forthright influencer and free internships

Ok, I've been thinking about this for a LOOOONG time ...how to get teens, and anyone for that matter, to market my products, art, and pattern downloads? And, I think that I want to be a SINCERE, credible social media influencer.  How to do that?  Hmm...

I feel that these "kids" are online, doing goofy stuff, and getting paid for it, and for all the wrong reasons. I give them credit, to a degree, but where is the hard work involved?

I see parents who are "influencers", with youtube channels, opening product packaging, and having their kids play with the toys - and kids are watching this, vicariously feeling like they are playing with the toys, themselves, by watching! And these parents are raking in 100s of 1000s, if not millions, from ad revenues!

Meanwhile, my ad monetization was pulled from youtube, because I wasn't getting over 4000 views AND 1000 subscirbers, per year!

I have no money to pay anyone to work for me, and I've been a one woman show for many years, so, I was wondering how to go about hiring people for "free" internships with me. I read up about it, and the Department of Labor says that I'd have to follow a few guidelines, with hiring free interns, especially students, one main thing is to offer some sort of education, in return for free intern work. What that entails, I need to look into.

So far, the only thing that I can come up with as far as "educational bartering" would be to offer info on marketing, business, mentoring (but how), and also another idea was to give them for free a pattern download, in lieu of payment, they'd have to make the pattern craft, and do a blog post tutorial or video tutorial (they don't have to be featured, just camera on the craft type of thing, no showing anyone under 18), mentioning my website, email, and the product link. I also thought that I could set up a system, where they would share, or retweet my links, and if they shared or posted the links, 10 per day, for a whole week, I'd give them a pattern or printable. Some kind of even bartering. I'd love to mentor young people in business, especially teaching them what "not" to do, and who to stay far away from in business, what not to pay for, what you don't need that someone is trying to sell, etc.

I say this because the issue of influencers has seemed to pinnacle this week, with news of 2 famous tv actresses and their daughters being spotlighted for privilege influencing.I'm not downing them for making money, as long as its legit, and the brands want celebrity exposure, so its the business. The one daughter, if the info is correct, was allegedly said to be making $120k per year, from her youtube channel, from youtube advertisers, plus being an influencer on social media.

A social media influencer is a person who helps promote products, services, and brands, through use of their viewers on social media platforms, as well as the use of hashtags. This said celebrity daughter, apparently, through use of her social media "influencer" status, plus her famous mom's (and dad's) connections, had even received gigs with becoming a spokesperson for a hair care line, as well as getting her own cosmetic palette collection. I'm not going to knock their products, their "influencer" status, or they themselves. Its the system that needs to change.

All the brands, and advertisers likewise, want influencers to have a large audience. I remember, one time, Mary Englebreit posted on her social media, that she was asked by manufacturers that she was trying to get to license her art on their products, they asked her, "How many followers do you have on social media?" They cared more about how many followers she had, more than the actual work that she was trying to get them to license!

My beef is that there are hard working people out there, regardless if they are educated by college, with degrees, or not, who are busing their humps trying to get their work featured, promoted, shared, influenced, competing against those who have money, and can afford the best studios and spaces, plus equipment, to produce the best quality videos and photos - let's face it, they use their money and privilege to fast track, jump to the head of the line. There are people, well not so much people, but work, things being made and done, that are sincere, altruistic, kind, and positive, that are not getting the attention that they deserve, because the person behind them is not outgoing, pretty, youthful, and thin, or they aren't doing crazy nutty outrageous, stupid stunts and things, if I may say. That shouldn't be!

I just wish that I could be more of a positive influencer, who has the work to back it up.

I often wonder, when I see a celebrity endorse a product, more so, have a collection, I ask:

"Have they EVER picked up a pencil, pen, marker, or paintbrush, and put hand to sheet, drawing / painting out all 6 sides of a product, top, bottom, & 4 sides, in scale?"

"Have they ever been in nature, pulled flowers, and pushed them through a distillery can machine to press out the oils for their "fragrance line"?"

"Have they ever actually put hand to paper and drawn out the packaging for their line?"

I would LOVE to be that person that teaches them all of this! Instead of being the poor schmuck assistant that the celebrity has, who gets handed sample swatches, and is told by both the big box retailer or designer boutique buyer or merchandise manager AND the celebrity, to come up with 50-70 pieces, not only fully rendered, but actual sewn up sample pieces, clothes - oh, and all done within 2 weeks, for a follow up meeting, with presentation board that "tells a story" about the collection! Seriously, many buyers want to be "that" dazzled!

We shall see.

Thank you!
Kristie, artist, inventor,owner, author
http://fabricatedframes.com
fabricatedframescom@gmail.com
http://youtube.com/user/fabricatedframesCom
http://instagram.com/kristiehubler
http://twitter.com/fabricframes
http://facebook.com/fabricated.frames
http://pintrest.com/fabricframes
http://etsy.com/shop/FabricFramesKristie
http://craftsuprint.com/kristie-lynn-hubler