Love Not Likes: Micro-Influencers and Bloggers Take on Jamaica

  • Love Not Likes Bloggers Trip to Portland: Photo by Darlington Jones Imagery

I’ve been working in advertising for over 15 years, and as someone who used “influencers” (there wasn’t a name for it at the time) to sell t-shirts online for 2 years, I understand the value of an influencer.

The community is small is in Jamaica, totaling about 20-30 major influencers made up of mostly comedians, lifestyle, beauty and public figure categories.

I was nominated as a People to Watch in 2019, by Kadia Francis, aka the Digital Jamaican who scoured the internet to find micro-influencers and bloggers who write mostly for the love of it and not necessarily the recognition. A micro-influencer tends to have less than 10,000 followers but usually has an intimate community. ( I listed using micro-influencers as one of the 2019 trends in social media. Read here)

We wanted to bring everyone together to bond and network. Most of the people had the same wish–to create content (whether that be in the form of writing, taking photos or making videos, etc), and being able to travel the world while doing so.

list of Jamaican bloggers. love not likes
Love Not Likes Bloggers/Content Creators in the middle of the road at Castleton Gardens

We received sponsorship from Ion Communications and LuxuryJa.

While CPJ, our official refreshment sponsor provided us with Life Span Water and Glinter sparkling water

Photo Credit: Peter Clarke, Rocket Visions JA

Rum Cream, Rumbar rum and vodka came from Worthy Park.

  • Photo Credit: Peter Clarke

Snacks for the 2.5 drive from National Bakery

Sun Factory provided us with flip-flops for the beach.

  • Ipanamas from Sun Factory. Photo Credit: Peter Clarke of Rocket Visions ja

Each blogger received customized mugs with their ig handle from The Label Snob , Sharmac Graphics printed the fans for each guest, Just nuff social plan (which includes data and social media) were granted by Digicel Jamaica and TCP offered the bags to carry everything in.

  • Those Creative People provided bags and The Label Snob gave each blogger a customized mug with their ig handle

Watch the video of the recap.

The bloggers paid for their transportation and lunch but received reposts and comments from the sponsors, edited photos from established photographers including Machel Witter, Peter Clarke and Darren George (contracted by our partners Ion Communications), to gather content on their behalf. We were even featured on CVM Sunrise. See the full interview below.

So the most burning questions from this experience have been, why call it Love Not Likes? In April 2019, Instagram put out that they were working on changing the platform to eliminate likes, you can read the Forbes article here.

Also, as I said earlier, many of these bloggers do it because they love what they do—sharing their go-to spots in Jamaica, or their beauty secrets, etc. However, they’ve never received corporate sponsorship or even gifted merchandise.

The list of the bloggers/micro-influencers/YouTubers who attended were:

Jhunelle Jureidini: a full-time travel blogger who finds most of the unknown places in Jamaica and highlights them.

Sue-Tanya McHorgh: a website developer and lifestyle blogger who also has an online clothing store.

Diedre McLeod: A travel blogger who teaches travelers how to travel the world on a budget.

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Anybody ever ask you why you always have ONE BAG AH TINGS in your bag? 🤣 Bae is usually guilty amirite!? * You ever checked out the things you are carrying in your bag? Like really looked at what's in your bag? What do you have languishing in there? Old receipts, snack wrappers (cuz you do your part for the environment), broken makeup, random stuff that you not sure why they're ever there in the first place? LoL I may have stopped talking about a bag and now having full-on philosophical ramblings on life 🙊. But honestly, I try to be intentional about what I put in my bag. I don't want to be literally carrying around useless baggage. And this beach bag from @thosecreativepeople can really hold ONE BAG AH TINGS! Fyi it's great for trips not just to the beach. On my last trip to the beach it really shined. It's Spacious. Great for holding towels, water shoes, food, sunscreen and more. Check my blog about "How to do One Bag Ah Tings on your next trip to Portland" to see how handy the bag is (LinkInBio or bit.ly/oneBagAhTings) And tell me if you love it! * * * * * * * 📸@rockstaar_ 👜@thosecreativepeople #gifted #sponsoredpost #iamwandering #wanderoften #tcptings #thosecreativepeople #beachbagswag #beachlovers🌴 #JamaicaJamaica #proud876 #wanderlustcollection #frenchmanscove #jamaicabeach #portlandjamaica #weekendgetaways #blackgirlstraveltoo #fabuplus #blacktraveljourney #weekendmood #whatsinyourbag #cluttered #baggage #beachlifeisthebestlife #onthebeach

A post shared by Diedre McLeod🔸Budget Travel (@diedreinwanderland) on

Lucienne Antonio: A blogger who also can secure your next budget vacation.

Kemar Royal: a content creator/droner who lives for adventure

Ronnia Cherry, a creative with multiple interests, all surrounding creating a platform for Jamaican creatives. Learn more about her

Tashi Grant: A media maven who started her lifestyle/travel blog called The Hopper

Rachael Campbell: a travel vlogger who likes to party.

Jehmeil Shrouder: a YouTuber on a mission to be successful.

Ornella Green: A lifestyle/beauty blogger who aspires to travel the world.

So I wanted to make them feel special, i.e. find a way to show them and the world, that micro-influencers have value. Many influencers only big up a brand because they are getting paid, which sometimes loses its authenticity.

So let’s even get more pedantic, people think influencer is a dirty/bad word. What is an influencer, really?

An influencer is an individual who’s capable of affecting (i.e., influencing) people’s purchase decisions because of his/her knowledge or authority. What’s more, this individual has a following – usually on social media – in a specific niche, such as fashion, food, fitness, photography, and so on. YouTube marketing is also quite common.

Tech Jury ( see article here)

According to influencer marketing research, many companies will hire brand ambassadors to promote their products. While the most visible brand ambassadors are celebrity influencers, micro-bloggers can often get in on the action, too – they increase a brand’s visibility more locally. Another sponsored content format consists of paid for articles and blogs, which appear as editorials in an online publication.

So now we have that out of the way, let’s talk about the alignment with the government’s growth strategy. Chris Dehring spoke at the Jamaica Diaspora Conference a couple of months ago and he talked about the importance of creating alternative job opportunities for young people.

The insights that came out of the trip was that most of them want to live a digital nomad lifestyle. It seems pretty simple, but when you live on an island, you tend to only think about Jamaica and even some think smaller–only Kingston and St. Andrew.

Our aim is to create a network and community with bloggers/micro-influencers who want to monetize. We’ve invited Lauren Dunn, otherwise known as Lauren O Lauren to give a masterclass at CoWork on Thursday, July 18th. Lauren has been working in Silicon Valley and has been able to grow her following and monetize for the last few years. Please call 876 881-7830 to purchase tickets.

We’re also building a community of bloggers, content creators, photographers who want to collaborate. Please follow @lovenotlikesja on Instagram or email us at lovenotlikes@gmail.com for more information.

Love Not Likes visits Kingston Creative’s Artwalk

Last Sunday, I had the pleasure of being invited to Kingston Creative’s Artwalk. We decided to partner with them for a Love Not Likes excursion. For those who don’t know, Love Not Likes is an experiential marketing agency that creates curated experiences for photographers, bloggers and creatives who want to network and collaborate.

The bloggers and creatives were @SueTanyaMcorgh @Simplylocal.life, @youtravellucie, @just.lexi.simple, @haute_people, @astoldbynella and photographers Machel Witter of @mdwmediaja and Peter Clarke from @rocketvisionsja.

Andrea Dempster-Chung, the co-founder of the Kingston Creative movement gave us a tour and spoke about the importance to gaining support from all areas of society, including creatives.

When Andrea posed the question about how do we engage corporate, we decided that the best way was to show in a real way, not through PR or posed photographs but invite bloggers and content creators to come and enjoy the experience.

It was a lovely day, particularly because we were especially invited for lunch by FNB’s Downtown, a Jamaican fusion restaurant that houses Swiss Stores and is a gallery for resident-artist Craig Phang-Sang. They are known for their famous oxtail. This is a must-have when visiting Downtown Kingston. It was also a refuge for us during the summer heat as we were treated with freshly squeezed lemonade..

We also experienced a pop-up version of The Edna Manley Final Year exhibition, curated by National Gallery’s former director, Veerle Poupeye.

Resonances features six young artists: Trishaunna Henry (BFA Sculpture), Joni P. Gordon (BFA Photography), Leanne Mair (BFA Painting), Yulanah Mullings (BFA Painting), Mark Robinson (BFA Painting), and Keisha Walters (BFA Painting). They work in media ranging from ceramic and aluminium to wood, paper and cardboard constructions, to paper and textile collage, and ranges from miniature scale to very large. Each of the six artists makes use of the resonant potential of the object and the image to speak about more than itself and to invoke stories about social, cultural and historical subjects as diverse as the experience of the Jamaican urban environment and the car culture; the personal traumas of racism, migrant work and childhood sexual abuse; the dilemmas of genetic engineering; and the historical and contemporary cultural significance of shoes.

Veerle Poupeye

The exhibition is curated by Veerle Poupeye, an art historian specialized in Caribbean art and an independent curator and writer. Dr. Poupeye is also a lecturer at the Edna Manley College.

Best part of the day, was actually getting to hang out with Charl B. The artist behind the mural, “The Tree of Life,” located behind FNB’s Downtown, off Harbour Street. There are several on the street and we took time to take them all in.

Kingston Creative has a seven year plan to create an arts district where creatives can share workspace, network and collaborate. The long term plan is create a place similar to Wynwood in Miami but they need funding to make it happen. It seems like creating an eco-system where creatives can thrive and companies can get visibility in a heavy foot traffic area seems a good fit.

The brands that have already come on board include Red Stripe, Jamaica Observer, Jamaica Gleaner, Facey Foundation, Paperboy Jamaica and others. If you would like a mural, it can be arranged, I’m here trying to figure out how I can get one myself.

Travel Blogger launches “Island Life” sunglasses filter to help you look cool for the Summer

As you know, I’m entrenched in the blogging community and care about the emerging trends particularly in Jamaica. Kylie Jenner launched her lip kit IG filter in November 2018, and got IG buzzing as everyone was trying out the new lippies. As Instagram continues to fight with SnapChat for attention, creating new features will continue to pop up to engage users. So when my fellow blogger, Jhunelle Jureidini of simplylocal.life decided to launch her an IG filter for the summer, I thought it was a great marketing ploy to get some eyes on her travel blog.

IG filters was one of the Social Media trends I predicted to emerge in 2019, and I’m surprised that more Jamaican brands have not jumped on this bandwagon. In May 2018, Instagram launched a program through Spark AR Community that would allow brands, public figures, celebrities and popular creators to create their own custom filters. It’s a beta program with around 20,000 users, so expect more filters to be launched in the coming months. After two initial project trials and denials, Jhunelle continued to build on her new knowledge. The third time proved to be the charm when her ‘Tropic Shades’ lens got a stamp of approval on June 20th.

Anyone can access the filter, just go to camera mode and tap the smiley face on the far right side of the capture button. Rihanna shined bright like a diamond with hers in honor of her Diamond Ball in late 2018. Other popular AR filters have come from Ariana Grande, NBA and Kylie Jenner with her lip kit colors.

Today’s world is much more familiar with augmented reality (AR) as the technology develops. AI is usually a computer-generated image or animation on a user’s view, often for entertainment purposes. Facial-detecting AR gained much popularity after their filter inclusion on the Snapchat social media platform in 2015, and even more so when later adopted by Instagram and Facebook.  Jhunelle has seen potential in this growing trend and created a custom face filter which is now publicly available on Instagram.

Always keeping up with the latest digital marketing technology, Jhunelle learned that third-party filters would soon be accessible to companies worldwide.

Her face-detection AR sunglasses frame is placed over users’ eyes in the rasta colours, red, green, and gold topped with the phrase ‘ISLAND LIFE’. It’s meant to provide a tropical vibe to anyone, no matter where in the world they are. To access the exclusive ‘Tropic Shades’, Instagram users would be required to follow her blog’s Instagram page @simplylocal.life then select the effect from the collection of facial recognition filters.

“I’m always looking for new ways to promote Brand Jamaica,” she stated. “Creating custom ig filters is a unique way brands get to show their personality while buidling brand loyalty.” Jhunelle will offer augmented reality filters to brands once Instagram makes it widely available. 

Jhunelle offers exclusive discounts and travel tips to locals and tourists about Jamaica through her blog at www.simplylocal.life .Try her instagram filter by following her @simplylocal.life and accessing the filter menu.

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Lauren O Lauren teaches First Love Not Likes Master Class

On July 18, 2019, Lauren Dunn, otherwise known as Lauren O Lauren will be presenting at the inaugural Love Not Likes Master Class at CoWork Ja focused on monetizing your blog, YouTube and Instagram through influencer marketing. Influencer marketing is million dollar industry in the United States, with Fashion Nova being one of the top spenders. According to Hubspot, 89% of businesses say their ROI from influencer marketing is comparable to or better than other marketing channels. 

Lauren O Lauren social media influencer, blogger and YouTuber
Lauren O Lauren speaks at the inaugural Love Not Likes Master Class, July 18th at CoWork Ja.

Love Not Likes is a community founded by Kesi Gardner, hoping to revitalize the Jamaican blogging and micro-influencer industry to monetize and ultimately create alternative income streams for young Jamaicans.

The teacher of the first Love Not Likes Master Class, Lauren is a media veteran having started as a host at the age of seventeen to having her own TV show on Flow.

Lauren is currently living in San Jose, California, where she works in Silicon Valley, the largest tech hub in the world where major companies like Facebook and Google have their head offices.

Given the location where she works, Lauren has been granted the access that many would love to have on a day-to-day basis, gaining knowledge about the current trends and the future of social media. She’s been able to also establish endorsement deals and is a Brand Ambassador for Bumble, a networking app. She is able to bring an international perspective on the world of blogging, YouTube and podcasting.

She has a 33,000 collective audience across her social media platforms, with a blog, YouTube channel and podcast called These Are The Rules. She is looking to teach bloggers and micro-influencers, how to monetize and to show that we do offline is even more important than what you do online in order to make money.

lauren O lauren is a Jamaican blogger, social media and influencer residing in San Jose California

CPJ is offering kiwi strawberry margaritas, Cafe Dolce will be offering desserts. Blow by Blow, Lady Shelly Beauty and Janus Medical spa will be giving away products to each guest.

The Love Not Likes Master Class series will be focusing on different industries such as comedy, food, technology and finance.To sign up for the Master Class, call 876 881-7830. The cost is $5,000. To sign up for our mailing list email to lovenotlikes@gmail.com.


Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow: The Evolution of the Tmrw.Tday Movement Part I

Tmrrw.Tday is fast becoming a popular wellness music festival for Jamaicans and tourists alike.

luxuryja

Part I

A few years ago, on the shores of the bohemian beach village of Negril in Jamaica, a collective, calling themselves a tribe, invited the world to join them for a week at the Tmrw.Tday Festival. The invitation extended was to spend a few days together exploring all the ways they could make choices today to create a better tomorrow, for themselves and the planet, through music, love, wellness, food and connectivity, to each other and the world. That annual invitation still stands.

The three men who fathered the Tmrw.Tday Festival are almost impossible to pin down. With the thousand and one details they deal with in their myriad ventures, we go back and forth trying to pin down a date where I can get them all in a room. I have visions of sharing a beer and having a few laughs while I barrage them with questions about…

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Confession: I’m a Social Media Snob and the Apps You Should Use to be one too.

So someone called me a social media snob the other day, and I’m not arguing. I like an aesthetically-pleasing feed.

Honestly though, I’m tired of the DMs from people asking me how they can get their feed looking good. This is very valuable top-secret information that I’m sharing with you (no it’s really not you can find it on the internet but i’m tired of the DMs guys…)

So you can get an Instagram husband to take pictures of you with a DSLR but most people use an iPhone and it works perfectly fine. If you don’t have someone to take pictures of you, you can get a tripod to set up your camera.

If you don’t have a lot of time to take pictures (like I do), you can try the following:

Free Stock images: UnSplash, Pixabay, Pexels. So although I am a content creator, some of the images on my feed aren’t mine. Yes, some of the images I get from free stock sites that match my aesthetic.  You don’t have to credit the photographers based on the license but they always appreciate it when you do. These images are copyright free. If you do decide to use someone else’s images, please get permission and credit them.

So once, you have your photos, you can mix them with quotes. I use a free tool called Canva . This is a great because there are templates you can use. There really isn’t any excuse as to why your feed can’t be off-the-chain.

Preview: Now die-hard social media people will know this app but for those of you are new and want to step up your game, it allows you to load your images and curate your feed. They also have a stock of free photos to choose from. This allows you pre-plan what your feed is going to look like.

So the idea is to seek balance and symmetry through colour. Choose images that are the same tone and match each other (but it ultimately depends what you’re looking for)

And you can use HootSuite to schedule and it’s free! I post in threes to keep my grid perfect. I’m also OCD, so I will delete something if I feel it doesn’t match my aesthetic.

Learn more about how to grow your instagram here.

Here some grid ideas so you can make your own cool feed.:

You can win with a checker board design

 

Create a white border to give this gallery effect

 

Tile your feed