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Follower count used to be the shortcut for judging influence, pricing brand deals, and deciding who “matters” online. That shortcut is breaking fast, and the fallout is showing up everywhere from bot-inflated accounts to messy brand events that creators drag in real time. We unpack a viral example: an “exclusive” Good American pop up invite that left influencers waiting in huge public lines, getting turned away, and then posting the whole experience on TikTok. The bigger story is not the drama, it is what it reveals about where influencer marketing and PR are headed.

We walk through the real influencer tiers that exists today, including nano influencers, and why smaller creators often deliver higher engagement rates, stronger trust, and better conversion for small businesses. If you are spending marketing dollars, we talk ROI, community fit, and why “big audience” does not automatically mean “buying audience.” We also call out the incentives that pushed creators to chase followers in the first place, including how follower-based pricing and bought followers warped the market.

Then we get practical: the shift from social media to what marketing guru Gary Vee has coined as "interest media" means platforms now push content based on what people want, not who they follow. That changes everything for content creation strategy, niche selection, and monetization, especially with TikTok, Facebook and Instagram. If you are a creator, we challenge you to stop waiting for a massive audience and start building consistent, niche content the algorithm can distribute. If you are a brand, we challenge you to stop overlooking smaller creators who can move product.

Subscribe, share this with a business owner or creator friend, and leave a review so more people can stop chasing follower counts and start building real visibility.

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*Please forgive the low-res audio recording; however, the message is still just as powerful.*

A single on-air word mix-up shouldn’t be a business lesson, but the way QVC handled a viral wig blooper by Toni Brattin, turns it into a sharp, modern PR playbook. We talk through why the recovery worked: the hosts stayed human, the brand didn’t panic, and they collaborated with the internet’s creator energy instead of trying to shut it down. If you care about public relations, personal branding, and protecting trust when things get awkward in public, you’ll take notes.

Then we shift from pop culture PR to real-world visibility and business growth in Dallas, Texas, where Leah attends an NCTRCA gala focused on small business recognition, supplier diversity, and the power of being in the right rooms with the right message. The highlight is an excerpt from the legendary Mikki Taylor, Editor-At-Large at Essence Magazine and a longtime authority in beauty, style, and communications, sharing what she calls the seven laws of emergence.

Her blueprint is practical: diversify your revenue, become indispensable, build relationship capital, define a brand people can’t ignore, master tomorrow’s tools today, earn authority in the attention economy, and build systems so your purpose scales beyond your presence. If you’ve been feeling stretched, unseen, or overly dependent on one pipeline, this will reset how you think about resilience, visibility, and leadership.

If it resonates, subscribe, share this with an entrepreneur who needs the boost, and leave a rating and review so more entrepreneurs can find us.

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Schedule Your PR Power Hour with Leah TODAY: https://thinkthreemediabooking.as.me/PRPowerHour

Follow PR Yourself on Instagram @PRYourselfPodcast.

Follow Leah Frazier on Instagram @TheLeahFrazier.

Subscribe to PR Yourself with Leah Frazier on Substack: https://substack.com/@theleahfrazier

Be sure to get your podcast going and take advantage of our offer with Kitcaster by heading to: kitcaster.com/pryourself.

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TikTok Shop and TikTok Live isn’t just another social app feature. It’s a full-on social commerce engine that’s changing how small businesses launch products, how creators earn commissions, and how customers discover what they’ll buy next.

I went to a TikTok creator event in Dallas expecting to “learn a little,” and left realizing a major shift is happening in plain sight: brands are building sales through everyday people making UGC, not just huge influencers with glossy feeds.

One this episode, I sit down with Karie Bonner from You Glow Girl, a fragrance and body care brand built on TikTok Live and TikTok Shop creators. Carrie shares the real story, from losing jobs at the start of the pandemic, to getting rejected as a TikTok seller multiple times, to finally getting approved and turning live streams into consistent orders. We talk about what happened when her packaging failed and she chose refunds and reships anyway, and how that customer service decision helped build trust, word of mouth, and even led to an influencer relationship that drove six figures in sales.

We also break down the strategy behind her creator-powered ecosystem: recruiting affiliates from real customers, focusing on niche community over follower counts, running simple incentives, and keeping content authentic instead of over-scripted.

If you’re a product-based business, a creator curious about TikTok Shop, or a founder trying to understand where marketing is headed, this conversation will give you a clear, practical framework to test.

Subscribe to PR Yourself with Leah Frazier, share this with a business friend, and leave a rating and review so I can keep bringing you the guests and strategies that actually move the needle.

Support the show

Schedule Your PR Power Hour with Leah TODAY: https://thinkthreemediabooking.as.me/PRPowerHour

Follow PR Yourself on Instagram @PRYourselfPodcast.

Follow Leah Frazier on Instagram @TheLeahFrazier.

Subscribe to PR Yourself with Leah Frazier on Substack: https://substack.com/@theleahfrazier

Be sure to get your podcast going and take advantage of our offer with Kitcaster by heading to: kitcaster.com/pryourself.