Listening to my best friends (the YouTubers I’ve never met)

Welcome back to Digital Gravity 🪐

Every Friday, we share strategies to help you grow your business with content marketing and reach ‘critical mass’ in the great online game.

This week, Katie shares some best practices for picking the right spokespeople and ambassadors.

Enjoy 👇

 📢 Lemme Give A Quick Shout Out…📢

By Katie Conover

Have you ever seen Ryan Reynolds in a Mint Mobile commercial and thought, “What does Reynolds know about phone service coverage?’

Or

Seen George Clooney with a Nespresso and thought, “C’mon. I seriously doubt George Clooney has ever used a Nespresso.”

He probably owns a bougie coffee maker made of pure gold.

Huge celebrity endorsements don’t really work for me. 

I just feel like most big celebs are out of touch, and most partnerships don’t pair well.

Honestly, I can’t even get behind popular actors endorsing a regular clothing brand… We know you hire people to dress you. There’s no way you're going to the mall and buying jeans. 

The thing is, we consumers know that these big names are just doing it for the money.

And we don’t trust their endorsement because of it.

It goes even further than skepticism in some cases, with a survey finding that over 60% of consumers said they trust brands less when they use celebrity endorsements. 

So, should brands just not use celebrities at all?

Maybe not BIG celebrities.

But, smaller micro-influencers like YouTubers?

Those got me. Those really got me. 

When one of my favorite YouTubers, Erik from @commentiquette, cuts to a sponsorship about Saily Esim cards…

I think, “Wait, do I need that?” as I sit at home in the USA, with zero plans to travel outside the country anytime soon.

That’s the power of niche celeb sponsorships.

I totally trust Erik with whatever he promotes. I know he’s done the work researching if the stuff he’s promoting is legit.

Yes, I know he’s making money off it, like the bigger celebrities.

But it’s different. I trust him.

He has sponsors to choose from. I believe he wouldn’t advocate for just anything.

And it’s not just me who trusts these micro-celebs in brand partnerships more than real celebrities.

Micro v macro 🤔

Studies find that micro-influencers deliver $5.20 ROI for every $1 spent, which outperforms celebrity endorsements by 47%. 

That’s a serious difference. 

We people don’t care if a well-known famous person drinks Pepsi or Cola.

We don’t care if Jennifer Lopez likes Coach.

Or if Shaquille O’Neal eats Papa John’s.

These people are in another league. They don’t understand us. We have no connection to them.

So, is your brand thinking of getting a spokesperson?

You don’t need the loudest person in the room. You need the person with the tightest group of friends.

If you want an influencer to shout you out, think small. 

—Katie