Most software businesses struggle to get noticed, but the right influencer partnership can change everything. In this episode of the plugin.fm podcast, YouTube influencer and founder of Ferdy.com, Ferdy Korpershoek, shares how software companies can partner with influencers to reach new audiences and boost product visibility. With over 1.2 million subscribers, Ferdy has firsthand experience collaborating with brands and understands what makes influencer campaigns successful.
We explore how to find the right influencers, build relationships, structure partnerships, and create campaigns that drive real results. Whether you're a founder, marketer, or product creator, this episode delivers actionable strategies for using influencer marketing to grow your business.
plugin.fm is brought to you by Freemius, your all-in-one e-commerce partner for selling software, plugins, themes, and SaaS. If you enjoyed this episode, head to plugin.fm to check out previous episodes.
Ferdy: I get a lot of emails from people asking me, "Hey, I have a new plugin. Can you show it to your audience?" When I got my first proposal, I was like, "$1,000? Man, I can buy a beanie with it — or what's it called? A Beamer." One of my best offers recently was $40,000. But if the product is not good, I have to say no, because in the long run I want every video I create to be really helpful for the viewer.
Patrick: Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of plugin.fm, where we extract key lessons from top entrepreneurs to inspire your business growth. My name is Patrick Rauland. I'm an e-commerce expert and educator, and I'm here with my co-host Goran Mirkovic, a content marketing specialist and the CMO at Freemius. Today we'll be chatting with Ferdy Korpershoek. Welcome to the show, Ferdy.
Ferdy: Thank you, thank you for having me. Great to be here.
Patrick: I'm really excited to chat. So, we want to talk about influencer marketing today, and I think the first and best question is: Why should a small business — and we usually talk with technology companies, software companies — but why should a small technology business invest in influencer marketing?
Ferdy: Well, if you do that, that's a great way for your product to be shown to a broad audience. So, you can have a great result in the beginning when you start to work with influencers.
Patrick: So, you know, we talk about buyer journey a lot on the show. Influencers — it feels like the very beginning of the buyer's journey. It feels like it's all about awareness, and you're not necessarily converting people, but you're just trying to get your name out there. Is that kind of what influencers are really good at?
Ferdy: Yeah, I think so. If I take a look at myself, I make tutorials about WordPress-related tools. So, I get a lot of emails from people asking me, "Hey, I have a new plugin. Can you show it to your audience?" And if I really like the plugin, I'm like, "Yeah, bring it on." And I have a win because I'm the first one that can promote a great tool — free or premium — and for the creator, it's a great way to show their product to the audience. So, for me, it's a win-win. I think it's a great idea for people to reach out to influencers to test their product, and in that way, it can be a great start for the product.
Patrick: So, I'm just trying to set the stage — what is the difference between influencers and just buying an ad? Because I feel like sometimes, with a small influencer, it might almost be the same thing, where you want someone to talk about your product for two minutes. You can just pay them to read an ad.
Ferdy: The difference is when somebody pays me to promote their product — if I want to or not — I think I will become more biased. So, in the past, I got $1,000, which was a lot of money for me a few years ago, to create a product video. And I got the money to my PayPal account, so I was like, "Okay, let's get started." And while I was making the tutorial, the promotion, I was like, "I don't like this tool." And my name is also on the line. When I make a lot of tutorials or a lot of videos with products that are not good, and people buy it based on trusting me, and it's not good — it will ruin my name. So I was like, "Oh man, I could do two things: I could use After Effects to fix all the errors in the tool, or I could just go back to the owner of the product, saying, 'It's not good enough. I take the money, but please make the tool better before I make a tutorial about it.'" So when I make a review or a video promotion or whatever without taking money, then I'm totally honest. I'm gonna say what I like, I'm going to say what I don't like.
Patrick: That, to me, seems the biggest difference. I feel like an ad is like — you know — we want you to say, "Here's a script, we want you to read this exact script," or, "We need you to cover these three features, and then there needs to be this CTA, and then you got to use this coupon code." You know, like, it's very prescriptive. Whereas working with — and talking about — influencer marketing is a lot more, "Hey, we want you to promote this product — go." And sometimes that's all the direction you get, I'm guessing. And then it is — you can cover the features that you think are important, you can cover the little holes that they might have missed that are in the product. So it just, in a way, does seem a lot better than just an ad. It seems more trustworthy. It seems more honest. I guess I'm trying to think of, like, why would you do an ad versus an influencer? And generally speaking, in my mind, working with an influencer just seems better.
Ferdy: Yeah. I told you before we started recording — I have a beamer. And when I was searching, there was the European Cup for the Netherlands — I was for the Netherlands — and I wanted to watch it on a beamer. So I started Googling, and I found a lot of great reviews about a beamer. But every time it was sponsored content, so that made me a little bit more biased. Like, okay, they get that probably for free. And of course, if I get something for free, which is probably around $2,000, of course I will do my best to make a great review. So when I make an advertisement, it feels less genuine. I don't like it when I see sponsored content, because then I think, okay, either they get paid or they get something in return — so can I trust this? So I prefer to make videos like, somebody wants me to make a tutorial or a review about a certain tool — I say yes, this is how I will do it — but I don't like to be handed a script like, "This is what you have to say." Then I prefer to be free to do it my own way.
Patrick: But a beamer is not a — so, I think in American lexicon, that is a BMW. So you're not saying you have a BMW parked up outside — you're saying you have a projector screen.
Ferdy: No, I don't have a BMW — that was $2,000. Yes, a projector, yeah. That's great. Yeah, beamer — I mean you can project your computer screen on a wall.
Patrick: Fantastic! I thought you were just bragging about, "I have a beamer. I've done a lot of influencer marketing."
Ferdy: Nice to hear that — a beamer! Yes, I would like to have a beamer once.
Patrick: Me too. I'm with you. I'm with you. Goran, I think you had a question?
Goran: Yeah, I just wanted to kind of follow up on what Ferdy was saying about, you know, being selective and how you basically approach, like, making your buying decisions today. And I completely agree. Regardless of what you are buying today, there are, like, millions of options, right? And to buy something really simple — like an iron — you have to, like, become a subject matter expert to understand what you are actually buying.
And I think because it's becoming overwhelming to shop today with all the choices, people are turning to influencers and specific figures that they like to help them make a decision. So in that light, do you feel that the influencer's biggest currency is actually trust? And how do you basically convey and build that as an influencer?
Ferdy: Yeah, definitely yes. I think in the Netherlands they're creating rules now for influencers because there are energy drinks which are really bad for you, and a lot of popular influencers in the Netherlands — they get paid a lot of money to talk about it. And in some cases, it's just not good for kids to see that. And they trust their influencer — they are really big fans — so if they say, "You should buy this or drink that," they're going to do it.
And I think in the long run it can harm your credibility. So for me, I always want to have integrity in what I do. And sometimes it's hard. Sometimes I get really nice offers from people — like, one of my best offers recently was $40,000 to create a series of videos. But if the product is not good, I have to say no, because in the long run I want every video I create to be really helpful for the viewer.
And in the past, I made tutorials about certain tools, and after I uploaded, I found out, like, "Ah, this tool is so expensive and you can do it with cheaper tools," so I took it offline. So I think integrity is really important. And maybe that's one of the reasons that my channel grew — because when people watch my video and they know me a little bit through my videos, they should know that what I offer, what I talk about — that's the real deal. I'm not going to promote something I don't stand by, even though they want to pay a lot of money for it.
Patrick: I think that's really interesting, Goran. I agree with you — I think people want to feel confident in the choices they make. And we're just — like, again, growing up in a world before the internet, information was hard to find, and now we're just drowning in information.
Okay, so I make a software product. Do I reach out to a Ferdy who has 1.2 million people? Is that, like, the right type or the right size of influencer to reach out to when I get started? Like, how do I get started with influencer marketing? Who's the right person to reach out to? And do you care about size or topic or anything like that?
Ferdy: Yeah, well, my first thought is — if you reach out to someone with your product or your software or whatever you have created, it must be finished or it must be good enough to be published. Because otherwise, if somebody reaches out to me and I try it and it's not good, the next time he reaches out, I'm like, "Yeah, sorry, I don't want to have the risk that the product is still not good."
But if you have a good product and it's really helping people, I would go for small influencers and big influencers. The difference is, I guess, with a small influencer — they are really... When I got my first proposal, I was like, "Wow!" Also, the thousand dollars — I was like, "$1,000? Man, I can buy a beanie with it — or what's it called — a beamer? Not yet." But for me, at that moment, it was like, "Wow, I'm doing something great. People are watching my YouTube channel. They think I'm worth $1,000 to promote their tool."
And now, since I'm bigger, yeah, of course I can ask more money, but I can also reach more people. So I would go for both. And as I said, the difference is — if you are a small YouTuber or a small influencer, you're more willing to promote anything you see. And if you start to become a little bit bigger and you want to keep your integrity — I get five to ten emails per day about, "Can you promote this?" — you filter a little bit better. So there's a bigger chance bigger influencers say no.
Goran: First of all, like, getting a beamer for a thousand bucks would be awesome — like, I can't wait to live in that type of world. But yeah...
Secondly, so as you said, like, the strategy should be like a mixed bag. You should try big and small influencers. Just to kind of put things into context — let's say I have built a small product that I am very passionate about, and I want to, let's say, write to an influencer who is obviously busy, who has a really big presence, and I cannot offer that influencer, like, $40K for a video or stuff like that.
How do I make my pitch interesting to, let's say, an influencer like you? What are some of the tips that you can give me so I can — like — hey, I can approach someone like you, and you would be interested in helping me out?
Ferdy: Yes — if it will be a subject which will cause me to get a lot of views. Imagine you create some point AI which has never been shown before — AI videos based on a prompt, but then next-level quality, 4K, free version, certain amount of credits. I'm like, "Wow! If I share this with my audience, a lot of people are going to watch it. I get a lot of new subscribers. I'm going to make money with advertising on my YouTube channel." Then it becomes interesting.
Another great way — that's my favorite way — is through affiliate marketing. So there's a free version, maybe you also have a pro version in your tool, and then when people buy the pro version through my affiliate link, I only make money when the product owner makes money. And that's true affiliate marketing — because then I get a commission of the sale.
That feels better for me than when somebody says, "Yeah, it's $20,000, make a video," and then maybe nobody buys it. And I feel like, "Okay... I got this money." So that would be great — if it's something people want to watch, which will grow my audience, and if there's an affiliate program so we can both benefit from the success of that video.
Goran: So basically — interesting, like sticky product, and like an open-ended partnership that's not purely just one transaction. That actually kind of makes this like a partnership.
Ferdy: And sometimes there is an affiliate program for digital products where the commissions can be higher — let's say 25%. And then if people say, "Hey Ferdy, I want to offer you $10,000 to make one video," I prefer to say, "Okay, let's crank up my commission to 50%, no $10,000." So I benefit even more when also the owner benefits. But I will never get paid when the owner has no success. So that's what I personally prefer.
Goran: Yeah, this is very interesting — especially now, when people do reach out to influencers. I think it's more becoming common knowledge that this is an organic way to tap into someone who has a big network. But I think there is an aspect that most people miss here, and that is the actual value of an influencer as a consultant. So nobody knows better how to present to your audience than obviously you. So do you advise your clients or potential partners on actual strategy on how to promote with you as an influencer?
Ferdy: Yes. I would not call it a strategy, but I always say to the people: I will make a video, I will show it to you if you want to before I upload it — you can give feedback. But I have my style of promoting things — or I wouldn't even say promoting — of educating things.
So if they say, for instance — there’s one plugin I promoted, and I said, "If you want to cancel your subscription, you can click here, here, here, and here," because it was hidden — and then you can cancel it. And then the owner of the product said, "Yeah, you can cut that part out because I don't want people to cancel." And I was like, "But I want people to know how to cancel. Otherwise, it feels like they cannot cancel, and they have to pay money even if they don’t like the product."
So in that way, at the end of the day, I am the one who decides how my video will be. But in the best scenario, we are both happy with the end result. So that’s how I roll with that.
Patrick: How formal should an agreement be between, you know, a software creator and an influencer? Do you need to have a contract? Is an email okay for the most part? You know, with — you said — seeing their affiliate program that we just talked about. How formal does it need to be?
Ferdy: How it should be — probably with a contract. But I don’t work like that. I think when I sign up to become an affiliate, I agree to certain terms. And then what often happens is that in that affiliate program, they can adjust the fees.
I got a few really nice offers — some I turn down. The best scenario is when I want to create a tutorial or a series of tutorials, and that same company offers me money to make the tutorial — and a commission. Of course I won’t say no then.
So, recently I had a case like that, and then I sign a contract. But I also want to be really careful with that, because I feel really free by doing what I do. Tomorrow I go on vacation for four days — I don’t take my laptop with me, I don’t have to answer emails. I feel really free, because I'm a YouTuber and I have nobody working for me.
But when I have a contract and they say, "Every week you need to upload a video for me," then I say, "Okay, that’s not what I’m going to do." So I negotiate in that contract — like, I don’t want to be restricted in my mind, like, "Oh no, it’s December, I still have to upload two videos for this company."
People will see that — when it’s like, "Ferdy pushed out a video, but he’s a little bit stressed." So I want to maintain my rest. But I do work with contracts when the amount of money is becoming really big.
Goran: Yeah, I think you said something really interesting — and that is, even if you are an influencer doing one video or ten videos for a company, or basically just playing as an affiliate with no end date, you're still kind of going into a partnership with someone you don’t really know. So do you do any research when, let’s say, someone reaches out? Do you do your own research to kind of vet the opportunity?
Ferdy: Well, the first thing I do — I go to their social media. And if they have 18 followers, I don't even respond. And sometimes they email me again and again, and then I say, "Hey, thank you for reaching out. I have no interest."
What I also did once — I created a really long email with ChatGPT: "Thank you for reaching out, it means so much when people..." blah blah blah blah. And I thought, maybe if I create a longer email, they won't reply anymore — and it seems to be working.
But sometimes it's easier — when I'm on my phone and I get an email, I click on their social media and they say, "We are a really big company, we have 100 million people that use my plugin," and I go to their Instagram — they have 13 followers. I'm like, "Hey, thank you for reaching out. I have no interest."
Goran: Yeah. Can you share — just like — in your opinion, before you reach out to an influencer, you should have a certain checklist done? Like, you should already have some digital presence and something that actually vets you — that you're actually investing in marketing and trying — and this is just to put the jets on your efforts, right?
Ferdy: Yeah, yeah.
Patrick: I think I want to talk about content. You have all these six-hour courses — which to me is wild. How does that work with an influencer? Because part of me wonders — do you sneak — not sneak, but do you just try to put little products in a six-hour video? Or do you have to make dedicated videos for the software you're trying to cover?
Ferdy: I sneak them in — but it doesn’t feel like that.
What my thought is really simple: I want to help people reach a certain goal. So in my case, I want to help people make a website.
To give you an example, I can show them Pixabay — which is a free website that can give you free images, no royalties, no copyright issues. But those images — you just cannot create an amazing website with only free images.
So of course, I send them to iStockPhoto. But what I do is send them to ferdy.com/istockphoto — which is a redirection to my affiliate link. So yeah, I sneak them in that way.
In a lot of cases, I also have to mention — “Okay guys, this is an affiliate product, it could be that I make some money with this.” But I always keep the user in mind. I'm not going to push something that’s not going to help them.
Patrick: Sorry, I’m going to interrupt you because I think I used the wrong word. "Sneak" is not the right word. I think what I'm actually trying to get at is: you're using the tools in context. Because so far we’ve only been talking about tutorials — like, “Here’s how you use my map generation software.” And don’t get me wrong, I’m sure people want to see the five or ten-minute process of how someone uses your software.
But also, people want to see the tool being used in context. Which is: as I’m doing all these other things on my website, I also want to set up this map generator, and it does this, this, and this, and here’s how it works.
So I guess I'm just wondering — are there other strategies, beyond making a tutorial, that you can use with influencer marketing to make sure it’s successful?
Ferdy: Well, I go to WordPress conferences and they're really cool. You get a lot of recognition like, "Hey Freddy, thanks to you I make websites," but also a lot of people that want something from me.
So you're at a party and somebody comes up to you, "Hey, I'm from this and this and this company and I want you to make a tutorial." I'm like doing my best to hold a little bit back like, "Yeah, everybody wants me to make a tutorial."
But then I see on the internet a few months later a lot of competition of me—of mine—making tutorials about that tool. Then I think, okay, there must be something going on, or they are paying really well, or the tool is really good.
So what happened is, last year I said no to a company because I tried a video like that before. I think my audience doesn't like it. Then I saw my competitors make the same video which I rejected, and then one of those competitors said, "Ferdy, this tool is really good."
So it helped me because the company was reaching out to multiple people to see, "Hey, here's some potential." And now that's one of my best—the, I like—that's one of my—sorry, that's one of my most likable tools. I use it for myself also.
So first I rejected them. Then I saw other people creating tutorials about that tool, and now I love that tool. I use it in my company every day.
So I think that's a great way to become successful—if you reach more people. And then always, I think the product should be really helpful, the product should be good, and benefit the owner.
So if that's the case with shoes or with the software I promote, I think it's a great way when you reach out to multiple people to promote it.
Patrick: So if I can't hire the legendary Ferdy with 1.2 million followers, I just have to hire someone with like half a million followers and that'll convince you to then cover the same topic?
Ferdy: Exactly. And then you need to come up with a really nice offer. Yes, with a Beamer. 4,000 bucks. I prefer the Beamer.
Goran: So okay, most of the people who are small software makers, they obviously have big goals, but a lot of them maybe never worked with an influencer. So they're kind of doubting themselves—should they actually try?
Like, how do they know if their offer is attractive or not? Based on your experience, what should a product owner do to actually make their offer attractive to, let's say, someone like you?
What are the dos? What are the don'ts? Can you give us some insight on that?
Ferdy: Yes. I want to start with what people maybe should not do.
I get a lot of emails starting with, "Hey, I'm a longtime subscriber and I especially like your video." And then I see the title and I know it's automatically probably pasted in. It's not personal at all.
There was also someone last time, like, "Hey F, I saw your latest video and I liked what you said about this and this and this." So he or she really watched the video and gave me some feedback about what I literally said in that video.
So he or she took the time to really watch my video. That’s what I like. That gives him or her some likability. Like, "Okay, oh wow, he or she really did some research."
If I were to reach out to an influencer as a company owner or a software owner, I wouldn't make a really long email.
"Hey FY, let's keep it short. I really appreciate what you're doing on the internet. I think I have a tool that can benefit your audience. This tool can do this and this and this. We could talk about financial compensation. We could talk about affiliate commissions. I could even give you a higher commission. I'm really excited about what I've created."
And then always, I would have a really stable version of the product you're going to promote — not like, "It's almost finished, but can you try it?" Because then you get the bugs and all that stuff, which would make me say to people, "Okay, you know what, forget about it."
So have a tool that’s not in alpha or beta, but really stable. And then give me the option: Do you want to have financial compensation? A higher commission?
And then when they say what the tool can do, it's really easy for me, based on that email — "Hey, this is a cool tool that can help people that use WordPress to do this and this and this." Oh, that's amazing.
Then I can really easily decide, "This is something I would like to do," or not.
Don't start with, "Hey, I'm a longtime subscriber and I watched your video with the exact title and I really liked it."
Goran: But let's say that, you know, we do that like that. You know, I build a really cool pitch for you — like there's flexibility, my product is interesting — and you say yes, right?
And for a lot of people, I think it could be a shock, right? You know, you are just like trying, like living in the motion, but thinking like, "I'm shooting for the moon."
But then you get like a positive response and the partnership goes to the next stage.
What do I need to do to make you successful in this collaboration? What I mean is, is it enough to just have your product, or should I prepare documentation, some interesting use cases? Like, how do I make your job easier once you say yes?
Ferdy: Yeah, it depends on the product.
If it's a product that would have one specific thing it does — like you click on a button and all your images are optimized — well, in that case I don't need a lot of documentation. I don't need to watch a lot of tutorials.
But in what I do, when I decide to make a tutorial based on someone that asked me to do it or based on my own initiative, I always go to the website to take a look at the documentation.
I always go to their YouTube channel to see if they have YouTube videos about the tool. Then I take a look at YouTube videos from other people that maybe already created a tutorial about it.
And if I'm not the first one — which can be the case — there can be other people that already created a tutorial about it. Then I want to become the best one.
So what I can do: I can watch all the tutorials there are. I make notes. I combine things. Maybe video A is talking about this and this and this, but video B is also covering a few other topics.
Then my video should cover all the topics that both of those videos combine.
And I always try it out. So of course, there should be some playing around. I like making websites. I like to work with tools.
A lot of times I try everything there is, and then I make a tutorial about it. That feels really rewarding, because then I get to know the tool better.
But the best scenario is when they have the content already created for me and I can just watch the tutorial and then redo it.
Patrick: I always want to know: how do you measure a campaign?
Because my thing with marketing is, I want to try every marketing channel for a couple of months and see if it works. So I want to try everything, see if it works.
Let's say we hire five influencers, they make a couple of tutorials. How do we know if we're on the right track and if we want to continue hiring influencers? Or how do we know if we should stop and probably explore a different marketing channel?
Ferdy: Yeah, if the return on investment is higher than all the costs, then you're on a good track.
I'm not in that position — I'm the one who creates the tutorials — but if I could find other people that will promote something for me and I see, "Hey, it cost me a total of $20,000 to have all those people make tutorials for me," but in the last month I saw an increase of 200% in sales...
Yeah, maybe I cannot measure that 100%, but if I see that I get more sales because of those tutorials, and I see it's growing to a point that I think it's making more money than it costs, then I would definitely—
Patrick: I love that. Okay, let's talk about that as ROAS, right? Return on ad spend. Yeah, right.
So, let's say we can calculate that in a couple different ways, but I could pay an affiliate X, X, X,000 a month or whatever, an affiliate or an influencer. I can also pay a content person to help that, send little pieces of content to them, and I can calculate all that in the ROAS.
And if the ROAS is above one, we can talk about how effective it is.
Let me ask a different way though, because sometimes it's about—right, I talked earlier about flooding the zone with influencers, about like there's lots of people talking about the product now because everyone—you know, there's 10 different people who all made videos on this and now people are discussing it in Facebook groups.
So, like, are there other ways to measure success of an influencer marketing campaign? Or should most people just focus on: it's got a positive return on ad spend, we're spending a dollar to make $2, we'll just keep doing that machine all day?
Ferdy: Well, I think what you're saying is that there will be organic growth because of those influencers.
If people start to talk about it in Facebook groups, there's a ripple effect. So I hire someone that will make a tutorial about my amazing tool or about the shoes I sell, and then I pay money and I see somehow that the money goes back in the form of sales of the shoes or the product I sell.
But if I see that I get a lot of new followers, I get a lot of likes which are organic or which are because of that influencer—you cannot 100% measure that—but besides the money that comes in, growth of your social media accounts, growth of visitors, that's always a good thing.
So I don't know in how far you can measure that, but if I see growth, I would say: let's keep on doing what we're doing.
And you can also try by stopping with one influencer and see if that changes something, because you cannot maybe see exactly—or you can give everybody a different affiliate link, for instance. Or, well, I don't want to become too technical, but you can measure which influencer is doing a better job than the other ones.
Goran: So what we are saying in a nutshell is that there are many different types to utilize influencers.
So one could be to directly influence the bottom line of the company and get more sales. And the other ones were more brand-related—like sending some more positive brand signals, tying yourself with a trustworthy figure, or just influencing your overall presence in the market by being connected with someone who can help jumpstart your traffic, put some life into your YouTube channel or marketing that you're doing, just get more eyeballs.
That's also a legitimate way to work with influencers.
Ferdy: Yeah, some are for the immediate results, like he makes a video and now I get more sales.
Some others are for brand awareness for the long term. Yeah, it would be great if you can have multiple people—one for the short term, one for the long term—and then that way, through time, increase the results of the company.
Patrick: Let me ask—I think this is probably getting near the end here, unless you have questions. Have you worked with people where, like, the timing wasn't right, or you pointed out a bug or a feature that really is necessary, and they come back to you in 3, 6, 12 months and it's now feature-complete and it makes sense and it works, and then you've actually done a collaboration? Has that worked?
Ferdy: No.
Patrick: No? Good! Do people not make—like, you know, so if you say, "Hey, here's a problem with the software," do people not make those updates?
Ferdy: Well, they do, but the credits are gone from my side.
So the tutorial I made a few years ago for $1,000—and then I found out, I think it was $2,000—but the tool was not good enough. I put a video online. I shouldn't have done that. So let's also stick to myself, like my own responsibility.
I just showed the end result by tweaking a few things, and I did not show the tweaking, expecting that those errors would be fixed by the time I would upload the video. So I took a leap of faith.
And I think people in that video said, "Ferdy, you're showing something and it doesn't work for me."
And that made me so like—okay, you did not fix those things. So he lost his credit. So maybe the tool at this moment is really good, but I'm done with that person. He should have not—and I'm also learning from that.
So it's a little bit his fault, but I also have to take a look at myself. I did not give him another chance to make it up.
Patrick: Got it. Good to know. I guess good to know that. I like to think of myself, when I'm a software maker in software-making mode, as like—you know, I like to think of agile, and every two weeks I'm, "All right, this bug's really important, let's make sure we can fix this bug—that sprint," and then it'll make the software better for everyone.
But there's probably just like a lot of companies that don't work that way. It's funny—if you hire an influencer with 1.2 million subscribers and so presumably you have something important to say, you give them some feedback and they just ignore you—I don't know what we're doing as business.
Ferdy: No, I learn from that. I really check—if something is not working, I say it right away, "Hey, what's going on over here?"
And in a lot of cases these days, those people fix it really fast—even before I upload the video.
Patrick: Okay, people do fix it then. Okay, that's good.
Ferdy: Yes, but then the tool is great. But I'm talking about minor, minor things.
Patrick: Okay, got it.
Ferdy: I made a tutorial about a product—BuddyBoss—and when I turned on all components, all the content on my website was gone while I was recording.
So I said in my recording, "I don't know what's happening over here—all the content is gone." So I quit the recording. Then I started troubleshooting. So I unchecked every component, and there was one component which was not working.
So I said in my tutorial, "Right now there's a bug. I will let them know. I uncheck this for now so we can continue with the tutorial."
And before I published the video, he said, "Hey, it's fixed." And that's what I like.
When I make tutorials, I prefer to work—I always say, "Is there someone in your company that I can reach out to 24/7?" Because when I make a tutorial, I want to continue.
And I also don't like it when I ask for help and I don't hear something for a week. Oh man. So I tell them, "Is there someone that's available every day, at least?"
Because when I'm working, I want to continue. And that works for me—when there's somebody that can do that for me and respond to things—that makes my job really nice. Like, "Oh wow, they fixed it. They really care for their customers."
Patrick: Well, I appreciate hearing that, and I appreciate there’s a little bit of a note of optimism. So it does sound like a bunch of software creators do fix all these bugs, and a piece of advice for people is: have someone on your product team or your tech team—or whoever—who's available to help influencers basically 24/7, right? Because they're making content, you definitely don't want to slow them down doing the job you're paying them to do.
Ferdy: Yeah, and then I'm talking about—I don't get paid a lot, because when I get paid, it feels like, "Oh, now I have a job again." I want to be free. Then I would rather say, "Increase my commission," but I should learn to do that more often.
I'm really happy with how things are going, so sometimes I'm like, "It's all fine, let's just make a great tutorial."
And then of course when I make a tutorial, I also get channel growth—more views, more subscribers—which is also a currency for me.
If I get more subscribers, that’s one of the best things in the world. So it's not all about the money.
Patrick: Very cool. That's a good note to leave it on. Ferdy, thank you so much for joining us.
Ferdy: Yeah, thank you for this moment—this nice podcast, your questions.
Patrick: And thank you to our listeners for tuning in.
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My name is Patrick Rauland, and thanks for listening to plugin.fm.