Founder-Led Content Without Becoming an Influencer
Founder-led content fills my feed. It’s working, it’s engaging, and I don’t see it going anywhere anytime soon. But do the founders HAVE to be an influencer-in-training to make it happen? The selfie videos make it look like the answer is yes, but I think there is another way.
Why it's working
It’s real and vulnerable and decidedly, NOT polished. It’s what we’ve all been craving from social media after our feeds were filled with perfectly curated little squares of what our lives should look like - our homes, our bodies, our style, our workouts, our parenting, our plates.
We started getting sick of it, of the performance of it all. And then the shift came. We started getting glimpses of real life - the imperfect kitchens and the “normal” homes.
And now we’re getting it from the founders of emerging companies and brands. They are showing us what starting and running a company really looks like on a daily basis. They are telling us what it takes to get onto the shelves of Target, Whole Foods, and grocery stores around the country. They are bringing us behind-the-scenes in a parasocial way that corporate could never pull off, and they’re using it to their advantage.
What it looks like
Some of these founders are genuinely building profiles as influencers, with their personal following more than double than the following of the brand. Even though all of the content they are posting is going to both feeds, it’s a smart way to extend their reach.
Others don’t necessarily have a separate channel, but it’s showing up as the bulk of their content on the brand’s feed.
The themes I'm noticing in this type of content are obviously behind the scenes in the traditional way - glimpses of product development, manufacturing, etc.- while also feeling very grassroots. There are founders roaming around the streets of New York City, selling or giving away their product in what feels like a publicity-stunt type of way, while still managing to feel unique, interesting, and fun.
And they are really bringing us into the whole process. They share how the formula came about (how many years, how many recipe trials, how many fails). They bring us to the plant where it’s manufactured. They take us to the stage that they are on when they're pitching retailers.
They take us to the demo tables where they are handing out samples and meeting their customers. They show us how they use the brand themselves in a gorgeous display of use-case content. And they show us launching in stores and the massive celebration that comes after a new retailer - rightfully so.
Most of this is happening in selfie videos and pictures that are definitely very lo-fi. These feel like they are shot on a phone, not super polished, in a casual way that’s relatable and trustworthy. Most of the time, the founders are the main character - either narrating or talking straight to the camera, and lots of selfies. Which brings me to…
The struggle
They are also overwhelmingly very young. The age gap is where I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about.
Because I do think it’s an excellent type of content to add into a brand’s rotation. It is incredible for building community, growing trust and loyalty, and reminding viewers that there are real people behind the brand.
I think there are probably a lot of brands that want to dip into this style of content - and I can confirm this with various conversations I’ve had. But they aren’t super comfortable on camera, or they don’t want to be on camera, or their teenage kids would think it’s the ultimate cringe (is that even what the teens say, or is that passe, I don’t know!).
As a (proud) elder millennial, there are huge and fundamental differences in how we grew up vs. how young founders in their 20s grew up. Not that you need reminding, but we didn't grow up with social media. We didn't grow up with phones and recording every aspect of our lives. It just isn't as second nature to us as I think it is for some of the younger generation, who have probably been taking videos of themselves since they were 13. They’ve had so much practice on camera in a foundational way that would take so much time and effort to replicate. (Not impossible! But it takes practice!)
This became really clear when I saw a founder talking about founder-led content that she's been creating since day one. Her content is super successful. It's great. It's engaging. It's all really good. But she said that photo shoots aren’t worth it; that instead, you should just constantly be thinking about content and taking pictures and video of your everyday life.
I disagree with this. First of all, I’ve since seen multiple photo shoots happening for that brand, so they may have changed their tune. Secondly, I can tell you that viewing your entire life and world through the lens of content is exhausting, and I found it quite miserable. It’s one of the reasons I left influencing - I felt it was impossible to be fully present with my life if I was constantly viewing it through my phone, never wanting to miss out on a piece of content.
The opportunity
But it’s not all bad. I think what’s cool is that there is room for both of these approaches (plus the more that will come along!). It doesn’t have to be one way or the other. We can take learnings from the performance of this type of content and take advantage of the opportunity that emerging and smaller brands have - and it also doesn't need to look the same. You do not need to become a full-time influencer to bring some founder-led content into your brand's presence.
This is also what I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about. How do we take advantage of this really great type of content, but make it fit for the millennials and make it fit for their life?
For a lot of founders, that's not going to look like showing up on camera every single day and posting every single day and sharing every moment of your life. I’m currently working with a client on their marketing and content, and we wanted to add some of this founder-led content into their content strategy, but they are not interested in adding an influencer to their list of job responsibilities, nor are they interested in sending yapping videos every day.
How to try it for your own brand
So how do we weave it in? At its core, it’s the storytelling, and we can get at the heart of what makes this content really special. It’s the pivotal moments, the emotional side of the business. Not what makes the product special (we have a different type of content for that!), but what makes them them.
Here are some prompts to get you thinking: What was a hard moment? What was a pinch-me moment? What was a time when you've almost thrown in the towel because it was so hard? What was launching at the retailer really like? What has surprised you? What is it like demoing your product and hearing real feedback?
Bring us into the feelings, the emotion - it’s what brings people into a brand in a totally obsessed type of way.
Don’t want to be sharing this as a talking reel? I wouldn’t want to either. It is a place where B-roll footage with a voice-over or a carousel of pictures with text overlays can also do really well. Here are some examples:
Reel/video: put together stills and video clips and record a voiceover to weave in the story.
Carousel: pictures of you, the journey, different facets - not perfectly styled or professionally shot! You can add text overlay or write out your feelings in the caption.
Repurpose this content for LinkedIn - take the long caption you wrote for your social and add it to LinkedIn, through the lens of learnings or a more professional spin. We like real-life content over there, too.
This content doesn’t need to completely take over your feed, and it shouldn’t be 100% of your posts, but it’s a really great way to build community quickly and authentically.
Follow
Want to see this type of content for yourself? Check out some of these accounts for inspiration and pull out the essence that can work for you and your brand.
getcotto - Her demo clips have done really well, which is so easy, and show the founder view as well as the consumer social proof - both are baked in together.
sourmilk / couchwoman - Co-founder Kiki says they didn’t want to hire an influencer, so she decided to do it for the brand instead and has double the followers than that of the brand! She has also gotten brand deals, and I would consider her a CPG-founder influencer (who knew that would be a thing?!).
bringbenjie - Not food, but bandaids for grownups! The founder-led stories on this page outperform the rest of their content - especially their carousel of business flops.
samesiescandy - You get a really good sense of how much testing and R&D has gone into her candy bars, which instantly gives the brand credibility and shows how deeply she cares about getting it right.
where are you stuck?
I’m Emily Dingmann, founder of Emily Dingmann Co, a boutique marketing agency for better-for-you food brands. I align all your tactics so everything moves in the right direction to grow the brand and drive sales. High-level expertise should be accessible to brands of all sizes, so if you’re a founder ready to elevate your brand but not sure where to start or where to put your resources, tell me where you’re stuck at hello@emilydingmannco.com.
