My decision to go to Playlist Live Orlando this year was very last minute. Although I had a lot of other things going on, I had to make time for the best social media convention according to me based on past experiences. After arriving a day early on Thursday, April 26th, I already knew I made the right decision. It was great seeing familiar faces like Iamzoie aka Gotdamnzo, Nick Horton, etc as well as newcomers like Austin Yerger & Brandon Szczupaj.
One thing I look forward to every year is the pool party with great DJs, amazing weather, the light show and just the overall atmosphere and finishing it off with fireworks. This year it was on Saturday night.
The Knockturnal: What’s your favorite part about Playlist Live?
Nick Horton: Meeting and reuniting with my friends and supporters who came around the country/world to all be together.
The Knockturnal: What is one thing you’ve learned attending the event?
Nick Horton: One thing I’ve learned is that going to events such as playlist there are more opportunities for collabs
The Knockturnal: Who were you looking forward to meeting the most?
Nick Horton: A lot of my viewers that watch me on YouNow daily. It’s crazy to think that people watch me every single day but you don’t get a chance to meet them in person, only behind a screen.
The Knockturnal: With everything happening around the world did you feel safe at Playlist?
Nick Horton: On a scale of 1-10 I felt playlist reached the 10 mark. There were so many security and officers at the event, keeping an eye on every single person. I notified them about a threat I received and they were on top of it before the event even started.
The Knockturnal: What’s next for you on social media?
Nick Horton: Focusing on YouTube a lot more, and posting on days I’m supposed to be uploading on without skipping them.
The Knockturnal: What is your company about
Marina Leigh: Growing Up Social is a cross-platform collab group of Social Media Influencers joining together to entertain, educate and enlighten the world about what it’s like growing up in today’s social climate. We are dedicated to helping up & coming talent grow their channels and provide a support system they may otherwise not have. In addition, we help our supporters through challenging times, provide a platform for change and come together to make a difference in the world while giving fans a peek behind the curtain of what it’s like to be a social media influencer.
The Knockturnal: What inspires you to create Growing Up Social
Marina Leigh: The inspiration behind Growing Up Social is rooted in recognizing how social media is shaping the climate of today’s generation and what’s to come. It’s honoring a new way of reaching an audience from marketing to motivation and beyond. This industry is still in its infancy but bringing so much opportunity to so many and Growing Up Social was created to help others tap their potential, benefit from the opportunity and be the very best they can be.
The Knockturnal: How was it like being a sponsor at Playlist Live
Marina Leigh: Being a sponsor at Playlist Live was an extremely rewarding experience. There are very few venues that open the door to opportunity on the scale that this annual event provides. So as a sponsor, it is extremely beneficial to have a presence at an event that promotes growth, vision, and entertainment all in the span of a few days. And the organizers behind Playlist have an incredible amount of experience to make sponsorship easy, professional and seamless due to their organization and excellent communication.
The Knockturnal: What did you hope to accomplish at the event? And was it a success?
Marina Leigh: Playlist for us was an opportunity to launch this project to both fans and creators and to gain visibility for our platform. It was a huge success for us on many levels giving us the opportunity to spread our message and introduce a huge audience to our mission.
The Knockturnal: Describe Playlist in 3 words’
Marina Leigh: Opportunity – Vision – Unforgettable
Next, we caught up with Corie Amazin (@co.rie) who is also a YouNow streamer attending the festival for the second time.
The Knockturnal: What’s your favorite part about Playlist Live?
Corie Amazin: My favorite part about playlist live is being able to meet the people who’ve been supporting you for YEARSSS! Nothing better than seeing the facial expression on the faces of people who’ve only seen you been a computer/phone screen!
The Knockturnal: What is it like seeing so many other influencers in one place?
Corie Amazin: Seeing other people that put so much work in the same thing you do is very cool.. knowing that you aren’t the only person who loves to create content for people to views on the web is nice!
The Knockturnal: What advice can you give someone who wants to get into social media?
Corie Amazin: WORK WORK WORK! I’m not gonna lie to her and sugar coat it and say building on social media is easy because it’s not! In order to grow and keep growing, you have to constantly keep putting out content and changing up what you do every once in a while for bring in different viewers/supporters.
The Knockturnal: What makes playlist live unique to you?
Corie Amazin: Playlist is unique to me because this is the only event that I know that brings together different people of all cultures. All together in one area which is crazy awesome! A very safe and fun environment for people to network and meet other people from different areas around the world!
The Knockturnal: Where do you see yourself in the future?
Corie Amazin: One day maybe one-day id like to see myself in some type of action movie or a Netflix show! That be extremely fun
I also got a chance to catch up with some of the sponsors including Mike Watts (@lovehandletv) who is the inventor or Lovehandle, who I was able to ask a few questions about his experience at Playlist Live.
The Knockturnal: How many times have you attended Playlist Live Orlando as a sponsor?
Mike Watts: LoveHandle has sponsored and attended Playlist Live for three consecutive years.
The Knockturnal: What keeps you coming back?
Mike Watts: Playlist Live is a unique opportunity to personally connect with creators, artists, musicians, and fans. No other event has this kind of direct access to influencers who can help tell our story on social channels.
The Knockturnal: What do you look forward to the most at Playlist Live?
Mike Watts: We look forward to visiting with our brand ambassadors and super-fans who are excited to share their story of another year of better Smartphone living with LoveHandle. Of course meeting new fans and creators is always exciting as well.
The Knockturnal: What do you hope to accomplish when the event is all over?
Mike Watts: LoveHandle hopes to expand our network of influencers of all sizes to help us share this great product with the world.
The Knockturnal: What can we look out for next from Lovehandle?
Mike Watts: Next up, LoveHandle is creating an online platform at LoveHandle.com that will feature aspiring artists who can design an exclusive custom phone grip collection to be featured and sold on the site. We are also working on some exciting collaborations with popular creators to launch exclusive merch programs for their fans.