In this episode, Jay discusses Facebook’s newest feature, Facebook Shops, and how it will impact eCommerce and influencer marketing. Facebook has been slowly creeping into the eCommerce world with features like Marketplace and Instagram Shopping. Now they are launching arguably their biggest step into the eCommerce universe, Shops. It comes at a time when small businesses are reeling due to the COVID-19 pandemic and as Facebook continues to add offerings to help small businesses. This free featu...
May 28, 2020•13 min•Ep 20•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Ramon discusses how brands can still grow without ads, and why it’s important to be not fully reliant on them. Social ads have become a powerful tool to grow brands. For many brands, adding a Facebook pixel and creating retargeting campaigns is the next step after building your website. While this can be an effective way to grow your brand, it’s expensive and puts your business at the mercy of platforms like Facebook. Positioning yourself as a thought leader, and a master of you...
May 22, 2020•7 min•Ep 19•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Jay and Ramon are joined by guest Raphael Paulin-Daigle, Founder & CEO of SplitBase . SplitBase specializes in building high-converting landing pages and strong on-site experiences for eCommerce brands. With SplitBase’s experience in landing page optimization, Jay and Ramon join forces with Raphael to discuss how brands can get even more for their influencer marketing efforts using personas. One-to-one marketing, or at least the idea of it, has become increasingly important as c...
May 21, 2020•20 min•Ep 18•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Jay and Ramon discuss how you can set up your eCommerce store and make your first sale. Despite current events, eCommerce is at an all-time high. Shopify is reporting record earnings while web hosting companies like GoDaddy are seeing the same. Since consumers can’t shop in-store as easily as they could before, they are now turning to online shopping to get purchase products. That’s creating a huge opportunity for brands to capture new customers by going digital. We’ll discuss h...
May 14, 2020•30 min•Ep 17•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Jay and Ramon discuss how to create a strong relationship between brands and influencers. Most brands try to persuade influencers to join their campaign through wither brand recognition or by paying them. But does that really create an authentic relationship? When brands do influencer marketing this way, they end up spending a ton of money and time trying to convince influencers and creators to produce content for them. But there has to be a better way to get brands the creators...
May 07, 2020•18 min•Ep 16•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Jay and Ramon discuss the potential end of the influencer era. Or at least that’s what everyone’s calling it. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, many brands are holding their wallets tight. As a result, some influencers are finding it increasingly difficult to find partnerships and brand deals. A few writers are now referring to deals drying up as a sign that the influencer era may be coming to an end. With an increasingly difficult ability to create content in different locations...
Apr 30, 2020•17 min•Ep 15•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Jay goes through a list of questions all brands should ask before selecting an influencer marketing platform to use. As the influencer marketing industry has grown, so have the number of platforms to manage influencers. There are now 100s of platforms out on the market. Many brands are now turning to influencer marketing platforms to help scale their efforts and evolve their in-house processes. Even though jumping to a platform can be appealing, you should make sure you truly ne...
Apr 22, 2020•13 min•Ep 14•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Ramon discusses how to create an influencer marketing campaign that generates an ROI and why it’s so important to pay creators. Many brands brag about working with influencers just for exchange of product. By doing this, brands do not value the efforts of the influencers which can lead to poor outcomes. The brands that are doing influencer marketing the best lean in on their roots and their story. They are able to effectively communicate how influencers should capture their prod...
Apr 16, 2020•5 min•Ep 13•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Jay and Ramon discuss content creators, influencers, and content studios. Some people confuse content creators with influencers and blend them together as one thing. While it’s true that there are some similarities between the two, there are some key differences. Creators focus more on the content, centering their attention on high-quality content, while influencers tend to focus more on the sharing aspect of the content. And what’s this all got to do with content studios? Well,...
Apr 09, 2020•22 min•Ep 12•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Jay discusses marketing strategies for first-time and long-time eCommerce stores. The eCommerce market is predicted to grow to $6.5 trillion over the next two years. A number which could be even higher as eCommerce sales soar due to the coronavirus. As the market gets more competitive, it will be tougher for brands to keep, and grow their market share Many eCommerce marketers rave about running pay-per-click ads but that’s not the only way to grow your business. Having other str...
Apr 06, 2020•15 min•Ep 11•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Jay and Ramon discuss ideas for keeping your Instagram busy. Customers are 68% more likely to recommend your brand to their friends if they find your Instagram engaging. Instagram is still a leading platform for eCommerce and it’s only becoming bigger. With shopping, swipe ups, and stories, Instagram is leading the charge for connecting brands with audiences and driving sales. On the influencer side, Instagram continues to be the best platform for opportunities. So, how do you k...
Mar 26, 2020•24 min•Ep 10•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Jay and Ramon discuss how Coronavirus will impact US eCommerce. COVID-19 is having a heavy impact on the US economy and consumer habits. With most retail stores closing, consumers have turned to eCommerce to provide their goods. Consumer habits are also in the process of changing as more people find themselves with extra time at home and time savings from working at home. Some brands are embracing the shift and putting more effort into eCommerce and getting creative on how they ...
Mar 20, 2020•20 min•Ep 9•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Jay discusses influencer marketing expectations for brands and influencers. Whether you are creating your first influencer campaign, have been burned on influencer marketing, are experienced, or are working with a brand for the first time, you need to make sure you have the right expectations. The rise of social media has introduced a new channel of marketing, influencer marketing. This channel has become extremely popular among brands and influencers. Most brands now say they h...
Mar 18, 2020•18 min•Ep 8•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Jay and Ramon discuss whether influencer marketing actually works. SPOILER: It does. Influencer marketing has seen tremendous growth over the past few years, growing at more than a $1 billion per year. 89% of marketers say they receive comparable or better ROI when using influencer marketing while the average return on influencer campaigns is more than $5 for every $1 spent. Instagram has become the biggest channel for influencer marketing with Instagram influencers benefiting a...
Mar 11, 2020•21 min•Ep 7•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Jay discusses 17 things you can copy to improve your Shopify store. Online retail continues to grow at blazing speed. With Gen Z spending almost twice the amount as millennials on online shopping, it’s clear that online retail isn’t going anywhere. With so many stores popping up, it’s important for your brand to stand out in what might be considered a sea of sameness. We’ll take a look at 15 of the most successful Shopify stores today and give you some actionable tips that you c...
Mar 05, 2020•21 min•Ep 6•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Jay and Ramon discuss user-generated content (UGC) and its role in building audiences for both brands and influencers. Brands and influencers are always trying to create engaging content to grow their audiences. To create the most engaging content, brands and influencers have turned to user-generated content due to its authenticity and its ability to connect with audiences. UGC is especially important for brands as it has been proven to be highly influential in the purchasing de...
Feb 27, 2020•24 min•Ep 5•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Jay and Ramon discuss two viral campaigns, Barstool Sports Zillion Beers and Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s meme campaign. The Zillion Beers challenge started from Barstool employee named Dana tweeting about drinking a zillion beers while working. Barstool’s president Dave Portnoy called out Dana and Dana responded by saying if he could sell $100k in merch that Dave would have to leave him alone and give him a cut. That bet quickly turned into a $1 million bet for $100k. As of recording...
Feb 19, 2020•18 min•Ep 4•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Jay and Ramon discuss Casper’s IPO launch and how it’s been built on influencers. Casper is the first company to mention in their S-1 filing that influencers adversely affect the brand and subject them to penalties. They are also the most recent money-losing “unicorn” to go public. We’ve seen it with Uber and Lyft, both of which haven’t gone so well. It’s incredible that Casper reached a $1 billion valuation, sometimes selling themselves as a tech company with an app, podcast ad...
Feb 13, 2020•27 min•Ep 3•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Jay and Ramon discuss KOLs, more commonly known as key opinion leaders. KOLs have become increasingly important in China due to a distrust of advertising from brands. They have some similarities with influencers in the sense of the power of their voices but their goals tend to differ. Key opinion leaders are viewed as experts in their field and their presence drives credibility and sales to a brand. We’ll discuss KOLs play an important role in influencer marketing in China along...
Feb 07, 2020•20 min•Ep 2•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Jay and Ramon discuss the power of everyday influencers. When most people think of influencers they think of celebrities. Often left out are everyday influencers. They are the hidden gems of Instagram. They live normal lives, which makes them highly relatable, but they have a specific passion that post about, such as baking, fashion, the best restaurants around town – you name it. As a result, they have built an audience that is interested and trusts them when it comes to that s...
Jan 29, 2020•24 min•Ep 1•Transcript available on Metacast 
