Orlando, Florida, May 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — IZEA Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ: IZEA), developer of BrandGraph®, the platform for competitive social media intelligence, released their first-annual look at influential brands within the cold cereal category. The 2020 report provides analysis of over 439 million social media posts generated by more than 4 million online influencers from May 1, 2019 to April 30, 2020. Based on IZEA’s independent analysis, Kellogg’s Rice Krispies (NYSE: K) garnered the top spot for share of voice (SOV), which is based on volume of both organic and sponsored social media content created by influencers.
IZEA’s BrandGraph platform identifies and classifies online influencer content for more than 3,300 leading brands, arming marketers with insights and benchmarks within specific competitive categories. This BrandGraph report analyzed 46 prominent cold cereal brands including Rice Krispies, Cheerios, and Pebbles, to name a few.Key Findings Include:Highest Average Share of Voice (SOV):  Rice Krispies averaged 26.1% share of voice (SOV) based on total influencer content volume over the 12-month period, followed by Pebbles at 17% SOV.Highest Organic Content References: Rice Krispies was mentioned organically by influencers in over 11k posts during the 12-month period, followed most closely by Pebbles, which was mentioned in nearly 8k posts. Conversely, Chex lagged considerably behind its peers in terms of both organic and sponsored influencer content creation. The total count of organic content pertaining to Rice Krispies was more than 12x that of Chex.Highest Sponsored Content Posts: Cheerios surpassed all other cold cereal brands in terms of the count of sponsored influencer posts by the brand or third parties. Cheerios had 2x the volume of sponsored content when compared to the next most prolific brand, Pebbles. Most Common Co-brands Named: Oreo was the most common brand name mentioned by influencers alongside Rice Krispies. 7.24% of all influencer content mentioning Rice Krispies also mentions Oreo.Best Influencer Sentiment: Chex led the charge for most positive influencer sentiment, with 96% of its influencer content being categorized as positive, and only 4% categorized as negative or neutral.Most Engaged Influencer: The top influencer for cold cereal brands based on the number of engagements on organic content is Chrissy Teigen for Rice Krispies, with 749,763 engagements on a single post. The average creator producing content about Rice Krispies has 129.5k followers, compared to 73.4k average followers for the Cold Cereal category.“Cold cereal brands are actively investing in influencer marketing and social media content strategies to increase new sales and loyalty for their products,” said Ted Murphy, Founder & CEO of IZEA. “We found that 6.2% of all influencer content we measured in this category during this period was sponsored by cereal brands. Interestingly, while cold cereal brands sponsored fewer influencer content pieces overall in March and April during the pandemic, the amount of organic content created by influencers during this period was at an all-time high for the category. As more people are cooking and buying longer-lasting food items while confined to their homes, we saw more influencer content about cereal brands being produced. In fact, as more consumers spend time on social media, the average engagement rate for influencer content featuring cold cereal increased in both March and April by about 29%.”Sponsored content engagement for the cold cereal category averaged 1.45% during the evaluation period, well below the 4.3% average for the 3,000+ brands currently observed through BrandGraph. Trix leads the category in sponsored content engagement, with 10.18% vs. Rice Krispies at .93% engagement.The total number of engagements with influencer content featuring cold cereal brands is at an all-time high during the COVID-19 pandemic, having increased by more than 51% in March and April relative to the prior 6 months. “Due to the pandemic,” Murphy continued, “some brands chose to pause or decrease sponsored content activity during this period – however, BrandGraph tells us that, because more consumers are at home and spending time on social channels, this is actually a strategic moment for brands to work with influencers to generate social content and capture share of voice.”IZEA customers can leverage BrandGraph intelligence to identify how their influencer efforts compare to other brands in their industries and how to set themselves apart to gain a larger share of voice. All product names, logos, and brands are property of their respective owners. All company, product and service names used in this press release and the BrandGraph report are for identification purposes only. Use of these names, logos, and brands does not imply endorsement.Visit http://izea.com/brandgraph/cereal to request a copy of the programmatically generated report.About IZEA Worldwide, Inc.
IZEA Worldwide, Inc. (“IZEA”) operates IZEAx, the premier online marketplace that connects marketers with content creators. IZEAx automates influencer marketing and custom content development, allowing brands and agencies to scale their marketing programs. IZEA creators include celebrities and accredited journalists. Creators are compensated for producing unique content such as long and short form text, videos, photos, status updates, and illustrations for marketers or distributing such content on behalf of marketers through their personal websites, blogs, and social media channels. Marketers receive influential content and engaging, shareable stories that drive awareness. For more information about IZEA, visit https://izea.com/.Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements, which are based on certain assumptions and describe our future plans, strategies and expectations, can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking  terms such as “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,” “may,” “plans,” “projects,” “will,” “would” or other comparable terms. Examples of forward-looking statements include, among others, statements we make regarding expectations of sales activity, revenue and margins based on bookings, plans to increase the size of our sales team, the financial impact of investments in our software business, and continuation of new IZEAx customers and their effect on future sales.Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, as a result of various factors, including, among others, the following: competitive conditions in the content and social sponsorship segment in which IZEA operates; failure to popularize one or more of the marketplace platforms of IZEA; changing economic conditions that are less favorable than expected; and other risks and uncertainties described in IZEA’s periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.  IZEA assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements to reflect actual results or changes in expectations, except as otherwise required by law.Attachment2020 Most Influential Cold Cereal BrandMartin Smith
IZEA Worldwide, Inc.
Phone: 407-674-6911
Email: [email protected]

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