How Influencers Are Adapting During the Pandemic: Jocelyn Castillo @chasingcarpediem
Just as brands and creatives are adjusting their strategy amid the current global pandemic, content creators are adjusting their work as followers shift their expectations — and spend more time online. For the last interview in our blog series, CIIC spoke with Miami’s Jocelyn Castillo of Chasing Carpe Diem.
What kind of content are your followers currently engaging with?
Being a travel creator during this pandemic has been challenging but I’ve been providing my following with real-home content and things I’m currently doing to stay healthy and motivated.
How have you shifted your content to accommodate your followers’ interest?
Somewhat. I am still doing travel throwbacks for them to engage with and also to create a bucket list for when we can travel again!
If you have shifted content, do you see yourself shifting back after COVID or continuing with the new content direction?
I would like to continue a healthy mix of the two. I’m not sure when I’ll be traveling again but I will share fun activities that they can do at home and in their own cities.
How do you predict the current situation will change the influencer landscape?
I think authenticity is going to play a bigger role in the way we share content and brands we partner with.
Have you felt the need to reinvent yourself as an influencer?
Most definitely yes. I was creating travel content at least a good 70% pre-covid and I almost feel like it has given me an opportunity to think outside of traveling and what I can offer my community besides travel tips. Maybe share a hobby or things I’m reading for example.
Have you noticed any innovative or creative ways that brands are working with influencers now?
Brand partnerships have paused for me, but for the ones I have upcoming campaigns, we're not staging the campaign. Brands want to see what you're doing and how you'll present their product to your following.
What are some creative new ideas/deliverables that you’ve come up with to offer to brands that might have changed their messaging or had to tighten their budgets?
I started adding Pinterest in my campaigns. I have a small but mighty community in Pinterest that loves to save and pin things for them to try in the future. It's also being shared and giving brands long-term exposure.
With the importance of sensitive messaging, what kind of backlash have you seen influencers receive and how have you worked to prevent that from happening within your own content?
I'm educating myself on the current events that are happening, I'm also sharing and having uncomfortable conversations with a few of my followers, but I'm showing up for them. I think the days we're creators couldn't be political are far gone.
