10 Questions x 10 Creators: Samuel Ray

We’re asking 10 creators 10 questions to get to know them and what it’s like working with brands. In this edition, we’re speaking with Samuel Ray (@srl789) who shares savvy financial tips for enjoying a frugal lifestyle.

1. What do you love most about being an influencer/creator?

What I love most is the ability to share directly and impact the lives of many people who are following my platform. I share mostly about money, career and my professional life. So it’s very heartwarming and rewarding to receive feedback from people whose lives were impacted by the content that I created.

2. What's your biggest challenge as an influencer at the moment?

I've been creating content since 2019 and there have been some major changes in the algorithm of both Instagram and TikTok platform over the past two years. I think one of my biggest challenges right now is how I can continue creating good quality content.

At the same time, it's the content that the platforms want to distribute. But I guess this is a fun challenge because it also enables me to stay creative. It enables me to explore the medium of the content that I'm familiar with. It used to be mostly writing but right now I'm also exploring the short video format as another way to reach my audience.

3. Are you full-time or juggling with another job?

I was doing this when I was still an employee of the bank in 2019. I share from my experience as a banker, I share tips from my career as a professional and in some ways, it helps my audience to relate to my content because I share the same struggles. So actually being a full-time content creator and a full-time employee at the same time, it helps both worlds to bring a positive impact to each other.

But in 2023 this year, I decided to go full-time content creator mostly due to personal reasons. I have a three-year-old daughter and I want to spend more time with her. Being a content creator has enabled me to be more focused on doing that.

4. Do you have an agent?

No, I don't have an agent. I'm not a member of any agency, I'm represented by a manager which I employ. In fact, the manager is actually my wife, so she's also a talent in my YouTube videos. We kind of do this as a small business for both of us.

I do think that agents definitely help to add value in working with brands, as they have the connections and bigger reach across the projects that brands have available. But I think in terms of getting my message out there, getting my personality and my brand known, I think it's mostly a personal effort and it's really dependent on how good your content is. So for the moment, I don't see the need to have a full-time 100% dedicated agent yet, but I do collaborate with agencies that represent projects from corporate.

5. What's your ideal brief and brand to work with?

First of all, they have to be detailed in what they want.

I expect brands to have a clear USP and a clear list of what they want to say in the content. The second thing is I would love it if a brand is open to suggestions, open to ideas because at the end of the day, we are the ones who are communicating to our own audience and it's better for brands to trust us.

The tone of language that we're using and the photos that we choose can be quite tasking when brands do not have that trust. So it's always a dance, I think. You can't always get what you want, but so far maybe 90% of the brands we work with have been very graceful, open, and accommodating to our ideas.

6. What makes a successful collaboration or brand partnership?

A successful collaboration is when the content can be enjoyed by our audience and at the same time the message that the brands want to convey is also delivered successfully.

So yeah, I think it's pretty simple beyond the numbers, beyond the metrics that we can always monitor from our platforms. I think it's important to understand how the brand wants to be represented, how the brand wants to communicate (in what kind of tone of language). I find it a successful collaboration when I'm able to interpret the brief to enjoyable content for my audience.

7. What are your pet hates when it comes to working with brands?

Brands that are too micro-managing and brands that don’t have the full knowledge and understanding of our audience. This is something that sometimes is beyond the control of the brand, as they often have the brief from their head office.

I think brands need to be more open and understanding, especially to our market in Indonesia, as it is a very localised market and English is not as widely spoken as it is in Singapore or Malaysia, so sometimes jokes do not get translated very well.

So I think it's very important for brands to be able to trust their creators in order to communicate the message that they want.

8. How do you stay on top of trends?

I am on social media a lot. Of course, that's part of the job. So on average, I spend six to seven hours on my phone each day. I scroll, TikTok and Instagram to find interesting videos. I'm also on Twitter. So mostly, I just flock into what's trending and try to understand what people are talking about, and what are the niches that I can jump in with my content if I can. Of course, if I cannot, then I don't jump as it would feel forced, but if you find a niche that is suitable then by all means jump on the bandwagon and try to ride on the wave.

At the same time, I think being consistent with my content and with what I have said in the past is also important. Being able to communicate that I was wrong to my audience, because they are not forgetful, and they can dig up all your past sins from your past content.

So I'm just trying to be as authentic and as honest as I can to my audience and make sure that there's a journey and growth of a character that our audience can follow on our channels. I mostly think beyond trends, I like to create a persona online that people want to follow and see how their journey is. It's very important for all creators because if we live by the trend, then we die by the trend.

If we are able to create a strong persona that people would like to follow no matter if you're trending or not, you always have value in the eyes of your audience and the brands that you work with.

9. What are your predictions for the future of influencer marketing?

I think in the future, platforms will try to engage directly more with brands. This is prevalent in how many social media platforms now provide tools that make the content creation process easier for everyone, which means people without access to professional editors and professional cameras can create their own content.

Why? Because platforms do not want the creators to be the only ones able to create the content, everyone can be content creators. It's going to become more challenging for us to continue as a creator and to compete in this market.

It's becoming more and more important for creators to add value and have a strong branding, so that the audience can follow if they want to stay in the game for longer.

Of course, there are always influencers that are peddling products and selling classes; that's also a business model that can work, but I think if you are a KL that thrives through collaboration with brands you need a strong personality and personal branding that people love and want to follow to stay on top of the game.

10. Which influencers do you admire and why?

I think this is a tough question because I've made friends with quite a lot of them.

I do admire Ario Pratomo (@sheggario) and Nucha Bachri (@nuchabachri). They are family/tech influencers. Ario himself is a tech influencer but Nucha, I think she has a parenting agency creating events or content for parents.

I admire them because they are genuine. They are open to sharing their journey and I relate to them because I'm also a young parent. Their content isn’t patronising, as it's not presenting parenting in one way or that there is only one way to parent, they showcase many ways a modern parent can parent.

Other than that, I'm also friends with Jonathan End (@jonathanend), Catwomanizer (@catwomanizer), and Fellexandro Ruby (@fellexandro). I'm speaking on top of my head, Annisa Steviani (@annisast) and Doddy Prayogo (@doddy.prayogo) also in the financial space.

I like these influencers because of the content they create. They relate to us young Indonesians, they don't gatekeep most of the time, and they don't have products that they pedal. I'm a believer in finding your own information and way online, so I appreciate more influencers who share their journey and the story of who they are.