Digital Media Wire brought together a panel of platform executives, media strategists, creators, and influencers to discuss strategies for navigating through the current quarantine, adapting to a changing landscape, and finding success in their endeavors.
David Bloom, a Senior Contributor at Forbes, moderated the panel The Power of Influence: Developing Effective Strategies for Creators, Streamers & Influencers.
Peter Letz, Agent for Digital Media – Gaming at CAA, recommended overall diversification for online personalities, with a focus on diversifying methods of communication with fans, as well as, diversification of monetization opportunities.
In regards to the changes that should be expected in the post-coronavirus world, Amelia Hall, Strategy Director at Deutsch, drew attention to new media formats emerging and yet to come. Additionally, she foresees the tightening of music and gaming.
As the major platforms change, creators will need to become brands to survive as businesses. Financial success is going to be in custom brand deals, not programmatic ad placement.
For the platform executives, the moderator asked them about the most interesting people using their platforms.
Lester Chen, Head of Gaming Content Partnerships Americas at YouTube, highlighted Red Bull for the bleeding edge content that takes advantage of the various formats available online.
Jonathan Flesher, Head of Business Development at Discord, cited the lack of ads on his company’s communication platform which has, as the maxim goes, fueled ingenuity by necessity.
“By our nature, you have to get creative to manufacture your touchpoints, and the most creative things are coming from developers,” Flesher said.
As an experienced creator/streamer, Craig “Mini Ladd” Thompson, CEO of ML Entertainment, offered a simple recommendation for successful collaborations between influencers and brands.
The messaging needs to be “genuine through creative freedom” which results in a quality call-to-action.
With Nintendo as one of Deutsch’s clients, Hall provided some insight into the history between the gaming industry and social platforms, with an obvious shift in perception of the latter by the former over the recent years.
“Gaming is for IP, social media is for friends,” Hall said.
Now that shift has allowed for one to cascade into the other, as consumers can share their gaming experiences on social media.
“Now you can create content in the game and share it online to boost your brand and influence,” Hall said.
One noteworthy company participating in the advantages of both gaming and social media is the fast-food restaurant chain Wendy’s.
“Wendy’s is getting brave, having developed their own character in [Animal Crossing],” said Hall.
We got our own Animal Crossing island. Get some Wendy’s delivered and come hang out with us! https://t.co/P0GZ7DIn5g pic.twitter.com/fVAdVfdQ8f
— Wendy's (@Wendys) March 23, 2020
From that, they’ve asked fans on Twitter to engage with them, stream on Twitch, and rather than be seen as a sellout, fans saw it as interesting and innovative.
