Creator Marketing: 5 Steps to Online Success

The brilliant thing about this type of marketing is that all businesses can use it, regardless of size or what they sell.

According to Linktree, there were over 200 million creators working online in 2022. This breadth of choice makes it possible to find someone who not only operates in your specific niche but who also shares your values.

What is the creator economy?

The creator economy is the growing industry of individuals who earn money through creating content.

Creators earn money in different ways:

• Brand partnerships: When a brand pays a creator to provide content marketing on its behalf.
• Affiliate marketing: When a creator receives a commission for every sale they make for a brand through affiliate links.
• Advertising revenue: When a creator hosts ads on their marketing channels, either through ad networks or by selling branded content ads.

Some content creators earn money as a side hustle—for others, it’s a full-time career.

What are the benefits of creator marketing?

Creator marketing content saves time. By letting skilled creators develop content for your target audience, you can prioritize your other marketing efforts or business needs.

Moreover, there are lots of other advantages in forging strong creator partnerships.

It increases your reach

Good creator marketing expands your reach by introducing your product or service to new audiences.

Many content creators have loyal, highly engaged followings, and creator marketing allows you to build relationships with these audiences.

It helps you stay relevant

It’s crucial to create relevant, relatable content. This builds trust among prospective customers and shows how you can add value to their lives.

Content creators have a strong connection with their followers, as well as specialist knowledge and an understanding of the key trends of your industry.

As a result, they can develop authentic, authoritative content that resonates with the needs and wants of their audience.

A recent study shows that people trust content from creators and influencers more than traditional advertising from brands.

It boosts your brand awareness

Creator marketing introduces your brand to more customers, who, in turn, will tell other people about you.

The algorithms used by social platforms like Instagram and TikTok prioritize content from well-known and popular creators. This means these platforms are more likely to suggest posts mentioning your brand to others.

Creator marketing can also improve your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. If a trusted and relevant creator links back to your website, this can lead to higher organic search engine rankings.

It’s cost-effective

Creator marketing is an affordable way of promoting your online business.

You’re reaching out to highly targeted groups of people who are more likely to buy your product or service. This means you’re not wasting resources advertising to the wrong audiences.

Creator marketing is extremely flexible, with the cost depending on the type of content required and the number of followers a creator has. Smaller creators can be a particularly cost-effective way to publicize your brand’s message and build trust.

The 3 types of creator marketing

There are 3 categories of creator marketing to consider when developing your campaigns.

Influencer marketing

Influencer marketers have built a strong personal brand over time and developed followings on social media, websites, and streaming platforms.

It’s important to note that not all influencers are celebrities with millions of fans. You can be an influencer if you have 1,000 followers on Instagram—the key is having highly engaged followers who trust your opinion and enjoy your content.

Influencers typically operate in the beauty, fashion, food, travel, and lifestyle sectors, and often partner with brands that appeal to their followers.

Content creation

Content creators specialize in a particular niche. These niches are generally more specific than those of influencers. For example, rather than just fashion, they might focus on fashion for older women or men’s tailoring.

While content creators might not necessarily have as many followers as influencer marketers, their followers are loyal and passionate and follow them because they’re knowledgeable about a particular subject.

Social media content

Social media content creators post content exclusively on social media platforms and have gained a significant following as a result.

They may post across one platform or across multiple platforms.

Both influencer marketers and content creators can also be social media content creators that you can use as part of any social media marketing plan.

Are content creation and influencer marketing the same?

Not quite. While content creators and influencer marketers both create content and earn money for it, there are some key differences between the 2.

Here’s a practical example. Let’s say you sell spice blends online and want to work with a digital creator.

An influencer marketer could be a famous food blogger with 500K followers across their social media platforms. They travel the world trying tasty food in different countries.

A content creator could be a vegan chef with years of expertise and 5K followers across social media. They cook their own tried-and-tested recipes in their kitchen at home.

The influencer marketer appeals to people who want to emulate their exciting lifestyle, whereas the content creator appeals to people who are serious about vegan cooking and want to try their delicious recipes for themselves.

In essence, influencers focus on breadth, while creators focus on depth.

Which should you use? It depends on your goals, timelines, and budget.

If you have a significant budget and want to reach a large audience fast, influencer marketing could be a great choice.

If you have a smaller budget and want to cultivate meaningful relationships with a niche audience, you may see significant benefits in partnering with content creators.

Five steps to develop a stellar creator marketing strategy

If you want to use creator marketing, you need to have a creator marketing strategy in place. This provides a blueprint for your campaign, making sure you get optimal results.

Here’s how to see creator marketing success in 5 simple steps.

Step #1: Identify your goals and budget

The first step is to understand what you want to achieve from your creator content campaign. This will give you a clear direction and help maximize your odds of success.

Consider the following:

• Your ultimate goals: For example, do you want to increase sales or raise brand awareness? This will help you identify what types of posts to publish as well as which metrics to monitor during and after your campaign.
• Your timelines: This is about when you want your campaign to run. Good content creators are in high demand, so it’s essential to plan ahead, especially for seasonal campaigns.
• Who your target audience is: This will help you determine which creators and platforms to use.
• Your budget: How much money do you have to spend on your campaign? According to Statista, 26% of marketers earmark over 40% of their budget for creator marketing.

Step #2: Choose your channels and social media platforms

Next, it’s time to decide which channels and social platforms you want to use in your campaign.

Examples of channels include:

• Social media channels like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok
• Personal websites and blogs
• Content distribution platforms like SoundCloud or Substack
• Email campaigns
• Paid advertising platforms for showcasing creator ads like paid social or the Google Display Network

Different platforms have different demographics. Some creators only work on specific platforms, so the marketing channels you choose can have a significant impact on who you partner with.

If you’re not sure, take a look at your competitors’ previous campaigns. This will give you an indication of which platforms to take advantage of and which to avoid.

Step #3: Select the best creators to work with

It’s essential to choose creators carefully, as this can make or break your campaign. You want to work with a creator who communicates efficiently, engages with followers, and delivers high-quality content.

Remember that a high follower count isn’t always an indicator of quality. Smaller creators are more likely to engage personally with their followers, which can lead to increased brand awareness.

Finding creators can take time, but there are ways to simplify the process. There are agencies and online tools that can provide you with a list of the best content creators.

You can also put together a list of creators yourself. If you’re looking for creators on social media, search for relevant hashtags and see who appears. Many creators also have their own websites with examples of previous work and proof of results.

Another great way to find content creators is to find customers who already use your product or service. They’ll already be advocates for your brand and will understand how you offer value.

Once you have a shortlist of candidates, it’s time to get in touch. Send an introductory email introducing yourself and your brand. Exceptional creators get a lot of partnership requests, so it's crucial to showcase the benefits of working with you.

Step #4: Develop a solid brief

When you’ve agreed to work with a creator, you need to provide a brief. This details what you expect from them and what they can expect from you in return.

For example, imagine you want a creator to develop social content for your brand. Your brief should include:

• An overview of your brand, including your values and purpose
• The objective of the campaign (for example, more sales or followers)
• The primary message you want to relay to your audience
• Examples of content from previous partnerships, as well as any dos and don’ts
• A timetable of expected deliverables, including the type of creator content (for example, live streams or carousels), when the content is due, and the platform the content creator will deliver the content on
• The content review process—how you will sign content off before it’s published
• Assets the content creator can use, like logos, screenshots, hashtags, and GIFs
• Payment information including the amount, the payment process, and when you will send payment
• Who to get in touch with if there are any questions or problems

While creating a thorough brief is important, you should also listen to what your content creator has to say about the creative process. Many creators have years of expertise and can advise which type of content will drive the most engagement for a particular campaign.

Step #5: Analyze the results

Like all marketing campaigns, it’s essential to review the results of your partnership. This helps you see what type of content resonates best with prospective customers and which content creators drive the best return on investment (ROI)

You can track creator marketing campaigns through:

• Post and hashtag reach
• Clicks
• Comments
• Shares
• Web traffic (use an Urchin Tracking Module [UTM] code to see how many visitors come from a specific link)
• Discount codes (this identifies which content creators the sales have come from)
• Conversions

Calculating engagement rate is an excellent place to start. To come up with this, divide the total number of interactions on a post by the total number of followers a creator has and multiply by 100.

Engage your target audience with well-thought-out creator marketing

Creator marketing is a fantastic way to find highly engaged audiences and develop trustworthy, credible content that drives sales and conversions.

Our final tip—there’s a lot of trial and error in creator marketing. Most brands take time to perfect their messaging, and there’s a lot of fine-tuning to do in between campaigns.

However, once you’ve got the balance right, you’re one step closer to developing solid, long-term relationships with content creators who deliver results!