While most 17-year-olds are focused on schoolwork, first relationships, body image and other hallmarks of adolescence, Ava McDonald is running her own company.
Back in March, the young Austinite and daughter of entrepreneurs, launched Zfluence, a digital solution dedicated exclusively to empowering Generation Z nano-influencers. These are users of popular social media platform Instagram, who are between the ages of 16 and 23, and have no more than 10,000 followers.
By joining the Zfluence network -- a play on “Generation Z” and “Influencer” -- these young influencers become ambassadors for the brands they love in an authentic, truly brand loyal way. So far, the digital solution company has more than 100 influencers working with at least 12 Austin-based and national companies, including Snap Kitchen, P. Terry’s, Mighty Swell, Lucky Robot, Tiff’s Treats, Taco Ranch, August Morgan, LOVE Cycling Studio, IL Makiage and ThirdLove.
“My parents are both entrepreneurs so I feel like I’ve always kind of grown up striving to become an entrepreneur one day just because I admire what they’re doing,” McDonald said. “Also, living in Austin, given that it’s such an entrepreneurial city, I’ve always felt inspired to create something. I combined that desire to become an entrepreneur with a real need that I noticed on social media.”
She said she noticed influencers using their Instagram profiles as a means of advertising for companies, but it came off as inauthentic and transactional.
“You could clearly see the influencer promoting the product really didn’t like the product and was kind of thinking about the product in a copy-and-paste way, where it was obvious the brand ‘told me to kind of say it in this way,’” McDonald said. “So I wanted to create a platform that would add authenticity to the influencer marketer process by focusing on genuine brand passion because it leads to believable posts, and thus, sales.”
Zfluence works like a dating app where a female makes the first move. Zfluencers have to apply and be accepted into the Zfluence network and initiate the “relationship” by choosing the brands they love and want to promote. Brands are then notified and approve the Zfluencers they want to work with, and Instagram postings can then commence. For their work as ambassadors, the Zfluencers receive the products they promote, but they do not get paid monetarily.
McDonald said this creates an “ultra-filtered approach” to identify a brand’s most loyal fans in a way that is affordable and strategic for the company. What makes Zfluence stand out, apart from its business approach, is that it focuses only on Generation Z, including the nation’s 20 million college students. She believes this is a demographic that has largely been ignored by brands but has a lot of promise financially.
She said Gen Z nano-influencers have four times the rate of engagement as other influencers with more followers because they come off as “real people,” as opposed to paid spokespeople. This makes them more relatable, and their enthusiasm for trying products by brands they genuinely endorse shows.
While she moonlights as an entrepreneur on the weekends and during her free time, McDonald’s principal role is as an honor roll student at St. Stephen’s Episcopal School in Austin. Before launching her startup, she was the first and only high school student accepted into a college internship program at a prestigious Austin-based public relations firm, and worked as a marketing intern at a cycling studio and as a social media advisor at an equity theatre company.
Her father, Jack McDonald, is founder and CEO of Upland Software and an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award winner. Her mother, Carla McDonald, is founder of The Salonniere, the nation’s “top online magazine” dedicated to the art of entertaining. Both have served as role models to McDonald, who has learned the value of creativity and work-life balance from them.
“Number one, the weekends are my best friend,” McDonald said of balancing work and school demands. “There’s nothing like a good Saturday to get everything done. I also accomplish small tasks throughout the day, even if it’s just answering an email during a passing period, or answering a direct message from an influencer.”
She said Zfluence launched in Austin because it is the home of the University of Texas at Austin.
“It’s a great university and it’s right here,” McDonald said. “Within that school we have a huge network of students who are leaders in their communities and outstanding members of Generation Z. In addition, with me being a high school student, I knew there was opportunity in the high schools in the area and knew that Austin would be a great area to launch for that reason.”
Initially, McDonald intended to focus only on people in Austin, but then began receiving interest from students at universities such as Brown, Oklahoma and Colorado State.
“We’ve been able to pair them up with a more national brand so it’s been cool to see it grow,” she said.
Zfluence’s final pricing structure has yet to be determined as the company is still in the beta launch phase in Austin. Brands are currently paying an introductory fee of $50 monthly to join the Zfluence Brand community. Bespoke relationships, where brands have influencer exclusivity, are also available and priced individually for interested brands.
“We are donating 5 percent of our profits to support organizations that support young entrepreneurs because, especially for me, I believe entrepreneurship is very empowering,” McDonald said. “It has been an amazing learning experience. I’ve been able to understand the importance of time management and working with other people. While those are things I learned in my high school, I’m able to think about them in a new way.”
