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- Influence Weekly #382 - This Is What A $300 Million TikTok Strategy Looks Like
Influence Weekly #382 - This Is What A $300 Million TikTok Strategy Looks Like
E-Commerce Veteran Shares Key Insights After Spending $10M On Influencer Marketing Campaigns
Nii Ahene
March 28, 2025
Spotlight Stories
E-Commerce Veteran Shares Key Insights After Spending $10M On Influencer Marketing Campaigns
Cetaphil Pivots To Community Engagement With SkinLabs Campaign
TikTok Algorithm Surprise: Longer Videos Outperform Short-Form Content, Study Reveals
This Is What A $300 Million TikTok Strategy Looks Like
Great Reads
The creator economy continues to expand, with talent agencies strategically capitalizing on this growth. UTA, a leading talent agency, recently signed three prominent UK-based creators - Jack Edwards, Madame Joyce, and Lewis Goodall - for global representation across various platforms. This move aligns with industry projections that forecast UK influencer advertising spending to reach $1.31 billion this year, while social commerce sales are expected to double in the next four years.
UTA aims to provide these creators with opportunities beyond their local markets, leveraging the agency's vast network in areas such as television, audio production, live events, publishing, and broadcasting. The signings underscore UTA's commitment to expanding its creator division and solidifying its position in the burgeoning creator economy.
E-commerce veteran Sean Frank, CEO of wallet company Ridge, has shared key insights after spending over $10 million on influencer marketing campaigns. He identifies the top ad units as in-feed social posts, story posts, YouTube in-content ad reads, podcasts, and content rights. Frank outlines program strategies ranging from gifting to CPM-based deals, with flat-fee posting being the backbone.
Non-endemic partnerships often outperform endemic ones, and reach determines true value, with mega-influencers like MrBeast having lower CPMs despite massive audiences due to less competition for ad space. Frank calls influencer marketing the closest to scalable word-of-mouth, capturing attention better than traditional ads.
Glow Recipe, a beauty brand raking in $300 million annually, has mastered the art of turning social media into a sales powerhouse. With 1.6 million TikTok followers, they've created a virtuous cycle where customers buy their products, engage with the brand, provide feedback that shapes future offerings, and then excitedly promote the latest launches.
Social media isn't just a marketing channel for Glow Recipe; it's the core strategy driving their product roadmap, branding, and rapid growth. By fostering an authentic two-way conversation with their community, they've unlocked a self-perpetuating engine for virality and sales. Their "recipe for success" is a masterclass in leveraging social media beyond promotion into an integral part of the product development lifecycle.
Campaign Insights
JCPenney, one of America's largest retailers, has appointed VaynerMedia as its social and influencer marketing agency. The partnership aims to drive measurable business results through modern social creative, influencer seeding, and maximizing brand relevance. VaynerMedia will collaborate with JCPenney's existing agencies on integrated marketing campaigns, with the first large-scale effort launching in April.
This move is part of JCPenney's ongoing brand transformation under its new parent company, Catalyst Brands. The announcement comes as U.S. brands increased influencer marketing spend to $7.14 billion in 2024, reflecting the growing importance of this marketing channel.
Galderma's skincare brand Cetaphil pivoted its influencer marketing efforts towards community engagement with its SkinLabs campaign. Attracting over 100 creators to an immersive science-focused event in California, the brand aimed to foster connections beyond just product promotion. The experiential event featured lab-themed spaces showcasing the brand's medical expertise.
With performances and interactive elements, Cetaphil generated significant social media engagement and media coverage. This strategic shift aligns with the brand's strong 2023 financial performance exceeding $1 billion in sales. Alongside creator-led product launches and humorous male-targeted initiatives, Cetaphil is expanding its marketing approach to build a passionate community around the brand.
For the first time, the Australian Labor Party invited social media influencers to preview the federal budget alongside traditional media. The ALP confirmed it covered travel costs for some content creators, though without payment for content or opinions. Among those attending were Milly Rose Bannister of youth mental health charity ALLKND, Hannah Ferguson of Cheek Media, Molly Benjamin from Ladies Finance Club, and finance educator Natasha Etschmann.
Their access period was shorter than the traditional press gallery lock-up. Ferguson, who paid her own way to Canberra, plans to create Instagram content breaking down budget impacts for her predominantly female audience. She believes new media offers "more engaged and relevant" political communication than legacy outlets. Independent Senator Jacqui Lambie supported the initiative, calling youth engagement in politics "a good thing" while emphasizing the importance of accurate reporting.
A new study by Audacy shows that "super listeners" who consume over 8 hours of podcasts weekly are highly engaged with advertisers. These dedicated audiences are 60% more likely to purchase advertised products online and 71% more likely to make in-store purchases from brands featured on their favorite shows. Podcast consumption has grown fivefold in the last decade, with a third of long-term listeners now qualifying as heavy consumers.
The intimate, one-to-one connection helps drive ad effectiveness, with 76% of heavy listeners reporting greater brand awareness and 57% likely to purchase from sponsors. Popular genres like true crime, comedy, and news resonate strongly with super listeners. For marketers, podcasts offer a direct communication channel during audiences' dedicated "me time."
An analysis of 1.1 million TikTok videos reveals that longer content, exceeding 60 seconds, achieves 43.2% higher reach and 63.8% higher watch time compared to shorter videos under a minute. Despite TikTok's reputation for brief clips, videos over one minute generate 70.3% more reach than 10-30 second videos and 95.7% more reach than 5-10 second videos.
The data suggests TikTok's algorithm prioritizes videos that keep users engaged longer, challenging assumptions about limited attention spans. While content quality remains paramount, creators mastering fundamentals like strong hooks and consistent posting may benefit from experimenting with longer formats to leverage algorithm preferences.
Guinness Smooth, the beer brand, has unveiled a new brand identity and influencer lineup for its upcoming 'Make It Yours' campaign in Uganda. Key partnerships include musicians Azawi and Axon, artist Elijah Kitaka, fashion entrepreneur Denim Cartel who will debut a limited-edition collection, and style influencer Real Hommie. The campaign celebrates self-expression, style and boldness, themes reflected in the brand's revamped visuals.
The launch event in Kampala promises creative activations like fashion shows, live performances and interactive installations encouraging audience participation using #MakeItYours. With influencer marketing ad spend in Africa forecasted to reach $206M this year, the campaign taps into the growing regional market leveraging popular local talents.
PokerStars has been slammed by the UK's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for a misleading Instagram ad. The ad featured influencers engaging in a casino challenge, portraying repeated wins and framing slot outcomes as skill-based, which the ASA determined misrepresented gambling and encouraged harmful behavior. The ad has been banned, and PokerStars must ensure future marketing does not mislead players or promote irresponsible gambling. This ruling adds to increasing regulatory scrutiny of gambling content on social media, reminding brands to tighten review processes to comply with advertising codes.
TikTok has launched an exclusive in-app experience for the collaborative album "I Said I Love You First" by Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco. The experience offers interactive challenges unlocking exclusive content, official merchandise sales, and a custom profile frame. Creators using #ISaidILoveYouFirst may be featured in TikTok's Fan Spotlight.
Teasers and clips from the album have already amassed millions of views and engagement on the platform. The launch highlights TikTok's ambitions in driving music marketing, with 84% of songs entering Billboard charts in 2024 having achieved viral status on TikTok first, per the company's research. TikTok is positioning itself as an essential platform for artist promotion and fan connections.
Brands are expected to invest $66 million (₹550 crore) in influencer marketing campaigns during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, according to new research from Qoruz, an intelligence platform tracking influencer marketing activities. The leading sector for investment is projected to be Entertainment & Streaming Platforms at 30%, followed by FMCG (25%), Consumer Electronics and E-commerce/D2C (15% each), Automobile Industry (10%), and Others (5%).
Data from IPL 2024 shows 315,000 influencer posts generating 3.2 billion engagements, with micro-influencers dominating at 56.27% share of voice. While official IPL sponsors incorporate influencer marketing into broader media strategies, non-sponsoring brands across sectors like fintech and e-commerce also leverage influencers during the tournament by partnering with sports influencers, meme pages, and content creators. The research suggests a shift towards deeper audience connections beyond mere reach metrics in the influencer marketing industry.
Interesting People
YouTube creator Darren "iShowSpeed" Watkins announced plans for a multi-week live streaming tour across China, Mongolia, and Hong Kong starting March 24th. The tour will feature extensive on-the-ground coverage as Watkins broadcasts from various cities, spending 1-2 weeks in China alone.
This follows his successful South American tour and record-breaking 1 million viewer stream from Indonesia. Live streaming viewership grew 12% year-over-year in 2024 as the industry continues expanding beyond pandemic levels. Watkins' ambitious global travel content aims to capitalize on this rising demand for immersive live experiences from top creators.
UK influencer Chloe Walsh is expanding her £1.5 million beauty brand Clomaná Beauty by opening a multi-functional brick-and-mortar store in Barrow, UK next month. The 26-year-old entrepreneur started the business in 2018 with just £530 gifted by her grandmother. Walsh's breakthrough product, the Marshmallow Sponge makeup applicator, transformed the brand into a seven-figure business and is now stocked by major retailers like Sephora and ASOS.
The new 7-day store will function as a shop, salon and event space hosting influencer activities. After rebranding from her original name due to trademark issues, Walsh views the costly rebrand as "a blessing in disguise." The store opening on April 17 marks another milestone in Walsh's rapid rise driven by her successful use of platforms like TikTok to promote and sell her products.
A journalist left his six-figure job at NBC to launch an independent YouTube channel covering U.S. Latinos called "In The Hyphen." He wanted to learn the business side of journalism, reach younger audiences on platforms like YouTube where news consumption is high, build a direct relationship with his audience through comments and subscriptions, and explore the entrepreneurial possibilities of creator journalism without being constrained by predetermined career paths at a large company. The shift involved sacrificing stability for an initial zero income but allowed him to move quickly, pivot strategies, and monetize through subscriptions and advertising if successful in building an audience.
Gen-Z Influencer Kat Abughazaleh Eyes Congressional Seat, To Leverage Social Media Platforms In Election Bid
Gen-Z influencer Kat Abughazaleh, 26, announced her campaign to challenge Democratic Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky for Illinois's 9th Congressional District. Despite praising Schakowsky's progressive voting record, Abughazaleh framed her candidacy as necessary amid rising authoritarianism, stating, "Right now, the answer to authoritarianism isn't to be quiet."
Abughazaleh gained prominence for political commentary on TikTok and plans to leverage social media in her grassroots campaign, avoiding corporate donors. Her bid aligns with broader frustrations among progressives and a surge in non-traditional candidates inspired by figures like Bernie Sanders.
Fitness influencer Ashton Hall went viral for his unconventional "Morning Routine" video showing him waking up at 3:30am to perform a series of peculiar activities like drinking water, eating bananas, and dunking his face in cold water. While some saw it as pretentious, others mocked it by creating their own parody "morning routine" videos.
Hall initially claimed others were "copying" him before acknowledging the humor and joining in on the trend with a self-aware follow-up video. The viral moment sparked discussions around the performative nature of influencer content and the internet's tendency to turn such clips into memes.
Former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly has launched MK Media, a new video and audio podcast network targeting creators and journalists in the news and entertainment sectors. The network debuts with three initial shows hosted by veteran political journalist Mark Halperin, former Vanity Fair writer Maureen Callahan, and political commentator Link Lauren.
Kelly's move reflects the growing influence of news and politics podcasts, particularly from right-leaning talent, as well as the increasing importance of video podcasts. It follows similar moves by other prominent hosts leveraging their reach to incubate new shows, such as Alex Cooper's The Unwell Network and Bill Maher's Club Random podcast network. The launch comes as studies show listeners' high confidence in podcast content compared to other media formats, especially among voters, and their openness to political discussions from influencers when done respectfully.
Industry News
Wonder, a food delivery startup, has acquired Tastemade for $90 million in a strategic move to create a "mealtime super app." The acquisition adds Tastemade's media production capabilities, including its content studio specializing in food and lifestyle videos, to Wonder's portfolio of meal delivery services. By integrating Tastemade's popular video channels into its platforms like Grubhub and Blue Apron, Wonder aims to enable viewers to order dishes directly from the content they watch.
The deal aligns with Wonder's vision of developing an AI-driven platform that can automatically order personalized meals based on user preferences. Tastemade's founders will take on executive roles at Wonder to oversee the combined company's media, advertising, content and business development efforts as part of this mealtime ecosystem play.
TikTok is discontinuing its separate Notes photo-sharing app less than a year after launch. Originally only available in select regions, Notes was essentially a repackaged version of TikTok's earlier Lemon8 app. With little adoption, TikTok has decided to retire Notes as of May 8th, directing users to Lemon8 to "continue their creative journey."
The shutdown underscores that the Notes experiment failed to gain traction, leading TikTok to consolidate its efforts on the similar Lemon8 platform instead of maintaining separate apps. For the few users of Notes, their accounts will be discontinued in favor of Lemon8 as TikTok streamlines its suite of creative tools.
Instagram aims to lure creators from TikTok amid uncertainty of the app's future in the US. Meta has launched incentives like cash bonuses and content deals to attract top TikTok stars to post on Instagram Reels. Creators are diversifying content across platforms as TikTok faces a potential US ban, with some trying new Instagram features like longer Reels and Trial Reels to preview content.
While expressing concerns, influencers like Daniel Mac, Quen Blackwell and Charli D'Amelio are experimenting with different strategies on Instagram alongside TikTok, seeing it as an opportunity to reach new audiences and build communities on multiple apps.
The creator economy is rapidly maturing, with brands and creators adopting more strategic, long-term partnerships. Outloud Talent, a talent management firm, has expanded from 30 to over 200 creators in less than a year through strategic acquisitions. Their culture-first approach values maintaining personalized management despite scaling, ensuring creator satisfaction. With a diversified roster spanning lifestyle, commentary, beauty, gaming, and parenting content across platforms, Outloud Talent offers brands comprehensive partnership opportunities while prioritizing quality representation for creators. As they target growing to 500+ creators by year-end, their focus remains on building a sustainable organization providing elite service levels at scale.
Plannin.com is a platform enabling travel creators to earn lifetime commissions from their audience's bookings. Unlike traditional affiliate models that expire after a short window, Plannin connects creators permanently to their followers' transactions, allowing them to earn 5% on every booking for life. The platform lets creators upload travel recommendations that sync with major travel providers, which followers can browse and book through.
Success stories show the compounding revenue potential, with creators earning as much in two months as the previous ten through Plannin's lifetime value approach. By facilitating sustainable monetization tied directly to a creator's influence, Plannin aims to help travel influencers build scalable businesses around their audiences.
Communiqué, a media and intelligence company, is building crucial infrastructure to unlock Africa's untapped creator economy. Founded in 2020, Communiqué aims to provide authoritative data, insights and resources for stakeholders like investors, brands and creators to benefit from Africa's creative potential. The company is bridging a glaring knowledge gap, generating intelligence on media consumption patterns, market sizing and investment trends through surveys and qualitative research.
Its four-pillar model focuses on media, intelligence, community-building and talent development to drive an integrated strategy. By enabling top-down infrastructure development, Communiqué believes creators across Africa can gain access to better monetization opportunities and scale their impact. The company is strategically positioned to map the unmapped landscape and pave the way for innovation in this high-growth market..
The creator economy continues to evoleve as Perplexity, an AI startup, proposes acquiring TikTok's US operations and making its algorithm open-source. Perplexity aims to rebuild TikTok with transparency, developing the infrastructure in American data centers while implementing technical enhancements like video citations, AI content enrichment, and a community feedback system.
However, Perplexity faces stiff competition from bigger players like Oracle, Microsoft and investor groups, with TikTok's US value estimated between $40-50 billion. As TikTok's future remains uncertain amidst the US administration's scrutiny, Perplexity's bold proposal brings a new perspective by promising neutrality and trust through open-sourcing the algorithm at the core of TikTok's success.
Talenture Agency allows live streamers to keep 100% of their earnings. Founded in 2020 by former creators Ashley Bidelspach and Anthonee Mandani after experiencing high management fees, the agency now manages over 3,000 creators. Unlike traditional agencies taking 15-40% cuts, Talenture earns revenue directly from TikTok based on performance. Their creator support includes dedicated managers, weekly training sessions, and expertise in TikTok's "battle" format that helped two creators earn $50,000 in one month.
The agency operates across the US, UK, and Australia with 23 managers expanding to over 30. Plans include expansion into Latin America, Middle East, and Asia while targeting monthly revenue growth to $2 million. For aspiring live streamers, the founders emphasize consistency, patience, and what Anthonee calls "the three fundamentals: quality, quantity, and being coachable."
WavMaker is a royalty-free music platform that offers a refreshing approach to solving the copyright issues plaguing the creator economy. Unlike platforms that boast massive libraries, WavMaker focuses on quality over quantity, offering purpose-built "Cue Packs" composed by professional TV and film composers for specific content themes like true crime. By owning all rights to its catalog, WavMaker ensures creators face no copyright claims.
Its AI-powered natural language search helps creators find fitting music intuitively, while technical features like consistent volume levels and downloadable stems allow seamless integration into productions. With perpetual licensing for active subscribers, WavMaker aims to remove barriers between creators and the perfect soundtrack, meeting them where they work through integrations with popular creator tools. Its innovative solutions challenge industry norms and inject positive pressure for simpler, creator-friendly music licensing practices.
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Startup Whop has tripled its annual revenue run rate to $90 million by enabling influencers to sell digital services through customized storefronts. The four-year-old company provides creators with branded URLs where fans can purchase content, join communities, and even receive payment for promoting the creator's work.
Financial influencers drive approximately half of Whop's growth, particularly those selling guides on reselling, sports betting, cryptocurrency and options trading. For example, day trader Cameron Fous offers his 447,000 YouTube subscribers access to trading reports and community chats for $197 monthly through his Whop storefront. Co-founders Steven Schwartz, Cameron Zoub and Jack Sharkey initially met while reselling shoes on Facebook as teenagers.
Their platform now takes roughly 3% of transactions made through creator storefronts, with 70% of payment volume coming from U.S. customers. The company's growth attracted a $50 million Series B investment led by Bain Capital Ventures last July, valuing Whop at $800 million. Looking forward, the startup plans to expand into fitness content, student resources, and travel blogs while exploring partnerships with Fortune 500 companies interested in digital storefronts.
Sam and Colby Enterprises, founded by YouTube paranormal investigators Sam Golbach and Colby Brock, generated around $20 million in revenue last year. Their clothing brand XPLR, inspired by their friendship exploring abandoned sites, accounts for the largest portion at $13 million through online and retail sales.
While rooted in YouTube with 14 million subscribers, they've diversified into feature films, brand deals, subscriptions, and experiential offerings like a haunted school and upcoming escape room. With a growing team of 16 employees, they're positioning the business for longevity beyond creator fame by launching their own brands aligned with their explorer ethos. Their theatrical paranormal films have been ahead of the curve amid Hollywood's increasing embrace of native creators.
Walmart is developing deeper integrations with social media platforms to streamline purchasing from creator content. The retail giant's CTO Suresh Kumar revealed plans to potentially link shoppers' Walmart accounts and payment information directly to platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. This would eliminate the current disjointed shopping experience where consumers must navigate affiliate links or switch between apps when purchasing products promoted by influencers.
Kumar indicated Walmart is pursuing social media checkouts "wherever the business agreement makes sense," though specific negotiations weren't disclosed. Any partnerships would require resolution of revenue sharing, customer data ownership, and payment processing details. Walmart has already implemented similar functionality within gaming through a Unity Technologies partnership announced last year. These integrations help capture impulse purchases and younger shoppers.
As TikTok faces a potential US ban if not sold to a non-Chinese owner by April 5th, the company has launched an aggressive ad campaign portraying itself as a force for good. Emotional ads highlight how TikTok has helped save lives by facilitating organ donations and promoting life-saving products.
The $7 million+ campaign blitz across print, digital, and TV aims to sway public opinion and policymakers by showcasing TikTok's benefits for Americans and small businesses. With the Supreme Court unanimously backing the ban law over national security concerns about TikTok's China ties, the company is fighting to reverse its image and negotiate more time for a deal.
Entrepreneur Reid Rasner is attempting to distinguish his $47 billion TikTok bid with a plan to provide monthly payments to creators and users. The Wyoming businessman's proposal would distribute funds based on the "value they bring to the platform," with top influencers receiving larger shares. Rasner, CEO of wealth management firm Omnivest Financial, would fund these payments through profit sharing while keeping the app free to use.
His "FoundersTok" initiative also offers public investment opportunities ranging from $280 to $12,000 annually, though funds won't be collected unless his bid succeeds. The bid includes donating 5% of TikTok's equity to establish a U.S. Sovereign Wealth Fund. Unlike some competitors, Rasner considers TikTok's recommendation algorithm essential to any acquisition. This approach aligns with Republican Congressman John Moolenaar's position that ByteDance must fully divest control of TikTok without sharing "data, content, or algorithms." However, this stance conflicts with Beijing's opposition to relinquishing algorithm control.
A new wave of LinkedIn creators is transforming the business networking site by blending professional insights with personal authenticity. HR executive April Little earned $150,000 over two years after growing her following to 260,000 with candid posts about recruitment and workplace issues.
Unlike crowded platforms like Instagram or TikTok, LinkedIn offers content creators less competition and longer content lifespan. Content creator Piper Phillips transitioned from TikTok to LinkedIn four months ago, quickly growing to 18,000 followers and earning $8,000 from brand partnerships in February. Most successful LinkedIn creators leverage their following to build businesses rather than chase fame.
Jean Kang grew from 2,000 to 180,000 followers by documenting her career journey, using her platform to launch a program management coaching business. Similarly, Vin Matano's LinkedIn presence helped his B2B influencer marketing agency generate $250,000 in six months. Companies find LinkedIn particularly effective for influencer campaigns. Résumé builder Teal partners with 50-60 creators, while Notion reached 2.5 million LinkedIn users through creator partnerships in January.