Influencer Marketing with Leslie Jordan & Spotify
Influencer marketing is growing up. A new study, by Linqia, has found that 57% of marketers plan to increase their budgets in 2020 (Zeng, 2020). The industry is expected to deepen, to see more relationships, more connections and more opportunities for influencers and the brands they support (Qudsi, 2020). For my partnership, I have chosen Leslie Jordan and Spotify.
Leslie Jordan has become an unaccepted and unique new influencer on Instagram. The American actor has been around for decades to niche (mostly gay) audience (Moylan, 2020). Jordan has become one of the biggest stars during lockdown. He accrued 5.5 million Instagram followers in in a matter of months (Muhammad, 2020). I believe Leslie Jordan went viral during this pandemic because he’s funny, relatable, and genuine. His content consists of telling jokes, pillow talk of his time in Hollywood, and sharing his favorite music. According to Bryan Moylan, Leslie Jordan’s appeal is because he’s an outsider and a little different (Moylan, 2020).
Spotify is a digital music, podcast, and video streaming service that gives you access to millions of songs and other content from artists all over the world (What, 2020). There were 286 million monthly active users of Spotify in their first quarter in 2020 (Iqbal, 2020). Spotify uses social media to promote their high-profile campaigns and events including promoting its end of year Wrapped campaign that gave users the chance to relive their most played songs from the past year (Forrester, 2019). For Spotify, influencer marketing encourages more authentic engagement and increases their knowledge of the platform capabilities (Forrester, 2019).
“It is important to ensure that we allow Spotify to talk and engage with its audiences as authentically as possible. Influencer marketing campaigns have worked effectively because we understand how to develop lasting relationships and match the right activation to the right influencer, providing access and knowledge to products and the lifestyle that Spotify gives its customers.”- Forrester, 2019
Leslie Jordan and Spotify would make a refreshing and different partnership. Leslie’s newfound influence would be a good fit for the streaming service. Music plays a big part in Leslie’s voice on Instagram. He has frequently been posting fun videos of him listening and dancing to a variety of artist including Cardi B and Lady Gaga. In his most recent post (November 20), he shared a video of himself watching and dancing to the latest music video of Dua Lipa and Miley Cyrus. And on Sundays, he has been posting videos of him singing church hymns. In the past, Spotify has partnered with variety of influencers who create their own playlist. These influencers have shared their story and playlist on their account. The hashtag used is #SpotifyPartner.
I think Leslie’s audience on Instagram would love to see more of his taste in music. Plus, Spotify has been working on adding a new story feature on their platform. Influencers will now be able to share a short-form video with their public playlist (King, 2020). This latest feature would only strengthen their partnership with Leslie Jordan. His unique perceptive and witty humor is what has made him so successful this year. Finally, I also think there’s potential for Leslie Jordan to collaborate with Spotify in a podcast. He is working on his fourth book but there’s a possibility for him to further is Instagram success in a podcast. He has been touring his one-man shows around the country for decades (Moylan, 2020). However, with the current global pandemic, a Spotify podcast would be an appropriate fit for Leslie Jordan’s brand.
“I talk about things that happened in my life. Now, do I embellish? Absolutely. Come on, we all do it. It makes a better story. But it always come from a germ of truth”-Leslie Jordan
References
Forrester, Joele. (2019, April 10). Spotify Recruits New Influencer Marketing Agency. Talking Influence. Retrieved from https://talkinginfluence.com/2019/04/10/spotifys-recruits-new-influencer-marketing-agency/
King, Ashley. (2020, January 23). Spotify Joins Influencer Train With Their Own Version on ‘Stores’. Digital Music News. Retrieved from https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2020/01/23/spotify-stories-social-media/
Iqbal. Mansoor. (2020, October 30). Spotify Usage and Revenue Statistics. Business of Apps. Retrieved from https://www.businessofapps.com/data/spotify-statistics/#:~:text=There%20were%20286%20million%20monthly,Premium%20subscribers%20in%20Q4%202019
Leslie Jordan. (2020, November 19). IMDb. Retrieved from https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0430074/
Moylan, Brian (2020, April 17). America’s best Instagram celebrity is Leslie Jordan. Not that he’d admit it. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/america-s-best-coronavirus-instagram-celebrity-leslie-jordan-not-he-ncna1191226
Muhammad, Latifah. (2020, October 23). Leslie Jordan says Quarantine Took His Career to New Heights. ET Online. Retrieved from https://www.etonline.com/leslie-jordan-says-quarantine-took-his-career-to-new-heights-exclusive-155311
Qudsi, Ismael El. (2020, February 6). What to Except For Influencer Marketing In 2020. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2020/02/06/what-to-expect-for-influencer-marketing-in-2020/?sh=2a5114165c09
What is Spotify? (2020, November 19). Spotify. Retrieved from https://support.spotify.com/us/article/what-is-spotify/
Zeng, Julian. (2020, February 25). Influencer Marketing Budgets Grow Up in 2020. American Marketing Association. Retrieved from https://www.ama.org/marketing-news/influencer-marketing-grows-up-in-2020/