Creators Can Help Brands Cut Through the Noise, Here’s How

The average person spends around 400 minutes per day online, according to research firm GWI.

Social media platforms, including Facebook and TikTok, account for an increasing amount of this scrolling and thumb-tapping, using canny algorithms to serve users a carefully selected range of content guaranteed to pique interest.

For brands and publishers, it can be tricky to stand out in such a saturated market. At Social Media Week Europe, media and marketing experts revealed how they’re winning the war for attention with a little help from creators.

“Creators are a great way of cutting through these algorithms,” said Mobbie Nazir, chief strategy officer at We Are Social, which counts Samsung and Google among its clients.

Finding a niche

Nazir revealed how leaning into niche interests and trends with input from specialist creators was one “shortcut” to stand out for brands and publishers.

The agency has recently worked with Booking.com on a campaign that featured creator Mermaid Serenity, who creates mermaid-themed content across YouTube, TikTok and more.

“Campaigns like this can start to build trust with [different communities] that [brands] can build on,” said Nazir.

The strategist said a good starting point for advertisers or media owners looking to do the same was to sit down and think about how their brand is seen in culture, and how creators could help them expand on that.

As marketers, we need to really think about stepping away from things so they don’t feel staged or forced, but genuine and authentic instead.

Mobbie Nazir, chief strategy officer, We Are Social

She advised brands to entrust creators with creative ideas. “You’re working with them so they can engage your audience, so give them the freedom to express [how they see] your brand and trust they will position the brand in the right way, within the right context,” she said.

Keeping it real

For Elfried Samba, chief executive at creator agency Butterfly 3ffect and chief community officer startup incubator Ioconic venture studio, the key to cutting through the noise online was to let creators’ authenticity shine through.

Drawing on his previous role in social media at fitness brand Gymshark, he said creator content should never feel too polished.  

“The thing that GymShark did early and natively was making their followers feel like friends” through user-generated social posts, he said.

BuzzFeed Inc’s commercial director, Caroline Fenner, claimed that even legacy social-first brands, including BuzzFeed-owned food video platform Tasty, were having to evolve in a new social landscape dominated by creators.

“Tasty’s videos used to be shot top-down, hands-on-hands style, there was very little sense of who was behind it,” she said. “That’s changed, and we’ve had to work with creators to give that brand more personality, bringing in authentic voices and original stories where we can.”

Keep an eye on Adweek.com for more insights and exclusives from Social Media Week Europe.