The uncertain future of TikTok and the changing social media landscape has made complicated partnerships and engagement measurement in the creator economy. But creators are ready.
"At least every three years there's going to be a dynamic shift in all things creator, mainly on the social sphere," Rodney Mason, head of marketing in brand partnerships at LTK, said during our EMARKETER Creator Summit. "But creators are really resilient. They understand that because they've been through so many dynamics… Whatever happens, creators continue to grow and they're very resilient."
This year, the creator economy will be a bigger force than ever for brands to connect with consumers.
Here are some of the ways experts see the creator economy expanding.
Brands prefer partnering with trustworthy creators.
To maximize this impact, experts insist creators diversify their audiences and not become beholden to one platform.
"At the end of the day, I want creators on my roster with communities that will follow them wherever they go," N’Yaisha J. Aziz, global social media lead at Uber, said during our summit. "I want to work with creators who can hold court regardless of these different shifts. And I say in order to do that, brands and marketers kind of have to get their hands dirty and get in the weeds."
Influencer partnerships that were once campaign afterthoughts have become essential to a 360-degree strategy. As brands lean more on creator partnerships to extend their reach, creators have begun to learn more about their performance.
The maturation of creator marketing has left creators seeking long-term partnerships for stabilization, hoping to hone their messaging with brand feedback.
"I think it gets a little bit tricky because a lot of marketers and a lot of brands are still in this one-off mindset with working with creators," Aziz said. "And I think if we stay in that mindset, it doesn't really allow for a debrief, because everyone just kind of wants to get the measurement and then just run and go about onto the next project. But having those long-term partnerships allow for more insights that you can then incorporate into future ones."
Despite TikTok's thin ice, brands and marketers are bullish about the creator economy's future.
"This is pretty much the year of the creator, and I think it's only going to grow more," Mason said, praising the myriad ways in which creator marketing can merge to lift up a brand. "You're going to see more of this integration of all the media come together, and I think AI is going to be a big component of that as well, just from the tracking and looking at a campaign holistically."
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