The inaugural episode of the Content Creators Chat introduces founder, Kristen Daukas. We hear what drove Kristen to develop the concept for the Content Creators Conference and how she managed to rope our other Founder, Rob Ainbinder, into collaborating on the conference (insider tip: it wasn't hard to convince him!). We also learn how Kristen got her start in blogging and influencer marketing back in 2004.
Other topics:
How did you get your start in marketing?
What was the genesis for your blog?
Do you remember your first influencer gig?
What’s something funny that happened with your blog/influencer gig?
What’s something not cool that happened with your blog/an influencer gig?
Are there any books, courses, magazines or websites you recommend?
If a listener wants to get in touch with you, what’s the best way?
You can find all the details for the upcoming "Foundations" virtual summit happening on January 16, 2021, on our site www.contentcreatorsconference.com!
The inaugural episode of the Content Creators Chat introduces founder, Kristen Daukas. We hear what drove Kristen to develop the concept for the Content Creators Conference and how she managed to rope our other Founder, Rob Ainbinder, into collaborating on the conference (insider tip: it wasn't hard to convince him!). We also learn how Kristen got her start in blogging and influencer marketing back in 2004.
Other topics:
How did you get your start in marketing?
What was the genesis for your blog?
Do you remember your first influencer gig?
What’s something funny that happened with your blog/influencer gig?
What’s something not cool that happened with your blog/an influencer gig?
Are there any books, courses, magazines or websites you recommend?
If a listener wants to get in touch with you, what’s the best way?
You can find all the details for the upcoming "Foundations" virtual summit happening on January 16, 2021, on our site www.contentcreatorsconference.com!
Welcome to episode one of the content creators chat, the show where we invite you to join us in a conversation about content creation and influencer marketing. I'm Robin binder. And this is my cohost.
Speaker 2:
Hi, Rob.
Speaker 1:
Hey, welcome to the show, our first one,
Speaker 2:
Our inaugural podcast. Oh my gosh. So why don't we talk a little bit before you get started on with grilling me and let's talk a little bit about, you know, where this came from and how this baby got born.
Speaker 1:
No doubt, because it's been one long birth, for sure.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, it has. We burst the toddler.
Speaker 1:
Yeah. So the idea is how old Kristen,
Speaker 2:
Four years old. And it came as a derivative of converged South, which you and I have been involved with for many years. And, uh, what we noticed as co-presidents, uh, that the, uh, the amount of information that people were looking for, we noticed that it was a lot of, it was largely for them to do their own branding and side hustles. And so I had one of my Epiphanes and said, why don't we do something called a content creators conference? And we started, we did a good job getting the, the wheels go in on that four years ago, but then life happened for you and life happened for me. So it just never, never got off the ground. And thanks to Rona, we decided that what better year to do this? So we have pivoted another keyword of 2020. We create, we pivoted. And we said, let's take this baby on to a virtual summit. And that's where we are now. So we are, our first summit will be January 16th, and this is the companion podcast to go along with it, where we will be able to share more of the speakers and influencers that are going to be participating in the summit and summit moving forward.
Speaker 1:
I'm really looking forward to kind of reconnecting with people in the influencer industry, as well as our guests and kind of bring some real value to those that are starting their influencer content
Speaker 2:
And those that are in it, you know, uh, you know, that have been doing it for a while. And you know, one thing that 2020 taught us is that you need to have multiple streams of income. None of us are safe from the corporate world. And so I've, I think you and I both have seen a lot of people decide to get, um, a little bit more into the nitty gritty of making their craft and their passion, an income stream. So what we're going to be doing is giving these people, these creators, the tools they need to make it a business. So we'll be talking more about the, the schedule leading up to it, but for now, this is an opportunity for everyone out there to get to know myself as well as Rob.
Speaker 1:
So this is, um, yeah, episode one. And we're going to interview you Kristen for episode one
Speaker 2:
And then next week, or the next edition will be the Rob edition.
Speaker 1:
Exactly. So, um, so Kristin is in addition to an influencer, a marketer at heart, how did you get started in marketing?
Speaker 2:
Gosh, it seems so long ago because it is so long ago. Um, one of the, one of the positions that I held in, uh, sales was for a software company and we kind of laughed and said it was the project to keep the owner's son busy and no, really it was, it was to keep him busy. Yeah. And it ended up being more successful than they thought. However, that being said, we didn't have a ton of marketing support. So there was way back in the day, it was called 12 horses, which is kind of like the constant contact. I don't even know if they're still around, but it was a constant contact of the day. And before the anti spam laws, um, I was able to use email marketing to make president's club. So I would send out email blasts to the people and then, cause you can track to see who opens it, then I would follow up with them. So it became a warm lead to me. So I was able to make president's club pink two years in a row doing that. I got pulled away from that company to go to, um, a B2B magazine that, um, service, that same industry. And there, I introduced ready for it. Banner advertising, Banner ads on our website as well as webinars so that our advertisers had another way of getting in front of our clients or their prospects. Uh, so I went from there and then in 2008, I was laid off from there. And that was the beginning of the last economic snafu. And I couldn't find a job, um, in sales because it was, uh, everything was, um, commission only. And I finally, I said, you know, what, if I'm going to work for commission only, I'm going to work for myself. And I always have had a love of working with smaller businesses because my attitude is they don't have a Coca Cola budget, however, they still need to get their brand in front of their customers. Right. So that was also very much the infancy of social media. You have Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, et cetera. So I saw a great opportunity to use those tools and social media marketing, to brand and market for my smaller customers. And it worked very, very well. So, you know, I've always kinda been on the leading edge of what the latest technology is. So, um, and the rest, as they say is history. And I now, um, have reopened my digital marketing agency and it's nowhere but up from here.
Speaker 1:
Awesome. Okay. So it kind of leads to my next question. Um, you and I have talked over the years, we've had blog blogs for quite awhile, kind of, um, what was the Genesis for your blog and your personal blog?
Speaker 2:
So I created what was then known as four hens and a rooster when we lived up outside of Philadelphia and we were a young family with three young children and our families were all over the United States. And as a working mother of three young children, I didn't have time to be running to the Walgreens print off pictures of my children. So I, it literally started as what blogging was, which is a life journal. Right. Uh, and that was like, if you want to know what we're up to you go in here. And the Monica had four hands and a rooster was for obviously the forehands where myself and my three daughters and the rooster was for my ex-husbands. So everybody knew us as four hens and a rooster. And probably when we got down to North Carolina in 2006, probably about 2007, I started segwaying and was writing less about the girls and more about parenting in general. So that's where that one came. And then a few, when my oldest daughter turned 13, I recognize that there were tons and tons and tons of mommy blogs on how to deal with, you know, littles. Um, there were very, very little that ha had to do with teens and tweens. So that's when I launched 10 to 20 parenting, which is no longer, um, I just didn't have time to keep up with it, but that was, that was a good site. I feel for parents of teens and tweens.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, definitely. I think, I, I think I hit it up a couple of times. Myself. Yeah. Right. What do you remember your first influencer gig?
Speaker 2:
Oh gosh. I'm not like bill, you know, I think I really started with, um, a lot of it I just did on my own. I just talked about things that I liked. It's a funny story, my best friend and I, at that same time in 2004, 2003, when we start each started our own blogs, we also started one called mommy sanity tips where that's all we did is we just gave our opinion on the things that we were using. And can you imagine, had we kept that thing going, starting in 2004 where we would be, I mean, it's, it's insane. It was, I call it, it was literally the first, you know, mommy influencer blog. So I would say probably one of my first big, uh, influencer campaigns was with Keurig. I don't remember what year that was. Um, so I've done them with plenty. I've done them with, um, um, Oh, what's that? Um, I can't remember it, but you know, I was an ambassador with Netflix for seven years. I've done a time, I've done a ton of stuff. I can't even remember all the things that I've done, but my mom was on the blog and, you know, blogs at this point. That's really not where a lot of the influencer stuff is happening there. Some, especially on the more Nishi, like food travel fashion, et cetera, but definitely just the general blogs. It's not, you know, you definitely have to have a niche on your blog to be successful on influencer.
Speaker 1:
Definitely. What's um, what's something funny that happened with your blog or on an influencer gig?
Speaker 2:
Oh gosh. Um, I remember one influencer campaign that I had to pull my daughters in on a day were mortified. They didn't have to do it with me, but I had to make them like do some pictures and shoot some video for me. And that was for badges. So,
Speaker 1:
Oh man, I remember important and important CPG for sure.
Speaker 2:
I remember McKinsey had one of her friends over and they were just like, Oh my God, they were probably 14 at the time.
Speaker 1:
Totally embarrassed about that kind of stuff. Like don't even want to talk about it.
Speaker 2:
No, no, no, no, no, no, no. So that's probably one that I can just like pop out of my head right now.
Speaker 1:
Crazy. So the flip side of that, what's something that wasn't so cool that happened in an influencer gay you're on, on your blog. Like,
Speaker 2:
Um, as far as an influence or gig, I would say probably the one that sticks out to me is I did a really big campaign for a, um, large local grocery store and it, they were doing, they were up fitting or whatever, all of their stores, right. So they wanted to do a campaign where, you know, you kind of went in and said, this is not your old grocery store. This is the new look. And I mean, there was a lot involved in it and I don't know if they were working in house. I don't know if they had a PR firm working with them, but all of the content that not just me, but everybody did not share it from the corporate brand at all. So they put all that. I mean, it's such a lesson learned, they put all that money into this influencer campaign and then they didn't take it and use it as user generated content. Holy mackerel. I know. Yup. So, you know, for those of us offer, you know, market, you know, influencer marketing as a service, it, um, it's just, that's a huge no-no. I mean, that's a complete waste of money.
Speaker 1:
Totally. Like you missed the point of having an influencer campaign. Yup, totally. So we're talking to Kristen delegates about her career marketing and experiences on both sides of influencer engagements. I guess, what else can we share with the audience? Are there any books, courses, magazines, or websites you recommend as far as becoming an influencer or learning more about influencer marketing?
Speaker 2:
There's a lot, isn't that very profound? Uh, the, I would say the air, the places that I tend to pull in, you know, resources from and, you know, read on, uh, art are the ones that we would use in social media, social media, examiner, social media, content, marketing Institute, um, even HubSpot, they do a great job. CoSchedule does a great job with providing content on that. I would also look at the influencer management companies such as like sway. Who's going to be one of our presenters sway, does a good job at really putting stuff out there. And most influencer marketing agencies have groups and there's also a lot of Facebook groups for influencers. So, you know, we all learn a lot from our peers and, you know, it's all a whole trial and error until you find the thing that works for you. So I have found Facebook groups, those private groups to be a huge resource.
Speaker 1:
Yeah. If, um, some of that list that watches or listens to this podcast, um, wants to get in touch with you. What's the best way
Speaker 2:
I would say you can find me anywhere where you can find my name. So for instance, on Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, tick tock, all of them it's at Kristin[inaudible], K R I S T E N D a K a S. We will put all of everybody's contact information in the show notes. So
Speaker 1:
Great. So as you heard coming up for episode two will be me in the hot seat. I guess we can talk a little bit about the content creators conference coming down. What's the schedule looking like so far, Kristen?
Speaker 2:
Well, so far we have, um, I have to pull it up. I don't know I'm going to go off the cuff here. So we're going to have some of the topics that we're covering is, um, how to be consistent. So creating an editorial calendar, we've got how to be authentic, which is a very important part of it. Yeah. We're going to do how to find your niche. If you're just getting started, kind of like what we were talking about in the beginning to be success truly successful, you need to focus on one thing and you know, whether that one thing is your avid photographer or you love birds, or you love to travel to unique things. So it's something very unique. We are not seeing a lot of success anymore with just across the board, generic influencers. It's just you, in order to become known, you need to be known for something. So pick your favorite thing that you know the most about and stick with it. Um, we are going to have, Oh, we're going to have a track on finances, how to keep track of, you know, if you are running this as a business, if you're making money, most likely you can write off a lot of these things that pertain that focus on that off of your taxes. So, but you want to do it right? So we wouldn't have somebody that we'll talk about that. Um, the importance of having a website, a lot of the gen Z, I'm sorry. So much for that airplane mode. A lot of gen Z don't believe that they need to have, uh, a landing, you know, a house, a foundation. So you really do in the importance of that as you and I have spoken quite a bit about, which is content is King or queen, but only if you own it. And as we saw with vine several years ago, everybody that made a big splash on vine, it was gone. So should the same thing happened with ticktock or snap chats. And if you've created your, your fame, if you will, and your brand on those platforms, and if you don't have it on your site, it's gone and there's, and it's really hard to keep it going, keeping the momentum and shifting, you know, those with really large audiences, they can, but it's so, so that's a very important piece, even if it's just a landing page, what else? Um, media kits, when you start going out to that's picks off of another, we're also, we've got a session on a track on how to approach a brand and close your first deal. But that pairs with that media kit, or at least your cell sheet that you need, they're going to want to say something. And so we'll have help everybody create a sell sheet or a media kit. And then Tiffany at sway is going to be talking about how to work with a, uh, influencer management company. And the other one that we're trying to lock down now is what brands expect. Right? So this one I think is definitely geared more towards, um, those that are trying to break into the influencer piece on, um, Instagram tic talk.
Speaker 1:
It goes just trying to find their footing getting started. We also have a hashtag legal rights, very important legal landmines and content creation and that sort of thing, as you start your journey. So it's looking, it's looking to be a pretty robust one day summit, um, details about, about the summit can be found at content creators, conference.com and
Speaker 2:
Which you put so much work into.
Speaker 1:
Oh, thanks. Well, it's all a part of it. Right, right. Making it happen. So, yeah.
Speaker 2:
Cool. Well, you did all the hard work, so whenever we start planning the next one, it'll be a lot, you know, a lot less time involved. Yeah,
Speaker 1:
Definitely. Yeah. It's a whole, whole new stack of technology I've never touched before. So it's, it was an interesting, interesting project for sure. And I don't mind rolling up my sleeves and getting dirty and make it happen for sure.
Speaker 2:
That's going to be a good day. It really is. I think a lot of, and we're doing it on a Saturday in the middle of January, nobody's got any place to be. It's cold, everyone's coming out of the holidays. So they're not spending money. And this is a great way to kick off 2021. Um, you know, everybody always makes the resolutions on paying down debt or, you know, increasing their income. So this is a great way to set these creators up for success to really build their business. Then tickets are free. That's right. Can't go wrong with that. Beat free. Can't beat free. And we've got some great, great, um, industry leaders that know their stuff.
Speaker 1:
Well, that's, that's all I got.
Speaker 2:
Yup. And on to spin that off. One of the other things too, is that most of the speakers were looping in that they'll be able to come in and record a podcast with us, record an episode with us. So will everybody will get a good feel for the quality of content that we're going to be giving them. All right. Alright. So this is our first one and our next one is going to feature you, which means I need to go and write up some great questions. And then after that, we'll start featuring some of our speakers as well as other industry leaders that may or may not be speaking or presenting at the first summit. But there are plans for many more follow after that, but this is what, the one that we're calling foundations, because you need a good foundation to be a success.
Speaker 1:
Right. So thanks for listening to watching to a first episode of the content creators chat. You can listen to us on most of the major listening platforms for podcasts. Um, the website is content creators, conference.com. We're on social@contentcreatorsandemailishelloatcontentcreatorsconference.com.
Speaker 2:
Excellent. Thanks to everybody for listening. And until next time I am Kristin docus