Today, we’re diving into one of the most powerful—yet often misunderstood—strategies for Shopify brands: micro-influencer marketing.

If you’re tired of celebrity endorsements that feel inauthentic and paid ads with questionable ROI, this episode is for you. We’re exploring how authentic voices, strategic product seeding, and user-generated content can actually supercharge your growth while reducing those brutal acquisition costs we all know too well.

My guest is William Gasner, Co-founder and CMO of Stack Influence—a marketplace that’s connected brands with over 11 million vetted micro and nano creators. But here’s what makes William different: he’s not just talking theory. He’s a six-time founder who’s scaled multiple seven-figure Shopify businesses before building the platform he wished existed when he was in the trenches.

Stack Influence isn’t your typical SaaS database where you’re left to figure things out. It’s a living, two-sided marketplace that automates hundreds—sometimes thousands—of collaborations monthly. Think of it as where “give a product, get a post” is just the beginning.

William shares some eye-opening insights, like why major brands such as Unilever are shifting 50% of their budgets away from traditional Meta and Google ads toward influencer tactics. More importantly for most of you listening, he explains why smaller brands often see their best ROI from curated, genuine recommendations rather than big-money sponsorships.

We break down how social platforms are evolving, why content now matters more than follower count for reach, and how Stack Influence’s unique “pay for outcome” model actually guarantees results—while most platforms only offer hope.

Whether you’re scaling your Shopify brand and thinking about Q4 strategy, or you’re a founder just launching your first product, this episode gives you a tactical roadmap to build real trust, amplify word-of-mouth marketing, and extract maximum value from every UGC asset—not just for social, but across your ads, website, and retention strategies.

What You’ll Learn

✅  Why micro-influencers win: How creators with 3,000-100,000 followers drive higher trust, engagement, and conversions than celebrity endorsements—and why content now matters more than follower count.

✅  The “product seeding” playbook: How to minimize risk by trading products (not cash) for posts, then scaling to hundreds of collaborations while only paying for successful outcomes.

✅  UGC as your secret weapon: Transform authentic creator content into high-converting ads, email campaigns, and website assets that outperform traditional brand content—plus boost your Amazon rankings.

✅  Prime Day (and peak season) strategy: How to prep your listings with high-converting influencer traffic so you’re “sticky” when competition and traffic spike during major shopping events.

✅  Advanced tactics that work: From whitelisting (running ads through influencer profiles) to navigating attribution challenges in a cookie-less world.

✅  Why human beats AI: How authentic voices become more valuable as AI-generated content floods social media, and what this means for your 2024-2025 strategy.

Episode Sponsor: Instant

Episode Summary

Here’s the reality: scaling brands are finally waking up to what consumers have been telling us all along—they don’t trust celebrity endorsements or perfectly polished ads anymore. They trust real people.

This episode breaks down why the smartest Shopify brands are shifting their budgets away from expensive Meta and Google campaigns toward micro-influencer marketing that actually works. We’re talking about creators with 3,000-100,000 followers who drive authentic word-of-mouth at scale, using product seeding and performance-based compensation models that work for everyone from bootstrapped startups to enterprise brands.

William Gasner walks us through exactly how Stack Influence has cracked the operational code that used to make influencer marketing a logistical nightmare. No more chasing down creators, no more paying for posts that never happen, no more wondering if your budget actually moved the needle. Their marketplace handles everything—from vetting creators to managing campaigns to securing content rights—while you only pay for successful outcomes.

Whether you’re prepping your Amazon listings for Prime Day, looking to scale UGC across your ad campaigns and email flows, or trying to navigate attribution challenges in our cookie-less world, the message is crystal clear: the future belongs to brands that sound human, not corporate.

The bottom line? You don’t need a massive budget to compete. You just need products people actually want to recommend and a system that connects you with voices people trust. If you’re ready to ditch the outdated playbook and tap into authentic growth, this episode gives you the roadmap.

Strategic Takeaways

• Trust is the new competitive moat: As consumers become increasingly skeptical of polished ads and celebrity endorsements, authentic micro-influencer relationships represent a fundamental shift in how trust is built at scale. Brands that recognize this transition early gain sustainable competitive advantage.
• Operational leverage beats budget leverage: Stack Influence’s two-sided marketplace model reveals a crucial insight—successful influencer marketing isn’t about having the biggest budget, it’s about creating systems that eliminate friction and guarantee outcomes. The most scalable brands automate relationship-building rather than just throwing money at awareness.
• Content is currency across your entire growth stack: The strategic value of UGC extends far beyond social media impressions. High-converting creator content becomes the fuel for your ad campaigns, email flows, website optimization, and marketplace positioning—multiplying ROI across every customer touchpoint.
• External validation drives algorithmic success: William’s insight about Amazon’s “cold start problem” reveals a broader truth about modern commerce platforms. External traffic from trusted sources doesn’t just generate sales—it teaches algorithms where to place you, creating compound growth effects that outlast individual campaigns.
• Event-driven campaign orchestration unlocks outsized returns: The most sophisticated brands layer their influencer strategy, maintaining steady-state awareness while concentrating firepower before tentpole events. This approach maximizes the value of both organic reach and paid amplification when competition peaks.
• Attribution complexity demands integrated measurement: As traditional tracking deteriorates, brands that invest in robust, multi-touch attribution systems (Triple Whale, Northbeam, etc.) gain clearer visibility into true influencer ROI—and can optimize for long-term customer value, not just first-touch conversions.
• Human authenticity becomes more valuable as AI proliferates: Counter-intuitively, as AI-generated content floods social platforms, genuine human voices and unpolished testimonials will command premium value. Brands building authentic creator relationships now are positioning themselves for this authenticity arbitrage.

Guest Spotlight

William Gasner isn’t just talking about influencer marketing from the sidelines—he’s built his entire career in the trenches where customer acquisition costs can make or break a business. As a six-time founder who’s scaled multiple seven-figure e-commerce businesses, William understands the brutal reality that every Shopify store owner faces: you’re fighting for every dollar, and authentic trust consistently outperforms big ad budgets.

That hard-earned operator experience led him to co-found and serve as CMO of Stack Influence, where he’s built something the industry desperately needed—a two-sided marketplace that actually solves the logistical nightmare of scaling micro-influencer partnerships. We’re talking about a platform that connects brands with over 11 million vetted creators while automating everything from campaign management to content rights licensing.stackinfluence 

What sets William apart in a crowded influencer marketing space isn’t just his track record (though being featured in Forbes, Business Insider, and Wired doesn’t hurt). It’s that he’s solved problems he actually lived through. When major brands like Unilever and Procter & Gamble trust Stack Influence to manage their creator partnerships, and when the platform processes hundreds to thousands of collaborations monthly using their unique “pay for outcome” model, you know this isn’t another SaaS tool built in a vacuum.

William’s approach reflects his deep understanding of both sides of the equation—he knows what it’s like to be the brand desperately trying to cut acquisition costs, and he’s built the systems that make micro-influencer marketing actually scale without the typical headaches. For Shopify brands tired of throwing money at Meta and Google with diminishing returns, William’s insights represent a proven alternative that prioritizes authenticity, automation, and measurable results.

Bottom line: William has walked the walk, built the solution, and continues to operate at the intersection of e-commerce reality and influencer marketing innovation.

Guest Information

William Gasner
Co-founder & CMO, Stack Influence

• Website
• LinkedIn
• Email

Links & Resources

• Stack Influence
• Shopify
• Shopify Plus
• Triple Whale
• Northbeam
• Hyros
• Unilever
• Procter & Gamble

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