Business Ownership: Origin Story + Week 1 Recap
Earlier this week on March 8th (which just so happened to be International Women’s Day!) I formally announced to my industry friends and colleagues I had started my own business. This idea has been years in the making and Friday feels like an appropriate day for story time, right? Let’s go back to the beginning:
In late 2018/early 2019, I had a surprising visit from the Idea Fairy. Have you heard of her? In my mind she looks an awful lot like a cross between the Tooth Fairy and Tinkerbell (the latter being my favorite Disney ‘Princess’…yes, I realize she’s not an actual princess!). Influencer Marketing was making a strong and fast rise in the industry ranks going from side hustles to business empires for many, many women. As a Millennial, I’ve always been onboard with the ever-growing role the Internet has had on our daily lives and I was what you might call an Early Adopter with buying directly from Facebook Ads back then. It helps, for sure, that I’ve been the ‘buyer’ in my family and friend circle. As a child my mom jokes that I had the “I wants” for everything when we went to a store, I’d find something I wanted everywhere I went…sorry mom! And as an adult, for reference Facebook started their ad platform in 2007, I would use my Blackberry to make in-app purchases and synced my PayPal account as soon as I could to make checking out easier. I LOVED eBay - some of my first purchases were actually Christmas Tinkerbell ornaments to grow my collection. (These early purchases were not without their #fail moments by any means - this 2012 “Mrs. Frosty” Halloween costume? Was supposed to be a beautiful, chic white dress that ended up being half shiny satin and half see-through and way too short for my modest preferences. I repurposed and made the best of it IMO!)
Back to the Idea Fairy. As I was witnessing the success of women all over the internet, I was inspired by the notion of having what appeared to be the best of both worlds; a way to become financially stable and independent doing something you loved. Now don’t get me wrong, I LOVE working in marketing research ever since I took my first advertising course during my undergrad program…but up until very recently I haven’t been my own boss. So, the first ember of The Social Question idea came in the form of a way to merge my two loves together: social media (specifically Instagram) with marketing research. I immediately started putting methodologies together and tried to worm my way into offering research opportunities to clients and influencers of varying size. I was approaching the merging of the ideas from a traditional research perspective which was not working…for a number of reasons:
How do you ‘screen’ an Influencer? Most MR recruit firms didn’t and still don’t have a high volume of individuals with a large following.
Direct outreach was sketchy. Sure, some people would respond to my DMs, though not many. I would spend hours looking for the right person for a project with little dialogue manifesting.
How do you pay an influencer for an interview or a focus group? Turns out…you don’t. I once offered someone $700 for a 60-minute interview (looking at ‘super expert’ level recruits for comparison) and was still turned down.
Transparency is incredibly important for most in this space; versus in MR, we often blind the end client from the discussion or survey. This made conversations about the opportunity tricky.
Influencers want to create content. Anything that takes them offline isn’t usually worth their time even with a paid ‘gig.’
The industry is primed for SELLING not LEARNING. At least not directly. Platforms do exist for Influencer Marketing partnerships…and they come with big price tags compared to traditional recruit services. Plus - this idea to collaborate and not sell is still very new for many content creators. Is it too good to be true?
What I was learning after each failed attempt was that a traditional approach wasn’t going to be successful. I needed to do more homework and think more creatively. Between 2019 and 2021 I stopped pushing the idea forward and started doing my own bit of investigative observation. Being a mixed method consumer researcher, I would gobble up any secondary reporting I could find, increased my own presence on Instagram, attended conferences and virtual seminars, and took notes. Lots of notes. 2020 was a breakthrough year for engagement on Instagram. The year before, various ways to poll followers had been released (fast forward, just this week Instagram made an update to their polls and questions features for Stories). I have noticed some brands including quantitative polls in their #ads and #partnerships and yes…I have the screenshots! (So many screenshots.) And another thing I noticed? Influencers were taking note of the responses themselves and use these tools, plus annual audience surveys, to learn more about what their followers want. Embracing how data can positively impact social media entertainment? FINALLY! We’re getting closer!
Last summer I made a bold move to act on this idea. If you are familiar with the Idea Fairy, you know she only loans you the idea and for an undisclosed amount of time. It’s completely up to you to act on it and she’s in her right to transfer the idea to another willing host at any moment. I could feel her starting to take flight and it gave me the push I needed. I was going to go ‘offline’ to meet with the women who inspired me ‘online.’ What an adrenaline rush! The women I worked up a nerve to actually chat with were incredibly supportive and open to my idea:
A way to monetize your account without selling ads yet still offering a way to engage and show up.
And thus, The Social Question had officially been born! Influencers are natural moderators (which may make professional qualitative moderators a bit queasy). Example after example shows us that influencers are using the Stories Q&A response box for all kinds of topics and content and to learn more from their audience. The drawback? Analyzing the incoming data wave with no direct assistance from Instagram is incredibly challenging. While dialoguing with followers comes naturally, analyzing the responses and data does not. There is a natural fatigue to being able to review the thousands (yes, many of these boxes procure thousands of responses in less than 24 hours…a researchers dream <3). This information is virtually untapped without the appropriate resources to support influencers and brands into interpreting the data.
The Social Question is a marriage between qualitative research, quantitative surveying, social intelligence data, and a creator’s content. By becoming a Question Host, an Influencer simply discloses that instead of an advertisement or ‘link’ to purchase, they are being paid to host a question. The responses will be shared with TSQ to analyze the responses and find themes, but the usernames and profiles are not part of the paid data exchange. By opting in and participating with the response, we also offer cash giveaways. A virtual and literal ‘win-win’ for Influencers and their audience.
One of the biggest consumer complaints in history is not feeling heard by companies who make the products and services they buy and use. Every day, millions of opinions and considerations are flowing through the Instagram platform and the feedback is not being realized. The next generation of engagement is primed to take the Influencer and Follower relationship full circle.
So…back to present day :)
March 11th, 2022 marks the first five days of being an independent, woman-owned business. This week I had:
1, 276 video impressions on my LinkedIn announcement post
25 Video networking calls introducing this idea to industry colleagues
5 Industry volunteer meetings
4 Technology meetings discussing tools and resources to further TSQ’s reach and capabilities
2 Research proposals submitted (Statuses: 1 ‘lost’ proposal and 1 'maybe’ proposal)
1 Blog post written & published under the official TSQ new blog :)
I cannot WAIT to see what is in store for the future of The Social Question and the service offerings to support both sides of the relationship. Thank you for supporting my passion and reading this far. More updates coming soon!
Cheers!
Kayte