Some advice to her more than 100,000 followers has recently been offered by a reality TV star.
The model urged her fans to learn a new language and noted how locals in foreign countries appreciated the effort. She wrote in a previous post that it was important to be able to connect with people while traveling. HeyPal is a one-year-old language- learning app that Johnson has suggested as a way to study a new language.
A picture of Johnson sitting near the Indian Ocean with a phone in her hands and a cocktail nearby was captioned, "Today I wanted to work on some Arabic slang, so I literally can pull out the phone and use the app anywhere, anytime!"
Her endorsements may appear to be just tips from a travel expert. The paid campaign by HeyPal, which is owned by Beverly Hills-based digital app developer Clickstream, is behind the sprinkled between photos of the model posing in exotic tropical locations on social media.
HeyPal has made content creators like Johnson a key part of its marketing and growth strategy. The app is paying three people, including Johnson, to spread the word about the platform.
HeyPal, which has racked up more than 1 million downloads since it went live last June, is just one of many brands that are turning to influencer marketers. The amount of money spent on influencer marketing has more than doubled in the last year, jumping from $1.7 billion in 2016 to $16.4 billion this year.
Traditional celebrity endorsements are not much different from the way influencer marketing is done. Experts say that online celebrities forge deep relationships with their fans, which makes their endorsements more effective. If the products or services they are marketing fit with the content they are creating, then that is even truer.
Brad Hoos, CEO of The Outloud Group, said that the audience trusts the creator and that they stick with the brand longer.
HeyPal was launched in 2020 to help people learn new languages by conversing with native speakers. The paid version of HeyPal includes additional features like unlimited translations and a feature that matches users who can teach each other a new language.
The CEO of HeyPal told dot.LA that Johnson and the others bring credibility to the platform. Jessica Killings, an actress, model and angel investor, is one of the others.
HeyPal CEO Jonathan. The photo was taken by HeyPal.
HeyPal has only struck partnerships with three of the 20 it has worked with. The others are just enthusiasts of the mission. The company wouldn't say how much it pays forinfluencers to promote its app.
In addition to boosting the brand's visibility, HeyPal'sinfluencers are able to steer people to the app or channels that the company can later retarget them with ads or push notifications. HeyPal has the ability to measure reach, click-through rates and number of app downloads by influential people.
The top of the funnel is served by influence marketing. Katy creates engaging content, brings people to the middle of the funnel, and then we retarget them and bring them to the bottom of the funnel.
Johnson doesn't dig into the details of the app, but his endorsements suggest the benefits of learning a new language. Johnson's ability to speak different languages makes it possible for her to dance and pose for selfies with people all over the world.
Jamie Gutfreund is the chief marketing officer for Los Angeles-based Whalar, a creator economy company. If they've learned the language, they can imagine what it would be like.
When it comes to partnerships with corporations, creators need to be careful. Although brand deals may provide more stable income than platform ad revenue, creators have to make sure they don't harm their authenticity by promoting products A recent survey shows that about 13% of fans have stopped following a creator because they included too many ads.
She said she only sends a few promotional posts per month and doesn't endorse anything on social media. Johnson said she doesn't need to make her posts look authentic.
She told dot.LA that she doesn't make it look like anything because it's authentic.
She said that those are all real moments she's had. Some of these moments can be helped by using language apps.
