Our founder Heather Keenan discussed event planning and influencer marketing with Maria Sipka, co-founder of Linqia, which is the epicenter of the biggest transformation in the world of influencer marketing. Key Conversations is a series of transparent talks exploring ideas of the moment with thought leaders in their fields who share our passion for igniting lasting change. To be a part of our next conversation, drop us a line at hello@keyevents.com.
Heather Keenan: Just for full disclosure, Maria and I are personal friends. We really don’t do business together, but we do intersect in a way that’s kind of interesting actually. So welcome Maria. You are the co-founder of Linqia. Do you want to talk a little bit about who Linqia is and what it does?
Maria Sipka: We’re in the storytelling business. We are all about emotion and inspiring action. We think that advertising our ecosystem, of real everyday people that have built these audiences across multiple different channels around their passions, around their interests, and they just have this phenomenal connection with groups of people who brands want to get closer to. So, we built an ecosystem around that platform, and it’s really just about connecting brands with like-minded people who tell the — not tell the brands story — but tell a story in their own authentic way, to mobilize, to create winners, to drive action.
“Influencer marketing is about connecting brands with like-minded people who tell a story in their own authentic way.”
On the State of Brand and Influencer Marketing post-COVID
Heather: That has changed a lot in the last couple of months, has it not? Do you find that they are more passionate, more giving, more real, and more authentic?
Maria: The influencers or the brands?!
Heather: Both! Well actually, that’s a huge question right there, right? So, the influencers, how are they different, how are they speaking different and then we will go to the brands.
Maria: Yeah, so influencers first and foremost are human beings that have tapped into their passion, they speak from the heart. There are emotions. It’s very real and today the entire world or country is in shelter so clearly, they have a lot more time but they have their living rooms, their dining rooms, their backyards. They don’t have the world to go out, that’s the stage of their experience so what we are seeing is just this realness and rawness come through and they’ve become phenomenal spokespeople, voices, voices for change.
“Influencers first and foremost are human beings that have tapped into their passion. They speak from the heart. There are emotions.”
So, what you’re seeing – like, I was literally on TikTok yesterday. I don’t know if you’ve spent any time on TikTok but definitely spend some time on TikTok because that is the intersection of culture and what people care about. Even though TikTok is very much an entertainment channel, I mean my 8-year-old daughter – I looked at her screen time and she spent like 8 hours on TikTok but she learns how to dance. It’s an entertainment channel around just everything, you name it.
What we are seeing now is that these powerful influencers in that ecosystem have really nicely pivoted their voice for impact and the change so they’re writing songs, they’re singing songs, they’re acting out what is important to them so the time has come to be authentic and real with all of the glitz and glamour and what we refer to as the Instagram pretty — has become stripped away and what you see is what you get. It’s just phenomenal for people to be able to speak their truth.
“Influencers…what we are seeing is a realness and rawness come through. They’ve become phenomenal spokespeople and voices for change.”
A New Way: Brand Themes and Authentic Stories
“From like the age of 18 to about 26, my whole life was set by goals and targets and I felt like this machine.”
Maria: It’s fascinating. This is an area that I’m deeply passionate about and again, it requires you to really dig two or three or four levels deep. The best example I can think of — let’s just go into our own minds and how we entertain and host and you know about 17 years ago the framework that I set for my life, and I’ve been doing this for 17 years now, is — from the previous 8 years, from say the age of 18 to about 26, my whole life was set by goals and targets and I felt like this machine.
“What if my whole life was a storybook?”
We are in the era of authenticity and you just can’t keep popping out the same molds because people are going to tune out and it’s too easy to tune out. And so, I had this epiphany…look one day when my life is over, I am going to look back and what’s the legacy that I want to live? And so, I came up with a concept of what if my life was a storybook? And what if I surrender synchronicity and serendipity and try not to control every aspect of it. I thought, every year I am going to set a theme — a word — and I’m just going to see if just by being intentional, you know like manifesting that, and see what happens. I’m going to do it every year so that every year of my life is like a chapter of my storybook.
“Every year, I am going to set a theme.”
So, I went from this rigid, goal-oriented, optimizing every minute to completely surrendering. A little extreme and I did arrive at a state where I had a bit of a hybrid approach.
The first year was the year of peace. You’re at peace. And I did a ten-day silent retreat; I read a lot of books on Zen and Buddhism and learned how to meditate. I started to attract peaceful people, have extraordinarily peaceful experiences. The second year was the year or adventure and that’s where I traveled the world and met hundreds of people; I talked to rickshaw drivers in the streets of Mumbai. I met the prince of Saudi Arabia and hung out with him for a while. And there were years themed “celebration” where I actually got married in India. And the year “of new beginnings” when my daughter was born. And after doing this for 17 years it was one of the most powerful concepts and the point is that we need to somehow relinquish control.
Like you…when you are in the event business, everything is controlled down to a run sheet and one of my favorite quotes is “it’s the silence between the notes that makes the music. It’s the space between the bar that cages the tiger”. I love the fact that themes can translate into everything we do.
On Being a Catalyst Who Inspires Others to Take Action
Heather: I was going to ask you about your events. Are you still able to do them?
Maria: We do. Virtually.
Heather: Oh great. Great. And what has that opened up for you? What has that given to your story?
“A true catalyst inspires others to take action”
Maria: Depth. Right, because when we each reflect, this is the key. The key is you’re the catalyst, I’m the catalyst. What’s the role of the catalyst? It’s to inspire others to take action and so to be a true catalyst, and it’s taken many years to master this, we’ve really got to tune into our core values.
My core values are that I value time, I value connection, and I really value presence and depth. So, I am going to take the time to feel into the people who are coming and really sense like what’s a topic that will open people up. And it’s skipping the minutia. Like I don’t want to talk about the weather or this or that, like, really deep diving. And so, understanding people’s values.
“Create a safe space for people to explore and experience something.”
It’s about the collective and really tuning into that. Creating the experience. Not overthinking it. There are all sorts of ways that you can really invigorate people. It’s the first person that speaks, and it’s the framework that you set for how people can engage. It’s creating a safe place. Right? And it’s saying, hey this is a safe place — let’s discuss anything.
Heather: When we are back live, we need to create a safe space for people to be able to explore and experience something. And leave room for some kind of unknown experience.
Maria: Serendipity.
Create A Safe Place for the Unexpected in Your Events
Heather: Serendipity. Yeah. It’s true. I know there are event planners in my industry that literally have that sheet that is down to the hundredth of a second. Are you kidding me? A hundredth of a second your CEO is going to walk on the stage? No. That’s not going to happen. And it’s so important to stand there to feel and look. When should this happen, when should that happen? Let’s wait and see. Let’s feel it. Let’s go when it is supposed to go. And when you do that it naturally happens and people do put down their phones and listen and experience, or watch or feel.
Maria: Here’s a really poignant story that happened last week. So, I’ve been strongly encouraging everyone to read Brené Brown’s Dare to Lead book for its all-around vulnerability, its all-around courage. Last week, we were in our company town hall with 65 of our team members and it was a very sensitive and delicate space that we opened up because we were really like two, three days into the whole Black Lives Matter movement, and many of our team members are either black or they care deeply about the topic. They’ve been significantly invested in it. And so, we were gathering to really create space and communicate what we are doing as a company to impact change, internally and externally.
It was really fascinating because our CEO opened the space, different leaders were presenting “Hey, here are the action items we are immediately taking,” and then my co-founder said “Hey Maria, do you mind sharing some words?” and there were 65 of our team. And you know, I didn’t script it, overthink it. If anything, I really came with an open heart, very raw and tender and the first words that came out of my mouth and what was really visible is like people are hurting. We are all hurting. I’m hurting. And there were even moments where I started to break up. And when we can create that…I felt safe to have that conversation, to share from the heart.
“Create the space to adapt to what is happening in society.”
You could feel the connection through the entire company and that is really a call to anyone in our company to step into that. When the stories broke and people started to engage around it, the first ten Zoom sessions I was on, calls internally, people were in tears. They were just like really raw and emotional — so creating that space — you need to adapt to what is happening in society. That people who can step into that and celebrate in their own unique way — that call for authenticity and humanness is really what you can master as event planners and create the space for the unexpected.
Diversity & Equity in Social Media: Part Two of Our Conversation
On Brands Showing Up for Black Lives
Heather Keenan: How should brands take a stand?
Maria Sipka: This is the time where we show up and understand that our silence will be detrimental to our business. And it’s OK to stand up and say “Listen, we haven’t made the right decisions in the past, we haven’t behaved in the right way, but it’s time for us to change. And we are sorry. And we do stand in solidarity and here is what we’re doing. Here are the actions that we’re taking. We are donating to these nonprofits, or these causes and here is why we are donating to those causes.”
“Clarify and communicate what you stand for.”
We are looking internally at what percentage of our employees are black. Do we even have enough black employees? And how are we clarifying and communicating what we stand for?” What’s different about what’s happening today with the Black Lives Matter movement on top of COVID is because people are raw and they’re paying attention. They’re suffering. It’s not enough to just speak to it. What will you do?
Heather Keenan: Yes. I think it has sort of given us the space we need to think about it and make some change there. I also think as a privileged white person that it’s sort of given me permission to screw up. I might say the wrong thing, I might do the wrong thing – but I have to try, I can’t be silent anymore. I have to say something even if it’s the wrong thing and allow someone to correct me and to move forward and grow.
Making the Commitment to Black Influencers
Heather: So, any influencers that you think have done a particularly good job in this area?
Maria: There are millions of influencers in the ecosystem and we release a “What’s Trending” every Monday/Tuesday because there’s just so much information and noise and it’s like coming at us. Yesterday we sent out Black influencers that we should follow.
I personally made a commitment that my social feeds and the people that I follow represent the breakdown in the country – as in that at least 15-20% of the people that I follow are black, that there is a percentage that I follow that are Hispanic, that are LGBTQ. That is where people are spending 8 hours a day engaging. Who you follow impacts that algorithm of content that you share.
For example: What I appreciate about what Dwell did is that they posted “Hey we haven’t figured this out. What are suggestions that you can make? How should we be looking at this?” which is a really vulnerable and courageous move and I’ve seen some other brands do it and then I spend time reading the comments. And people really called Dwell to step up and represent and that’s where who we are following has a significant impact.
Inclusivity + Diverse Ecosystems
Maria: There is a Harvard professor, her name is Frances Frei who has inspired me to move towards inclusive, diverse ecosystems. Whether it is a group of ten or a group of one hundred. She has this inclusiveness wheel. In her book, Unleashed, she outlines specifics on how we show up.
Being able to create that safe place is the first building block that we just need to adopt. Whatever is experienced or discussed stays within that space, then you call on those individuals – like my co-founder called on me in our team of 65 to say “Hey we want to see and feel your heart and your passion.” And that really sets the bar and it’s where we have to start.
Links referenced in this conversation:
Unleashed, The Unapologetic Leader’s Guide to Empowering Everyone Around You — Frances X. Frei, Anne Morriss (2020), Harvard Business Review
16 Black Creators and Influencers to Follow — Linqia, 2020
“What’s Trending on Instagram and Tik Tok?!” — Linqia June 29, 2020
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About Linqia
Based in Silicon Valley, Linqia burst onto the scene in 2012 to pioneer the evolution of the influencer marketing industry. Today, Linqia continues to lead the space by optimizing the discovery and engagement of the right set of content creators, qualifying their content for optimal performance across all digital media, and delivering guaranteed results backed by third party measurement and attribution partners.
