And for the NFL, a long-term creator strategy aims to reach the next generation of football fans, with “the way in” to the sport having evolved through the emergence of social media platforms and a younger audience.

To reach potential new fans, the NFL aims to work with creators across various platforms and categories including food, fitness, fashion and wellness, explained Fink.

“First and foremost, we make sure the creators that we’re working with are football fans and they have a connection, in some capacity, whether it’s a club connection or a connection to the league, and then we’re building with them. We create one-to-one authentic relationships with all of our creators and we can use our platform to support them. What do they want to do? We’re not coming to these creators with ideas. We are building with them,” she continued.

Nurturing creator relationships

They also discussed a creator trend that takes an “always-on” approach with brands. However, Fink warned that it is “really hard and time-consuming” for marketers to nurture those 24/7 relationships.

The NFL has developed a “playbook” for each club that offers them tools to work with creators. The plan invites creators to training camps, for example, to learn more about each club first-hand. Other programs work directly with the major platforms such as YouTube and TikTok, and they offer analytics around creators to help guide on the right people to partner with. This can be helpful when it comes to factoring in representation.

Shutterstock takes a more educational approach within its creator community. Through its “The Create Fund” program, it supports historically excluded artists with financial and professional support. Those who qualify are assessed through their portfolio and the “gaps” they might be able to fill through their work.

Fink also admitted that there was a lot of “trial and error” within the NFL’s social strategy as new engagement opportunities have emerged, such as gaming with Roblox.

“We always want to try what the new platform is. Some of them will stick around, others will go away,” she explained. “Gaming is also a huge passion of our players. You see it now in the offseason when they have more time. They’re calling up each other, they’re on Twitch, they’re trying to build their own personal brand. So we see creators as our players as well. And as we’re trying to equip them with the tools to reach their audience.”