Coming together as a community
To me, the emergence of the Creatorverse feels a bit like déjà vu. In the early 2000s, the marketing and advertising industry needed to come together to reckon with this thing called digital media—and define the future of advertising together. Whether people realize it or not, we’re at that same moment now. Creators are positioning themselves as next-gen creatives, and marketers and agencies need to figure out how to work with them effectively and make them a vital part of the marketing mix. Otherwise, they may be left behind.
To be sure, the creator economy is not the easiest thing to navigate—for either side. Based on my conversations with marketers, creators and agencies, the following challenges are ripe for discussion:
Understanding the creator economy. While billions are being spent on creator marketing, it’s still a relatively young industry: 72% of the respondents to a survey conducted recently by Later, a social media management platform, only started monetizing in the past two years. According to Monique Thomas, editorial content marketing manager at Later, this indicates that the industry is still in growth mode.
Finding the right creators. Recruiting the right creators to boost brand images and induce purchases over social media takes time and requires resilience. In a recent survey by eMarketer, almost 60% of influencer marketers said they have difficulty identifying the right creator for their brand.
Ditching a transactional mindset. The most successful marketers treat partnerships with creators as worthwhile investments and relationships—not as last-minute, transactional campaign add-ons. One CMO told me recently that her team has engaged in conversations with creators for as long as eight months before beginning to discuss whether and how to work together.
Getting measurement right. Measurement is the crucial component in helping still-skeptical marketers buy into the idea of the creator economy, especially at a time when ad budgets are under scrutiny. In the eMarketer study, 79% of marketers ranked measurement as a leading challenge, followed by ROI (76%).
Scaling smart. Why are so many marketers seemingly not “bought in” to the creator economy or behind their competitive peers? Often, they have trouble scaling. They might have had some success here and there, but they haven’t prepared themselves to manage the growth and learn new ways of operating and behaving. Those that have stand a much better chance of making it in the long term.
