, if you think about a store you go in, you don't go into a Chanel store, Gucci store with no budget. You go in there knowing you're going to spend some money and in the car dealership maybe you can negotiate and stuff like that. But there is money to be exchanged. And so you have to go through in it, in it and be in it as this is a business transaction. I'm providing you services. Just like we can't ask the plumber to clean our toilets for free and the lawn guys to mow the lawns for free. They can expect us to provide our services for free. And you just have to make sure you stand, buy those boundaries.

Andréa Jones (22:58):
Yeah. Oh, I like the poker analogy too, because I'm not really good at poker. The poker face, I'm always like, Ooh, I got some good cards. And people are like, Andréa, your face. So I feel like there is something to it where once you make those boundaries, then it's really easier for me at least to stick by them. Whereas if I don't have some of my rates, even an idea of my rates, then I'm just kind of winging it. And if I'm winging it, I'm probably going to get convinced to do something for free. And so having those boundaries is so, so good. I want to shift gears a little bit because I am so nosy about you. Okay. So you've jumped two feet into the world of ai, artificial intelligence. I want to hear about this leap. You built a custom AI tool. Okay, start me from the beginning. How did you get into this in the first place?

Gwen Lane (23:56):
So my husband is a software developer and he helps me part-time in the online course business. And so he's been helping me. He does all the tech, he's been doing this in our business since we started. And then when AI was coming out, we were like, Hey, we should do something to help creators. And there's a specific format that I like to create content that I think with my content frameworks, we built our own tool, and we call it CREATORIZE AI. And we built our own tool built on ChatGPT. And what we did is we created these frameworks based on how I create and how I teach my students how to create content online. So things that we could do as idea generation. And so I make sure that I write the prompts for you. So I think that's a problem right now is it's hard to engineer prompts.

(24:55):
And that's the thing, it's a whole skillset. Don't feel bad that you don't know what to tell the AI to do because it's kind of like, oh, an assistant shows up in your door and you're like, what do I do? I don't know, I'll maybe clean my closet, but wait, don't touch these. And you're confused and overwhelmed. It's like the people who clean before the cleaning crew comes, you're like, I'm not organized, but I would love a cleaning person, but they can't do, it's a whole, then you get overwhelmed and you're like, no, I'm not going to hire anyone. I'll just do it myself. And then you don't do it, and then the house is a mess. I think everyone can relate to some sort of anxiety and nervousness on that. And so what we did is we took out the prompts outside of the equation.

(25:43):
And so what we did is we created a tool where you'd be like, okay, what do you need? Do you need ideas? Do you need emails written? Do you need social media captions? Do you need video outline, blog outline? So those are kind of the fourth big things that we have. And also we have a partnership pitch as well. And so what we did is we engineered the prompt ourselves, and so specifically for content creators. So for example, you need ideas for YouTube videos for the next three months. And so we made sure that we created those prompts that are already SEO friendly, they're already keyword rich, and they give you those ideas without you having to type anything in. So it's all dropdown menu. So what channel is it for and what kind of ideas do you need? And it's the same with a partnership pitch is which brand do you want to do? What do you want to say? Who's your audience? And it writes a whole pitch for, and so yeah, we're really excited about it. Our students are using it right now in the Creator club, and it makes things so much easier. You don't have to think about all the things that go into a prompt. Instead, we did all of that work for you.

Andréa Jones (27:00):
That's amazing. I mean, it's right when you go to ChatGPT, sometimes you ask it a question and it gives you something. You're like, Ugh, that's not helpful at all.

Gwen Lane (27:11):
Yeah, it sounds so generic. For example, our email tool, if you just went to ChatGPT, you'd be like, write me an email about social media. And that's so generic. It's going to give you some stuff that you would be embarrassed to post. But in our case, it's like, what kind of email is it? Is it an attraction email? Is it a educational email? Is it a converting conversion promotional email? So you could just pick which one, and then do you want it to be short, medium, or long? And then what's the email about? Are there any dates do you want to put in? And so we are the ones that are already gathering that information for you, so you don't have to be looking at that blinking cursor for an hour.

Andréa Jones (27:57):
Right. And so this is in the Creator Club, which is your membership. So talk to me a little bit about the Creator Club. What is it?

Gwen Lane (28:08):
So it is our membership for content creators and entrepreneurs. We have a lot of business owners in there as well. And it's basically access to all my courses that I have done in many, many years. So we have a lot of content courses in there. We have content 3 6 5, which helps them come up with content ideas for the whole year. We have my reels course in there as well as some Instagram courses. And really you get access to group coaching with me, group coaching calls and monthly planning sessions as well as the AI tool. So it's an affordable way to get started as a content creator, or if you're already been doing content creation, it helps with the templates, the media kit, the rate card, the partnership packages, and if you are planning to launch a digital product, we have resources in there as well.

Andréa Jones (29:03):
Yeah, okay. So with all of this, the AI and even the templates, one of the big questions that a lot of people are having right now is how do we continue to have the human element? You know what I mean? A lot of the reason that we like following people on social media, our favorite content creators is because we feel like we know them. We feel this personal connection to them. And if they say, go buy this washer and dryer, well, we're going to look at the washer and dryer. So in this world of AI, what are some of the conversations you're having with your students about still having human humanity involved in the process?

Gwen Lane (29:43):
So if you look at my content, and I think we're following each other on social media, but most of my stuff is all ai, but it's me. So I think that AI is just the bare bones of it. If think about packaging, when you buy something, the packaging, it's the same box. Everyone has the same box. Maybe it's different colors, maybe there's a bow, but inside it's all different and you get to choose what you put into it. And so the thing that's doing really well right now on reels and TikTok is relatable content, and it's all relating to me. So I think yesterday's post that I posted on Instagram was all about me and all my simple pleasures, and it was all about going outside and having puppy time, and I'm on a bingo date with my husband. And so even though I used AI to come up with the idea and the caption for that, the meat of it is me.

(30:42):
The essence of it is me. Like, yes, we can all talk about going on a bingo date with my husband, but with our husbands or partners, but that's what I just did recently and I wanted to share it. And so I think that I know you have a B roll course where you're using you and your face, and I still use a lot of my face. Sometimes I use Canva templates with quotes and stuff that's like filler content if I don't want to put stuff on there, but I want to post more. And so I think there's no shortage of adding the human element. And the thing that I see is that those actually perform 10 times better than the ones that don't have that, that just have the generic quote. Yes, people share it, but people comment and always reach out. Or we get sales when I have random B rolls of me and my family in the apple orchard or me carving pumpkins and me with my dog. And so I think that there's ways to humanize ai, and you should, because I feel like, again, it will all be the same. It's all just going to be the same thing over and over again, and people are tired of that. But if you are making sure that you are adding your personal story, if you are putting your face on it, then it's not going to be like anyone.

Andréa Jones (32:04):
Yeah. Oh, see, this is a brilliant part of it because you use it for the ideas, use it for the caption. It's still you, right? It didn't tell you bingo specifically, or maybe it did. No, it didn't tell you bingo. It was just like, do okay, so film your simple pleasures. Or maybe you already had them filmed. See, this is the piece that I think people are missing with AI, is that they feel like it could do everything, and that's not what it's made for. It's just a tool to help us create better content faster. And so I love how you do that, and yeah, I totally see a use case of combining it with lots of B-roll. I mean, that's great. Okay, so my last question for you is just something that happened right before we recorded this. Were you recording B roll right before Gwen went and press play on something? And I was like, oh, I'm going to ask you about that on the show. So is that B roll?

Gwen Lane (32:56):
Yes. So I record pretty much everything. I record me training my dog, I record me making dog treats in my kitchen. I record every interview. Why? Because it's all content, and I don't have to create content and film the B roll because I already have it. So right now I have how many minutes, 30 minutes of me talking on camera. And I could either use this with a voice or just as a background. And I have tons and tons where I'm literally, one of my ongoing projects is cleaning my B-roll closet because I have so much video and I'm trying to organize it to add a sound, or is it a voice on I outside? Am I inside? So then I have this whole thing, so I could just take a B roll, put some text on it, and that's the post. It doesn't have to be any more complicated than that.

(33:52):
I think that's how people get stuck is it can be complicated. You can do that, but there are also some days where you're just busy and you just need to get something out there and you just want to post something or you have a thought. One thing that I've actually been doing, because I love threads so much, is taking that threads post and putting that text on a B roll, and that's the real, and that's the TikTok, and you're done. You're done. So repurposing is so much fun. And then AI just multiplies that because clearly you can have AI help you write these posts and help you write these captions. But then again, adding that element of it's not going to be the same as anyone else's because your face is on it.

Andréa Jones (34:35):
Yeah. Oh, that's brilliant. I feel like I need to do that more record myself while I'm being interviewed on podcasts. Yeah, it's that extra step, but I need to think about how, do you have a second phone or I feel like I need a second device?

Gwen Lane (34:50):
No, I just have it on my main phone. But I do have a second phone for filming when I'm on my phone because my actual phone is filming, and then I'm pretend scrolling. That's one of the shot list is the phone. So I have my husband's phone and I also have an old phone to look like I'm on a phone when I'm not.

Andréa Jones (35:13):
Yeah, I feel like that's it is. I'm always on my phone, and so I never think, but it would be so easy. Anyways, okay, I'm done. Right? I need to do this. It's list,

Gwen Lane (35:23):
We're already on social media, so it would be happening. So I think that would help is to just have vlog days where you're on a tripod the whole day and your phone is recording on a tripod the whole day and you just mindlessly forget about it and you'll probably get so much content.

Andréa Jones (35:45):
Okay. New goal. Honestly, if I'm not in my office, I do struggle to film, but if I had it on a tripod all day, I don't think I'd forget. I don't think I was, I'm going to try it,

Gwen Lane (35:56):
Just move it with you. I mean, I love those blogs. I love those blogs on TikTok. I watch them all the time with just really nice audio minimalist and just them doing random things. I like to watch that.

Andréa Jones (36:09):
Yeah. And I feel like it doesn't have to be so stylized. I feel like this is where I get stuck is some of those come spend a day with me. It's like they clearly, especially the ones where they're walking into a building, so they're walking into Target. So my brain instantly starts breaking it down and I'm like, okay. So they went into Target, they put their phone there, and then they walked out of Target, and then they walk back in again and they got their phone. I was like, I can't do that. I can't do that. But if I am just filming what I'm doing anyways, that feels a little bit more approachable for me.

Gwen Lane (36:41):
And some of the content that I see is actually them just have their phone and filming snippets and it's like three to five seconds and they don't say anything. They're not on camera. And then they do the voiceover after. And I think those are super engaging. I went to the store, I did this, I bought this, what do you guys think of this? And then I checked out and that's it. And I was like, wait, why didn't I have my phone on me? I feel like I should have that go pro chest thing and just have it on my chest the whole time.

Andréa Jones (37:12):
Right. The GoPro or even strapped to the forehead. Some people do that. That would be funny. Yeah, that would be funny. Yeah, that would be silly. I love this. I love this conversation so much, and I know everyone listening is like, okay, I'm ready to get started with all of this. And you have a free guide that helps us go from collabs to paid brand deals. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?

Gwen Lane (37:36):
Yeah, so I've basically put at my top tips in this PDF, it's called Collab to Campaign. It's all the steps that I took to go from getting free stuff, PR packages, to actually getting paid campaigns. And we'll talk more about media kits, rate cards and all of that stuff in there, as well as information on the Creator Club.

Andréa Jones (37:59):
I love that. So I'll put that link in the show notes. Y'all can find that. And all the links to connect with Gwen at onlinedrea.com/ 3 0 1. So 3 0 1, that's today's episode. You'll get all of the links. Gwen, thank you so much for being on the show.

Gwen Lane (38:15):
Thank you so much. It was so much fun.

Andréa Jones (38:17):
Yes, and thank you, dear listener for tuning into another episode of The Savvy Social Podcast. Leave us a five star rating. Apple Podcast Spotify really helps keep us in that top 100 spot in the marketing charts, all because of you and your support. I'll be back at you soon with another episode. I'll see you then. Bye for now.