FameBit extended the reach of advertisers into social media last week when it launched the latest version of its self-service platform to reach Instagram, Vine and Twitter.
“The reason why we branched off is because our YouTubers had audiences on these other platforms,” said Agnes Kozera, co-founder and chief operating officer at FameBit, the Santa Monica-based influencer marketing platform.
YouTube is great for posting tutorials, reviews and educational videos surrounding any product. But those same people who make the videos are also active in other branches of social media. Instagram is where that personality shows pictures of what they like. Vine is where a short, funny video gets posted, or Twitter is where their wit shines.
Tapping into these branches of social media allows advertisers to further leverage their brands beyond, but in concert with, YouTube. Each branch of social media hits a different audience that can be reached by a brand, Kozera noted.
Talent Hunt
YouTube still is a good place to mine that talent, but before FameBit there was no tool to find that talent, short of manually clicking through a lot of YouTube videos,Kozera explained. FameBit solves that problem by offering a venue where advertisers (buyers) can meet talent (sellers). An advertiser may post a campaign for a product and show how much money they are willing to pay for a video, tweet, skit or picture. YouTube “influencers” can click on those offers and deliver those projects. FameBit holds the money in escrow until the advertiser accepts the project, whereupon the funds are released to the talent.
Here is where FameBit parts company with traditional advertising: numbers. To get the most eyeballs on an ad, hire a celebrity whose fame helps sell the product. In YouTube terms, these are people with five million subscribers. Instead, FameBit seeks YouTube talent with at least 1,000 subscribers. “The sweet spot is 50,000 to 5000,000,” said Kozera. “They are not necessarily big celebrities, but are people who are passionate about a certain product.”
People who get past the 1,000-level are not dabblers, but consistent producers of product, Kozera noted. “We see that you are creating good content, whether you have 5,000 or 50,000.”
Safety in Numbers
Using FameBit, an advertiser can hire 25 or 50 YouTube “producers,” each one crafting their own ad, but each reaching their own circle of friends plus fans. “We see what works,” Kozera said. This is A/B testing using every letter of the alphabet.
“It’s definitely cheaper,” Kozera said. Celebrities can only be hired for a premium. “You pay a star price to work with them.” she said.
The other advantage of smaller personalities is the way they relate to their subscribers. Such people, when they reach their subscribers through social media, are communicating “something organic and authentic,” Kozera said. “The ‘middle’ works for brands.”
One example Kozera offered of using mass to reach the masses was Space Age Games. Working with 50 people on YouTube, the company managed to get 1.5 million gamers to redeem coupons, and generated 2 million views for its online game product. Now couple that with other branches of social media, like Twitter, Instagram and
Vine. “The more talked about, the more trendy you are,” Kozera said.
Content once posted to the Internet has a long life. “It’s not forever, but it is as long as you keep it up there, usually one year for a brand.” Kozera said.
And this takes on some depth when you consider another fact Kozera pointed out: YouTube is the Web’s second largest search engine.
