How Can Brands Get The Best Out Of Their Creators - Think Twice Podcast
Pop a squat on Daddy's knee, champ. We're talking about a podcast I was on.
Happy Sunday, friends! Recently, I had the pleasure of joining my colleague Perla’s podcast, Think Twice, to discuss creator marketing and how brands can make the most of these partnerships. ‘Twas a lovely 45-minutes chatting with her and her co-host, Ronak about the growth of creator marketing, building authentic campaigns, and ensuring your plans fit into the larger brand needs.
Listen to the podcast below.
Here are some highlights from the episode, along with some elaborations that weren’t included in the audio:
On the growth of influencer marketing…
(Fyre Festival) was an interesting wake up, not just for brands, but also creators as well. At the time, there were a lot of fast and loose conversations about what influencer marketing was and the types of deals that people were making. I don't believe that the influencers involved would have agreed with the intention of misleading their audiences. If you're a creator and you're looking at any sort of brand partnerships, you need to do your due diligence around these agreements and opportunities.
Influencer marketing is estimated to reach $4.3 billion by 2023. The attention around influencer marketing is getting bigger and bigger as a result. With an increase in spend and an increase in awareness, there's always going to be an increase in bad actors.
On consumer trust in creators…
YouTube is literally the second most visited website on the internet, and 80% of the content that's created there is made by individuals. These individuals have their own personal brands now, and carry influence with them. When you look at the statistics, 81% of US consumers are more likely to purchase advertised products when an influencer they follow is featured in that same content, or if they're affiliated to it in some way.
On the dangers of inauthenticity in influencer marketing…
Elf Cosmetics’ disastrous Twitch debut was a really powerful lesson. People who play games are some of the savviest consumers out there and they can smell bullshit. Diversity isn’t a marketing trend, it's a necessity.
Creating authentic campaigns that still fit an overall creative strategy…
In order to let creators make the most authentic partnered content, you need to give them creative freedom. It really comes down to the brief: what’s in the outline? Is there enough leverage to allow creators to be themselves? We turn to creators because of their unique voices.
Pushing them down a linear path is effectively stripping the creator of what makes them a powerful medium.
I always err on the side of giving them more freedom. They’re meant to be outside-the-box thinkers. They're meant to be the re-inventor of what your idea can be or how your brand can be interpreted, consumed, or even just talked about at the end of the day.
I’m hesitant to just give a creator your standard agency brief because that’s not how they typically work. They'll look at it and think, "What the fuck is this? This isn't how I operate."
The biggest asset from working with creators is that they're agile motherfuckers who get shit done because that's how they live. They know how to get high quality content out the door quickly.
On developing a creator strategy…
What’s the alignment of brand values versus that of a creator?
Do they overlap or are they just polar opposites?
How much of an overlap is there in your target audience and the creators' audience?
There's plenty of really valuable information that comes from the overarching strategy and creative work that can set the tone for how we partner with creators. Just like we have demographics that we're looking at, creators have audience demographics they also need to cater to.
On creator selection…
You just have to know the fucking creators. You have to be in the thick of it.
You can look at someone's data on a Tubular dashboard and go, "cool, this person has 56% of their viewership in the US and an 80/20 split of men to women, majority of the user base is 18 to 24 with the secondary group of 34 to 45."
When you don't look at the content, though, how are you supposed to know what that means? On paper, you may have the perfect candidate, but if you aren’t familiar with the content itself then you have no way of knowing whether your brand can successfully integrate into the stories that the creator is trying to tell.
On thinking beyond awareness when partnering with creators…
When you think about gaming creators, you think about people who spend anywhere between six to 12 hours (sometimes longer) a day playing games. They're incredibly familiar with your product or, at the very least, your competitors' products. You have people who have a very strong understanding of game mechanics, about gaming as a whole, and that can really talk to your product or a competitive product.
When you think about how you want to work with creators, it's not just necessarily about raising awareness. How can we use creators who understand our stuff to actually make it better, bring them into the product development process, and actually build early investment in a brand?
What if we can bring them in and work with them on owned channel assets? What if we integrate them into a trailer? What if we include them in the games themselves? What are more lateral ways that we can think about these partnerships?
It’s important that we think about how we integrate influencers into the holistic marketing strategy for a brand from the start.
On the ROI of building grassroots relationships with creators..
When you think of those that have had a positive impact on your career, you tend to think fondly of them. Imagine having the backing of a brand to accelerate your career growth? It becomes a mutually-beneficial relationship for both groups. As a creator, you’re receiving financial aid from a brand that will also amplify your voice within an industry. As a brand, you’re reaching a small yet engaged community, and investing in their career development with the hopes that their success in-turn creates mutual growth.
On one final piece of advice to marketers…
Authenticity is key. Gaming consumers can smell bullshit from a mile away. When you work with creators, take their input, take their advice, work with them, fold them into the creative process, use their personal brands that make them special. Keeping that in mind, the work you do together could be your most successful project yet.
Thanks again for having me on the podcast, folks! If anyone else wants my soothing Australian tones on a podcast, slide into my DMs ✌🏼
JDodd
For all the fancy legal reasons, this work is my own and not representative of EA ✌🏼
Thank you to Sophie for playing the role of editor, thumbnail designer, and life-ruiner.