Influencers…

What is an influencer?

Noun A person or thing that influences another.

A person with the ability to influence potential buyers of a product or service by promoting or recommending the items on social media. Influencers can add serious credibility to a brand.

Whenever I open Amazon, I am shown the top trending picks by their influencers. The products I usually see are home and cooking items, and now and again, some fashion items. I found that Amazon had an influencer job application on its website yesterday. Who knew?

Who are these social media influencers? How do you become one? How do you get paid? Is this a career? All very good questions with some simple answers.

Influencers are people who have built a reputation on social media using their knowledge and expertise on a specific topic. Influencers make daily posts on social media about that topic and generate large followings of people who pay attention to what they have to say.

Brands love influencers because they create trends and encourage their followers to buy their products.

There are different types of influencers, and they are ranked by the number of followers they have.

~ Mega-influencers have more than 1 million followers. Celebrities such as Gordon Ramsey, Justin Bieber, Dwayne Johnson, and Christiano Ronaldo are Mega-influencers.

~ Macro-influencers are people with between 40,000 and 1 million followers. They are usually experts in their field or B-grade celebrities who haven’t made it big yet.

~Micro-influencers are regular everyday people who have become known for their knowledge about a special topic. They have between 1,000 and 40,000 followers.

~ Nano-influencers are new to the game. These people have a small number of followers in a highly specialized field. Think of being a big fish in a small pond. This type of influencer is not useful to most brands.

The bigger the influencer with the most followers attracts bigger brands and makes bigger commissions. Celebrities can make up to 1 million dollars for a single social media post! Shit!

So why in the hell am I talking about influencers anyway? The other day Marty and I were on the road after production making deliveries and needed to stop for lunch. I always check my phone for gluten-free choices, and this time something new popped up, a place called Viva Empanadas.

Before ordering any food, we spoke with a woman who was the business owner. The empanada place was in a food gallery set up like a food court with different vendors and community seating inside and outside.

Let me tell you; this young woman had me at hello. We started to ask about gluten-free and if those empanadas were fried with the wheat ones when she got a huge smile on her face and began telling us all about her business.

The food was not only safe to eat, but killer! It was delicious and made with so much love you could taste it. Marty said it was his best bite of food out so far this year. We spoke with the owner Veronica at length and told her about a Facebook group called Gluten-free Albany.

It’s a group page for people to share places, products, and food establishments that are either gluten-free safe or warn everyone to watch out for cross-contamination or a poorly trained staff.

Veronica is new to the area; she recently moved to the Albany area from Brooklyn, NY, because she couldn’t afford brick and mortar rent in NYC and outgrew her food truck. I promised her I would tell the group about her new business that opened only two months ago.

Later that night, this is what I wrote on the Gluten-free Albany page:

We had a great experience today at a new place called Viva Empanadas Latin Kitchen at Gallery 7 in Latham today. The owner Veronica is very passionate about her food and having something that everyone can eat, from gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan down to traditional varieties. 

Veronica and her staff are knowledgeable and are extremely careful about cross-contamination. They have a separate dedicated fryer for all gluten-free empanadas. We tried four different kinds of empanadas, and each one was more delicious than the next. Marty said it was his best bite eaten out this year which is a big compliment. 

I told Veronica we would tell you guys about her and her new business she opened only two months ago. The prices are good, which is something that is important to her. She is super friendly, proud, and passionate about her food and is a fantastically talented cook. Tell her the spätzle people sent you. Lol.

By the next morning, over 800 group members had read the post. By that afternoon, 1,100 saw it. While Marty and I were in production, he reminded me I forgot to tell everyone the important part of her business. The thing we loved most about it. So I wrote another post:

I was so excited to tell everyone about Viva empanadas that I forgot to mention the most impressive part of her business…the time, effort, and love that goes into each of her gluten-free empanada doughs. She told us her story of how she peels the cassava or yucca root and boils it until soft, then mashes it and works it into the dough. She does the same thing with the green plantains and corn. 

All of her doughs are naturally gluten-free the way they were meant to be made in Latin America. The meats are slowly braised and tender, flavorful and unctuous. All of this work is an incredible part of her whole business...

Since yesterday another 950 people saw my second post. There are only 2,000 members of the group, which meant more than half read my recommendation. I read comments on my two posts from members who either went there the next day and had a great experience or planned to go. Everyone was so excited and thanked me for telling them about this new find. This group really watches out for each other!

I got a personal message from Veronica thanking me and wanted to share with me how many new customers are coming in and saying they saw my post. Marty told me I was an influencer. How do you like that? A gluten-free food influencer. Huh.

I didn’t plan or even think I was influencing people or the brand Viva Empanadas. I wanted to help another new small business owner be successful. I also wanted the members of our group who are always looking for another safe place to eat and can trust to know about it. I achieved both!

I believe we need to support, lift up, and cheer on other amazing, hard-working small business owners. We have had many influencers post about our spätzle over the last five years; one post got as many as 10,000 likes. Social media is like a mighty freight train that can either make or break you.

If you are in Albany, gluten-free or not, I urge you to try Viva Empanadas located in the Gallery 7 Market in Latham, NY. You will not be disappointed or sick! Tell her the spätzle people sent you. 😂