EPISODE 11 Micro-Influencers Part II (2) Insights & Social Brand Ideas

This is a continuation of my interview with Ronan O'Connor who is @yogagolfdad on Instagram, a micro-influencer. Episode 10, I interviewed him and helped you guys get to know who he is, about how he became a micro-influencer, what a micro-influencer even is and kind of laid the groundwork. In this continuation of that conversation, we get more into how he uses personality and makes it relatable to his followers using humor and the fit between himself as a micro-influencer and the brands that he works with.

He talks about some of the benefits that he gets and how the brands, how they experience benefits, how they communicate with him and find him and kind of strike a deal together, so to speak. And he gives examples of brands, experiences that he creates around the brands with his followers. So, I hope you find this interesting, valuable and fun.

Hi, everybody. Welcome to Episode 11 and I didn't know we were going to be able to have Ronan O'Connor back, but he's been so gracious to give us some more of his time so we can go into a little more of the nitty gritty around the influencer world and micro-influencer world and how it might help you in your brand this year and in 2020 and beyond. So Ronan, thank you so much again for being here. He's at @yogagolfdad on Instagram.

Yeah. Thanks, Carey, great to be back.

Thank you. So, I'm going to dive right in here. I wanted to ask you something now so our listeners can think about how aspects of the micro-influencers personality can be really powerful in relatability. When you think about what will be relatable to your future customer or your customer that you have today or that you want to upsell or resell, that's kind of what I want to talk about. So Ronan, we often see your sense of humor. I mean, I literally laugh out loud when I see your feed a lot of times. You're so funny and your sense of humor is shared regularly with your following. Can you tell us kind of what that means to you? Like how do you integrate it into your communication and why do you kind of go all out with it? To grab attention? To be memorable? Like where do you come from with it?

Yeah. Honestly it's just naturally how I am and as we spoke about in the last podcast, I don't overthink things too much on my Instagram. I'm just putting myself out there to the world and what I'm doing with my life and yeah, it just so happens that I'm naturally funny. Yeah, I don't overthink it. And it's just stuff that I'm doing, whether it's golfing with my friends and we're just having fun, like I'm just showing people what we're up to, you know what I mean? Because not a lot of people golf and they don't know what goes on.

And a lot of people, like as an example would be like, "Well, if only I knew golf was this fun." And a lot of people ask me to play golf with them and all of that as well. So yeah. I mean just to answer your question, it's just, I'm just putting myself out there, you know what I mean? Anyway, I am and it just so happens that humor is something that I am naturally good at and just putting up my videos which so happen to be funny sometimes. You know what I mean?

Sometimes I'm not even trying to be funny and people like... I get so many responses and it's like, "Well, I didn't even know that was funny." And then like for example, I don't know if you noticed, I haven't done it in a while, but I'd be driving home in traffic and just dealing with slow drivers and like-

Prius.

... in particular Prius's. Yeah, exactly.

I was going to bring that up.

That became a thing. That's probably one of the biggest thing that people go on about is like, I don't know, for whatever reason they find that so funny.

It is.

But to me, like when I'm doing, I'm in like, because that's how I am in the car. I don't overthink it. I'm just in a rage in my car it's like, "Come on," you know, and there's a little Prius driver, driving literally like 20 miles under the speed limit. I go, "Come on, I can't cope." And I don't know if everyone's like this, but when I'm driving, it's the only time where I'm really aggressive and it's not really... I'm not like that outside of my car for the most part, but it's just, I don't know, it's probably another topic for another day. But in the car, I guess people, you can be yourself and just really scream out, you know what I mean? And that's what I do and that's what I'm putting out there. That's just who I am. You know what I mean?

Well, you round it out. Like it's not like you're only talking about yoga, golf and being a father.

Yeah.

You're showing more. And I think why people think it's funny is because we all have been there in the car when we're so frustrated with someone around us in another car and then it's just like, we're not in it, or we're likely like at our desk or waiting for a doctor appointment on our phone. And it's just funny.

And just to finish off quick with the Prius's, it just so happened that I was driving through Harvard Square, which is right near Harvard University and for whatever reason in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it seems to be like the Prius capital of the world and every car was a Prius. So it was torture just going from A to B. So I was just like expressing my frustrations and that's how it all came about.

You know, maybe Prius will call you and you can represent their brand in some hilarious way.

I'll never. You'll never see me in a Prius like.

Oh, that brings... I wasn't going to answer this question next, but it brings about something that you and I talked about is with some influencers, like the big ones have said that they regret taking on certain brand deals so to speak, because it wasn't really fitting with who they are. In the previous episode, everyone, if you haven't listened to Ronan, we do kind of lay the groundwork for getting to know him and kind of making the influencer come alive for you. He did, we talk about an amazing campaign that he did around a whiskey brand, a yoga brand and some clothing, I think. And it just really demonstrated well a partnership that he had as a micro-influencer that was really fitting with who he is and it was a huge success because he enjoyed it and he got the brand involved, they got involved and the community came together and it was just awesome.

So Ronan, can you kind of share your thoughts about like what kind of brand relationships you would use or not use and I mean not giving specific names or anything like that, but just kind of how you think of it?

For me, personally, as I mentioned previously, I don't do it for the money and I'm just putting my life out there and so I just, if someone approaching me and I don't like... I'm not tied to any brand is what I'm trying to say. So there are some brands that reach out to me and I respectfully declined, thanked them for reaching out, but I haven't... When money's not involved that you can really, really be yourself more and more.

I'm on Instagram as a user, obviously myself and I follow like tons of people and I just noticed when some big influencers really take off and they start, it just seems like fake and scripted and they get away from who they really are. You know what I mean? To me it's important to just continue to be myself and never get away from that regardless of how many followers I have and all of that.

Yeah.

I think people love, just like we were both in sales, like at the end of the day people buy from people and just being authentic and who you are and not scripted and fake.

That's a really good point.

People see right through that, you know what I mean?

That's a really good point. Well, the next kind of area is like a lot of small brands don't think they can tap into anything around so called influencers because they cost thousands of dollars, tens of thousands of dollars, maybe even influencer marketing rather as an industry. I talked about this in the episode that I did just alone to kind of let you all know what's happening in the influencer world this year, but it's going to become an $8 billion industry, that's billion with a B, and it's emerged into its own marketing channel, which is crazy.

When Ronan and I were at Forrester, Forrester kind of laid out the analyst concentrations around different marketing channel and the concentration, the specialties within those. So there's like email marketing, content marketing, SEO, of course social media marketing, pay-per-click advertising and paid ads like Facebook ads. Those are some examples. And now influencer marketing podcast, too, by the way. Crazy but good but true.

But I talked about how Estée Lauder recently announced that they plan to allocate 75% of their marketing budget to influencer marketing in 2020. That is just a huge, I really was shocked, but-

Well, that is. That is a lot.

But like also kind of, I guess it just got here a little sooner than I expected, too. But part of the movement behind micro-influencer opportunities for both sides, for you all as brands and for the influencers themselves is that brands started to realize quite frequently that often they're not only expensive, but that they're difficult to work with, the big huge influencers, and that's kind of sometimes the grumble out there. But also it's obvious that they can be more accessible and more quickly responsive, the ones that are smaller, like from 10,000 to 50,000 or something like that.

So you talked about how you're excited to work with brands that are a good fit with you, Ronan. I guess a question that I think would be helpful to people, too, is do you put your contact information in your bio and kind of how do companies find you and how do you like to be communicated with when it's fresh? Like when you don't know it's coming? You know what I mean?

Yeah. Just like when people reply laughing at my stories or comment on my posts, most of it's just from people like direct messaging me on Instagram. I do have my email up there. Some people email me, but I honestly, I don't check my email that much. So the best way and what's happened for me in the past is just direct message and then if they want to take it offline, then we take it offline, whether it's through email or phone. But yeah, just the best way really is just through direct message.

What do they say? Are they kind of straight forward and not take much time or do they go into a lot of detail? Like what does it look like?

Yeah, it depends. Like different brands, some of them send you to links. I'm not sure if your listeners have dealt with this, but they send you to links and they have a whole writeup of what they would like you to do in return. To me it never seems genuine. It's just like they're probably sending it out-

Oh, really?

... to hundreds of people, you know what I mean? But that they still can help them out. So I don't really spend too much time with them unless it's a brand that I like and I'll give it more of a look and then reach out to them directly, so it's not like it's more personal, before I commit to doing anything. But a lot of the brands that I've worked with, they really tie into stuff that I love and just naturally use in my day to day life. So it's like, "Wow," like I don't even... Yeah. I love this product, I love this brand. You know what I mean? It's just it's a no-brainer to me.

Cool.

And yeah, or like I've had, I've had like companies like 88 Acres, which is a local healthy and non-GMO nut free snack company here in Boston. And like they reached out to me and sent me a load of free stuff and I was like, "Oh my God, I love their products. I eat them all the time."

Yeah, yeah.

And it all started just because I gave my daughter, Natalia, some of their, it's not like called chocolate spread, I can't remember what they call it, but it's basically like a chocolate spread and it tastes so delicious and it had all the healthy ingredients and I was just like, well I just happened to put up a funny story of me and Natalia eating and people thought it was hilarious and then they reached out to me that way and that was just a...

And then they sent us a lot of free swag. Like a lot of companies has done this where they'll send free swag to myself and Natalia and they'll have like my double XL size T-shirt on her, like three-year-old T-shirt and it's so cute and I love that. And I love when we wear matching clothes and stuff, so all that stuff is just so natural, you know what I mean? It's just a no-brainer. And again, it comes back to what we were talking about earlier, just being authentic and not forcing anything. You know what I mean?

Yes. That is awesome. Okay. So, I explained earlier like micro-influencers tend to have a higher engagement rates because they aren't in the hundreds of thousands or millions of followers, so it's just easier to communicate with their base on direct message, like Ronan said, and in comments, they check them. It's more manageable. And Ronan, you don't even know this, but because of you, I purchased kombucha, that probiotic drink that you always-

[inaudible 00:13:36]?

[GT's 00:13:38], yeah, and I chose the ginger one and I didn't even fully even know the benefits, but because I perceive you as an athlete and I perceive myself as an athlete, so to speak, exercise very much a part of my life, I wanted to try it. I got it from Whole Foods and anyway, perhaps the repetition helped by me seeing it and I remembered it.

But this is the real thing. It's conversion and can it be measured? Yeah, yeah, but sometimes not really. It just depends. But does it work to the extent that brands like literally invest the time and concentration on finding well-suited micro-influencers to feature their products or services? Absolutely.

So we already kind of talked about like some of the examples of the partnerships, the brands that you've worked with, but can you kind of talk about what goes in it on your side? Like do you say like, "Well, I'm going to post a certain number of stories," or do you just kind of organically go through and integrate it into what you're already doing? Or does it vary?

Yeah, it varies. Like, if for instance, it's an event that we're doing together, like a yoga event as an example, obviously you will meet and I'll ask them like, okay, what are they looking for? What are the expectations? Sometimes depending on the brand and the company, they're like, "Just be yourself. Whatever you think is best. You know your Instagram and your followers." Sometimes they want to see it done with their product, just certain words, certain things talked about with their product, but for the most part, they're just letting me do my thing, you know what I mean? And that's how I like it.

That's great.

Yeah, and I just do whatever I feel is just natural at the time.

And that leads into like the whole conversation around trust, like the trust factor and all of this. I mean, we can tell that you aren't faking it when you share what you love.

Yeah. I mean, just being authentic is something that, well, I think it's so important. And like another example, like Bold Body Apparel, one time they sent myself and Natalia matching yoga pants.

No way.

I didn't wear yoga pants at the time. Yeah. I would wear shorts. I was like, I thought they were layers. They had like goats on them. I don't know. Yeah, like they were black with like goats in white. Like G.O.A.T.'s great, like they're actual goats images, but it was like insinuating like the greatest of all time, which is a pretty big expression here, like just with Tom Brady.

Oh, I just put that in my last TikTok video, if anyone wants to go check it out at All Social Y'all on TikTok. It's just a like a play on words and a lot of adults don't know what G.O.A.T. means.

Yeah. Greatest of all time or B.O.A.T. is another one that I've heard, best of all time. Well yeah, they just sent me some free swag for me and Natalia. Then I just went and did a video just to thank them of the two of us wearing the swag and it was all matching and-

That's so great.

... I actually loved it, you know what I mean? And I wore them to my classes and I was just amazed that they had a pair of pants so big to fit me.

Yeah, oh, no, it's great.

And the other thing, a little side note, because obviously most women have worn a pair of yoga pants before and I haven't worn them, I was like, "Oh, my God. Now I get what all the rave is about, you know what I mean?"

They're comfortable.

Like they're so comfy and stretchy and I love them. It was-

Yeah, I wish I had more honestly, even though I don't do yoga every day, they're just nice to wear.

Yeah, exactly.

Have you ever had like any kind of interaction from a follower that stands out to you regarding a product? Like something kind of elevated or, I don't know, I just wasn't sure if there was like something that stood out to you when you were representing a product that someone said like, "Yeah, because of you I bought kombucha."

Yeah, I mean off the top of my head there's nothing that necessarily stands out. But I do get a lot of people asking questions about the products like, "Oh, what do you think?" And even sometimes I'm not even, they're not even... I just happened to be drinking it or using whatever it is. It didn't come directly from the company. It's just I'm trying it out myself and people are asking, too, you know what I mean? And it's people, I just tell them what I thought of it. And for the most part, like if I'm using it, it's something that I like, you know what I mean? And I just give them my honest feedback and opinion. And just like you mentioned earlier, you then went and got like the probiotic drink, you know what I mean? It's just the same thing. And I do the same. I see things myself and I go, "Yeah, I'm going to give that a try." Just get ideas and...

Yeah. What advice would you give brands in finding micro-influencers if they don't want to hire an agency to identify a really good fit?

Yeah, I mean for me personally, just have a person reach out to them directly just like in anything. I treat Instagram like I treat the real world. Like with all my followers, with people, I just communicate with them. Then just be authentic, like whether you're commenting on their posts, like don't have your end goal in mind. Get to know the person, reach out to them and just say, "Hey, we love your stuff," and just direct message them. They're not going to not respond. Especially if you're a brand looking to send them stuff or talk to them about potential. Yeah, just that's just how I am. You know what I mean? I don't know if you have different thoughts, but just being authentic and just reaching out to them. That's the best way to go about it.

I agree. I agree.

And not seem scripted, just in that you've sent this post to hundreds of other people, you know what I mean? Make it personal. Just like in sales, like we were both in sales and it's the same.

The 20 minutes goes so fast talking with you Ronan. Thank you so much. You've given us two really great episodes getting to know you and getting to understand a little more about micro-influencers and we thank you. Have a great day everyone. Thanks for being here.

Thank you. Bye-bye.

Thanks for listening to the All Social Y'all Podcast. For free resources and materials, head over to allsocialyall.com. That's allsocial Y-A-L-L.com. Also, we'd love to hear from you. What subject areas would you like to hear about in future episodes? You can share that with us by dropping me a comment on our website or in Instagram @AllSocialYall.