Ryan Alford

It's been around longer than you think, but it's evolved.

It's definitely changed.

What's your view just on influencer marketing and the evolution of it?

With TV declining, like linear TV, social media doing what it's done, it's been rising a long time, podcasting rising, all these mediums.

It's almost becoming individual influencers or people are almost the TV stations of today.

It's fascinating because it's almost like reality TV meets social media meets authority meets celebrity.

It's this combination of things that makes it the content entertainment that people want to watch or even education because even TV was used for education and entertainment.

And now influencers are the new CBS, ABC, NBC.

I don't know if you've ever thought about it like that.

What's been your experience now having the agency and working with more of the self-made influencers, I imagine, and the ones that do it?

It seems like in a way, not everyone's good necessarily in front of the camera and the mic, but what's the balance between what's necessary to be an influencer?

You've got micro influencers, you've got big influencers, all that.

It's hard for me to divide the line because people always go, should I just be an influencer?

Does this enter into your foray much?

You've got to have something to offer.

Yeah, that's the evolution right there.

It's gotten a little better with people recognizing that just the sports cars and beach photos and all the aspirational content versus the meaningful, truly building a community.

That's where you see the divide of the ironically the haves and the have nots.

Show me what's seemingly a well-made, thoughtful, yet underproduced video, and I'll show you who's probably making six figures versus the opposite of the beach photos and everything else, who's probably living the reverse lifestyle.

Do you think with most people or brands trying to build the movement and trying to get that universe, where does the pitfalls come?