March Madness: What's Trending!

SEMA’s MPMC MTC (Speciality Equipment Market Association’s Motorsports Parts Manufacturers Council Media Trade Conference): Long name, right?!

So what is it? Why attend?

Held in Orlando, Florida, it’s different than other trade shows where you’re stuck at a booth trying to catch people. The Media Trade Conference keeps things simple with private suite meetings. There’s no crazy setups or high costs. You’ll get face time with automotive aftermarket/motorsports industry manufacturing brands and media from all over; social media, print, TV, radio, and podcasts.

From experience, it’s the perfect spot for brands and media to build relationships and partnerships!

Have you been? Or do you want to go? For more detailed info, click here!

The Mint 400: To go to contingency or not to go?

YES! Simple as that! I was hesitating to go, but I’m so glad I went. I was able to network with so many people in the industry, which included some of you amazing creators and racers, as well as some cool brands. I ran into friends and got to see some kickass off-road vehicles!

Check out our recap reel on IG!

“The Mint 400 Off-Road Festival is the premier off-road showcase event, and for over five decades it has drawn the industry’s best racers, brightest mechanical minds, and most progressive off-road product makers to fabulous Las Vegas. What started as a traditional one-day “tech and contingency” event has exploded into a full-blown off-road festival with over 150 exhibitors, 400 race vehicles and an estimated 20,000 people over the two days.”

BIG STEP FOR AUTOFLUENCER! NEW REPORTING!

• Performance Dashboard: We‘ve updated our brand reporting with a focus on Earned Media Value.
  
  The creator version of the Performance Dashboard is coming in April!
  
  Sample below.

What is Earned Media Value? It’s the value of the media received from creators based on comparing costs for CPMs/CPEs for purchasing the same views & engagements on those social media platforms (Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, etc.).

How We Calculate Earned Media Value (EMV): The formula we use is total views/1000 x $7.50 Cost Per Thousand (CPM) views across all social channels + total engagement x $.75 avg Cost Per Engagement (CPE) across all social channels.

Once a month, Autofluencer sits down with badass industry leaders, brands, creators, drivers, enthusiasts, or anyone who makes this industry stronger to talk about tips on building supercharged partnerships! ⚡

In this rad episode, we sat down with Dylan Pfohl from The Rad Factory to chat about the ups and downs of creating diverse social media content!

Dylan started making videos at just 10 years old with a VHS camcorder, kept at it through high school and film school, and then worked in action sports before diving into YouTube full-time. He talks about the challenges of keeping a diverse audience engaged and dealing with the ever-changing YouTube algorithm.

Dylan also shares how his partnership with his friend Gavin led to wild projects, like building a 50-foot rainbow grind rail and testing out Temu products. He recommends working with agencies, like Algebra Media who can help with finding brand partnerships. Plus, he breaks down why pre-planning is key, how to make sponsored content feel natural, and why long-form storytelling and TikTok style hooks are what’s needed for successful YouTube content.

Check out their crazy builds on social and watch the full C&C episode on YouTube! Link below!

And if you want an even more in-depth look into algorithms from this episode, scroll on down to Technical AF!

Hey guys, Annie’s VW here! I create content around my restoration project of a VW Beetle named Helen Wheels! This is a topic I’m very familiar with, read on!

Responding to comments from your audience is a necessary part of what a content creator does. Engaging with your followers helps build community, boosts your content’s reach, and keeps the conversation going. But let’s be real, not all comments are going to be worthy of your time! And knowing how to handle negativity will be key to keeping your sanity. I have found it helpful to keep some perspective— negative comments coming from strangers on the internet can’t actually hurt you. There is no real relationship or rapport there. You’re never obligated to respond, and in many case ignoring negativity will be the best option. For myself, I have set some personal rules for engagement that have really helped me navigate my comment section way more effectively compared to when I was starting out. This has freed me from feeling obligated to respond to every single comment, especially the troll comments. You’ll also discover that a lot of comments tend to repeat over and over (there are no new comments!), which can feel mundane and boring. But engagement is essential on social media, and even a simple interaction/response can help keep your content visible. 

When it comes to trolls, I’ve found there is one magic bullet that seems to consistently shut them down— acknowledging that their repeated comments only boosts my engagement and that they are really helping my bottom line. Social media platforms THRIVE on activity, so every time a troll keeps replying they’re actually pushing my content to a wider audience. Pointing this phenomenon out to them, often with a simple “thanks for the engagement!” or “I appreciate your continued support!” can flip the script. Another fun approach? Play along. Sometimes poking fun at a negative comment or giving it a sarcastic spin can take the sting out of it, and even entertain your audience! Keep your composure and have some fun with it! And if things ever get too overwhelming, stepping away from the comments for a while is completely ok. Your mental well-being comes first, always. There’s no rule that says you have to be available 24/7, and taking a break can help you reset and come back with a clearer head. At the end of the day, your content should work for YOU, not the other way around.

Annie’s VW @annies_vw

We want to celebrate YOU! 🎉 Did you land your dream partnership? Took the leap into entrepreneurship? Send us your big wins!

The first few months of the year are always a slew of partnership announcements! Here are some of our faves from creators off all sizes:

1. Riley Rebuilds x Great Race Rally

2. Lia Block x Rockstar Energy

3. Kaitlyn Ward (KW Photography) x Circle D Specialties

4. Sherwin Pacquette (Winette Motorsports) x U-HAUL

   

   
   

Learn the trends we’re seeing in the data & cool tools that’ll help you grow your content!📱✨

- What’s Up With The Algos?!  As we all know, the platforms change the algorithms all the time and every creator we talk with agrees it’s getting harder and harder to get views, engagement, growth on all of the platforms. And getting paid by the platforms?! Fuggedaboutit. That has also drastically reduced.

Focusing on YouTube for this section as recently we did a call with one of our creator partners and went deep on their content and compared/looked at other content. They used to get 10K+ views on the bulk of their posts pretty consistently and decent growth and then in the last 6 months it’s started to tank. Late last year, all these YouTube videos/blogs got posted touting “big changes coming in 2025 to help smaller creators”- I think we have now seen how those “big changes” played out - they didn’t do anything to help smaller creators. In fact, it seems like it’s gotten worse. Check out this boring ass video from a YouTube Creator Liaison and don’t worry about watching the video - you will learn nothing. I had to bail out and read the transcript - no tips. Not helpful. BUT what is telling is this comment and the 91 replies it got. YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

But, we want this to be helpful as of right now, you’re probably pretty depressed. So what CAN you do to drive growth, views, engagement on YouTube. Here are a few things we’re seeing that appear to be working (though admittedly, not as good as they used to): (And sorry, no ChatGPT was used in the creation of this section and Erica wrote it, so it’s long AF. 😂😂

• Have a “thing.” On accident, the team at @the.rad.factory stumbled into their thing and while they may not want it to define them, people wanna know about those TEMU pit bikes! They don’t have a huge subscriber count, but Rad Factory’s views are solid and have gotten them the attention of a talent agency and brand partners. In fairness, their “thing” isn’t the only reason why their content does well - they also do everything below well. (Watch the Creators & Coffee with Dylan to learn more about their strategy)
  

• Have a compelling title and cover image - this isn’t new, but “click through” rate are still a big metric for the algo. Become a student of what is working for others and your own channel (more on that below). But don’t make it click-baity because if you don’t ever get to the point, that will hurt you - see next bullet.
  

• Don’t bury the lead. If you’re doing a DIY video don’t drag that sh*t out. While longer videos seem to be doing better than they were for a bit, it does seem like YouTube is paying attention to this concept of “satisfaction” (learned that from boring video above) and listening to feedback re: people dragging out a video to optimize watch time. If you want to do a 15 - 30 minute video - it better be dang good and have a story that keeps people watching.
  

• To that point, STORYTELLING NEVER DIES. Some of the best channels have an element of storytelling - whether that’s across episodes and/or within a single episode there is an element of a “story arc.” Does it make it harder? More time planning/strategizing the piece? Heck yes it does, so it’s definitely a question of what amount of time are you willing to put in vs. the reward?! The chance you’re gonna become the next Whistlin’ Diesel, Cleetus, Adam LZ, Lacey Blair or Flying Sparks Garage is getting slimmer and slimmer - times have changed, so our advice is ENSURE you have others ways of making money and if you’re gonna do YT, you better be prepared to give it your all and then still have time left over to make money other ways.
  

• Understand your analytics and what they’re telling you about your content and your audience and lean into what is performing well. We don’t know anything about this company, so this isn’t an endorsement but they have an ok-ish writeup of how to turn analytics into action.

• And of course, e’rybody’s least favorite - is not only do you have to think about everything above, you gotta be consistent if you’re really trying to grow your channel. Post at least weekly if not more than once a week AND do shorts.
  

• Then, finally, cross-promote the SH*T out of things! You got a following on Insta? Do stories when you drop new YT videos and highlight UNIQUE things they can find in those videos they can’t find in your reels. If the reel is the good stuff, then no one is going to watch YouTube. And then create a highlight called YouTube or YT Vids if you think using YouTube hurts you on Insta (which we haven’t seen to be a thing, but you never know) and put all your stories about your videos in that collection. That way everyone who comes to your profile easily knows you have a YT page. It’s not a guessing game and they can see the kind of stuff you post on YouTube. One last thing, MAKE IT EASY TO GET TO YOUR YOUTUBE PAGE! You’d be surprised how many big YouTubers don’t say boo about their YT on other socials. It’s bonkers. While we do find YouTubers aren’t always big on other socials, it doesn’t hurt to cross-promote as there are people who will jump (but way less than you’d hope).

-FYPM = F*** You Pay Me: This site shows “What Brands Really Pay” for partnerships. Currently, there is very little data (read: none) for our industry, but you can change that! We want our creators to be informed and be paid fairly. Check it out here! Thanks @jennjocobb for turning us onto this site.

-Tag Your Brand Partners: We’ll be a broken record on this topic, since “secret tagging” may always be a trend. But, if you want to stand out to brands, make sure to @mention them in the caption or use their brand-specific hashtags (which are usually in their Instagram bio). This also makes it easier for tools like Autofluencer to pull in your posts for discovery by brands!

Check out these brand campaigns in Autofluencer! 🔑 And pro-tip, make sure to READ the campaign description before submitting your proposal! If it’s an affiliate/ambassador program, it ain’t gonna be paid up front and they may not be looking for you to create content.

• AFFILIATE PARTNERSHIPS TO CHECK OUT: Autofluencer Ambassador Program - we gonna toot our own horn on this one as we have our first creator payout next month! Thanks Kyle Fannin of C10 Club Maryland for bringing Auto Metal Direct into the fam! $200 coming your way!

• 2025 Content Partnership: BOOSTane is looking for product partnerships that can evolve into paid! Check out their open partnerships!

  APPLY TO OPEN PARTNERSHIPS!

REMINDER! We’re launching a quarterly “Creator Roundtable” on Google Meet—a space for creators to share what’s working, what’s not (whether it’s on Autofluencer or social networks in general), and explore how Autofluencer can better support you. While we can’t do it all, together we can brainstorm some pretty sweet solutions! Our first call is on the books for April 2nd and then the plan is to meet quarterly!

This is also your chance to preview new features and get a sneak peek at top-secret roadmap updates! If you’re interested in shaping the future of Autofluencer, we’d love to have you on board! To keep the conversations focused and productive, the roundtable will be capped at 15 participants to start. Let us know if you’d like to join! ✋Message us on social or email us at [email protected].

❗❗ Newsletter platforms like beehiiv give you CONTROL over your audience, unlike the ever-changing social media algorithms. You can build a loyal subscriber base and make money through paid subscriptions, sponsored content, and more, all while growing your community and income on YOUR terms!

They just launched a new direct newsletter sponsorship program that could be DOPE for some of you larger creators (get PAID for your newsletter from brands!) and they even have a calculator on their site where you can see what you could make monthly and I think some of you could do WAY better with the direct sponsorship options.
Subscribe to get your own Beehiiv Newsletter! 🐝

Haven’t set up your Autofluencer profile yet? Get on it! It's FREE and it gives you access to your social stats, partnership insights, and new brand opportunities! 👇