Momtalk Maryland
The go-to podcast for Maryland moms looking to stay connected, inspired, and in the know about everything happening in their community—from must-visit spots to real conversations on motherhood, business, and local life.
🔹 A mix of local insights, business spotlights, foodie finds, and honest mom-life convos
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🔹 Short, digestible episodes (20-40 mins) so busy moms can listen on-the-go
Momtalk Maryland
From Assumption to Reality: A Summer Working with an Influencer
What really happens behind those perfect Instagram posts? In this candid conversation, Claire sits down with her summer intern Emma to discuss her expectations versus the reality of working with an influencer. When Emma first joined the team, she admitted thinking the job would be relatively simple – just taking photos and posting them. Sound familiar?
As we unpack her assumptions, Emma reveals how her perspective transformed upon discovering the mountain of unseen work behind every piece of content. From the hours spent filming on location to the intricate editing process, caption writing, and strategic posting schedules, she now understands why that 15-second reel actually took three hours to create.
They dive deep into the reality of content creation, discussing the tools used to streamline workflows, the importance of building a team, and why diversification across platforms requires significant planning. Emma shares her surprise at discovering the community-building aspect of The Columbia Mom platform, realizing that authentic, helpful content serves a purpose far beyond aesthetics.
The conversation offers a refreshingly honest look at an often misunderstood profession. While social media presents a highlight reel that makes influencer work seem effortless, the reality involves complex strategy, technical skills, and hours of behind-the-scenes effort. For anyone curious about what really happens before that perfectly curated post appears in your feed, this episode pulls back the curtain on the unseeable labor of content creation.
Whether you're a content creator yourself or simply curious about the digital world, this conversation offers valuable insights into the realities of building a personal brand in today's social media landscape. Ready to see influencer life from a whole new perspective?
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Hey friends and welcome to mom talk Maryland. I'm your host, claire Duarte, founder of the Columbia mom, and this is your spot for real conversations, local love and a whole lot of community. Whether you're folding laundry, running errands or hiding in your car for some peace and quiet, let's dive in All, right. So we got Emma back with us and it's bittersweet because you only have a few weeks left with well, okay, you're not leaving. It's just before you go back to school.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm still working in the fall, but like I'm going to be at school, so I won't see you.
Speaker 1:I know, and actually I had the really sad realization because I'll be around next week and then, like we have a beach sandwich, like I go to the beach, then you go to the beach, and then I, and then like we have a beach sandwich, like I go to the beach, then you go to the beach, and then I go to the beach again, and then you literally leave for school, basically when I come back home. So I was like I know, so basically have like a week left of like in person. I'm sure, like when you come home for the holidays, we'll definitely try to like see each other again.
Speaker 1:You know, um, but so I thought this would be a good time to um. What I wanted to chat about today was doing like. What were your, what were some of your assumptions? It can be about me, I don't. I literally don't care, um about either influencers in general or about me to verse like what you think.
Speaker 1:Now, now that you've like been, obviously we've like trained you, you've we've taught you kind of this whole gamut of things like for the business, right, like blog writing, captions, keywords, seo. I don't think we've had you do emails, necessarily, but you've done um, some canva designing um, working with many chat chat, chatgpt, typeset. You designed, you helped design like I made the workshop that I did recently, but you designed the whole thing basically, I don't think I even made any changes from it. So, anyways, you've learned a lot and you've gotten to be thrown into. Oh, you've been on the site filming with me, you've done podcast stuff. Anyways, you've learned a lot and you've gotten to be thrown into. Oh, you've been on the site filming with me, you've done podcast stuff. So you've learned a lot, right, so let's. So I wanted to ask you first what were some assumptions that you had just about influencers in general.
Speaker 2:Honestly, like cause, like being on like so many social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram, and like seeing like different influencers, I kind of thought like it was just gonna be for the aesthetics and like not like shallow. But I thought like because a lot of influencers like only show like the good part of their life, that like they only want like their viewers to see, and like they don't show like when they're running late or like the mess, the messy part of their lives. So like I kind of thought like oh, like this might just be for like the aesthetic, something like that. But then, like when I started working with you and like when I started looking at like more of your content, I realized like oh, like Claire is kind of like a different kind of influencer, like you show, you show more of like the authentic part of like being a mom and like how, like your life isn't perfect and that's okay kind of thing and like that's. I feel like I hadn't really seen that a lot from other influencers.
Speaker 1:So like going into it, I wasn't like skeptical but I was kind of like hmm, like I don't know, like working for an influencer like this could be interesting, Like I don't know, but like it's definitely like those assumptions, like I definitely were, they were squashed, coming like into this I feel like that's so common and so true, right, I mean I feel like I still, even with either other influencer, like friends that I have. I mean cause. That's the reality. Social media is a highlight reel. It absolutely is, and I'm still guilty of that. It's still cause. The reality is I do try to portray and share some of the behind the scenes, some of the hard, some of the messy. You know what I mean, but the reality is I don't have a camera on me at all times.
Speaker 1:I certainly don't have the time to edit everything and put it out there. You know what I mean. But, um, that's certainly part of the goal, right? And I think, and I think if there's so many other creators that I think are even better at just kind of like their scroll is just like almost like reality tv, of like just you kind of getting to see all the the raw um the ups and downs.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean. Um, but it's hard to do. It's. It's definitely hard to do um, but I definitely agree. Like you know, it's most people we're. We're putting out there the fun, the cool thing so, and there's nothing wrong with that.
Speaker 2:But it's like when I was like going to work with an influencer, I was kind of just like I also didn't realize like what really went on behind the scenes. Like I kind of like assumed like, oh, you just take a picture and post it, kind of thing like.
Speaker 2:But now, like working like behind the scenes, I'm like oh like you have to edit it, you have to like, you know, like make sure you get tons of content because like some things don't come out right, or like like it's more like behind the scenes stuff that like people don't see, and like, yeah, so that's why I was like, oh, like, what am I even going to be doing?
Speaker 1:right, like yeah, so like that's what, that's what I wanted to ask you, so let's say more about that. Or like go a little bit deeper. I'm curious, like what, yeah, when you had first reached out and considered, and wanting to work, right, what, what did you think that you might be doing or what did you assume that we did?
Speaker 2:Like honestly, I didn't even like know fully Like, because, like I had like gone on your Instagram page and like kind of like looked up some things before like reaching out.
Speaker 2:Because I was like I want to know a little bit of what I'm getting myself into.
Speaker 2:But I didn't even know like you had a website like until you told me that. And then, like after like our first call, like I went looks on your website and I was like, oh, like this is pretty cool because, like I had never really seen like an influencer who also had like like a professional like website as well. Like when I saw that and I saw like you had the blogs and like the events and all of that stuff on your website, I was like, oh, like maybe I'll be doing some of that as well, like coming into it, I kind of thought I was just going to be like shadowing you and like filming and stuff like that. But like then, like when we started to talk more about like the other things that you do, and then you were mentioning the like you were going to be starting the podcast and all of that and I was like, oh, like this sounds good for me because I'm to get experience doing like a bunch of different things and not just like one thing.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, it's so true, and I feel like this summer you've gotten to do like a whole lot of different things and you've seen, even like, how we've evolved, like from January Because, like I said, yeah, we launched the podcast and we're actually getting ready to launch something else soon.
Speaker 1:It's almost done and you've seen the different types of content that we've created, not just for, like, our business partnerships, but just on the internal stuff of like, what we like to create. And yeah, you've seen, but I feel like that's just kind of the nature of what we do. It's, I feel like it's always evolving, it's always changing, which is good. You want it to be that way because, like you know I mean even like on Instagram, same with TikTok trends are always changing, right. So it's, we don't like to always necessarily chase all the trends, um, because that doesn't really always get you anywhere, but it's just the idea of like always trying to like create fresh content, to kind of keep whatever, yeah, um, but um.
Speaker 1:So what did you? I mean, you kind of answered this already. What did you assume about what being an influencer was like?
Speaker 2:like honestly, like I thought it was like, like I'm not even trying to be like this, but I don't care, I don't care.
Speaker 2:I thought it was kind of like easy, like I thought like maybe like oh, this is just like an easy way to like make money or like this is like an easy life. But then like again, like working with you, I see like you have so many like clients and you have so many like like you have to do client posts. Every green post. Like all of this stuff goes into like that I like never realized and like you don't really see that like just based off your Instagram page kind of thing. So like like I always thought, like as an influencer, you literally just like take a video, post it like that's not how it works and like I didn't know that.
Speaker 2:So I was like kind of going into and I was like, oh, like this is really fun, like I'm just working with like an influencer like chill, like whatever like and then like that's not really the case, but like that was kind of my something, not even just about you, like that was like my assumptions about like everybody every influencer yeah, because like I feel like that's like what the myth is. Yeah, like it's like an easy job, like you're like whatever, but like that's not. That's not true at all.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, it's, and it's so, true, I mean and again, everyone's different, not, and it's not to say that the way that we've built our platform, that that needs to be the case for every influencer, right, like you know, like our, like our events page is specific to the types of content that we do. Right, um, like other, like fashion or food, uh, influencers wouldn't need, like a community events calendar kind of thing. Right, because it's all, it's all about the type of content. Um, you know, so we've built pillars around stuff that makes sense, I think for us. Yeah, you know, um, and we've built pillars around stuff that makes sense, I think for us. Yeah, you know, um, and we're always kind of exploring that. Hence with, like the um trying to do like the new series where, like you know, showcasing some of like my favorite products and you people will be able to see some like links with that.
Speaker 1:So, um, but yeah, no, I mean, I think that's so true. I think like I mean, yeah, even before I got started I was easy compared to like it's easier to stay home than it is to go to a nine-to-five. It's easier to make your own hours and produce your own content when it's self-driven versus when someone else is telling you to create it.
Speaker 2:That way doesn't make that what we do, yeah, easy. And also like that works for you. Because, like you're a mom, like you have kids, like if that lifestyle is like what works for you, then like like all for it, like my mom works from home because, like she had kids as well.
Speaker 1:And yeah.
Speaker 2:I don't see any like problem with that, no.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, and it's, you know, I think that was kind of the beauty of of social media, because it like well, it's been growing right, it's been booming. And then COVID, for all of us that were, you know, having kids around that age, like we were all home even more, because the job markets, you know, went crazy at that time and it was parallel with having kids. So it was like I kind of like it was born almost out of a necessity.
Speaker 2:Yeah kid.
Speaker 1:So it was like I kind of like it was born almost out of a necessity. Yeah, you know, that's not where, obviously, influencers came from. Just at my age, in that time and season of my life, that's where it sort of aligned and it just kind of made sense to kind of like oh, let me try this, let me do this. Um, and like I said, you've known my story too. When I started I didn't even start it necessarily for a job or to make money. It was more of like oh, let me shift the content again than what I was doing on social media.
Speaker 1:And then that kind of just evolved from there yeah um, but yeah, I think that's so funny that you say about like assuming that we just, like you know, post pictures post pictures and videos. You know what's funny? Because I'm even guilty of like when I'm. I mean, I feel like again, I'm on my phone because it is my job, but I'm addicted to my phone, which is a problem, but I'll be scrolling there. I'm like oh my.
Speaker 1:God like seeing this other and I get inspiration all the time. You know what I mean. But because I know all that goes into it, I'm like, oh, I really love to create something like that, but I'm like I know how long it takes to edit something and I've learned a lot myself and taught myself like a lot of things. I don't love video editing, which is why I hired a video editor to help. He doesn't do everything for me, but I try to upload a lot to him when I can because it's very time consuming. Yeah, so I see some of of these people, these influencers, who put out so much content and like so many videos, and they're they have so many different cuts, like they zoom in, allow, and it's like I'm like that's so funny and it's so good. I'm like I can make content like that. I'm just like people don't understand that, like it's yes, I could sit here and record something that doesn't take me long. It's cutting it and to make it look sort of zappy like that.
Speaker 1:Like there's this one creator that I'm sort of obsessed with right now and she's also a mom, she lives down in the South and she's hysterical. Like I could literally just binge all of her stuff. It's just so funny and I'm like I sit there and wonder, wonder. I'm like, does she edit all of her stuff? And she might, and again, not everybody. Like you know, again I hired a video editor because we have so many different types of content that I was like I can't keep like, if I'm trying to run the business and do blogs and clients and the podcast and stuff, like I needed to speed up my production, yeah, um, but I'm like, but again, like I know how to do most of that stuff because I've taught myself how to do most of it, but I'm like it's just so time consuming to me so I'm like how I always sit there and wonder I'm like, how are these girls that have two little kids this girl also has chickens and a little farm I'm like.
Speaker 1:I'm like wondering. I was like, is she, oh, and she homeschools her kids too. And I'm like I I know, and I'm like, is she clearly she'll record it? I'm like, does she also edit all of that stuff? And like I mean her stuff's taken off because it's freaking hysterical. You know what I mean. And so I just always wonder. So, anyways, I get this inspiration constantly. So it's like the content ideas are not hard, I think.
Speaker 1:I'm telling you this all the the time, whether it's a carousel or a reel again, whether it's just evergreen or whether it's for some of our clients or business features, you know it's, it's all the work that happens before it even goes into that and, um, I bet you had no idea how much there was behind all that, because you're like looking at like these posts and it's, like you know, like a 15 second video, so you're like, oh, like that could not have been hard to make.
Speaker 2:Like it's 15 seconds, like what the heck? And then, like you know, I've done a little bit of like the editing, whatever, and like it's not easy at all. But like when you are just like watching the videos, like you were like, oh, like that can't be hard, right, but like you don't know you know right, I know well, and it's funny because this that's a perfect example of um.
Speaker 1:Again, not all videos are obviously like 15 seconds, but like that let's just use example even um a minute reel or a 30 second reel, that likely. I mean this is a very broad assumption, but I could have. That means I was on site somewhere, whether it was for a client or just for myself. Right, I was in person somewhere. That means I had to take time. It means I had to get childcare right, like all those things, and drive there right. I was on site for probably minimum 30 minutes to an hour, if not longer. So that's an hour of me being on site somewhere. That doesn't account for the time that it takes to write the caption, edit the video. It also depends on the scope of the video, because if there's extra editing, that needs to be done. If I'm doing a voiceover onto it, same with a carousel, if we do overlays. That's when you see words on the actual carousel.
Speaker 1:There's a couple of different ways to do it. You can I'm going on a tangent like you can do it from your phone. You could make templates in Canva. Depends on the visual look we're going for. We've played around with both. So, like I said, so there's on-site, there's a video editing. There could be extra video editing if there's voiceover, if it's carousel, um, like I said, there could. There's a secondary. Uh, actually there's a couple steps because sometimes I like to edit the photos to make them a little bit brighter I usually like to do that just a little bit.
Speaker 1:I don't do the crazy photoshopping or anything like that.
Speaker 2:I just like to brighten it.
Speaker 1:I don't I want it to look like. I do use filters, fyi, but I try to use it where, like, it looks more natural without like. Yeah, it's the same way a photographer would edit some of their photos, just brightening it, adding the color a little bit, not trying to make it look overdone. I'm sure I know I overexpose my photos sometimes, but anyway, so like to edit, so on-site edit photos and then, once the photos are edited, send them either to you or the team, or, if I'm doing them, whatever, and then do overlay on the photos themselves. Then caption has to be written by somebody, right, um, me, you, somebody, and then, um, it depends on if we're using many chat that needs to be scheduled to go along with it.
Speaker 1:Oh, is the blog going along with it? Then the blog has to already be done in advance, blah, blah, and then, depending on the time of day, okay, well then we need to post it when it's um, opportune times, like high volume times, essentially. Um, I didn't really care about yesterday afternoon's post, that was the whole point, but um, it's like there is so much that goes into it and it's. What's funny is that when I get I obviously I try to, you know, share as many like business tips, social media tips and all the things that I've learned, just kind of, you know, from running this business as much as possible, and I'm always wanting to help entrepreneurs and small business owners. You know, in the reality of like, all of this isn't hard, it's easy, but I feel like easy is a trap. It's still time consuming.
Speaker 2:It's very time like it's nothing, is like nothing. That like I'm doing or you're doing is like it's not rocket science, but like there's just a lot of it. That like takes just like a good amount of time out of your day, kind of oh yeah, like I there are now.
Speaker 1:There are certain reels that I can edit much faster.
Speaker 1:And again, it just depends on the end product, like what I'm going for, like I was trying to put together like something for my nails, right, and that that's a little bit easier for me to slice and dice and I could probably still put that together faster in general, but in, I feel like, posts, this is a very low average and that doesn't even include, probably, my on-site time, right, I, I feel like for me to get a post up takes me, on average, an hour, yeah, minimum, yeah, and that would that, like I said, doesn't include the on-site time. That doesn't include, um, the video editing time. Yeah, because there, there, there is so much that goes into it. Again, there's other things that it can, you know, slap together and I, in my brain, I'm like I feel like there should be faster, but it's not. Yeah, it's just not, it's, it's challenging. Um, I mean, they're like I said, there are tools that we can use to try to make it faster, like canva, um, all these different things.
Speaker 2:Um, trust me, I wish it was faster but I feel like we're like evolving, like we're finding different things, like different like AI tools or like things like that to kind of like speed up the process or like get things out faster. Like since I've been with you like yeah, like we've started using like more tools and things like that to like help with the process, and I feel like it's only been a few, like a couple months, yeah, that I've been working with you.
Speaker 1:So like in a few more months, like who knows like I know and I'm I'm hopeful for that, I'm hopeful for things, for there to be better video AI tools. There are a lot out there. I just I don't love them. For me, and even one of my good friends who is a professional videographer, he's been trying out a few too and I'm like, let me know, I was like this is kind of what I'm looking for, like the, the skillset support that I'm looking for, not to replace my video editor of just like um, you know the way that I shoot. This is kind of what I'm looking for and and I just haven't I I did a bunch of research, I've tried a few myself and I and I just don't love them yet. But the technology is there and it will evolve and it will come you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Like, one thing like typeset is really cool. That, um, I don't know how time consuming that was for you to use, but it wasn't. It wasn't bad. So, typeset I mean again that you might not care to know this, but it was. It was one of those things I definitely saw. That was an absolute Instagram ad for me, but basically it allows you to like you can design e-books or presentations and all kinds of different stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like and it was very easy, yeah, so.
Speaker 1:I stumbled on it and I use it earlier this year to create some eBooks and mainly more like social media marketing material for entrepreneurs and small businesses, which allowed us to use it for, like, our workshop, and so it's allowing us to kind of expand on the marketing side. Um, but that's a.
Speaker 1:I think that's a really cool tool and I like that because, like, I think that's a really cool tool and I like that because like I like that more than Canva, because I feel like to do the same thing in Canva would take way longer.
Speaker 2:Well, because Canva you have to kind of like start from scratch. I feel like, yeah, with like typeset, like you can kind of give your idea and it kind of like will do it for you and then you can change it from there. Like you can't really do that with canvas, right?
Speaker 1:yeah, typeset is like this cool. Like, if you're a creator, I mean, you don't need to be an influencer to use typeset. You can. Every kind of business could use it if you create materials of any kind um, because it can be really useful. What's? This is like literally not an ad for typeset. This is not sponsored, affiliated whatsoever, whatsoever. I'm just, like you know, random. But what is cool is that you can actually create different pieces of content from one thing. So I can create an e-book and then I can, with one button, create a presentation for me, for PowerPoint, I can create social posts. It's really cool.
Speaker 1:So, anyways, that's just tangents of the different types of the tools that we've used yeah um any other, like assumptions that you had or assumed about this world in general, or how do you feel like it's evolved to now?
Speaker 2:I mean, I feel like like I feel like it hasn't been that like I feel like I didn't really even see influencers like popping up until like yeah, like you said, like the COVID area, like that kind of time which was definitely like a couple years ago, but I feel like it's definitely evolved to like where they're way more popular, like I just like now I feel like I see so many influencers and like I like it because, like you get to see people being creative and creating their own kind of like funny videos or like content and it's like it's all different, like what you're doing is way different than like what someone might an influencer like my age might be doing yeah, oh yeah, but like I think it's good because like it reaches so many different audiences and like I like to see that.
Speaker 2:Like yeah, because like the content you're creating like helps so many like moms and families like find you know things to do in Maryland with their kids and like like stuff like that. Like I think like that's the stuff that's like very helpful with an influencer that like I didn't ever like really realize. Like I kind of thought like oh, you were just posting like what you were doing with your kids and like yeah, that was kind of it. But like when I create like the hoku happenings and then we can line up and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2:I'm like, wow, this could be like really helpful. Like honestly, I find some things for myself to do sometimes right right.
Speaker 1:I'm like oh my god, I didn't know there was a farmer's market this day, like telling you like that, so like that's like the part that, like I never realized about influencers, so like sometimes it's like very helpful to people that are watching yeah, well, and I feel like, um, I mean, there's a phrase in our industry is like there's an audience for everything and there's an audience for everybody. You know, and like someone even told me before I mean, granted, I do have a YouTube subscribe to me because I have like 13 subscribers, but I only really started it like because of the podcast, because I hadn't like done a whole lot over there. Of course, my goals keep growing over there, but you know, when someone's like you got to get on YouTube and I was like, what am I going to do on YouTube? Um, you know, when someone's like you got to get on YouTube and I was like, what am I going to do on YouTube? And it's kind of the same point of like, yes, there are different. Yes, the audiences vary on every platform. Like again, like, I feel like the audience that I have on Instagram is not the same exact audience. That's on Facebook or threads or whatever, right, but it's one of those like, if you build it, they will come, kind of thing. And it's very true. Like, and I've, because I've seen that with other creators and other, whether they're influencers or you know, because the people that regularly consume things like on threads or YouTube. Right, you know, yes, they might. They might still fit into that bracket of like.
Speaker 1:My target audience are, like, women, 29 to 39, 49, um, and they it still might still be that demographic, you know, and that's what's interesting, um, because you know there are still people across the places that are on all those different types of platforms. So that's why they say diversification of your content can be very helpful. But I think you've seen that from the business side, how exhausting that can be for us. I mean, it's I wouldn't. No, it's not exhausting, it's just it takes a team, you know, and that's why we I have a team. That's why one of the first people I hired in my business was someone to help me write blogs, because I was like I can't. I knew that I wanted to grow my website presence but I was like, if I'm doing all the Instagram, I feel like I don't have time for this, so it's a juggle. So I commend the women and the creators out there that can do it all, but this is full proof of like. I cannot.
Speaker 2:And that's okay.
Speaker 1:That's why you have me, that's exactly right, we don't want you to leave, so, um, anyways. Well, we've been so grateful for you and we and I'm so glad you're not actually leaving us, Just it's more of like yeah.
Speaker 1:And, uh, we hope you actually come back next year too, if you want to still work with us. So then, yeah, thanks for tuning into this episode of mom talk, maryland. If you loved it, leave a review, share it with a friend or tag me at the doc Columbia mom on Instagram. I'd love to hear what you think. And don't forget to follow the show so you never miss an episode. Until next time, keep showing up, keep supporting local and keep being the incredible mom, woman, human that you are.