Meet the ECMeetUp speaker: Lyle Scritten of Travelstart

I’m not going to lie to ya, when it comes to ECMeetUp, I totally get my thrills just by sitting in a room full of bloggers and influencers who probably understand the crazy going on in my head. I mean, we love talking “shop”, right Bloggers?! And we love learning about the latest influencer trends – the what’s hots and what’s nots, if you will. Well, this is why the ECMeetUp team is so excited to welcome speaker Lyle Scritten of Travelstart to our 2018 ECMeetUp panel. You guys, Lyle knows what’s up. And I’m not just saying so because he told me that.

Besides for working at Travelstart – one of the top online travel agency’s in Africa – the guy is also an avid blogger himself. His blog, VersatileLyle, celebrates its 10 year anniversary in June! Lyle will be joining us to talk about Travelstart and their amazing blogger affiliate program. He will also be sharing hot tips and information with regards to working and building relationship with brands. Travelstart will be partnering with ECMeetUp extensively and guys, I’m not saying that some of you may very well get a paid gig out of this, but I’m not saying that you won’t. Please, stop giving me those eyes. I can’t share anymore information. AAAAAAACK!

We also have some AMAZING Travelstart goodies up for grabs and, Oprah moment, everybody’s getting one! Anyways, enough of my chit chat. Here’s more from Lyle:

1. Hey Lyle, ‘sup! Tell us more about yourself – Who is Lyle?
Who is Lyle really? Great question, you should speak to my wife I feel she knows me better than I know myself haha. Well first and foremost I’m a 33 year old male born and bred on the Cape Flats of Cape Town. I’m happily married and have 2 wonderful sons, all of whom I love dearly. I spend the bulk of my time at my second home, namely Travelstart HQ, where I oversee and run blogger and influencer marketing campaigns for our core markets in South Africa, Nigeria and Egypt.

In my spare time, I try to do some blogging under the pseudonym, VersatileLyle and as the name states my blog is versatile, so no specific niche for me. Quick fact on that, while my blog is not yet where I would like it to be, I am proud of the fact that I managed to be a finalist in the Samsung Blogger challenge back in 2014 and even got the chance to be featured on Expresso, yeah that was pretty cool. Lastly I was recently asked to join the leadership team for the Cape Town Chapter of Travel Massive. So, I get to work alongside the incredible Dawn from the The Incidental Tourist and Linda from Moving Sushi, on Travel specific networking events in our city, which I simply love! I’m quite a busy guy lol!

2. Tell us more about Travelstart (for those of us who never go like, anywhere, ever)
Travelstart is the leading online travel agency in Africa and to wake up every morning knowing that I work for such a great company is a blessing to me. Our aim is to make travel simple and easy for everyone and this means I have to do my utmost best to collaborate with the best bloggers and publications in South Africa to get our name and message across to all citizens.

3. Have you learnt alot during your many years working with influencers?
Influencer Marketing is not as easy as most people would think. I have learnt that, while I would like to work on every pitch or proposal I receive, I simply cannot. Ideally I would love to send people around the country and world to write and create content but this is not the case. Each proposal has to be look at in detail and depending on how good it might look on paper we would need to see the value from a business point of view and if it meets our ROI standards then it might get the go ahead. So, ROI is major factor to consider when pitching ideas.

4. You get to visit like, the most beautiful city in the world! Are you excited about your visit to the Bay?
I would be even more excited if you told me I could take a long hot bath but the fact of the matter is that the water crisis is a real thing and an issue we all need to become more aware of. Honestly speaking I am super excited to be joining you guys and to be able to share some of my knowledge with your guests.

5. What will you be teaching us at the ECMeetUp?
I will be sharing some real life scenarios from my past and tying that back to how bloggers should approach pitching collaborative ideas to brands. I’m all about knowledge sharing and motivating other to do their best in this industry.

Head on over to JustEllabElla, to learn more about our other guest speaker, super blogger, By Megan Kelly. Excited yet? Aaack! To get your hands on a ticket, simply use the bank deets below to make your purchase. Can’t make a purchase right now? It’s all good! RSVP with either Luchae (that’s me, yo) or Eleanor and make sure to pay for your ticket by May 25th. See you soon!

Purchase by making payment to FNB 62712255365, and using your name and surname as reference