Finding Main Character Energy & Building a Brand with Tiff Knighten

In this episode, we welcome Tiff Knighton, founder of Brand Curators and host of the "Main Character Energy" podcast. Tiff shares her journey from studying PR and journalism to building a creative agency that champions diverse voices and holistic brand curation. She talks to us about the importance of authenticity in social media, the significance of community-building, and navigating trends without losing your brand’s identity. 

Tiff also discusses the impact of the "QuitTok" trend during the Great Resignation, highlighting how it catapulted her own career. For aspiring creators and entrepreneurs, Tiff offers invaluable advice on how to safeguard intellectual property, leverage trends strategically, and maintain a sustainable social strategy amidst ever-changing algorithms.

Towards the end of the episode, Tiff introduces us to her podcast, "Main Character Energy," where she empowers listeners to embrace their full potential, prioritize self-care, and rewrite their narratives. Whether you're a creator, entrepreneur, or someone looking to take control of your story, this episode is packed with insights and inspiration.

Key Takeaways 

• Brand Curation: Tiff explains the holistic approach to branding, emphasizing the importance of curating content that aligns with your brand’s core identity.
• Navigating Social Media Trends: Insights on how to strategically participate in trends like QuitTok without compromising authenticity.
• Intellectual Property: The importance of building a brand that stands out to protect your creative work in the fast-paced digital world.
• Sustainable Social Strategies: Tips for avoiding burnout by focusing on storytelling and community-building rather than chasing algorithms.
• Main Character Energy: Tiff’s personal journey of embracing her role as the lead in her own story, and how she encourages others to do the same through her podcast.

Links and Resources 

• Instagram: @TiffOrDie
• LinkedIn: Tiffany Knighton
• Listen to Main Character Energy: Available on all major podcast platforms
• Follow the Podcast on Instagram: @MainCharacterEnergyPod

Tune in now to discover how to amplify your voice, build a strong brand, and step into your main character energy!

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Transcript

Evolution of Brand Curation and Influence

Speaker 1 0:00

Knowing that you are that girl, you are qualified. You've had all these experiences and it was really warding off a lot of the self-doubt and the imposter syndrome, Getting to a point where you're like, okay, I'm on my own, now I'm flying this plane. You have to kind of remind yourself the things that you've done.

Speaker 2 0:31

Welcome back to the she Speaks Influence Effect podcast. I am excited to have you join me for my conversation with the wonderful and talented Tiffany Knighton. Talented Tiffany Knighton. Tiffany started out as a publicist and has really evolved into being an influencer and creator herself, also helping other influencers and creators. She's got such a great understanding of how to create community strong storytelling and how to get involved in trends and how and you want to understand how the trends happen and how can you potentially take advantage of those trends. Tiffany's also the podcast host of Main Character Energy, which is a terrific podcast. Get the understanding from my conversation that she really deeply thinks and understands what motivates people in the social media sphere in community. So with that, I'm going to let you hear my conversation with Tiffany. We're going to jump right into it.

Speaker 1 1:39

Tiff, welcome to the show. Thanks for having me. I'm happy to be here.

Speaker 2 1:44

I love your background. You started out in the PR world and it makes so much sense to me how you've kind of evolved to what you do today. But let's just start with talk a little bit about what you're doing today.

Speaker 1 1:59

I actually started out studying PR and journalism, as you mentioned, and then had a natural progression into social, digital influencer marketing and at this point I actually created a creative agency just a few years back. That embodies kind of all of those skill sets. I started my agency called Brand Curators because I see us as curators of an entire brand, whether it is your communication strategy, your marketing, your branding, how you show up online. It's kind of a culmination of all of those things.

Speaker 2 2:34

Curation- is such a big part of it and I think, for those who are listening, it's worth kind of talking a little bit about what the curation actually means To me, as somebody who came from the branding world. What is curation If you're a social media personality or if you're a brand who's active on social media? Really what you're doing is you're being really clear about what your brand is and then you are creating the content. You're curating the content around what that focused brand is Like. What do you stand for? Who?

Speaker 1 3:09

are you? What a great explanation. Yes, you're saying it better than I can even say, because it means so many things to me. But I love, love, love how you just broke it down, because I think sometimes people might think in silos when it comes to their brand. But curation allows you to be able to think about all the aspects that your brand touches. And that has a lot to do with what I studied, which is integrated marketing communications. That brings all of these things together. So that's why we don't necessarily call ourselves a public relations agency, even though that is my expertise. In a lot of the work that we do, our people do a lot. Don't get me wrong. There's so many things that are technically under the public relations umbrella besides just media relations. But a lot of the curation that we do. It touches these different. You know every point of your journey so building your brand, establishing that identity, then amplifying it and also monetizing it. So we kind of have different phases for our clients.

Speaker 2 4:10

So I want to talk a little bit about how you gained some momentum in 2021 when you got involved in Quick Talk. For those who are not familiar with what that is, what is Quit Talk?

Speaker 1 4:28

Well, the Quit Talk. So the Quit Talk this was happening at like the height of the Great Resignation and people were taking to TikTok to basically like announce and celebrate that they left their job. So it was a trend that happened. It's funny because I got connected with Gabby Ionello. She's the founder of Corporate Quitter. She was posting quit talks and I remember I saw the trend from her and a few other creators at the time and I was so ready to leave my job at the time. I finally did.

Maximizing Virality and Trends in Content

Speaker 1 4:59

I formally resigned, I want to say, because there was some like social media backlash after this kind of took off. But I formally resigned, you know, as you do, gave notice and then I took the TikTok to say, hey, I left corporate America. Basically, I knew that I wanted to start my agency and start my creator journey. So that took off. It ended up getting picked up. It went viral, got picked up on a top story on LinkedIn, the New York Times, good Morning America. I ended up getting picked up. It went viral, got picked up on a top story on LinkedIn, the New York Times, good Morning America. I ended up kind of on this like press tour, all because that's awesome.

Speaker 1 5:31

I tell people. It could be the. I didn't think much of it, it was just a trend. I joined and that's something I tell creators that I work with all the time is, you never know when something is gonna gain traction. But it was great because that's what my business was. I was going full time with my business, so it gave me a lot of visibility, but it was mainly a quit talk. To answer your question is just a declaration of I'm leaving, I quit and I'm announcing it, and that was the height of the great resignation.

Speaker 2 5:57

It really parlayed itself into something for you in terms of, like, building that momentum. You mentioned before that you tell creators all the time that you don't you never know when something's going to hit. But but are there kind of things you can do to, uh, you know, get yourself a little bit better positioned to be successful, hitting and getting into a trend Like, what are, what are some of those things If you, if there are any, I'm doing a little dance Cause I think that's a great question it's.

Speaker 1 6:33

I think a lot of my background in PR has allowed me to be able to give substantial advice to creators about news cycles, about trends, trend watching, so a lot of times there could be stories in mainstream media and in PR we call it newsjacking, where then you make something kind of you know, you help your client get in the media and make commentary on something that's already going on, that already has attention. And you can do similar things as a content creator, where you're essentially making sure that the content that you're putting out is on brand for you. But if you talk about certain topics that are being discussed in mainstream media, then you definitely have a chance to be considered a voice, an expert, a commentator, almost like traditional, you know, talking heads are on a news channel or correspondence. It's definitely a new wave of media. You literally see content creators that get picked up on the news these days, much like what happened to me.

Speaker 2 7:31

I mean, which is amazing, and I think that that's the you know, everyone kind of wants to know. How do I go viral? But these things that you just talked about, which you talked about news tracking and and there is a lot to be said for understanding, like that's your PR hat too. I think, like PR people are so good at understanding. Okay, what's going to make this, this journalist, this person, interested in my story? Well, a key thing is how is it tied to news that people want to hear about? How is it tied to something that people are already talking about that the news would be covering, right?

Speaker 1 8:13

Absolutely. One tip is I mean, you know, in marketing and PR and everything, we use editorial calendars. There's certain things that you know are happening every year, certain month observations, certain seasons but I think one genuine piece of advice that I always give to creators is don't chase these trends, don't chase the virality and what you think might go viral. If you are super rooted in authenticity, genuinely making sure that your content is really embedded in what you talk about, what your community likes to hear from you, there's going to be very organic opportunities to join that. I'll give you an example.

Speaker 1 8:50

A creator that I work with was super passionate about speaking out about the TikTok ban and already has content all around kind of like social media trends, tiktok things like that, and because they authentically want to give their audience social media updates and advice on what's going on, then they were perfectly positioned for a TV opportunity where a news network wanted to hear from people who already talked about this and she had YouTube videos out. She had TikTok content. It's to the point in PR where we are sending people content as their portfolio.

Speaker 2 9:26

I love that. Let's talk for a second, if we can, about the TikTok ban, because, since this is the space that you work in, what advice do you give to people, to creators and to brands, about how they should be thinking about a potential let's say, a potential ban on TikTok?

Speaker 1 9:46

These platforms can come and go at any time, any day, and you and I both know the value of owned media, having your own website, having your own blog, whatever it may be. Just distribute that content where you can. I would never advise someone to put all their eggs in one basket. We know the success of TikTok. We've seen how it's transformed people's lives. People go from TikTok to television shows and red carpets and all types of opportunities.

Speaker 1 10:21

So I would just say be sure that you're repurposing your content, be sure that you're keeping a portfolio or you have your content that can live somewhere and that is evergreen, in case something goes down. We see that Instagram goes down like every month or every couple of weeks at this point and it's frightening, I mean, if you're running your whole business on there and you don't have anywhere where your content lives. So I would just say repurpose, save things and just keep going, you know, because we don't know what's going to happen in the future. So I wouldn't say to abandon it altogether, but do what fits within your strategy and then just kind of widen your reach.

Speaker 2 10:59

So I think that's just the thing is like recognizing that there's always going to be another platform, and really it's a matter of making sure that you have a strategy and some way that you can connect with people beyond, just if the platform suddenly, I mean, and Instagram's meta is constantly tinkering with the algorithm.

Speaker 1 11:23

That's actually something that I talk to a lot of my creators about and creators that I work with and other creatorpreneurs that I talk to is the fact that we have to kind of have these. I basically teach sustainable social strategies. We're not chasing algorithms. Teach sustainable social strategies. We're not chasing algorithms. We're not doing viral hacks. It's really rooted in your own storytelling. That's again the PR side of what I do. It's rooted in community building, and storytelling is basically how we describe it and if you do that, you can't go wrong. It'll happen, naturally, but the algorithm is going to change every day and you're going to make yourself crazy and burnt out trying to follow it.

Speaker 2 12:03

I love that you said those two things, that it's ultimately about community building and storytelling, because I think that's what really good creators do well. They are really plugged into the fact that this is not just like their followers, it's a community. They are cultivating a community of people who are interested probably in a lot of different things, but they're there for one. Why are they there? Following you? Why do they want to be a part of your community? And storytelling is such an incredibly important part of building that relationship with your community, and I mean they have to go hand in hand together.

Speaker 1 12:54

They do. It's crucial, and we're just in a day and age where people can sniff through the BS pretty easy, so we can get very closed off to anything that feels like an ad. There's so many now, there's so many creators and influencers now that it's just overload, and so when we see things that feel like we know somebody, like the no, like trust factor, then we're locked in, like they feel like family almost, and that's hard to do.

Speaker 2 13:23

It is, it is, and certainly to do it over time is very hard. So you started Brand Curators, which is your agency. You started it with a mission. There is a mission behind what you're trying to do, which is amplifying the diverse voices and brands within that online space. Can you talk a little bit about what really kind of drew you to that mission and how you're hoping you're going to be able to improve the diversity that you're seeing within this online space?

Speaker 1 13:57

Yeah, absolutely, diversity that you're seeing within this online space yeah, absolutely. That's our tagline Amplify Diverse Voices really came about because, for me, representation matters. It's so important in all the spaces that I've worked in, especially media. I just was wishing that I saw more people that represented me, my journey in the creator space, especially when it comes to content creation. I was wishing that I saw more creators who represented my everyday experience. But then there would also be a lot of creators that you would see would take off, especially Black content creators, who would have these extremely viral moments and start these trends that would also kind of get jacked from them. Maybe people didn't know that they were the ones that started it.

Speaker 1 14:42

There have been so many and I would see it firsthand because I am chronically online as part of my career and I would see things firsthand, like when it took off, how popular it got, and then another big creator would kind of come and get the spotlight, get the glory, or maybe the creators that had this virality didn't know what to do with it, to leverage the moment, and perhaps a big company came and tried to buy them out or do a partnership with them, but they probably weren't getting paid with their worth.

Speaker 1 15:11

When I think about trends that have kind of been for lack of a better term like stolen. I think about even when the Renegade dance became very popular yeah, then you have Addison Rae, you know, being invited on Jimmy Fallon to perform it, and she's not the original creator but she's just somebody who had a larger platform and I can't imagine what that must have felt like for the original creator. So the experiences like that I would see, I would hear firsthand from creators that I know, and I wanted to really talk about how we can provide platforms for creators and resources to help them build their brands, educate creators on negotiation contract usage rights and also just build this supportive community for creators to just connect, share ideas. There's just much isolation in this that I wanted to really step in and kind of bridge that gap.

Speaker 2 16:07

I mean, I love that as a mission. I think that you know there's there are there's so much newness to what we're doing in this social space that, to your point, you could have somebody create the trend but not have any idea. How do I really monetize this? How do I capitalize on this? Because the second you put something out, anyone can copy it. Can you put something out? Anyone can copy it. How do you help? How do you advise people to think about their intellectual property in terms of what they are, the content they're pushing out?

Speaker 1 16:48

I love that we're talking about this. I don't think it's being spoken about enough, even though it's just so prevalent in this industry. But one thing that I know for certain that I want to share, that I've heard from many creators, is that that has that reason alone like just having their content stolen, not having their IP protected, is a big reason why creators will have a block from creating and putting their content out and really embracing who they are in their whole brand online. But we work through that by really teaching the values of building and establishing a brand that is connected to you. So, although there's the chance of your content being taken and remixed, and maybe somebody else is getting credit for it, or maybe it slipped away and nobody really knows that you're the one who started this trend, that's the value of when you do establish an identity.

Speaker 1 17:41

When you are consistent in your content, when you're consistent in your branding and building a community that knows you are the creator of that, they will speak on your behalf, People will know, people will understand and that's just one way to kind of get around the whole IP struggle, because you can't necessarily. You know trademark, you know trademark. You know all your content creation, your TikToks and things like that. But what you can do is just establish that brand, be very consistent, very intentional with the content that you put out and have it tied to your brand and building on that and being consistent with that messaging.

Speaker 2 18:17

In addition to having brand curators as a business, you're also a content creator yourself. How do you think your PR background and your background, your business background, has helped inform how you create content and you're, as as an influencer, creator yourself?

Speaker 1 18:37

Yeah, I would say that I mean I got really lucky that I kind of fell into a lot of social media roles because of my background in PR. I love to put messaging together and keep people informed. I kind of built on that, had a great understanding of how audiences receive content. Another early role I had actually was working at a media company where I was able to research like YouTubers kind of the early YouTubers to invite them to red carpet events that we were having as correspondents, and that was probably one of the first companies that was doing that, and I was able to see how people reacted to the placements that we were landing.

Speaker 1 19:18

And so I think all of that, wrapped in with all of my other experiences, I was able to kind of just basically see that engagement piece. So you know what content's compelling and what's not. You know, when things fall flat, we need things that capture attention. Attention spans are short, so it's a combination of that piece and then another PR piece that I would say, besides the media news cycle is brevity to help with that attention span, and if you are, you have a couple seconds, just a couple lines to get a reporter's attention. There has to be a story there, and so, with content creation, just thinking about how we're telling that story in digestible ways that can then open it up to wider audiences.

Speaker 2 20:02

So you also have a podcast called Main Character Energy. Can you talk a little bit about what is Main Character Energy and what inspired you to create the podcast?

Speaker 1 20:12

Absolutely Character Energy is.

Speaker 1 20:23

It's a really a love letter to myself and a reminder to myself that I am the lead in my story and basically rewriting the narrative.

Speaker 1 20:27

And a lot of the ideas and motivation that I had to have to be a business owner came from having to channel that main character energy and knowing that you are that girl, you are qualified, you've had all these experiences and it was really warding off a lot of the self-doubt and the imposter syndrome. I'm somebody who I call myself a recovering overachiever. I was always doing all the things, all the clubs, all the jobs, all the internships, all the things, all the clubs, you know, all the jobs, all the internships, and so getting to a point where you're like, okay, I'm on my own now, like I'm flying this plane, you have to kind of remind yourself the things that you've done. So even having this conversation is a, you know, is an ingredient in this main character energy, because you get to recount these experiences. I forgot I did some of those things sometime. It's aimed at people who want to unlock their full potential, live a fulfilling life, and the topics that we discuss in the show are really around self-care, mindset, self-development and love.

Speaker 2 21:34

I love that. I mean, I think it's so important and it's a reminder, I think, too, for people that we are the you know, we can kind of be the masters of our own destiny, and I think that is something especially for women we are I don't want to make too many generalizations, but I do think that a lot because I'm in the women's space, I do understand the women's space quite well and I think there is something about, you know, the way we just kind of feel inside, maybe that it doesn't. We have to remind ourselves that we are the writers of our own stories. And I love that. That's what your show is focused on and kind of getting you into that mindset, because I truly believe it's a mindset. I really believe it's a mindset.

Speaker 1 22:33

It's actually something that is still a reminder to me. I have not mastered I would never say that I've mastered energy. It's a practice. It's a mindset practice, but we need that reminder to have that self confidence and know that self-care isn't selfish. We are reclaiming our time, reclaiming our energy, and I would love to have great things and a great life, and it's going to be on my terms, and so I'm going to put my foot forward in the best way that I know how, in this moment, to achieve that I mean.

Connecting With Main Character Energy

Speaker 2 23:05

I love that. It's almost like a daily practice. It is something that you have to remind yourself to do. It's a daily practice until it becomes much more of like a second nature practice. Until it becomes much more of like a second nature, like a natural thing for us to do A hundred percent. Well, I am so grateful that you spent this time with us to share these insights. Talk about all of the things you're doing, because you've got a business that you're running, you are a creator and an influencer yourself, you've got a podcast. You've got a lot going on. If people want to follow you, what is the best way for them to do that?

Speaker 1 23:43

Yes, thank you so much. I love these conversations. This has been a great chat. I would love to connect with more like-minded people. If you're all about channeling your main character energy and wanting to invest in yourself, prioritize community building and hear from other really great people in my community, then you can absolutely check out Main Character Energy with Tiff Knighton on all platforms. Our Instagram is maincharacterenergypod and, if you want to connect with me, my Instagram is tifferdie. You can also find Tiffany Knighton on LinkedIn. Feel free to send me a message, especially if you want some support with your brand and learning how to unlearn all the things that we think we should do to run a business and kind of re-channel that shift into your lifestyle and make it worthwhile for yourself.

Speaker 2 24:34

Well, thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thank you.