Influencer Marketing Specialist

Viktoria Egger is a digital growth, content & influencer marketing specialist. She has more than 15 years’ experience in Online marketing. Viktoria is not just a specialist in Influencer marketing in Austria, but also, she is a business entrepreneur. After working in the Forbes 500 company as a digital marketing specialist, she decided to create her own agency. Since then, Viktoria has built a strong digital agency, not to mention that she has her blogazine and an online shop. We talked to Viktoria about how she started as an entrepreneur, her agency and more important influencer relations

Tell us about yourself

Since I was 13 years old my dream was to do something with computers. That was in the early 90ies, so it wasn't clear what computers will be in the future. So in those days, everyone was telling me that I will need to have a degree in computing or start building up my computers. What I actually did and besides that, I started my first own PHP-forum that at some point had 2500 members - at that time a huge number. I studied business administration hoping that someday I will be able to work on the internet - what actually happened. At the end of my studies, I had a lot of luck, got a job in a Forbes 500 company in the event marketing, and had the best boss you can have: someone who supports your talents and needs. Thanks to him I got the job I always wanted: a digital marketing specialist. After some time there and many changes in my job, at some point, I lost all my energy because I couldn't cope with those unexpected changes. At that time that I realized that I wanted to work with small remote teams, with customers that care personally and new topics. I had already a good working blog, so I decided to jump into it and try to be my own boss. I remember being scared to death. That was more than 8 years ago - I love my job. Since then I have built up a small digital agency and an online shop / blogazine and love to work with my customers on their projects.

Tell us about the challenges to start your own agency

There are so many. I think the first 2 years there were only challenges and there still is a lot. The biggest challenges were to find out how to meet my customers, finding my pricing strategy, and to say "no" to customers and people who aren't meant to work with me. This is something that everyone needs to learn and I had terrible times with that - and still have. 

Which advice would you give to someone who wants to open their own Digital agency?

Do it and don't hurry. Take your time to work it out and grow slow.

How do you see the Influencer Relations world in times of Covid-19?

Well, I am not sure if this will last. But at the moment quality goes over quantity- and I love that. I am someone who hates short-timed influencer marketing, as I don't think that it works out as well as long-term projects. I believe you need to work long term with people, get to know them, and create campaigns together. So at the moment, it seems like we are heading in the right direction and this is a good thing. But I am not sure if this will last, as many people try to "make money fast" at the moment, so it might be that we will see a lot of bad short-timed, sales-driven influencer campaigns with no soul. But we will see.

How are you re-inventing yourself in these hard times?

I love to help people to create the life & work they love. So while normally I don't have time to create a lot of content, I am using this more or less "quiet times" to create a lot of it. I started my own YouTube Channel for digital businesses, I am creating content for customers, I am creating Webinars, Online Courses, and more. Simultaneously I am pushing my own products and trying all those digital growth hacks I teach with my own online shop to give better advice to others.

Tell us about your work with influencers

I am working with influencers since the first day I started my own business. I have been a blogger for more than 10 years now and the influencer marketing has changed a lot ( lucky us!) I love to work in this field because I am a firm believer that, if you find the right hearted person for your products and services, who creates the right content, you really can achieve all those goals that mostly need a lot of time and energy, faster. Don't understand me wrong: it's not easy and it's not done just looking for some influencers and working with them. It needs time, needs energy and you really need to know what you need to do along the customer journey. But done right it is such an incredible tool and I love to work with those minds: the influencers and those marketing teams or business owners who want to achieve their marketing and sales goals.

Which characteristics an influencer should have nowadays?

Authenticity, Trustfulness, and a huge heart for the community she/he serves. Because those people are the reason why someone is an influencer. 

Tell us the Do’s and the Don’ts in Influencer Marketing

There are many things, but at the moment the following come into my mind:

Do: Find your perfect match influencers, work long term, work together, and create together, don't forget storytelling and do ads.

Don't: work fast, work short term, create typical first decade 2020 influencer content (those posts we all hate), don't forget that you are working with humans, and talking to humans.

Which criteria should a person have to choose an Influencer

You always should be open-minded and look beyond the boundaries you think your brand/product/services have. Most of the time the influencer you think you like for your brand isn't the influencer your brand needs. Look at the data, look at the stories, the wording, the picture, the vibes.. and try to imagine how your target group would react to the influencer. And don't forget to ask the influencer what she thinks.

NEON16 Talent incubator

Fernanda Arcay is the head of marketing for the talent incubator NEON16. She is from Venezuela and she has worked in the music industry for many years. Fernanda clients include singers like Mau y Ricky, Darell, Abraham Mateo, Maffio, Pipe Bueno, Alex Rose, Feid, Ivy Queen, Jhay Cortez, and many others. Not to mention, that she take the artists to all the awards like Billboard Latino, Latin Grammys, LAMAS, Premios Juventud, Premio lo Nuestro.

We talked to Fernanda to know more about her career as head of marketing, and how NEON16 work as a talent incubator.

Dear Fernanda tell us about yourself 

I'm a proud Latina from Venezuela, I have been living in the US for four years now. I graduated Cum Laude from the University of South Florida with a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications. During my first summer at USF, I applied for an internship in Public Relations agency, Beats Communications. I wanted to stay active and productive during the summer, and this was my best option. During my months there, I realized that I found my passion and what I really like to do in life - which is music. Music makes me feel inspired and helping others achieve their dreams, and being part of that gives me the utmost satisfaction. Since then, I decided that the path I wanted to take in both my life and career. I have always been a very creative person, and I've always enjoyed music in all its senses, different genres: from Reggeaton to Pop to Rap. I like to soak in different cultures through music. You can also learn a lot about someone by looking at their music tastes.

Tell us about NEON16

NEON16 is a talent incubator based in Miami, FL. The funny thing about NEON16 was that when it first opened up, I remember I looked at their socials and told my sister to take a look at this brand new and cool company, I never thought I would end up being part of the team.

NEON16 has in their roster #1 Latin producer, TAINY. The creative genius that he is, he is responsible for worldwide hit records such as "Callaita" with Bad Bunny, Cardi B's "I Like It", Bad Bunny's "x100pre" album and recently "YHLQMDLG" as well as "Las Que No Iban A Salir". He is also responsible for producing "I Can't Get Enough" alongside Benny Blanco, Selena Gomez, and J Balvin, as well as co-producing Justin Bieber's "Habitual".

Additionally, NEON16 counts with an amazing set of producers and songwriters - responsible for other massive hits in Latin music. We are currently developing new artists that will for sure leave their mark in the music industry: Colombian Dylan Fuentes and Puerto Rican Kris Floyd.

 What's great from NEON16 is that we do everything differently. Our approach stands out from the rest both music-wise and creatively, and we have done outstanding music events that no one has ever done before, like the first E-Gaming Tournament experience with A-level artists. It really is a company that brings everything to the table and continues to break boundaries.

Tell us about your duties as a Head of Marketing and communication for NEON16

My daily duties involve from deciding budgets for digital campaigns to run for our different artists to working hand in hand with our creative & communications teams on deciding what design is better, reviewing and approving written communications to distribute, coordinating social media assets and calendars without the digital team, as well as overall coordinating with everyone in the team and making sure everything gets done. I also have to coordinate with our partnered record labels on release dates, times, streaming platforms support, etc. I would say that I do a little bit of everything.

Tell us about your experience in Billboard Latino 

I have attended multiple Latin Billboard Awards, and I have always had a great experience. During these award weeks, you can feel the adrenaline and passion heightened. Being surrounded by music and people from the music industry for several consecutive days and 24/7 makes me feel even better and makes me feel I made the right decision about working in this industry.

What about the Latin Grammys?

The Latin GRAMMYs are also another surreal experience. I guess you never get used to it, walking down the red carpets and having huge stars beside you, or going to rehearsals and having that intimate experience with the artists that are there. Like I was mentioning before, being surrounded by people that feel the same passion for music like you do, makes the experience that much better. Listening to exclusive performances and interviews makes you learn a lot as well. Latin Grammy's are always something that I look forward to.

How does NEON16 select the artist to work with?

NEON16 is always looking for new artists and music. We are open to listening to everyone and giving everyone a chance to send in their music. During quarantine, we had this "NEON16 Stay At Home Series", where each day a member from our team would go live and give advice to those aspiring artists, producers, composers, etc. We even had "A&R Thursdays", where our Head of A&R would listen to hundreds of music submissions and give his thoughts on the records. It was a great & prolific activity.

What is the next step for Neon16 

NEON16 is definitely a company that will continue to break musical boundaries and barriers. We are always trying to stay one step ahead in the game, trying to take our music and creativity to the next level - and we have been successful in doing so. We will continue pushing ourselves even further so we can all achieve our dreams and goals.

To know more about NEON16, please click here