Amanda Perelli

Amazon is the go-to platform for purchases inspired by influencers, new data suggests.An April report by influencer-marketing firm Izea found that 59% of social-media users surveyed said they’d purchased a product after seeing it used by an influencer, and 94% of those consumers had made influencer-inspired purchases on Amazon.This could be bad news for platforms like TikTok and YouTube, which are pushing their own in-app shopping features and leaning heavily on creators to help drive sales. If…

YouTube is trying to enlist its army of creators to grow its shopping business.The problem? Its creators are already making money promoting products through established affiliate-marketing programs, like Amazon’s Influencer Program, LTK, and MagicLinks. YouTube, which launched its YouTube Shopping affiliate program in 2021, has so far struggled to gain meaningful adoption, as Business Insider previously reported.Bridget Dolan, managing director of YouTube Shopping partnerships, told BI the platf…

In an October YouTube video, lifestyle creator Shelby Church talks about quitting Airbnb. Two minutes into the video, an animation of two seltzer cans appears on screen with the text: “This video is brought to you by Bubly.“Church doesn’t acknowledge the 15-second ad as it flies in and out of the video.This new ad structure that’s being incorporated into YouTube and TikTok videos could help generate passive revenue for creators.The company behind the advertisement, Rembrand, wanted to embed bran…

Thanks to the help of her team, TikTok star Alix Earle has attended exclusive events and graced magazines like Cosmopolitan, Nylon, and Elle.Earle landed these opportunities with the help of her publicist. She works with the agency Align PR, which also represents celebrities and influencers like podcasters Cody Ko and Noel Miller, TikTok star Remi Bader, and creator Davis Burleson.Agencies like Align pitch their clients to publications, manage press inquiries, and help shape a client’s overall b…

A company that manages OnlyFans accounts for top influencers, including Tana Mongeau and Abby Rao, has been hit with nine lawsuits from former staffers this year.The lawsuits against Unruly Agency include allegations of wrongful termination, retaliation, and unjust imprisonment.“It is crucial to clarify that these claims have been meticulously reviewed and found to be without merit,” Unruly’s lawyer said in a statement. “The employees are a small subset of outliers of otherwise hundreds that we…

YouTube is betting on social shopping as it ramps up efforts to get creators to link to products below their videos.Last year, YouTube launched an affiliate-marketing program that the company had been quietly testing with a small set of creators since 2021. The program pays creators commissions for the sales they drive through clickable affiliate links.Rivals Instagram and TikTok have both struggled to integrate shopping seamlessly into their platforms. Instagram shut down its native affiliate p…

The way we work has drastically shifted over the past few years. Now companies are learning how to embrace hybrid work while nurturing new hires and increasing productivity.Patricia Gonzales, the chief people officer at the creator-economy startup LTK, told Business Insider about how the company has operated since pivoting mainly to remote work and how it’s shifted to accommodate employees and hires.LTK — formally known as RewardStyle and LiketoKnow.it — is an affiliate-marketing platform for in…

After wrapping up a semester teaching a class on mobile filmmaking at Stanford University, one of Cielo de la Paz’s students, who was an employee at YouTube, connected with her on LinkedIn.It turned out her former student was the product director for a new app YouTube was building, and they were looking for a design lead. De la Paz landed the job in 2022. She helped launch in September the mobile-editing app called YouTube Create in a beta version for Android users.In her role, de la Paz talks t…

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Corey Tonge, a 32-year-old content creator who makes comedy skit videos for YouTube and TikTok. The following has been edited for length and clarity.In 2020, I landed a marketing job for a sports-supplement company where I worked closely with creators.I saw what these creators were making, and I thought, “Holy shit! What am I doing?“So, I started making some comedy skit videos after work. One day, I uploaded a skit about “Grand Theft Auto” th…

Social media just isn’t what it used to be.Instagram carries too much pressure, TikTok is filled with shopping ads, and X (formerly Twitter) is … well, do we even have to go there?Part of why social media feels lackluster is because the social networks that were designed to connect us with people have turned their focus to media — often forgetting the “social” piece.“People crave connection more than ever,” said Tiffany “TZ” Zhong, a founder and VC building a fresh social network for Gen Z calle…