Meet the Member: Laure-Ellyn Charier, Senior Account Executive, Octoly

In our latest Meet the Member feature, we had the pleasure of speaking with Laure-Ellyn Charier, Senior Account Executive at Octoly.

Octoly is a tool for brands to foster authentic relationships with micro-influencers at scale on Instagram and YouTube through gifting activations. Octoly seamlessly connects brands with its community of vetted influencers that specialize in fashion, beauty, and lifestyle. With Octoly, brands have access to a comprehensive platform to help centralize, scale, and optimize their influencer efforts for extended reach and high-quality content from influencers they choose to work with.

Keep reading to learn more about Octoly as a powerful Influencer Marketing platform, and Laure-Ellyn’s journey in the tech industry.

FACC: In 2013, Octoly pioneered the concept of a “Free Store”, where thousands of influencers could order free products from both up-and-coming as well as iconic brands in exchange for honest reviews on social media and eCommerce sites. Could you tell us a bit more about Octoly?

LC: If you haven’t heard of us, Octoly is the leading Influencer Marketing Platform enabling influencer campaigns at scale. Brands typically partner with Octoly to increase brand awareness, generate photo and video assets as well as eCommerce reviews, and measure the success of their influencer marketing initiatives.

Each influencer can see a variety of brands in their stores, selecting their partnerships strategically to ensure a successful relationship that makes sense for their extended community.

FACC: What does a typical day as a Senior Account Executive at Octoly involve?

LC: The exciting part about the position is that there is no typical day as an Account Executive. My day at Octoly can involve managing relationships with large accounts such as L’Oréal and LVMH, developing the portfolio of those brands or opening new partnerships with other brands in the beauty, fashion and lifestyle industries.

FACC: Before starting your new position at Octoly, you were working at IWD, a retail thinking company for three years. IWD was using virtual reality and 3D design to help brands achieve merchandising excellence and increase profitability. What do you like about working in the tech industry?

LC: What I especially like about the tech industry is having the opportunity to build for advancement. It is innovative, future-oriented and drives me with a sense of purpose. The tech industry also permits me to work in the industries that I love; beauty and fashion. I am selling a product that is constantly evolving, with new functionalities. Working in tech, I always have to be up to date with the new trends that are coming along with the ever-evolving nature of the fashion/beauty industry.

There is also a more technical aspect of the product we are selling. We must design our products and services according to the types of clients we are selling to, therefore, we are constantly adapting. I like that challenging aspect, as well.

FACC: Influencer marketing has been on the rise for the past few years. Why is influencer marketing a powerful tool to add to a marketing strategy?

LC: Influencer marketing is a must have in today’s world! The new way to market a product today is through influence. There are two main types of Influencer Marketing:

• Paid Influencer Marketing
• Gifting Influencer Marketing. We reach out to micro influencers that have a more engaged and authentic audience and therefore have a higher chance of impacting their communities.

Octoly enables brands to collaborate with nano, micro, and macro influencers for both gifting and paid campaigns. Today, we partner with over 300 fashion and beauty brands and facilitate more than 200k influencer posts each year globally. By leveraging Octoly’s influencer community, brands are able to achieve increased awareness, engagement, and conversion from new audiences.

FACC: With an increasing number of people trying to become social influencers, how do you select the influencers you collaborate with?

LC: We focus more on quality than quantity. When an influencer applies to be part of the Octoly community, they go through a 2-part vetting process:

1: A quantitative process: We use a third data party company to verify the authenticity and integrity of their audience and engagement: engagement rate, audience demographics, fake followers.
2: A qualitative process: All of our influencers are manually vetted by an “editorial check” to ensure that their channels meet our quality standards.

FACC: How did you hear about the French-American Chamber of Commerce and what made you join?

LC: A few years ago, I was studying at SKEMA Business School in France when I decided to do an internship in New York City, at French District. During that time, I attended some of the events organized by the FACC. We are nothing without a network, especially in sales and in a big city like New York. Being part of the FACC is a great way to enrich my network with other hard-working and ambitious individuals.

Interested in connecting with Laure-Ellyn? Log in to the FACC Member Directory to send her a message.