9 Months in 9 Seconds with Jess Sanfilippo!

Jessi Sanfilippo is a popular millennial influencer as well as influencer manager for corporations. She's been in the game since 2008 and has a deep understanding of what brands, as well as influencers, are looking for in order to be successful. She shares all the insight with Rob and Kristen and even talks about how her "9 Months in 9 Seconds" TikTok catapulted her into viral fame!


You can follow Jessi in the following places:

Web
TikTok
Instagram
Facebook
YouTube
Pinterest


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Transcript

Welcome to the content creators chat show, where we invite you to join us in the chat about content creation and influencer marketing. I'm Rob Ainbinder and I'm Kristen Daukas today. We welcome Jesse Sanfilippo to the content creators chat. I see you as co-founder of the totally for professional community. She's an award-winning millennial lifestyle influencer, where there shouldn't lipo platform, as well as CEO and founder of the UpTop agency. Jesse currently resides in the big sky state of Montana. Jesse, welcome to the show.

Hey,

That's for me, um, for having me what a glowing introduction of my, uh, varied, you know, endeavors. I love it.

Yeah. We would have been here for the whole half hour. Have we really gotten into, or just

Wait my intro? Right? You're like serial entrepreneur, influencer woman just never stops. There's always something new. So,

Uh, I think the three of us have that sickness, honestly. Yeah. I was doing an interview, um, over at flywheel. They're making low-hanging fruit again, Rob, um, the first member blog post, and I was the Christy, the young lady that was doing that. Cause she's like, I'm a tell me about this. And now she's like, Oh my God. I'm like, you know, I never think about all the things that I have done or do, but when you start talking about, and you're like, Ooh, yeah, that's a lot.

Yeah, it's crazy. I, I mean, I just did, went through the exercise of updating my personal website just to kind of be like, Oh, well let me just put everything I do into one spot. So I can just kind of whoever I'm talking to, I can see it, just go figure it out, you know, or point them to the specific thing. And I was making a grid on the site of all of the different endeavors and I was like, huh, okay. So that's a lot and no wonder people go, how do you do it all? And I go, I don't know. Cause I don't, I don't like stay, you know, focused on the quantity of things I'm doing. Right. We're all doers. So we get it.

Yeah. We all, we, um, we fill in voids, we see that there is a void for something and we go, okay, well let's fill it. Like my 10 to 20 parenting that was created to fill in the void of not having, uh, parenting sites back in the day for teens and tweens. Well, let's make one. There you go.

Exactly. We identify the needs and then we,

Right. Yeah. So how did you get started as an influencer?

How did I get started as an influencer? That's a great question. Um, back in, so before I got pregnant, I was working in radio. We were chatting a little bit about this before we hopped on. So I was working in radio is, you know, assistant music director. I was helping to, you know, basically I made you listen to Nickelback. Um, sorry. Okay. All right, Kristen. Well then, sorry, Rob. Um, uh, and you know, I was working in alt rock and hip hop and it was just, I got pregnant and I had, I had my son Dylan in 2008 and, you know, went back for about three to six months. Um, you know, part-time here and there and I was just like, this is just not sustainable. I can't raise a human being and, you know, fulfill the role professionally that I was fulfilling at the capacity.

I was fulfilling that before I had my son. And so, you know, I was like, well, obviously my priority now as a mother is that my son gets that, you know, uh, the scale tips to my son. So, um, I laughed and I was home for him, probably home with him. Uh, probably full-time probably like a month or two. And I was like, Oh, okay. You are too creative to watch an adorable baby sleep all day. Right. And make sure he needs and then change his diapers and stuff. So I hopped on the internet. I mean, before I left radio, I was kind of getting all the jocks, um, you know, their own blogs on the radio, the station website and things like that, getting them on Twitter. So I had like a little bit of a apologies. That's just my phone ringing. I don't know if you guys could hear that, but um, Oh, good for you.

Um, so I was getting, you know, all the on-air staff, you know, basically making them into influencers for the station before I, I had made my departure. And so I knew that these things existed and I was like, well, what the hell? Maybe I can venture into it and see, you know, if that would work for me in some kind of way where I can go somewhere to yes, exist as a parent, but also have a personal creative outlet. That's not necessarily, you know, attached to, uh, motherhood Parenthood. And so that was where [inaudible] was born. I shrug is my son's last name. Uh, and Sanfilippo is mine. So, you know, it's like mash it together and there you go, you have it. So, you know, it was kind of like, uh, an opportunity for me to mix, you know, my life, my, my two kind of lives together, like me as a person and me as the parent to my son. Um, and so that was kind of how it was born way back in 2008. Yeah. It seems like forever ago, doesn't it? It does. And it's, it's crazy to think that it's almost in the teen number of years ago. I know.

So what would you consider one of the most successful moments for you as an infant?

I think that, I mean, I could be really cliched and be like, Oh, well, when Justin Timberlake, you know, shared my, you know, I had by reality by of celebrity. Um, but I think that the most memorable thing for me was, and this is to get really cheesy. I think we're all sentimental at this point, but whatever, um, is like the community of people, you know, like these friends are cross, you know, with no definition of borders to confine us, um, has really been one of the most memorable things about being an influencer is, you know, as you do it more and more and more, you build this community around you, of people who at every level, you know, on the spectrum of influence have influence. Um, and so that's kind of that that to me has been the most like memorable thing.

Yeah. I think that's one of my favorite parts too. And it was a 2015 where we met in person out in California. It was a 2015 or 2016, the early part of the year. And, um, you know, I still, I mean, I would've never met any of you guys had it not been for that Netflix trip. And, you know, I still keep in touch with a lot of, a lot of people, a lot of the people that were on that trip when we, that was such a fun, great trip.

Yeah. Yeah, definitely.

So I guess on the flip side, um, could you share an example of kind of a suckier moment as an influencer in what did you do to possibly turn it around?

Ooh, sucky. Okay. I mean, there are lots of lows if you're in this industry. I mean, especially from, you know, on the practitioner side, not as much, right. I kind of play on both sides of it. Um, but on the creator side of it, there are definitely more lows, I think. Um, I think that probably the suckiest, uh, to use your phrasing would, would be when, you know, I think that, uh, when it comes to getting gigs, right, getting gigs as an influencer, um, having a very surface level, top level, um, judgment passed on the ability as an influencer. I mean, and I think that continuously, that's going to be the suckiest, right? The, the industry though it's been around. I mean, I think I got my first campaign, um, in 2010. Um, so that was also redacted number of years ago. Um, you know, that it's, it's still very wild West.

I mean, it's a decade old, you know, industry, but it's still like, there's no like universal standardization. So everybody just kinda like throw it at the wall, see what sticks, um, you know, read 10 op ed pieces from people who did one or two campaigns and it kind of worked for them. Um, and then that kind of comes to the yard stick for, you know, how, how we build and execute, um, and managed campaigns and things like, things like that. So I think for it is the, um, the suckiest part is kind of the level of education sometimes that I have to do, uh, to, to explain why though my numbers aren't flamboyant and, and impressive in terms of quantity, that my impact is invaluable really, um, to, to be a participating member of that.

And we were having this conversation with Jason because, you know, he's, you know, Mr. The gods, he's my guy, man. You know, just talking about how we all have had that, that issue. You know, it's like it's quality over quantity and it's so far, and we've all hit that frustration. And I think one of my first and as fast as new platforms come out, um, you know, we could sit here and we were all solid rock, solid YouTubers, where you definitely were just, but bloggers and, you know, you rock YouTube and, you know, by the time you get to it and have time and you know, then it flip-flop over to Instagram and then it's, you know, trying to make traction it's frustrating to us. And I'm sure part of it's ego that you go, Hey, excuse me, I have been doing this for X amount of years, and you're gonna bring your flies up here and have been on Instagram for two years. Right. Like, right. I'm a little jealous of that because I'm like white.

Yeah. It is. I mean, I think that that is, and I I'm, I'm a student of the world. Right. Especially whatever industry I'm, I'm functioning in. I'm constantly learning. I'm always an early adopter, but it does, it does get exhausting. It gets, it gets overwhelming and it gets, you know, like a little sprinkle of your ego, like disheartening and annoying to be like, I can't, I'm already spread thin. Right. I'm like I'm doing at the height of my, to your gracious, uh, compliment YouTube career. I, you know, I was publishing a video a day, five days a week, every single day. Um, and you know, they weren't just day in the life logs. They were like, okay, I'm scripting, I'm, I'm improving some of them, I'm coordinating, you know, the collaborations and sets and we're doing series and, you know, it's, it's a lot of work.

And then to be like, you know, to have, um, so much of, I think that the interest, um, of, of brands that are venturing into influencer go towards, you know, a new platform like Instagram or Instagram reels, or, you know, something like that, or Tik TOK, you know, um, you know, it's, it gets like, Oh right. You like sink in your soul because you're like, I can't do any more. Like I'm doing so much. And what I'm doing is really effective, but you have no interest in the effectiveness of that. And that's where the challenge really comes in.

So I want to get your opinion on something, um, with, well, we're going to talk since we're talking video, because that's really always felt was really your strongest piece. Um, when, what do you think? And I'm still not jumping. I mean, yes. Reels is important because it's owned by Facebook, which means it's going to get the juice, but whether it's reels or whether it's tick TOK, what do you think is the long-term impact on those for YouTube? Because now it is so much easier just to fire up your phone, throw up your ring light and bam, you're done. And because it's only 60 seconds, so there's not a ton of editing to do very little editing. Now I know I did one of the transformation ones on Tik TOK from, um, and it took me a little bit longer because I had to, you know, in one outfit, boom, and then the next outfit. Right. So I had to kind of do a little bit of editing there, but it was still only 30 minutes worth of editing.

Right, right. Yeah. I mean, I feel like it does, it's been fascinating to me. I mean, David doebrick is a great example. You know, he is super mega YouTube guy. Right. And, um, I think I saw ironically enough on a tick talk, um, that he, you know, he hasn't posted a new video to his YouTube channel and sometime, uh, a significant amount of time, but he's constantly right. Constantly turning out on Tik TOK. Um, and it's serving him well. Right. And I think that the staying power and like the impact of the, the shorter form, you know, quick, like a little bit more quick and dirty types app type apps as I kind of refer to them, um, the staying power really lies in the agility of the creators. Right. So if a YouTuber is like, I mean, I love making a song from YouTube. It may be frees them up to, um, rely less on quantity of output and more like, okay, maybe I do like one really good production a month on my YouTube channel, but I can turn out and maintain that, you know, that engagement, that interest for my following and potentially a new following on Tik TOK or reels. So I feel like the same power, you know, just my point is we'll just really rely on the, um, interest and willingness for the creators to be agile.

Yeah. It's just going to be really interesting to see, because really this was the year that Tik TOK exploded because of the Rona. Yeah,

Yeah, exactly. We were all stuck at home and, you know, we were like, what else, what else are we going to do?

I mean, I have fun when I do it, but it's not something I do it more, just fun for creative outlet. And of course there's some ego there when I looked and goes, look at my numbers, but they're not ever going to be anything until I become consistent. So yeah. But it's just like how much, how much bandwidth can we

[inaudible]. Well, and I think that, you know, this is my experience with Tik TOK. I, I had downloaded it. Um, I was working with a brands as clients for my agency that were interested in, you know, engaging and activating gen Z for, you know, some brand awareness and things. And so I was like, well, okay. Cause guests got to go where the USTAR. So for, I had it downloaded to my phone for a few months before the Rona. And, you know, it was just kind of researching, seeing like, you know, what, what are, what is that generation watching? What are the creators creating, you know, just to build, you know, data so that we could build a plan and have our own insular data. And, um, then you know, everything shut down and I was like, bored. And I was like, okay, well, this could be funny.

I happened upon a sound so I was researching and, uh, it was, um, so I posted my first one, which was nine months in nine seconds. So I like laid on my back in front of, you know, my camera and I have this party trick that mortified my mother growing up because I was, you know, nine, 10 years old and I could push my stomach out to look like I was pregnant, like very pregnant. And, um, I still have that Alasta city. Thank you for my use of staying with me in that sense. Um, and so, you know, I laid down and, you know, this was really early on. We had a friend who was in town visiting and, um, so I just quickly, I mean, maybe took me five minutes because there wasn't, you know, jump cutting. It wasn't as intricate and editing process.

If we want to put intricacy on it as a transformation video or transition video, um, posted it, walked away from it, went, hung out, played cards. I mean, I was like, Oh, just do this. See whatever, whatever happens. And, um, it got 5.6 million views. So in Atlanta I roll and I was like, what in the, what, what is happening? Um, somebody dubbed me the CEO of the pregnant emoji, which was hilarious. And I was like, okay. So, um, I do have a point, you know, but I feel like let's get some backstory. Uh, and so I made a few, you know, as I hit milestones, like thank you for, you know, 4 million legs when you were 5 million things for 20,000 followers, like all of these things. And then, and it was just a replication of the original video where I was just doing it in different outfits, whatever, a very weird subset of Tik TOK to have become, like, that's not the side of Tik doc I ever thought I would end up on, but there I was.

And, um, I've tried to venture into making other content and everyone's just like, do another pregnancy video. Like we don't care for you to do other stuff. Right. So I feel like all of that to say, tick talk, um, and these shorter form platforms, I think really lend themselves to hyper niching you, um, beyond your interests. Right. So whatever you start out at and gain traction, um, with, on that app is basically what you're pigeonholed into making on that app. Right. Um, so I mean, since then I've made a couple other accounts so that I can like, okay, well, I guess I have to be one version of my multitude of things. Um, you know, uh, so limiting, right. Which is like, you know, could be, uh, argued as like a good thing that we're not, you know, pulled in nine different directions that we can focus on one thing. But, um, yeah, so that's kind of my experience with, with Tik TOK is that it, it, you know, the users really dictate what you, what, what you are famous or popular or, you know,

And it may not be something that, I mean, I'm sure you don't want to walk around doing nine seconds. No, I don't. And that is, I think one of the things that does frustrate me frustrate me about those is because you're right. Like there is no, or like the one on mine that has the most, and it's nowhere near what you got. But I mean, the, that goes into the four high four digits is my freaking crock pot. I mean, it's because it's, it serves itself, which is very cool. Very cool. What am I going to do if that's the one that takes off, am I going to sit here and make a bunch of soup? Right, right. You're like, this is welcome

The soup talk. Like, what do you do? Um, but then, uh, you know, at the same time to talk about, you know, the, the business side of things, I'm sorry if I'm totally hijacking like your agenda here, but, um, but, uh, you know, the tough thing from, from trying to, especially for those of us who are, you know, veterans in the influencer space and we're adopting a platform for the potential for, you know, down the line, you know, building something there. So it can be, uh, marketable and shoppable, you know, to, to brand partnerships or paid opportunities. Um, it, it's tough because on paper, my Tik TOK account is ripe for partnerships, but any content that I would partner with a brand on, unless it was literally maternity clothes, you know, and, and even then my following is not adult. No, no. I mean, my, my following is not adult pregnant women.

My following is people that are like mind boggled. I mean, the comments range anywhere from, Oh my gosh, teach me how to do that, to which I'm like, I would never be, I am not going to be the matriarch of teaching children, how to do that. Um, or how did you stay in the same spot for nine months? You know? So it's like, well, as we approached month nine, it's been lying here. Yeah, exactly. Or I'm a wizard or something. Um, you know, but for me, there's not a tangible sell that I could package my Tik TOK following on that account to a brand.

Okay. So I'm going to ask you this now, because I know, I don't think Rob does, but I know I dabble on both sides as well. So how do you work with brands that come to you? Like, you know, let's say, you know, ABC candy, whatever comes to us and says, we want to, I mean, how, how do you turn around then and put them with an appropriate, um, influencer on Tik TOK? Um, I mean,

It's, it's a lot of education, right. So, um, and, and maybe I'm misunderstanding your question, but, but I'm interpreting it as, uh, they're coming to me or I guess, Oh, okay. So as a practitioner, they're coming in and they're just like, Hey, we're ABC candy and we want to talk influencers to be partners. Right. Is that what you're asking? So how I do every, um, I literally go to candy Tech-Talk I find out who is even existing on that. Um, and you know, I, because I have such a background in community building and like, I'm a huge nerd about like building your insular data, um, and being like, okay, like I see what, you know, these reports in this, not the other thing. And I can collect data from other places, but for me, what's the data. Um, so a lot of my discovery process before I even, um, introduce or present that I am working on behalf of a client, and I'm interested in, in, you know, they're interested in maybe working with you, dah, dah, dah, dah.

I start to just engage them as a person. Right. Um, you know, mano Imano like, what, you know, like, how is your falling, like just very general, like curiosities about, you know, Oh, I see you make these candy tick talks. Like, are you like working with brands are a lot of your followers, like, do they buy candy? You know, like asking those questions in a less formalized way than here's a sales pitch or an application or saying, okay, client, I found X, Y, Z people. And then having a little further down the line having to, um, do a reassessment. Cause that was kind of the approach I took at the start of being a practitioner and, you know, building campaigns and doing discovery and contracting, um, with the influencers for those campaigns was it was a spray and pray approach right. Where I was like, okay, well, I can kind of see these people, um, you know, that are showing up on, on different tools and things like that as they fit the criteria, but then literally having to scrap 90% of the list because they really didn't like they meet the, the client's goals for spending in influencer marketing.

Right. They were like, well, this is our X, Y, Z ROI. Like, this is what we want to, um, generate as a result of putting money into this program. Um, and then, you know, realizing 90% of the people would not have even helped them come close to that. Um, so that was, Oh, no, Rob's Rob's microphone has fallen out of the, it has fallen out of difficulties,

But he goes, there was a gnat, it freaked me out. I hit the microphone. It was a snowball effect. Um, no, but very impressed about your microphone, because I did not hear like a perversion, you know what I mean? Like typically like, Oh, well something happened. Um, but yeah, so, so, and to answer your question, I do a lot of community building because the other thing I'm trying to do, you know, as an agency who provides this service to clients is I'm trying to build my own database. So I don't have to do this more expensive process every single time, but I can build my own, you know, database of buckets of types of influencers and, you know, based on niche. And then also based off of impact, like what type of thing would they be good at? You know, if a client comes to me with a brand awareness campaign, I know that these people create buzz about brands. Um, but they're not necessarily high converting, you know? So if a client comes to me and their ROI, you know, goal for ROI is sales conversions. I'm not going to tap into that, you know, um, that brand awareness bucket.

Right, right. So we're talking to Jesse influencer, creator and entrepreneur. Um, have, have you made it,

Have I made it that's the whole question? Um, have I made it, I feel like I have, um, and I feel like I have made it because I've used success and making it as subjective. And so for me, I have made it to where I envisioned myself making it right. Um, and I continue to make it as I set newer and larger goals. Right. So like, as of this point right now that I feel like I've made it for everything that it has prepared me to be at the point I'm at now, I've made it. Um, and then if I, you know, have a fever dream and wake up at 3:00 AM and go, this is where I want to make it next. Then I work towards that and then I make it there, you know? So, so yes, I

Have made it. Alright. We got about three or four minutes left. Is there anything, um, just that you would like to, um, preach about from your side talk, uh, what we I've loved this conversation? So, you know, just in case questions just don't even matter. Um, is there a, just in case Jessie's off that day, let's have a whole backup of prompts for this one. Actually, it's more for me and Rob are going to definitely put all of the links to all of your entities in the show notes, but, uh, why don't you let everybody know for the most part where they can find you your website, et cetera. Yeah. I think that for, for the most part, um, you can find me@jessesanfilippo.com. We'll definitely put the link to that. Cause people wonder what language I've sworn at them in. When I say my name, uh, you know, that kind of houses, everything that I'm, you know, fiddling in and got all the pies, I have my thumb in, so to speak. Um, and you know, you can follow me on Twitter at Schlegel lipo, um, and you know, that's yeah, those are my, those are my two, my two mains. I have to I'm a, I'm gonna go find you on the tick talk. Oh yes. That will be, I'll text you guys the link after we hop off here. So you can go see that majesty.

Jesse. Thank you so much. Thank you both for having me. It's been a pleasure. It's been an amazing conversation and to everybody out there. Thanks for listening. Don't forget to subscribe. And until next time go make some magical content.

[inaudible].