How to Work with an Influencer | Letitia Kiu
Next up in our How to Work with an Influencer series is Letitia Kiu, a Toronto-based fashion and lifestyle content creator making waves with her DIY fashion videos and thrifty finds. As a fashion school graduate, Letitia is known for sharing life hacks when it comes to shopping, beauty, life and travel. Her followers, a tight-knit community of empowered women regularly seek advice on relationships, mental health, sexuality, and more during her podcasts, “Girl Wha?!” where she openly discusses these important topics with her group of friends.
With her YouTube channel turning 10 this year, we reached out to Letitia to discuss how she is adjusting to COVID-19 , how she engages with her followers, the world of TikTok, and how she makes sure her unmistakeable personality shines throughout her content.
You’re so true to who you are in your YouTube videos. How do you come up with your content?
I’m a very thrifty person with many opinions. It’s the perfect formula for coming up with DIYs and having endless discussions to the camera.
How do you choose which brands to partner with? Are there certain things you look for when choosing a brand deal?
Aside from familiarity with the brand, I look for flexibility. The most successful projects are ones where the client trusts you to deliver content that can promote their product while remaining authentic.
COVID-19 is drastically reshaping the world as we know it. How have the new restrictions impacted you as an influencer?
It’s helped challenge me creatively and presented a lot of questions on how I can turn my career into an essential service. If my skillset can’t be of help to others in times of crisis, what can I do to change that?
In your podcast “Girl Wha?!” you openly discuss a lot of current issues and topics that are on your followers’ minds and answer questions. Are you planning on continuing your podcast during the pandemic? Any future plans?
We did a remote episode, which was something I was hoping to test before quarantine, as many of my friends/co-hosts live far and work full time. We do hope to create more for the podcast, and I’d like to turn it into a more consistent series. The open dynamic between my friends and I is hard to replicate, and something I’d like to share with audiences.
How important is follower engagement to you, especially during a time when people may be struggling with isolation?
I don’t think isolation has affected my priorities on viewer engagement. I have multiple running DMs with viewers, and my relationships to them is something I hold sacred. I want to build a safe community where everyone can share their thoughts, whether it’s negative or positive.
Your social channels are always filled with a great variety of content. What’s a favourite project you’ve worked on recently, and which platform do you get the most engagement from?
Not being able to go out has lit a flame under my DIY butt. I’ve had a lot of fun exploring new crafts like dyeing leather and continuing to thrift flip. TikTok has been my newest platform that I’ve really been enjoying. It’s a different way of sharing content that I’ve felt Instagram has been lacking for a while.
You work quite frequently with another influencer, WithWendy. How do you choose when to collaborate? Do you think we’ll see more collaboration between influencers in the future?
Most of collaborations start as friendships first. I have huge respect for the people I collaborate with, and if we have ideas, we present them to each other and find unique perspectives to work on. Everybody I collaborate with teaches me so much and breathes life into my work routine, so I will absolutely be collaborating more in the future.
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