Best printers for Home

Best Mixer Grinder

Best wired Earphones

Best 43 Inch TV in India

Best Wi Fi Routers

Best Home Theatre in India

Smart Watch under 5000

Best Laptops for Education

Best Laptop for Students

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Influencer marketers are moving away from campaigns with micro influencers and back to big stars.</li><li>A new survey from Linqia saw a drop in marketing work among creators with fewer than 500,000 fans.</li></ul>A few years ago, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/influencers">influencer</a> marketers were ditching their plans to hire celebrity content creators for brand deals in exchange for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/micro-influencers-are-top-category-to-hire-marketer-survey-2020-3">influencers with smaller audiences</a>. Goodbye, Kim Kardashian. Hello, small-town beauty influencer.Smaller creators, often categorized as "micro" influencers, typically have fewer than 100,000 fans. Marketers believed that cohort could reach a more intimate audience than celebrities and appear more authentic in their messaging, driving up engagement rates. They were also cheaper to hire, costing a few hundred dollars for a sponsored post instead of the thousands that an influencer with millions of followers might charge. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-instagram-nano-influencers-can-make-money-from-sponsored-posts-2020-3">Nano influencers</a>, or creators with as few as 5,000 fans, could charge as little as $5 for a promotional post.But the race among marketers to work with less famous (and cheaper) creators may be on its way out.In a recent <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.linqia.com/2025-soim/">survey</a> of 200 US enterprise marketers by the influencer firm Linqia, the agency found that between 2023 and 2024, the share of marketers who planned to work with celebrity and mega influencers grew, while interest in working with creators with fewer than 500,000 followers dropped. The survey ran between July and September.The share of survey respondents who said they wanted to work with a celebrity grew from 30% to 40% between 2023 and 2024. For mega influencers, the share rose from 48% to 60% over the same period. But a smaller share of marketers said they planned to work with macro, micro, and nano influencers year-over-year. Micro influencers as a category of work dropped from 74% to 62% between 2023 and 2024, while nano influencer work fell from 37% to 28%.One micro influencer, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/instagram-micro-influencer-how-much-money-month-affiliate-marketing-shopping-2021-11">Bethany Everett-Ratcliffe</a>, said she'd felt this impact on her business. Everett-Ratcliffe told Business Insider she has been "getting less paid partnerships" than in years prior, and has also noticed that more brands are "going through agencies," rather than reaching out directly.Other influencer-marketing firms separately told BI that they'd seen a shift away from less popular creators and toward bigger stars this year.So, why are micro and nano influencers losing their sparkle among marketers?A few reasons, industry insiders told BI:<ul><li>Micro influencers are becoming more expensive.</li><li>They're not driving engagement as much on social apps like TikTok that are flooded with content.</li><li>And working with them can be resource intensive, particularly as brands aim to vet talent more heavily before launching campaigns.</li></ul>"Some brands are requiring more vetting and approvals over creators and content so they don't want to have too many on a given program, and are instead focusing on fewer and bigger creator partnerships," Keith Bendes, VP of strategy at Linqia, told BI.While interest in larger creators is growing at the expense of smaller ones, macro and micro influencers still lead overall, with macro influencers being the most popular category for hire in 2024.<h2 id="89f37f0f-c928-408e-b0f1-e6752afd0ff7">Go big or go home</h2>One of the main reasons less famous creators are losing work is that they're starting to charge more, making it harder for marketers to see a return on investment. Four creators with 25,000 followers can cost more than one creator with 100,000 fans, Bendes said."Micro influencer rates have been rising and it's no longer a simple calculation," Bendes told BI.Other marketers have <a target="_blank" href="https://digiday.com/marketing/as-influencer-marketing-grows-so-do-micro-influencer-rates-there-have-been-10-20-fee-jumps-year-over-year/">reported up to 20% cost increases</a> among micro influencers between 2023 and 2024.Over-saturation on social apps is also a big factor. It's harder than ever to get noticed on apps like TikTok and Instagram. Hiring creators with larger, established audiences can help a brand break through the noise, especially as organic reach on platforms continues to be unpredictable, Bendes said.When Linqia respondents were asked about how they measured the success of a campaign, "reach" (tallied in views) was the top response, followed by engagement rate and conversions.Instead of taking a gamble on a micro influencer, brands are focusing on "fewer and bigger" creator partnerships, as well as more vetting of which creators they work with, Bendes added."Macro and mega influencers are some of the big-swing bets that brands have been more willing to take, to invest in, and they're paying off in big ways," James Nord, founder and CEO at the influencer-marketing firm Fohr, told BI.Meanwhile, celebrity endorsement campaigns have also been on brands' priority lists this year — from Sabrina Carpenter's partnership with Blank Street and Michael Cera's CeraVe Super Bowl campaign."These celebrity partnerships were successful because they felt natural, were clever, and also aligned with the celebrities' brands, making them feel authentic versus simply a commercial move," said Olivia McNaughten, a senior director at the influencer-marketing platform Grin.Still, the trend wasn't universally observed. Jonathan Chanti, chief growth office and talent president at Viral Nation, said: "We've seen a recent trend where brands have begun to shift their budgets away from mega influencers — those boasting over 5 million followers —toward mid-tier creators, who typically have up to 500,000 followers.Plenty of opportunities remain for less-famous talent, even if some sponsored content deals are fading. User-generated content (<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-make-money-from-ugc-user-generated-content-ads">UGC</a>), <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-make-money-with-affiliate-marketing">affiliate</a> links, and other performance-based marketing tactics continue to benefit creators with smaller audiences due to lower barriers to entry.UGC, a format in which a creator makes content a brand can use on its channels (instead of the influencer's own), is the third-most-popular way that brands and marketers choose to work with creators, according to Linqia's survey.The pool of money for sponsored content deals is still growing and is expected to hit <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.emarketer.com/content/state-of-influencer-brand-deals-2024">around $8 billion</a> in the US this year, according to eMarketer.And within a year, micro influencers could very well be surging again among brands. The influencer marketing industry ultimately ebbs and flows at the whims of tech platforms' algorithms.

The influencer middle class is getting squeezed as marketers turn to superstar creators and celebs

<ul class="summary-list"><li>This post originally appeared in the Insider Today newsletter.</li></ul>Good morning! With the holidays just around the corner, it might not hurt to earn a little extra cash. Four people with side-hustle experience <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/side-hustle-recommendations-passive-income-content-creation-amazon-etsy-2024-10">shared tips on their top gig recommendations</a>.In today's big story, betting on the presidential election is all the rage. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/election-betting-odds-trump-vs-harris-polymarket-kalshi-robinhood-2024-10">Can it keep the momentum going</a>?What's on deck:<ul><li>Markets: Blackstone's boss thinks Trump <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/finance-ceos-supporting-trump-blackstone-steve-schwarzman-citadel-ken-griffin-2024-10">would be a better president the second time around</a>.</li><li>Tech: Google's earnings <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-third-quarter-earnings-report-q3-2024-2024-10">were a big hit with investors</a>.</li><li>Business: What a Trump or Harris win <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/housing-affordability-supply-impact-presidential-election-scenarios-homebuyers-harris-trump-2024-10">means for the cost of housing</a>.</li></ul>But first, wanna bet?If this was forwarded to you, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/subscription/newsletter/insider-today">sign up here.</a><h3 id="7fa5f018-5b05-4a37-a8dc-d3f89138bcb3">The big story</h3><h2 id="5fd547b9-ec52-41fc-8e08-4f4b27dd8097">Presidential bets</h2><div type="image" title="Kamala Harris and Donald Trump with dice" height="812" width="1083" msid="114782269" hostid="261" sizebytes="50032"></div>We're less than a week from election day, but one group can already claim victory: betting markets.Platforms allowing users to bet on the US presidential race have become the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/election-betting-odds-trump-vs-harris-polymarket-kalshi-robinhood-2024-10">surprise star of election season</a>, writes Business Insider's Matthew Fox. And it could eventually change how we view any potential outcome, not just future elections.Kalshi, which has attracted more than $100 million in election-related bets, is currently one of the most popular apps in the Apple App Store. The trading app Robinhood also <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/presidential-election-betting-robinhood-legal-odds-2024-10">got in on the action</a> on Monday.Kalshi's <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/betting-us-election-cftc-kalshi-legal-battle-prediction-market-2024-10">legal victory in October over the CFTC</a> to offer election betting paved the way for the trend. But predictions markets are also spiking abroad where they've existed for years.Polymarket, which is not available to US citizens, has seen $2 billion in wagers this month, up from $533 million in September, according to The Block. Last year, the website averaged less than $20 million in monthly trading volume.The rise of election-betting markets hasn't been without controversy.A "whale" trader betting on former President Donald Trump to win the election grabbed headlines and drew conspiracy theories. Polymarket <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/polymarket-donald-trump-betting-odds-whale-french-trader-harris-polls-2024-10">confirmed the user was a French national</a> with trading experience betting on Trump "based on personal views of the election."<div type="image" title="A young man in the center of a $100 bill" height="1500" width="2000" msid="114782272" hostid="261" sizebytes="563774"></div>The betting market's biggest tests might come after the election.Supporters of prediction markets say they're <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/trump-harris-prediction-markets-polls-presidential-election-polymarket-024-8">more accurate than traditional polls</a>, citing their ability to quickly adapt to the latest news and the fact participants are invested in the outcome.This election will serve as a good test of that theory, as there's a wide gap between the two approaches. Betting markets have Trump as a heavy favorite, whereas traditional polls indicate a tight race.Should Trump win in a landslide, it could strengthen the case for using betting markets as a key tool for election analysis. Nate Silver, one of the most well-known polling analysts, is already an advisor to Polymarket.But a presidential race only happens once every four years. What about the rest of the time?If the past few years have taught us anything, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gambling-young-men-sports-betting-crypto-meme-stock-market-addiction-2024-4">this country loves to gamble</a>. From crypto to meme stocks to sports, young men, in particular, are happy to bet on just about anything.Prediction markets' business model can lean into that theme. On Kalshi, you can currently wager on whether the Tesla robotaxi will be released before 2026 or if the US will ban TikTok before May.<h3 id="77f31a4c-8462-4e3d-a71f-838cb79493fb">News brief</h3><h2 id="1fcd294b-3f53-425f-9f20-4093e8623b59">Top headlines</h2><ul><li>Why Boeing's $21 billion share sale is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-capital-raise-ecm-bankers-bonuses-wall-street-comp-expert-2024-10">an early Christmas present for Wall Street</a>.</li><li>How Trump vs. Harris is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wall-street-political-contributions-by-name-for-trump-vs-harris-2024-8">playing out on Wall Street</a>.</li><li>The Fed is likely to disappoint markets with just one more rate cut this year amid global inflation, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fed-cut-rates-inflation-powell-blackrock-ceo-larry-fink-2024-10">BlackRock CEO says</a>.</li><li>Microsoft just ramped up its cloud rivalry with Google by <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-google-shadow-campaigns-cloud-regulation-undermine-business-azure-2024-10">accusing it of 'shadow campaigns'</a>.</li><li>Snap <a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/snap-surges-gets-major-boost-from-ai-push-paid-users-2024-10">surges 10%</a> as it gets a major boost from AI and paid subscribers.</li><li>Google's been on an efficiency drive. Its new CFO said it can '<a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-earnings-q3-2024-new-cfo-boost-efficiency-2024-10">push a little further</a>.'</li></ul><h2 id="8120060b-ae66-48dc-b149-f0489a30ffa2">3 things in markets</h2><div type="image" title="Mark Zuckerberg speaking on stage." height="1600" width="2870" msid="114782278" hostid="261" sizebytes="38034"></div><ol><li>Wall Street has high hopes for Meta. Thanks to the company's AI optimization, analysts generally <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/meta-q3-earnings-preview-meta-stock-price-ai-growth-guidance-2024-10">expect positive figures</a> from Meta's third-quarter earnings report today. Bank of America has said the stock is a top AI pick, and investors are keeping an eye on AI growth opportunities.</li><li>Citadel's playing the long game with its shorts. Justin Lubell, the hedge fund's global equities head, said the firm's longest-running equities group made more money shorting stocks than its long-term investments in recent years. Lubell said the strategy benefits from <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-citadel-focuses-on-shorting-stocks-according-to-justin-lubell-2024-10">the lack of competition on the short side</a>.</li><li>Two of Wall Street's top executives speculate on Trump's bid for a second term. Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman, who has endorsed Donald Trump, thinks the former president <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/finance-ceos-supporting-trump-blackstone-steve-schwarzman-citadel-ken-griffin-2024-10">would be "efficient and effective" during his second go around</a>. Fellow billionaire and Republican mega-donor Ken Griffin expects Trump to win next week.</li></ol><h2 id="f4b54806-7f81-450c-ba32-92560d4fae9b">3 things in tech</h2><div type="image" title="A Linkedin logo sitting on a short stack of applications next to a large stack of applications" height="1500" width="2000" msid="114782270" hostid="261" sizebytes="192558"></div><ol><li>Can LinkedIn save us from hiring hell? The platform wants to help job-seekers apply smarter, not harder, by using AI to optimize the process. The goal is quality over quantity: LinkedIn hopes you'll apply to fewer jobs, but the ones you'll swing for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hiring-broken-linkedin-ai-fix-fewer-jobs-resume-spammers-2024-10">will be better matches</a>.</li><li>Amazon Web Services' Graviton chips are thriving. In 2018, AWS launched Graviton, its own line of homegrown central processing unit chips for data-center servers. Now, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/aws-graviton-chips-used-by-90-percent-top-1000-customers-2024-10">90% of AWS's largest server customers have become Graviton users</a>, a company executive told BI.</li><li>Five Apple Intelligence features you can try out now on your iPhone. Some of the highly anticipated AI tools include one that helps summarize long messages, one that limits disruptions, and another that can <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-intelligence-features-tested-on-iphone-16-pro-max-2024-10">edit randos out of your photos</a>.</li></ol><h2 id="9260fa45-d397-4b3c-b4f8-4bb193976216">3 things in business</h2><div type="image" title="Harris and Trump." height="1600" width="2400" msid="114782274" hostid="261" sizebytes="312674"></div><ol><li>How a Trump or Harris presidency could impact what you pay for housing. Affordable housing is one of America's top economic concerns heading into the election. Here's how each candidate's proposed policies would affect housing supply, first-time home buyers, urban vs. rural housing, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/housing-affordability-supply-impact-presidential-election-scenarios-homebuyers-harris-trump-2024-10">action against big landlords</a>.</li><li>Alphabet surpassed its third-quarter earnings expectations. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-third-quarter-earnings-report-q3-2024-2024-10">Google's parent company delivered beats on revenue</a>, earnings per share, its advertising business, and Google Cloud revenue. The search giant is all-in on AI — <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-earnings-q3-2024-new-code-created-by-ai-2024-10">CEO Sundar Pichai said</a> more than a quarter of the company's new code is created by AI and then checked by employees.</li><li>Is X being influenced by Elon Musk or its users? Musk is self-proclaimed "super MAGA." And X, the social media platform he owns, is more likely to show content from right-leaning accounts, according to reports by The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. But it's unclear whether the platform is showing users what they want to see or <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-donald-trump-twitter-x-wsj-washington-post-2024-10">what Musk wants them to see</a>.</li></ol><h2 id="9f5d80ac-3466-429f-a50a-2ffbb70c65ff">What's happening today</h2><ul><li>Meta, Microsoft, Starbucks, and other companies report earnings.</li><li>The Bureau of Economic Analysis publishes Q3 economic growth data.</li></ul>The Insider Today team: Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Jordan Parker Erb, editor, in New York. Hallam Bullock, senior editor, in London. Milan Sehmbi, fellow, in London.

Betting on the election is the hottest new trend. But can prediction markets keep the momentum going?  

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The influencer economy is now valued at $250 billion, according to Forbes.</li><li>Making money as an influencer has changed a lot in 10 years, with multiple potential income streams.</li></ul>The influencer business has exploded over the past decade and is now <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/daniellechemtob/2024/10/28/forbes-daily-the-250-billion-influencer-economy-is-booming/">worth $250 billion, according to Forbes</a>.Ten years ago, one estimate <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.capitala.co/business/18984/billion-dollar-boy/">from the influencer marketing agency Billion Dollar Boy</a> placed the industry's value at just $200 million.<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-ways-to-make-money-as-content-creator?r=how-to-become-an-influencer">Making money as an influencer</a> has changed a lot since then, both in terms of how much individual creators can make and how."It's gone from creators unlocking ad revenue on platforms like YouTube to a multi-channel industry where brands and influencers collaborate across social media," said Nirozen Thav, cofounder and CEO of the content licensing company Humant Life.According to an Izea report in 2014, the average cost of a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/average-price-brands-pay-per-instagram-influencer-sponsorship-izea-2019-11?r=US&amp;IR=T">sponsored post on Instagram</a> increased significantly between 2014 and 2019, from $134.04 to $1,642.77.During <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/price-per-influencer-sponsorship-on-social-media-instagram-youtube-facebook-2019-11">the same period</a>, the price of the average sponsored YouTube video increased from $420 to $6,700.<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-do-instagram-influencers-make-money">On Instagram now</a>, creators can earn hundreds of thousands or even millions annually from partnerships.<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-money-youtube-stars-make-per-month-creator-income-2020-5">On YouTube</a>, creators can earn between $1.61 and $29.30 <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-money-youtube-pays-for-1000-views-creator-rpm">per 1,000 views</a>, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-do-youtubers-make">Business Insider's media team reported</a>, so it remains a lucrative platform for turning views into cash.Those with over a million subscribers can <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-youtube-pays-for-one-million-subscribers">easily make six figures</a>, and YouTubers with more than that can <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-make-one-million-a-month-on-youtube-2023-8">sometimes earn millions</a>.<h2 id="debed915-4d8a-4d57-a527-4407fbf43026">Multiple income streams</h2>What's largely changed in 10 years is how creators can maximize their income, both on and off social media.Liam Parkinson, the cofounder of Inflverse, a financial management platform for creator agencies, made a name for himself as a content creator on YouTube.He amassed 750,000 subscribers in 2013 and has seen firsthand how the industry has moved from having a sole reliance on advertising revenue to brand sponsorships and deals.Today, Parkinson said the "savviest creators" are "leveraging multiple income streams," including brand partnerships, merch and products, paywalled content with subscriptions, and equity deals, among other things.Katya Varbanova, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@theofficialkatya">an influencer</a> turned CEO of Viral Marketing Stars, told BI she started making content in 2015, primarily on former streaming platforms such as Periscope and Busker. The latter sponsored Varbanova's trip to a Snapchat conference in 2016, paying her $1,000.Back then, content creators were also happier to receive PR boxes of products as payment for promotion, Varbanova said. Now, they prefer to get paid for their labor.Varbanova was recently offered $5,000 for one 30-second TikTok video, which the brand could license for three months."Brands have become a lot more willing to pay influencers," she said.Jacob Lucas, who shares <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@jacoblucas101?lang=en">relationship advice</a> on TikTok and Instagram, started making content around five years ago and decided to become a creator full time about a year in.Lucas told BI that views have never made his career lucrative. Rather, he makes money from brand deals, where he charges around £8,000 ($10,379) per video, with wiggle room depending on how much he likes the company or product.<h2 id="dba7c209-48a2-4e9c-83be-3be5eaac2ab6">Engagement and authenticity over follower count</h2>Savannah Britt, a PR specialist and the CEO at The Brittprint Agency, told BI that follower count used to determine whether an influencer could partner with a company.But now, some of her clients have been struggling to secure brand deals — even one with over 10 million followers — because of a push toward engagement."Brands are seeking creators who are trending right now," Britt said. "Your pay and window for opportunity are quantified by how hot you are in the present moment."<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/reesa-teesa-who-tf-did-i-marry-income-contant-creation-2024-10">Reesa Teesa</a> is a great example, she said, because she essentially blew up overnight and doubled her income when she posted a 50-part post about her toxic ex-husband."She seized a moment that optimized a lifetime of opportunity," Britt said.There's also a push for authenticity in creator marketing, with audiences getting <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktok-pseudo-shopping-channel-gen-z-had-enough-deinfluencing-influencers-2024-4">tired of relentless ads</a>.Dominic Smales, the founder and former CEO of the world's first digital talent management agency Gleam Futures, who has just cofounded the new creator marketing venture GloMotion Studios, told BI people turned to the internet in the 2010s because they were bored of legacy media."They wanted to be entertained by people that they related to and were new and fresh and unfiltered and all of those kind of things," he said. "Brands are making it boring again for these audiences."<h2 id="e7307c7a-9a13-4b94-9dbe-303788fae261">Sorting the issues</h2>While the potential for earnings is still high, content creators have long been plagued by being taken advantage of in a rapidly evolving economy and burning out from high demand. Some companies are hoping to change that.Parkinson hopes to solve how long it takes for creators and their management agencies to get paid with Inflverse.Brands can take up to three months to pay out. Sometimes, they don't pay out at all, and the creator can't do much about it."Imagine working a normal 9-5 and your boss telling you that you aren't getting paid for 90 days, and even at that point, it isn't guaranteed," Parkinson said.According to Varbanova, the content creators who will make the most of the evolving industry are those who take advantage of all the services available to them — especially as some marketers are <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/micro-influencer-campaigns-decline-marketers-turn-to-big-stars-2024-10">moving back toward working with mainstream celebrities</a>.She said they would also be wise to become part or full owners of their own brands and companies, like MrBeast with Feastables, Logan Paul and KSI with Prime, and Charli D'Amelio with D'Amelio Footwear.That way, creators are "monetizing their influence rather than just relying on brand deals," Varbanova said."That is the future," she said. "That was always the future of influencing — build a loyal audience and then launch brands and products you designed with that audience in mind."

How making money as an influencer has changed in a decade

As the results season kicks in, the <keyword id="20097634" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="quarterly-earnings" source="keywords">quarterly earnings</keyword> numbers of several <keyword id="22405488" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="blue-chip-firms" source="keywords">blue-chip firms</keyword> — such as <keyword id="19906778" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Infosys" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Infosys" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Infosys">Infosys</keyword> and Reliance Industries — along with <keyword id="20837523" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="global-trends" source="keywords">global trends</keyword> and <keyword id="20223116" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="trading-activity" source="keywords">trading activity</keyword> of foreign investors, will determine <keyword id="22405487" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="equity-market-movement" source="keywords">equity market movement</keyword> in the holiday-shortened week ahead, according to analysts. The domestic <keyword id="22405489" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="WPI-inflation-data" source="keywords">WPI inflation data</keyword> for June — scheduled to be announced on Monday — will also influence trading sentiments, traders said. Markets will remain closed on Wednesday for Muharram. Among major quarterly earnings to be tracked this week are from HDFC Life Insurance Company, Bajaj Auto, BPCL, JSW Steel, Asian Paints, Infosys, and Reliance Industries. "Q1 earnings will be a key focus this week as numerous companies, including heavyweights Infosys, and Reliance, are set to release their results. Additionally, <keyword id="22194639" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="pre-Budget-discussions" source="keywords">pre-Budget discussions</keyword> are expected to contribute to market volatility," Santosh Meena, Head of Research, Swastika Investmart Ltd, said. On the global front, a significant focus will be on China. The country is scheduled to announce its GDP and Industrial Production (IIP) numbers, Meena said. "Other global factors to watch include the speech by the US Federal Reserve Chairman, US retail sales figures, and macroeconomic data from Japan," he added. Meanwhile, IT services company HCL Tech on Friday posted a 20.4 per cent rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 4,257 crore for the June-ended quarter and gave a revenue growth guidance of 3-5 per cent for FY25 on GenAI diversification and strong operational execution. "On Monday, markets will react to India's inflation data. Key results this week include Jio Financial Services, HDFC Life, Asian Paints, LTIMindtree, Infosys, Wipro, JSW Steel, Paytm, etc. Also globally, investors will take cues from China's GDP numbers, US core retail sales data, and ECB (European Central Bank) interest rate decision," Siddhartha Khemka, Head, Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, said. Retail inflation increased to four-month high of 5.08 per cent in June as food items, including vegetables, became dearer, according to government data released on Friday. Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, said, "We expect stock-specific moves to gain traction due to the ongoing earnings season; indeed, IT will be in the limelight due to the good start to the earnings and outlook." In the week ahead, economic data like China GDP, EuroZone CPI inflation, ECB policy, and the US Fed chair speech will be watched by investors to get cues on market momentum, Nair added. On a weekly basis, the BSE benchmark jumped 522.74 points, or 0.65 per cent, while the Nifty climbed 178.3 points, or 0.73 per cent. The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 622 points, or 0.78 per cent, to settle at a record closing level of 80,519.34 on Friday. During the day, it zoomed 996.17 points, or 1.24 per cent, to hit an all-time high of 80,893.51. The NSE Nifty surged 186.20 points, or 0.77 per cent, to settle at a record closing high of 24,502.15. Intra-day, it jumped 276.25 points, or 1.13 per cent, to hit a new lifetime peak of 24,592.20.

Trading activity to hinge on Q1 results, global trends in holiday-shortened week: analysts

Nalin Bansal, Chief Relationship Management at the National <keyword id="20242630" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="payments" source="keywords">Payments</keyword> Corporation of India (<keyword id="19998946" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="NPCI" source="keywords">NPCI</keyword>), speaking at the Global Fintech Festival 2024 on Wednesday, emphasized that only 25 per cent of payment users are <keyword id="19900675" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="women" source="keywords">women</keyword>, with even lower penetration in semi-urban and rural areas. "While we've achieved significant scale in <keyword id="20377974" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="financial-inclusion" source="keywords">financial inclusion</keyword>, penetration remains a challenge, with only 25% of payment users being women, and even fewer in semi-urban and rural areas. Many women's mobile numbers are not linked to their bank accounts, hindering their participation," Bansal said. He added, "Yet, data shows women are 50% less prone to fraud and are highly loyal and engaged users. As an ecosystem, we must prioritize personalized, assisted services and continuous engagement across all channels. UPI123 has made strides, especially for initiatives like Ujjwala, and prepaid instruments hold promise as a 'secret purse' for women. Building trust is crucial, and it is our collective responsibility to foster it." Women are more likely to adopt <keyword id="20853683" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="digital-financial-services" source="keywords">digital financial services</keyword> when introduced by local agents or <keyword id="22950816" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="community-influencers" source="keywords">community influencers</keyword>, particularly women who can help them overcome social and technological barriers. Women who make at least five <keyword id="19971375" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="transactions" source="keywords">transactions</keyword> in the first week of onboarding are twice as likely to continue using <keyword id="19900911" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="UPI" source="keywords">UPI</keyword>. This highlights the need for financial service providers to rethink in-app nudges and sales metrics to encourage consistent usage. 93 per cent of women surveyed expressed the need for ongoing support during the first three months of using digital payments, particularly for grievance redressal during failed transactions. Kalpana Ajayan, Regional Head - South Asia, Women's World Banking, said, "We recognize that digital payments can serve as a powerful tool for women, enabling them to manage their finances more effectively, access a broader range of services, and ultimately secure a better future for themselves and their families." She added, "By addressing the specific barriers that women face in adopting digital payments, we open up a new frontier for growth. This initiative is about much more than inclusion--it's about positioning women as key drivers in the digital financial ecosystem." The NPCI's UPI platform has already revolutionized India's payment landscape, with UPI transactions soaring from Rs 920 million (USD 11.08 million) in FY 2017-18 to Rs 83750 million (USD 1.01 billion) in FY 2022-23, reflecting a staggering CAGR of 147 per cent. The value of UPI transactions reached INR 80.79 trillion (USD 96,287) across approximately 55.66 billion transactions in the first four months of FY 2024-25. Of the 536 million women aged 15 years and older in India, 37 per cent report using mobile internet, making the addressable market for UPI solutions among women around 200 million strong.

Women are more likely to adopt digital financial services when introduced by local agents or women community influencers

In early August, Goldman Sachs rolled out a fresh look.The Wall Street bank updated its website to reflect a new color palette, replacing its iconic blue-and-white color scheme with more neutrals, blacks, and whites. It also <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-sachs-new-logo-and-website-before-and-after-2024-7">unveiled a new logo</a> with a softer, rounder typeface and — in perhaps the biggest change — connected the G in Goldman with the S in Sachs.The redesign was subtle. Outside Wall Street, it barely registered. Inside the halls of Goldman Sachs, however, some people were perplexed.In 2020, Goldman made a show of disconnecting the G and S in its logo to modernize its look. Why, bank insiders were asking, had the firm just spent millions of dollars over several years to revert back to a logo it had ceremoniously ditched just four years earlier?<div type="image" title="Side-by-side images of Goldman's logo" height="1080" width="1920" msid="115309583" hostid="261" sizebytes="18594"></div>The rebranding effort has spotlighted the executive who spearheaded it: Fiona Carter, the chief marketing officer. Since Carter joined Goldman in 2020 from AT&amp;T as the bank's first CMO, her team's work and its spending have become a topic of conversation inside the 150-year-old bank.Carter expanded the marketing team to more than 100 employees at its peak, up from about 15 to 25, and upped spending on glitzy sponsorships, according to current and former Goldman employees.Despite going public in 1999, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-sachs-partner-class-perks-privileges-cross-ruffing-process-2024-10">Goldman is still run as a partnership</a>, which can lead senior leaders to feel empowered — in some cases duty-bound — to seek to influence the company's spending and strategic direction. Several high-ranking officials told Business Insider that they questioned the cost and efficacy of the bank's marketing efforts under Carter.BI spoke with 18 current and former Goldman employees, including some supporters, about Carter and her team's role at the bank. Some of these people were granted anonymity since they were not authorized to discuss company matters.Carter did not respond to a request for comment. However, she addressed the skepticism she's faced in an interview with Forbes earlier this year, saying that some of her Goldman colleagues have been reluctant to embrace marketing.The complaints echo earlier tumult around CEO David Solomon's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-sachs-pivot-marcus-consumer-banking-ambitions-2022-8">ill-fated push into consumer banking</a>, which led to criticisms, including from <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rip-goldman-sachs-wall-street-investment-bank-dead-2023-11">powerful partners</a>, that the bank was spending at the expense of core businesses like investment banking and trading. Speculation over Solomon's own future died down in 2023 after it became clear that shareholders — and the board — backed him.In recent months, talk has swirled inside the firm that Carter's team could be thinned through head-count reductions.Top Goldman officials denied any plans to cut Carter's department and said she had upgraded Goldman's marketing capabilities. What's more, they say, the division she has built is vital to growing the company's asset-management and private-wealth businesses, which have become an increasingly important source of revenue in light of the consumer-banking retreat.Goldman's assets under supervision have increased more than 50% since Carter joined the firm in 2020, rising from about $2 trillion to over $3 trillion at the end of the third quarter. And despite the consumer-banking setback, Goldman's stock is up more than 160% since Solomon took over in 2018, compared to a gain of 104% in the S&amp;P 500 index."It sounds like a few people have a quaint understanding of marketing at Goldman Sachs," a Goldman spokesman, Tony Fratto, said. "Our head count and spending are a small fraction of our peers. It's not remotely close. The culture of Goldman Sachs is to be lean, effective, and commercial, and marketing meets that test."Goldman never had a chief marketing officer before Carter. Talk to any longtime Goldman dealmaker, and nine out of 10 will speak with pride about how Goldman grew to be a powerhouse investment bank by virtue of its service to clients — not splashy sports sponsorships.In 2020, however, Solomon aspired to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/latest-goldman-sachs-news-2019-5">make Goldman a household name</a>. To do that, he and his deputy, the chief operating officer and president John Waldron, planned to upgrade Goldman's marketing game significantly.The men discussed building a marketing operation worthy of a tech giant like Google or Apple, multiple people familiar with their vision said. They turned to the consulting giant McKinsey, which recommended Goldman increase its marketing budget and hire a chief marketing officer, these people said.As AT&amp;T's chief brand officer, Carter handled sports sponsorships, advertising, and diversity messaging in a division headed by the telecom giant's global marketing officer, Lori Lee.With her refined British accent and commanding presence, Carter evoked a level of glamour that some said reflected Solomon's own leadership style, though he pulled back on his celebrity DJing in 2023 amid a backlash. She was praised in on-camera interviews and in the press for initiatives to advance women's equity in advertising. She was photographed at AT&amp;T-sponsored events with Hollywood stars like Robert De Niro and Katie Holmes.Carter joined the firm in September 2020 as a member of the bank's vaunted partnership. Her team was housed in Goldman's executive office, a group of public-facing units that support Goldman's C-suite, including media relations, investor relations, and marketing.In a break from tradition, she did not report to the head of that division, John Rogers. She reported instead to his boss, Waldron, the COO. The shake-up of the traditional hierarchy didn't sit well with Rogers, said executives who spoke to him about the new reporting line."He didn't like it," said a former executive in the department who worked with Rogers. "He lost something, and that had never happened in any significant way."Fratto said that Rogers "was the one who recommended that marketing report to John Waldron. He supported that structure and still does."<div type="image" title="Actor Robert De Niro with Fiona Carter on the red carpet" height="3896" width="4979" msid="115309581" hostid="261" sizebytes="1225586"></div>Carter quickly set out to reorganize and grow Goldman's marketing operation.She assumed control of the 15 to 20 marketing executives who had been reporting to Goldman's global head of communications, Jake Siewert. This marketing team, which was housed in the executive office, focused on companywide initiatives like arranging social-media posts, managing the website, and Goldman's weekly podcast.Goldman also had marketers stationed within the firm's individual business lines who were responsible for division-specific products and services. Prior to Carter, these business-line marketers operated their own fiefs, reporting up to the heads of their units. One byproduct of this was a lack of cohesiveness in branding materials, including web pages for specific business lines that looked different from the rest of the website, a former senior marketing executive recalled. Carter set out to eliminate these issues and streamline Goldman's look and messaging.Carter hired aggressively, and Goldman's marketing operation soon swelled. People who worked in the executive office at that time said an oft-repeated mantra was that marketing was building an "army" — so much so that employees of the media-relations team had to be shifted to a different area of the 29th floor of Goldman's New York City office tower to make room."They're like: 'Our budget is never-ending. We just added another team. We added another 20 people in a night,'" one former executive-office staffer said. "It was crazy."One hire that riled some Goldman insiders was that of Maria dal Pan, a communications industry veteran who was tapped in part to write speeches and talking points for the CMO. Goldman insiders told BI it was unusual for executives other than the CEO to have such a staffer.Fratto told BI that "everyone who heads a function has that kind of support available to them," but the executives who spoke with BI said speechwriting was typically handled by subordinates on an ad hoc basis. Dal Pan, who left Goldman in 2023 after little more than a year, declined to comment.Carter erected new teams, including an internal ad-buying team. She ramped up the use of outside agencies to focus on branded content and website development and championed sports sponsorships such as the one it announced in 2022 with the carmaker McLaren's Formula 1 racing team.Carter used clichés that puzzled some colleagues, according to a former senior-level marketing executive. This person recalled Carter saying, for example, that marketing would be "the rocket fuel" that would vault the Goldman brand "to the stars."In meetings, she often name-dropped Waldron when discussing her game plan, two senior executives said. The goal, these people added, was to send the incontrovertible message that her vision had been blessed straight from the top.Goldman also came close to rolling out a dramatic logo and brand upgrade in 2022, according to two people familiar with the effort. The redesign, known internally as "Project Richmond," would have added orange to Goldman's brand colors, one of these people said.The project was scrapped as performance slumped amid a tenuous dealmaking environment that was <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-got-laid-off-at-goldman-employees-speak-out-2023-1">followed by layoffs</a>.<div type="image" title="A man in a suit speaks" height="4530" width="6730" msid="115309573" hostid="261" sizebytes="3210186"></div>Since Goldman's consumer-banking retreat in 2022, the marketing team housed within the executive office has shrunk to about 85 staffers, according to multiple people with knowledge of the division.Carter, meanwhile, has shifted focus to the marketing needs of the asset-and-wealth-management division, which manages money for wealthy people, pension funds, and other large investors.Matt Gibson, Goldman's global head of client business for asset and wealth management, told BI that marketing had become so important to his division that it planned to double the number of marketers it employs over the next two years."I would like to significantly grow our marketing resources over the next few years, and that's because I think it's so valuable," he told BI. "We all live with scarce resources, so I can't do all of that overnight. But if you were to ask me what my top three longer-term priorities are to help grow the business, this would be one of them."Waldron pointed to Goldman's sponsorship of McLaren's F1 racing team as an example of the CMO's vision benefiting the bank.Waldron told BI that he was initially skeptical of the sponsorship, which Carter spearheaded and which has led to the bank's logo being emblazoned on the team's vehicles at competitions. It has proved successful among clients, he said, because Carter structured it so they could get up close and personal with McLaren's technology versus sitting in the stands watching cars zoom around a track."What she's been able to put together with her team is something that's much more personal," he said.Waldron called her "one of the best marketing executives out there" and said the bank heard this sentiment from clients as well. "She has upgraded our capabilities monumentally," he added. "Our events and branding are materially better under her leadership. We made the right decision by bringing her into the firm, and we are lucky to have her."<div type="image" title="A crowd gathers at a Formula 1 race" height="5504" width="8256" msid="115309567" hostid="261" sizebytes="833856"></div>In recent weeks, Goldman's marketing team has suffered more departures.Jason Hill, the chief operating officer of the global marketing division who became one of Carter's most important lieutenants, left Goldman in October after snagging a CMO job at the law firm White &amp; Case. Goldman plans to replace him, a person familiar with the matter said.The bank's New York City office, meanwhile, recently lost roughly half a dozen members of its social-media team, multiple people said.There's been no shortage of internal speculation that the marketing team could be pared down further.Some people traced the chatter back to comments made by Russell Horwitz, Goldman's chief of staff and head of the executive office. In meetings, Horwitz has said the executive office operates better when head count is leaner, which some people took to refer to the marketing team because of its size.Horwitz told BI there was currently "no plan to reduce marketing" in the executive office. He added: "Generally speaking, we're in the right place." Horwitz said his comments about head count were not about any specific team.In the interview with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sethmatlins/2024/04/15/the-2024-forbes-entrepreneurial-cmo-50/">Forbes</a> earlier this year, Carter said her job involved convincing an "often skeptical audience" of the merits of marketing. "The race goes to those who persevere," she said, adding that her Goldman colleagues were "beginning to acknowledge marketing can be a revenue generator."Emmalyse Brownstein contributed reporting.Are you a Goldman Sachs or Wall Street insider? Get in touch with this reporter. Reed Alexander can be reached via email at <a target="_blank" href="mailto:ralexander@businessinsider.com">ralexander@businessinsider.com</a> or via the encrypted messaging app Signal at 561-247-5758.

Inside the Goldman Sachs marketing push that has some execs perplexed

New Delhi: India is set to enter a transformative "smartphone era" for cars in 2025, with the introduction of vehicles featuring 5G M2M connectivity and advanced AI technologies, according to the latest findings from Techarc's India Connected Consumer Report 2025. The report said the automotive sector will skip 4G and will enable connectivity using the latest 5G cellular technology. It observed that consumers are interested in spending money on improving the value proposition in terms of features, quality and experience rather than exploring too many smart devices. "22 per cent of the respondents shared about considering optimising their smart devices portfolio. Among the new set of categories, smart/connected cars is generating high interest among consumers. 55 per cent of the respondents said that they have come across news or information about smart/connected cars in recent times," it said. Starting in 2025, passenger cars in India will be equipped with 5G M2M connectivity, on-device GenAI, and cloud connectivity, making advanced technologies accessible across various price segments, it added. In-vehicle computing and artificial intelligence (GenAI), along with cloud applications, will become essential components of cars, enabling real-time data processing to support drivers effectively. Most cars priced at Rs 20 lakh and above will feature these technologies as standard. The cumulative revenues from automotive chipset companies have already surpassed USD 1.5 billion, with companies like Qualcomm and MediaTek leading the market. Some of the familiar applications that consumers will be able to use while driving include communication apps for audio/video conferencing, OTT entertainment apps, music streaming, podcasts, online shopping, vehicle maintenance, and servicing. "With connectivity and the technologies it brings to the cars, the future of the automobile sector will be fundamentally determined by the auto-technologies that will influence the overall experience, performance, comfort, safety and entertainment available to the drivers as well as the passengers. "So far, such features were seen as luxury or high-end experiences. But starting 2025, many of these will become mainstream for cars in India," Techarc AutoTech Analyst Sadat Ahanger said. With 22 automobile manufacturers producing nearly 5 million passenger vehicles annually in India, the country is poised to become a leader in the global 5G M2M market within the next few years, the report said. About 21 per cent of respondents said MG Motors is the leader in providing <keyword id="24016739" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="connected-cars-in-India" source="keywords">connected cars in India</keyword>, followed closely by Kia Motors at 18 per cent and Tata Motors at 15 per cent, it added. Hyundai and Maruti Suzuki also ranked among the top-five brands in this category. The report draws insights from a survey of 4,500 "connected consumers" across metro and non-metro cities. The report defined a connected consumer as one owning at least 3 smart devices in addition to a smartphone.

India to shift to 'smartphone era' for cars embracing 5G, advanced AI in 2025: Report

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Fast-moving fashion micro-trends on social media can drive impulsive spending.</li><li>Keeping up can also harm people's mental health and the environment, and mess with their style.</li></ul>In the fast-moving world of TikTok and Instagram, it can feel like there's a new fashion trend every time you swipe.A novel aesthetic or "-core" circulates on social media every few weeks, prompting consumers to buy in.Sometimes, it's a dress; other times, it's a top, a skirt, or a pair of boots. If an item is on the expensive side, there will be dupe options for less.But what fits into the "<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-clothing-office-siren-business-casual-fashion-2024-8">office siren,</a>" "mob wife," or "<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/roundup-tiktok-style-trends-barbiecore-goblincore-2022-12#still-trending-normcore-is-around-for-the-long-haul-2">normcore</a>" aesthetic one minute is soon outdated, and it's time to buy whatever's next. These things that go out of fashion just as soon as they come in are known as micro-trends."It's not sustainable for your money, it's not sustainable for your mental health, and it's not sustainable for our environment," Ylva Baeckström, a psychotherapist and senior lecturer in finance at King's Business School in London, told Business Insider."It all adds up, and it becomes extremely stressful."<h2 id="4ec37053-21a8-4502-8907-7fa409b94078">'The perfect profitability storm'</h2>Fast fashion, social media, and retailers like Shein have together created "the perfect profitability storm for the businesses and influencers using them," said Anthony Miyazaki, a marketing professor at Florida International University."It's like watching a natural symbiosis where fast fashion producers drop the products, influencers create the buzz, TikTok and Instagram facilitate the sales, and the buyers swarm the marketplace," Miyazaki said.TikTok and Instagram did not respond to requests for comment.<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-sell-on-tiktok-shop">TikTok Shop,</a> the app's e-commerce platform, has grown to more than 500,000 US-based sellers in eight months since launching, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/transparency/en-us/shop-safety-2023-2/">according to the company's Safety Report</a> released in April. It has around 15 million sellers worldwide.On average, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktok-is-betting-its-future-on-e-commerce-should-it-2024-7">US users who made TikTok Shop purchases</a> spent about $67 between mid-June and mid-July, compared to around $54 over a four-week period in January, per <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktok-shop-better-at-keeping-customers-than-temu-shein-2024-4">data</a> from Earnest Analytics, a research firm that tracks credit-card and debit-card transactions.TikTok takes a 2% commission plus 30 cents on every TikTok Shop transaction, and is planning to increase its cut to 8%, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.tubefilter.com/2024/01/05/tiktok-shop-ecommerce-revenue-commission-price-hike/">Tubefilter reported</a>. The company does not disclose how much it has earned from its shopping platform, but individual sellers have been reported to have made <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://cosmeticsbusiness.com/made-by-mitchell-on-making-one-million-on-tik-tok-shop">over $1 million in a single day</a>.Sites like TikTok Shop often promote micro-trends to consumers. That has benefited the likes of the Chinese company Shein, which adds thousands of items to its store each day. It was valued at $66 billion in its latest fundraising round — an <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessofapps.com/data/shein-statistics/">increase from $5 billion</a> in 2019. (Shein also did not respond to a comment request.)The power of influencers and algorithms on spending is huge. Elysia Berman, a content creator who makes videos about fashion, told BI she is paying off a large amount of credit card debt which she built up due to a shopping addiction fueled by social media.At the start of this year, Berman owed close to $48,000 and has cut that almost in half thanks to her commitment to the "no buy year" — a trend focused on reducing spending.Berman said she believes the cycle of micro-trends is a big problem, saying she spent a lot on clothes she didn't even like or wear."Micro-trends are meaningless without an understanding of your personal style," Berman said. "If you do not know yourself and your style, you are at risk of being caught up in the endless pursuit of trendiness and overspending."<h2 id="5d5c31f2-aa71-4fd0-a913-c6e69c3e5c01">Doom-spend or save?</h2>Along with social media algorithms, micro-trends are being fueled by the cycle of<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/shoppers-are-doom-spending-to-cope-with-financial-stress-2023-11"> doom spending:</a> buying unnecessary stuff to feel better.<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://newsroom.transunion.com/q2-2024-ciir/">Per an analysis from the credit reporting agency TransUnion</a>, the average debt per borrower in Q2 of 2024 in the US is $6,329 — an increase from $5,947 in Q2 last year.<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/notes/feds-notes/a-better-way-of-understanding-the-u-s-consumer-decomposing-retail-spending-by-household-income-20241011.html">Economists at the Federal Reserve</a> earlier this month found that inflation-adjusted spending on retail goods was up across the board compared to 2018.Baeckström, the finance lecturer, said impulse buying is all about feeling control "when everything else is out of control.""You might as well splash out on something that makes you feel better right now because it's hard to think about the long term when things are feeling a bit hopeless," she said.Dan Pallesen, a licensed clinical psychologist and financial advisor, told BI that following trends is part of being human."For our ancestors, keeping up with trends was a matter of life or death," he said. This was because not being part of the in-group put us at risk of rejection and thus in danger to the elements and predators."Fast forward to today, most of us are not in physical danger if we are not part of the in-group, but we still carry the same brain above our shoulders as those ancestors," Pallesen said.<h2 id="5c649480-8542-454e-bf5f-d4055e821462">A growing problem</h2>Most people can afford a few trendy pieces. But repeated, unconscious spending can soon snowball.Bill Ryze, a certified chartered financial consultant and a board advisor at the financial-services platform Fiona, told BI that frequent impulsive purchases can lead to maxed-out credit cards and high-interest debt."Continuous spending can lead to accumulating debt that can become overwhelming," Ryze said, "which could impact mental health and overall well-being."Julie Guntrip, the head of financial wellness at <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/banking/jenius-bank-review">Jenius Bank</a>, said young people are particularly susceptible, especially when they follow influencers who make a living getting others to buy things."While it's easy to get caught up in what others are doing, it's important to remember that not everything is as it seems on social media," she said.Guntrip recommended making a budget and developing a "<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/deinfluencing-is-the-anti-influencer-trend-rich-with-paradoxes-2023-1">de-influencing</a>" mindset — focusing on not buying things and the dopamine hit of saving money rather than spending it needlessly.<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-micro-spending-on-concert-tickets-to-collectibles-2024-10">Gen Z's interest in micro-spending</a> could signify a shift — spending small amounts on collectibles and items that reflect their personal tastes and don't break the bank."Make it trendy not to buy things," Baeckström said. "Make it trendy to think about the sustainability of your consumption patterns, for you, and for the environment, and, of course, for your money."

Micro-trends are taking over social media, and keeping up can be really expensive

"Every once in a while, a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything," Steve Jobs said when he unveiled the iPhone in 2007. He was right; the world was never the same. But the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/tech/iphone-16-review">iPhone 16</a>? Meh.The newest model, which hit stores in September, is off to a straggling start. Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo estimated that first-weekend <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/tech/iphone-16">preorder sales</a> were down by nearly 13% compared with first-weekend sales for last year's iPhone 15. The iPhone 15 also had an underwhelming start to the year: from January to March, Apple reported a 10% year-over-year drop in phone revenue. In the 17 years since the original came out, the release of a new iPhone has gone from the marquee tech event of the year to little more than a software update wrapped in cellophane.Replacing that hype is a new kind of hype: for old iPhones. The global market for refurbished smartphones grew by 5% year over year from 2021 to 2022, according to Counterpoint Research. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/companies-requiring-return-to-office-rto-mandate">Apple</a> made up half of the resold-phone marketplace in 2022. It accounted for about a quarter of new smartphones shipped globally in late 2023, according to market intelligence firm International Data Corporation. (The company also sells its own refurbished products.) In Europe, some 43% of people have already owned a refurbished phone, according to a 2023 survey conducted by Vodafone and Recommerce Group, a tech buyback company. Zion Market Research estimates that in the US, the market for used phones could grow by about 13% a year through 2032.Glen Cardoza, a senior research analyst at Counterpoint, says a few things are driving the used-phone revolution. People are more aware of refurbished phones, thanks to ad campaigns and word of mouth. Learning that your friend has an iPhone 12 and still manages to be the most active member of your group chat may make you more likely to get a used phone yourself. The quality of repairs and guarantees from refurbished-phone sellers have improved, making the phones less risky to buy. Some shoppers care about <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/florida-man-refused-leave-hurricane-proof-home-basically-unharmed-milton-2024-10">environmental impact</a>, but high prices are the chief concern. "With incremental improvements between new smartphone versions, a growing share of consumers feel that refurbished options are better," Cardoza tells me in an email. "They do not mind using a cheaper refurbished model that has most of the recent features."Refurbished-tech sellers think this is their moment to seize. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/back-market-raises-510-million-as-valuation-soars-57-billion-2022-1">Back Market</a>, a secondhand-tech marketplace based in France, has raised more than $1 billion and is on track to become profitable in Europe for the first time this year, says CEO Thibaud Hug de Larauze. During a recent press conference, he revealed the company had served 15 million customers and sold 30 million items, indicating that Back Market has had a good number of repeat buyers during the past 10 years. Phones are the majority of Back Market's sales, but the company also sells, among other items, smart watches, headphones, laptops, and video-game consoles. Refurbished tech is now among the five most popular secondhand categories purchased on eBay.Hug de Larauze is extremely bullish on the future of secondhand tech: He predicts that within 10 years, 90% of adults could be buying refurbished products or opting to repair their devices rather than buying new ones. "People start to actually realize there is not that much innovation in the next product," he tells me. Consumers are also uncertain about <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-16-apple-intelligence-ai-does-not-matter-to-customers-2024-9">all the AI</a> that companies, Apple included, are baking into their latest devices. "What does it do?" he says. "What does it change in your life?" Hug de Larauze likens the used-phone revolution to the shifts in car sales. Cars are expensive and lose value, and innovation from one model to the next has become negligible. The idea of buying a used car and fixing it as parts break down is normalized. If phones are just as poor of an investment, why not get something more affordable that gets the job done — even if it means sacrificing horsepower and the latest add-ons?Refurbished-phone dealers are also finding creative waves to counter years of marketing that capitalizes on "newphoria," the feeling of elation people get when unboxing a shiny new tech toy. Back Market satirized the idea in an ad last year, showing people eager to grab the new product but mocking the slight changes to buttons and charging ports. The company also recently ran a mystery-phone promotion. For $249 or 299 euros, customers could buy a refurbished iPhone or Android without knowing the model they'd get. The phones sold out in two hours in France and just days in the US, Hug de Larauze says. Back Market didn't provide the total number of phones sold during the promotion, but Hug de Larauze said the sales exceeded the company's expectations. It showed that there are shoppers who care far more about the phone's price than its model.Anmol Aroz, a 23-year-old who works in IT sales in England, says he bought a refurbished iPhone 13 Pro two years ago and saved about £500. He's been impressed with the phone and less impressed by the new features on more-recent models. He feels like he can do enough with ChatGPT on his phone and doesn't need Apple Intelligence yet. Aroz says sustainability was also on his mind, adding that he's not so wooed by new clothes or new tech, both of which lose value quickly. "The second you touch the wrapper, it's £200 down the drain," he says. "I'm pretty much set on sticking to the refurbished route." Amy Marty Conrad, a 34-year-old who lives in the Washington, DC, area says she and her husband have each bought refurbished phones. She's on her second, a Samsung Galaxy S21, which she bought two years ago. She recently replaced the battery, giving it even more life. "I mostly use my phone for calls, email, work, and a camera," she says. "A lot of the other software innovations aren't doing a lot for me." She's also conscious about waste, and she buys clothing and other household items secondhand, too.But perhaps the biggest thing blocking people from buying more secondhand phones is the manufacturers themselves. Through a practice called "parts pairing," in which a replacement part can work only if a company's software recognizes and approves it, tech companies have made it difficult to repair your own phone or to get third-party shops to do so: Replace your cracked iPhone screen at a local repair shop, and your Face ID may never work again. That's changing, albeit slowly. In April, Apple announced it would begin making changes that would allow for some used genuine Apple parts to be put into other iPhones. Apple did not respond to an email asking about updates on the rollout of the change, but the company has long maintained that parts pairing bolsters a phone's security.In March, shortly before Apple's announcement, Oregon passed a law banning parts pairing, becoming the first US state to do so. And while it applies only to devices made after January 1, 2025, it's a major shift for how manufacturers make their future tech fixable. More lawmakers are tackling repair impediments, and the European Union this year adopted laws designed to make it easier for people to get their products fixed by manufacturers or third-party repairers rather than being pushed to replace them.Tim Cook certainly doesn't see the rise of refurbished phones as an existential threat. Even underwhelming sales are underwhelming by Apple's standards. It has already sold an estimated tens of millions of iPhone 16s, and that's before the typical holiday boost and the release of Apple Intelligence. But with consumers' growing AI skepticism and interest in secondhand phones, the company would need to summon the kind of dazzle unseen since Steve Jobs' presentation in 2007 to reverse the trend of dwindling excitement with the iPhones 17, 18, 19, and 20.Two years ago, I bought a refurbished iPhone 11 from Back Market after the display on my iPhone XR suddenly became unusable. It didn't have the upgraded camera or 5G — but the phone let me text, doomscroll on social media, and take decent photos, and it had good battery life. In an age of constant tech changes, sometimes all you need is for a phone to be a phone.<a target="_blank" rel="" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/amanda-hoover">Amanda Hoover</a> is a senior correspondent at Business Insider covering the tech industry. She writes about the biggest tech companies and trends.

The market for used phones is growing. Apple should be scared.

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="21666590" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="YouTube-star" source="keywords">YouTube star</keyword> <keyword id="20038994" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="MrBeast" source="keywords">MrBeast</keyword> has parted ways with his <keyword id="21666589" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="talent-manager" source="keywords">talent manager</keyword> after six years.</li><li>This could signal a trend where <keyword id="20004408" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="influencers" source="keywords">influencers</keyword> seek more control over their brand.</li></ul>MrBeast <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mrbeast-breaking-up-with-talent-manager-night-media-2024-5">broke up with his talent manager of six years</a>, and it's a wake-up call. YouTube's biggest star striking out alone could signal that creators may not always need middlemen. Jimmy Donaldson, better known as <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mrbeast-youtube-jimmy-donaldson-net-worth-life-career-challenges-teamtrees-2019-11">MrBeast</a>, is a cultural phenomenon with 257 million subscribers. He's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mrbeast-subscriber-battle-with-t-series-youtube-top-spot-donaldson-2024-4">likely to be running the most-subscribed-to channel</a> within a few months, given the pace with which he is gaining on T-Series, the channel of an Indian music record label. On a roll, Donaldson parted ways with Night Media and its CEO Reed Duchscher, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.semafor.com/article/05/05/2024/youtube-star-mr-beast--management-company-night-media">Semafor reported on May 5</a>. The Dallas-based company would "no longer be his primary talent-management agency," the report said. Donaldson <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-05-06/mrbeast-parts-ways-with-manager-centralizes-control-of-business">confirmed the news to Bloomberg</a>, saying he and Duchscher still get on but that it "makes sense" to instead build a team of his own. <keyword id="21666591" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="influencer-economy" source="keywords">Influencer-economy</keyword> experts are torn on whether Donaldson's move will be widely replicated. It highlights what happens when influencers get to a stage where they believe they no longer need a buffer between them and traditional media — <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-youtubers-struggle-to-break-into-mainstream-entertainment-2019-12">a dynamic that has long caused tension</a>. <h2>Building on borrowed territory</h2>Nikita Walia, the founder and CEO of Blank Strategy Inc., who has worked in consumer social media since 2012, told Business Insider that Donaldson's decision was evidence "of creators not wanting to build on borrowed territory." "They want to own their brand connections, they want to own their audience, and they want to make sure they're getting the most they can out of those relationships," she said. Walia predicted that the future of <keyword id="21666594" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="talent-agencies" source="keywords">talent agencies</keyword> would depend on being able to understand this approach "instead of just being a middleman brokering deals." Katya Varbanova, an <keyword id="21666592" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="influencer-industry" source="keywords">influencer industry</keyword> expert and CEO of Viral Marketing Stars, told BI that talent agencies are only useful to creators when "they have more influence than you." "When you're MrBeast, and you are the most powerful YouTube creator, you don't really need them," she said. Another example of this trend could be the case of Gleam Futures, the pioneering influence-management agency. Gleam became famous for molding the careers of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/british-youtube-zoella-joe-sugg-alfie-deyes-what-happened-uk-2021-5">huge British YouTubers</a> like Zoella, Alfie Deyes, and Jim Chapman — but recently closed its talent arm, which has run since 2010. Writing for industry outlet <a target="_blank" href="https://www.thedrum.com/opinion/2024/01/25/gleam-futures-shaped-the-social-talent-wave-then-succumbed-it">The Drum,</a> Raf McDonnell, a cofounder and managing partner at the London agency Supernova, wrote that Gleam was a casualty of the times, upended by creators seeking a more direct link with their audiences. Agencies and creators, ultimately, have different priorities, Varbanova said. A creator's focus is "making something epic," Varbanova said, while a talent agency wants to know: "How do I squeeze the most amount of money from this brand?" This is helpful in a creator's earlier days, freeing them to put all their energy into their content while delegating the business side. But tensions can rise if creators are constantly pushed toward brand deals they don't believe in. Donaldson has evolved, Varbanova said, and built multiple businesses, including Feastables and MrBeast Burger. He is now a brand himself. "He's just taking control of his brand," Varbanova said. "Ultimately, I think he is somebody who values control over money. It's actually how he's been able to grow so much — because he is such a control freak." <h2>There are drawbacks to total control</h2>Courtney Bagby Lupilin, the CEO and founder of Little Red Management, told BI there are drawbacks to MrBeast-style total control. An in-house team would likely have a narrower network than a talent agency and be able to offer less support with other tasks. The talent managers who survive will be those who foster individual relationships with all their influencer clients, Lupilin said. "Don't just be an extension of their brand," she said. "Be a valuable resource they need on their side." Walia argued that agencies can still be helpful in furthering an influencer's career, but they need to modernize — especially if their clients follow a similar path to Donaldson. "The middleman relationship of a traditional talent manager doesn't quite fit the times," she said. Correction: May 14, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misspelled the name of Supernova's managing partner. It's Raf McDonnell, not Raff McDonald.

MrBeast's breakup with his talent manager is a wakeup call that influencers won't always need middlemen

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Social-media influencer is a highly sought-after job these days, especially among Gen Zers.</li><li>The first step to becoming an influencer is posting consistently on apps like Instagram and TikTok.</li></ul>Social media has created many new ways to make money, and over the past few years, it has led millions of people around the world to become influencers.Platforms like TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat have opened up doors for individuals who want to switch careers, become full-time creators, or supplement the income from their 9-to-5 jobs.The most important step to getting started as an influencer is to pick a platform or two and begin posting consistently. While some creators eventually land on a specific content niche, such as fitness, beauty, fashion, or education, others post about many topics.Creator Ayomi Samaraweera gained hundreds of followers a few weeks after uploading her first TikTok when one of her videos about resigning and applying for new jobs went viral."It was a lot of trial and error in the beginning," Samaraweera previously told Business Insider. "I wasn't really thinking about a niche or how my content could be unique. I just posted what I felt like at the moment."<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktok-influencer-dm-email-template-brand-deals-jellysmack-career-consulting-02023-2?r=how-to-become-an-influencer">Read more about how Samaraweera became a full-time content creator and got her first brand deal with 2,000 followers</a>A steady posting cadence has even helped some creators successfully launch companies, like Nadya Okamoto, who founded the period-care brand August in 2021. She first grew her TikTok following rapidly by posting 100 times a day about menstrual hygiene and her experience in reproductive healthcare."To me, the TikTok algorithm is like a lottery," she previously told BI. "The more lottery tickets you put in, the more chances you have of winning or, in this case, going viral."<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-grow-your-business-on-tiktok-period-product-august-2022-6?r=how-to-become-an-influencer">Read more about how 2 Gen-Z entrepreneurs leveraged TikTok to launch and grow a period-care startup</a>Here's exactly how to become an influencer and start making money:<h2 id="5fe3d16c-4fb8-45d2-b89c-73c487eef3c9">How many followers you need to be an influencer</h2>Most brands take an influencer's audience size into account when considering them for a paid collaboration. As a result, influencers are categorized based on their follower count.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-instagram-nano-influencers-make-money?r=how-to-become-an-influencer">Nano influencers</a> have only a few thousand followers, under 10,000, but can still partner with many different brands. California-based creator Stacy Kim had only around 4,200 followers on Instagram but landed more than 40 paid partnerships in over a year and a half with companies like Samsung and Clinique."My engagement on posts is really high, and I heard that most brands care more about that than the number of followers you have," she previously told BI.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/media-kit-nano-influencer-brand-deals-instagram-pitch-2023-2">Read more about how the nano influencer pitches sponsorship deals</a>The next category, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-reach-out-to-brands-as-micro-influencer-templates-to-use?r=how-to-become-an-influencer">micro influencers,</a> are classified as social-media users with between 10,000 to 100,000 followers. For many brands, this is the preferred tier of creators to work with because they have a highly engaged audience but charge a lot less than celebrities or very well-known social-media personalities.Maesha Shonar, a micro influencer with 24,000 followers on Instagram, previously told BI she had such a highly engaged audience. To stand out to brands, she created a pitch proposal, which outlined two sponsorship options the brand could choose from — each with specific timelines, deliverables, and rates — and case studies of her recent collaborations.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-proposal-document-media-kit-instagram-tiktok-brand-deals-outreach-2023-5?r=how-to-become-an-influencer">Read more about how the micro influencer gets brand deals</a>Influencers who have more than 100,000 followers are the next tier, followed by mega-influencers who have multiple millions.Fashion influencer Nate White has 1.8 million followers on TikTok and earned six figures in 2022 by collaborating with companies like Verizon and Amazon Prime."The money's changed my life," he previously told BI. "I've been able to move out from the hood where I'm from ... the kids in that neighborhood looked up to me and I miss that, but I did this for me."<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktoker-built-a-six-figure-income-brand-partnerships-no-agent-2022-9?r=how-to-become-an-influencer">Read more about how much the TikToker earns with 1.8 million followers</a>Meanwhile, YouTube star MrBeast, who has over 280 million subscribers, brought in $223 million in revenue in 2023 through various businesses, including his YouTube channels, sponsorships, and chocolate and snack brand Feastables.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/youtube-star-mrbeast-expects-700-million-revenue-this-year-2024-6?r=how-to-become-an-influencer">Read more about YouTube star MrBeasts' business empire, which he expects to generate $700 million in 2024</a><h2 id="8190a85f-34f7-4295-bdb5-916cabcdaff7">How influencers get paid</h2>After amassing an engaged audience, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-ways-to-make-money-as-content-creator?r=how-to-become-an-influencer">influencers can start making money</a> directly through their respective app's monetization programs, by creating sponsored content for brands, or through affiliate marketing, among other revenue streams.Pay can range from a few thousand dollars for an <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/brands-pay-instagram-influencers-more-than-tiktokers-study-takeaways-2023-2?r=how-to-become-an-influencer">Instagram sponsorship</a> to six figures a year for a full-time creator, such as photographer and videographer <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktoker-influencer-tips-advice-reflections-learning-lessons-photography-filmmaking-video-2023-2?r=how-to-become-an-influencer">Tej Patel</a>, who made $100,000 in 2022 through his photo and video work, sponsorships, and the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktok-end-creator-fund-after-three-years-influencers-mr-beast-2023-11?r=how-to-become-an-influencer">TikTok Creator Fund</a>, which has since been discontinued.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-reach-out-to-brands-influencer-collaboration-post-email?r=how-to-become-an-influencer">Brand deals</a> are one of the most popular ways to earn money as an influencer since companies are always looking for talent to help promote their products or services. Some brands have earned a reputation for rolling out <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/brand-partners-influencers-creators-of-color-underrepresented-pay-gap-income-2024-6?r=how-to-become-an-influencer">more inclusive campaigns</a> by paying creators fairly and allowing more creative control.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-ways-influencers-find-brand-deals-key-takeaways-new-survey-2024-4">Take a look at new data on influencer brand deals in 2024</a>Platforms also pay creators based on their video views and engagement.In 2023, some creators earned tens of millions of dollars through TikTok's Creativity Program beta, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktok-creator-rewards-program-challenges-google-search-youtube-2024-3">now dubbed Creator Rewards</a>, which pays influencers for TikToks over 60 seconds.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-tiktok-creativity-program-pay-creators-long-form-video-2023-8?r=how-to-become-an-influencer">Read more about how TikTokers can score huge paydays for longer videos</a>On Snapchat, creators have had success making money from its <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-creator-couple-snapchat-ad-revenue-program-income-2023-11?r=how-to-become-an-influencer">ad-revenue program</a>. In 2023, Gen-Z creator couple AJ and Grey made $84,000 and $21,000, respectively, from the program. The initiative allows creators with at least 50,000 subscribers on the platform to make money through the ads their followers are shown in between Snap stories.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-make-money-with-affiliate-marketing?r=how-to-become-an-influencer">Affiliate marketing</a> is another popular way to make money after becoming an influencer. This revenue stream allows creators to link to products or services they use, and if a follower buys it through their customized link, they earn a commission.In 12 months, influencer Janesha Moore made $100,000 just from affiliate links on platforms like Amazon, in addition to partnering with lifestyle and beauty brands. She also highlighted how it's easier for BIPOC creators like her to earn money through affiliate marketing than brand partnerships, where there is often a<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/brand-partners-influencers-creators-of-color-underrepresented-pay-gap-income-2024-6?r=how-to-become-an-influencer"> pay disparity</a>."Affiliate marketing is such a powerful tool because everyone has the same percentage they make, so it's really just a matter of the strategies you put into place to make the money work for you," she said.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-influencer-makes-money-affiliate-marketing-programs-amazon-ltk-2024-2?r=how-to-become-an-influencer">Read more about how Moore got started with affiliate marketing and made over $100,000 in a year</a><h2 id="790576e6-0f40-4e04-a27a-f996c9745915">How to contact brands and get paid for sponsorships</h2>Email is how influencers usually first contact brands about working together. Most influencers who reach out to companies attach a media kit to display the value they would bring to a potential partnership. The document highlights information such as engagement analytics, audience makeups, and previous brand deals.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/influencer-media-kit-examples-for-brand-sponsorships-youtube-instagram-2020-5?r=how-to-become-an-influencer">Read more about how to create a media kit and see examples from influencers</a>Creator Paulina Perez landed more than 20 paid partnerships in a year with global companies like Skims, Olay, and Sephora, all thanks to the media kit she created. She previously told BI that she's been fortunate to collaborate with so many brands because of her unique niche as a Hispanic creator who also posts videos in Spanish, and many of them have turned into long-term relationships."I still work with a lot of the companies that first took a chance on me," she said. "I just charge them more now because my engagement is higher and my audience has grown."<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/micro-influencer-media-kit-tiktok-instagram-brands-bilingual-latinx-creator-2023-3?r=how-to-become-an-influencer">Check out the full 2-page media kit Perez she uses to land brand deals</a>Many creators also use Instagram, TikTok, or LinkedIn to direct message influencer marketers at brands who are looking for potential talent. Samaraweera, the creator who scored her first brand deal with 2,000 followers, Instagram DMed software company Fishbowl to land her first paid sponsorship."Timing is everything, so keep a lookout for brands who start engaging with your content because it's more than likely they're looking to work with you," she said.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/influencer-templates-email-dm-brand-outreach-deals?r=how-to-become-an-influencer">See the email and DM templates influencers have used to reach out to brands</a><div type="image" title="Ayomi Samaraweera (middle)" height="878" width="1170" msid="111174334" hostid="261"></div><h2 id="9b75d2db-8a6e-4b50-9145-c67609d4dd91">How influencers find jobs and get advice from other creators</h2>Workplace communication platform Slack has surged in popularity in the past few years, so much so that those in the industry have started using the app to vent about their frustrations, land job opportunities, and connect with other creators, brands, and talent managers in the industry, with one labeling it a "gold mine" for opportunities."I had an influencer who really wanted to work with a certain brand, and I just asked in the channel and immediately got the contact info for the person in charge," talent manager Lissette Calveiro previously told BI.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/influencers-brand-deals-ugc-slack-user-generated-content-2024-2?r=how-to-become-an-influencer">Read more about how influencers use Slack to get brand deals</a>Many creators have also launched their own apps to help influencers get paid fairly by brands, like Christen Nino de Guzman's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/content-creator-launches-app-to-address-tiktok-instagram-pay-gap-2022-1?r=how-to-become-an-influencer">Clara for Creators</a> and Samaraweera's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/start-business-after-being-laid-off-from-your-day-job-2023-3?r=how-to-become-an-influencer">Canopy for Creators.</a> These apps, which are free to join for users, help creators compare rates and negotiate higher compensation. Nino de Guzman said she launched the app to help show others how easy it was to become an influencer and make money from social media."It used to be a typical kind of person, usually a middle-to-high class woman blogger who had access to video equipment and was traveling, but now anyone can be a creator," she said.<div type="image" title="Christen Nino De Guzman, Clara for Creators" height="375" width="500" msid="111174246" hostid="261"></div><h2 id="f33d971a-9133-49d5-ae2a-fe2308285524">How to get a manager or publicist as an influencer</h2>Once an influencer becomes more popular online and amasses a large following, they can choose to hire a talent manager and publicist to grow their brands even more. Talent managers can help creators with anything from starting a new company to negotiating higher rates for campaigns to generating content ideas.Some talent management firms, like UTA or CAA, focus on representing the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-tiktok-managers-for-creators-power-list-most-influential-2023-7?r=how-to-become-an-influencer">most well-known social media stars</a> like Alix Earle. Others, like Kensington Grey and Society18, focus on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bipoc-creators-influencer-management-firms-talent-agencies?r=how-to-become-an-influencer">creators from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds</a>.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-influencer-agents-managers-database-youtube-instagram-tiktok?r=how-to-become-an-influencer">Explore BI's database of talent management firms and agencies that work with influencers</a>Talent managers previously told BI that they often get hired after a creator explodes online or goes viral and the creator feels overwhelmed with the incoming messages and offers to collaborate."Reinforcing that there's a reason this happened to them, it's all positive and they're safe and everything's good — that's probably the most time-consuming part of that first couple months of when someone blows up," said Danielle Pistotnik, a talent manager at Select Management Group.Meanwhile, some influencers choose to hire publicists to help with their image, landing TV appearances or written features in prominent publications, and getting them on the list for exclusive industry events.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-publicists-pr-pros-for-influencers-in-creator-economy-2024-4?r=how-to-become-an-influencer">Read more about the top PR pros and publicists in the creator economy</a>

You Searched For "influencer marketing trends 2022" and got 11 results

The influencer middle class is getting squeezed as marketers turn to superstar creators and celebs

Dan Whateley,Sydney Bradley

Betting on the election is the hottest new trend. But can prediction markets keep the momentum going?

Dan DeFrancesco

How making money as an influencer has changed in a decade

Lindsay Dodgson

Trading activity to hinge on Q1 results, global trends in holiday-shortened week: analysts

PTI

Women are more likely to adopt digital financial services when introduced by local agents or women community influencers

ANI

Inside the Goldman Sachs marketing push that has some execs perplexed

Reed Alexander

India to shift to 'smartphone era' for cars embracing 5G, advanced AI in 2025: Report

PTI

Micro-trends are taking over social media, and keeping up can be really expensive

Lindsay Dodgson

The market for used phones is growing. Apple should be scared.

Amanda Hoover

MrBeast's breakup with his talent manager is a wakeup call that influencers won't always need middlemen

Lindsay Dodgson

How to become an influencer and make money

Shriya Bhattacharya

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides