Welcome back to this week's Influencer Dashboard newsletter!
This is Amanda Perelli, writing to you from home, and here's an update on what's new in the business of influencers and creators.
This week, my colleague Dan Whateley spoke to the founder of "Drip Crib," a new TikTok influencer group and collab house, on his strategy to try and turn a profit.
As TikTok stars move to Los Angeles to pursue careers in entertainment, many are getting houses together and forming creator "collectives."
The influencer group is renting a mansion listed at $18,900 per month, located in the heart of Los Angeles' social-media scene, just a few minutes away from the Hype House and residences of top YouTubers like Logan Paul and James Charles.
The founder, influencer and musician Devion Young, broke down:
* How to start a TikTok house – like securing a lease and recruiting talent.
* Establishing house rules, which can include content quotas.
* His investment plans and how he plans to pay for the house through brand deals.
In the competitive TikTok "collab" house world, Drip Crib is effectively a startup. The house's TikTok account has around 35,000 followers compared to the 15.2 million fans who follow the Hype House and 2.9 million followers of Sway LA's TikTok account. (Read the full post here.)
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Travel Instagram influencers are finding new ways to earn money with the industry frozen and are moving into categories like food and fitness
The influencer industry has seen a downturn in recent weeks, especially for those primarily working in the travel category.
I spoke with several travel influencers and industry experts about how the coronavirus had affected their businesses and which strategies they were focusing on to continue to earn revenue and build up readership.
Audiences online aren't searching for the same content as before, but they are still there and hungry for other types that are more relevant to life at home.
Christina Vidal, a travel influencer, said she had experienced a major hit to her digital business in recent weeks.
To stay afloat financially, she decided to pivot and focus on what her audience would be more interested in right now, like easy recipes and a quarantine gift-giving guide – and she's not alone in having to make drastic changes to her content.
Read the full post for more on how travel influencers have pivoted business here.
8 ways YouTube and Instagram influencers are earning money besides advertising, as brand sponsorships stall
Direct ad revenue from YouTube can prove unreliable — especially if a creator's videos contain controversial content — so many influencers are getting smart about finding ways to diversify.
Dan and I broke down the 8 main ways influencers across YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok are making money without relying on income from YouTube ads or brand sponsorships.
Some of the new ways creators have been turning their followers into paying customers (especially while social distancing) are by sending personalized video messages to fans through the app Cameo or creating a subscription-based membership program through Patreon.
These types of revenue streams are more important than ever for influencers with the ad meltdown currently happening because of the pandemic.
Read the full post for a breakdown of the 8 main ways influencers are making money without ads, here.
How to use Instagram direct messages to reach top influencers and celebs, according to a CEO who has used DMs to land clients like TikTok star Addison Rae
Unlike LinkedIn or Twitter, on Instagram users can direct message anyone – no matter how famous they are.
I spoke to Chris Vaccarino, the founder and CEO of the influencer-focused e-commerce company Fanjoy, on his tips for reaching influencers via Instagram DM.
Messaging on Instagram is a main way the company has signed some of its clients — like TikTok stars Addison Rae Easterling (nearly 40 million followers) and Alex Warren (10 million followers), along with Netflix's "The Circle" star Joey Sasso (728,000 Instagram followers).
Vaccarino said to get someone's attention on Instagram, long paragraphs won't do, and explained why the company relies on DMs more than emails or cold-calling.
"Super simple, to be consumed within 5 to 10 seconds," Vaccarino said of a good DM. "It can't be paragraphs."
Read the full post on how he contacts top influencers and why he swears by this technique here.
What else happened on BI Prime:
*
The creative agency execs behind one of TikTok's most successful ad campaigns explain how they capture Gen-Z's attention with original music and dance choreography: Dan spoke to the agency's cofounders Evan Horowitz and Geoffrey Goldberg to learn more about their strategy for running music-based ads on TikTok and what's caught their interest on the app in recent weeks.
*
A TikTok talent group and esports team are betting that gaming will be the app's next break-out category. Here's their plan to connect video game brands with TikTok's Gen-Z audience: Dan spoke to the esports and gaming company RekTGlobal and the CEO of TalentX Gaming to learn more about their plan to grow gaming talent on TikTok.
*
5 YouTube creators break down how much money they earned in a month from the platform: I spoke to several influencers who broke down how much they'd earned in a month from the platform.
This week on Insider's digital culture desk:
*
The man who made the 'Double Rainbow' YouTube video, one of the platform's first viral stars, has died at age 57: Kat Tenbarge reported that Paul "Bear" Vasquez, who made one of the first viral YouTube videos, died on Saturday, May 9, after getting tested for COVID-19.
*
Lifestyle influencer legends Alisha Marie McDonal and Remi Cruz discuss quarantine content making, from poolside Coachella shoots to closet podcast recording: Hanna Lustig spoke to the pair about their podcast and how they are adjusting to working from home.
*
The YouTuber who let a murder hornet sting him says it caused 'searing pain.' Now he says he's done with sting videos: Rachel Greenspan spoke to the wildlife expert and YouTuber Coyote Peterson who said he probably won't be making more intentional bite or sting videos.
*
A Nebraska outlet mall wanted to be a 'laboratory' in the culture war over reopening businesses amid the pandemic, but it became a meme instead: Palmer Haasch wrote that the mall appeared to block reporters on Twitter before deleting its account.
Here's what else we're reading:
*
TikTok is putting steep restrictions on how brands can use music in their videos to preserve the 'authenticity' of the platform: Paige Leskin from Business Insider wrote that TikTok had been rolling out a change to some brands on its platform that limited their access to music and soundtracks they could use in videos.
*
Cash App scammers are impersonating Jeffree Star and David Dobrik in order to fake cash giveaways and defraud people: Aaron Holmes from Business Insider wrote that Cash App scammers were impersonating YouTubers and influencers who frequently run cash giveaways in order to fleece unsuspecting fans.
*
YouTube's FameBit Shutters Self-Service Influencer Marketing Platform To Prioritize In-House Matchmaking: Geoff Weiss from Tubefilter wrote that beginning July 31, FameBit's self-service program would be shuttered.
*
Wannabe influencers are being trained to film a believable YouTube apology video: Julia Alexander from The Verge wrote about the importance behind learning how to come out of a controversy as an influencer.
Thanks for reading! Send me your tips, comments, or questions: aperelli@businessinsider.com.
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