A Modern Matchmaker: Getting the Right Brand to the Right Blogger

It all started with an enlightened professor. Kristen Wiley was studying advertising and public relations in college and in her very first class, Intro to Advertising, this professor tells his students to "learn everything you can about social media. Start a blog. It doesn't matter what you write about, just do it.” So she did. She wrote about what she loved…crafts and food. And the rest, as they say, is history.

That blog started Kristen on the road to influencer-dom. While working for an SEO and content marketing agency, she was fortuitously handed responsibility for influencer marketing when clients requested it. She sums it up: “My boss said ‘here's a budget, go find a platform and do it.’ " So she did.

But as she did, she noticed something. The smaller influencers were having the biggest impact on the agency side but the platforms were all catering to the big influencers and to the brands. She felt there was a missing link…and a missed opportunity. 

She reflected on her early days as an influencer and how, once she had a following and a little traction, brands would reach out to her. But often they were totally off base for her interests and her followers. She thought there should be a way to connect the right brand with the right blogger, to cut down on wasted products, wasted time and wasted opportunities from both sides of the equation. “Someone should start a business to fix this,” she thought. So she did.

Statusphere connects influencers and brands in ways that make sense for both. Their platform uses a monthly subscription box, letting influencers pick the types of products they want to receive, use and promote. Kristen describes this approach as “influencer marketing meets Birch Box meets Match.com.” They are also very careful about vetting influencers, with a rigorous three-step application process that includes both human and algorithm pieces to weed out fake followers and bots. This carefully curated approach is efficient, timely and productive all around. 

Kristen thinks the coolest part of influencer marketing is that it allows consumers to really be the advertisers, picking what they want to promote and letting the best products rise to the top. Listen to our complete episode with Kristen on the beginnings of Statusphere and hear how she did it…and how she’s doing it.

Find the full episode at WhereBrainsMeetBeauty.com, iTunes and Google Play. Follow us on Instagram @wherebrainsmeetbeautypodcast for exclusive off-air content.