Time and time again, we have seen creator-led marketing help brands expand their reach and relevance, deepen customer engagement and loyalty, scale quality content production, and drive revenue. However, as the creator economy expands, more brands are reporting on the necessity of demonstrating ROI.
Earlier this month, Brit Starr, CreatorIQ’s Senior Vice President of Corporate Marketing, joined Ann Newland, Wayfair’s Head of Integrated Marketing, to take an inside look into a recent data-driven CreatorIQ report exploring how creators are changing the marketing and advertising ecosystem. During the webinar, our speakers discussed the challenges and opportunities surrounding how creator-led marketing can power consumers’ purchasing decisions.
CreatorIQ Report Findings
In order to better understand the role that creator-led marketing plays in marketing activations, our report surveyed 132 marketers based in the U.S. Respondents overwhelmingly suggested that if brands don’t invest in creator marketing, they run the risk of being left behind, as 67% of surveyed marketers reported increasing their influencer marketing investment year-over-year. While this increased investment is consistent with our previous surveys, we didn’t previously know where this increased spend was coming from.
Through this survey, we now know that marketing teams are restructuring their budgets and diverting funds from other marketing functions—most notably from digital advertising, a source identified by 76% of respondents. Digital advertising is less effective at ensuring engagement and conversion than creator-led marketing. Despite marketing budgets undergoing more scrutiny than ever before, influencer marketing is crucial enough that organizations are moving funds to fuel their creator-led marketing campaigns.
Wayfair Partners With Creators for the Full-Funnel Effect
Creators have the power to captivate and mobilize audiences like never before. CreatorIQ’s report also found that 94% of organizations can at least partially attribute sales to creator content on social media. In other words, creator-led marketing is inspiring consumers to engage with brands and boost sales.
Though creator-led marketing is still frequently seen as a top-of-funnel activity, the possibilities for bottom-of-funnel results are endless. For example, Wayfair has been partnering with creators to fulfill each stage of the marketing funnel to successfully execute their yearly campaign “Way Day,” which promotes Wayfair’s annual sales event. To execute this campaign, Wayfair aligns creators with the following role types:
- Greeters: At the top of the funnel are greeters, or content creators who drive awareness. They introduce a brand or product to consumers. Wayfair maintains editorial control over greeters’ content—it’s branded, and may or may not include affiliate links.
- Contributors: Located at the middle of the funnel, contributors lend credibility to the brand, ensuring that it stays top-of-mind for audience members. These creators are good at storytelling, so their content often includes inspirational videos, styling, or how-tos complete with affiliate links. This content is mostly Wayfair-branded with some editorial control.
- Closers: At the bottom of the funnel, closers provide scale. They are the final point of persuasion to drive a conversion or a purchase decision. This content is transaction-focused, with affiliate links and editorial freedom granted to creators.
Creators, Commerce, and ROI Webinar Takeaways
Overall, in both CreatorIQ’s report findings and Wayfair’s campaign strategies, it’s clear that creator-led marketing is an engine that sparks conversion and scales effectively. Other key takeaways from the webinar discussion include:
- To avoid being left behind, brands should increase their budget for creator marketing. The creator economy is expanding rapidly, and creator-led marketing should be used as a strategy that complements and coincides with other marketing campaigns.
- Creator-led efforts consistently outperform traditional digital channels, including search and email.
- Let creators be their authentic selves when producing content. Brands should always be clear and transparent about their expectations for a campaign—it’s important to never micromanage partners’ content. Instead, encourage creators to put their own original spin on your initiative. The resulting content will be far more interesting and impactful to viewers.
- Prioritize inclusivity, because on social media, everyone is invited to the party. Creators are quick to call out brands that don’t abide by this principle, so it’s imperative that your products and messaging don’t unintentionally exclude any group of potential consumers based on skin color, size, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
- Pay creators fairly. Not only is it more equitable for creators, but it's also the No. 1 way to guarantee impactful creator content. Our 2022-2023 trends report and survey showed that compensation for paid content has gone up: 50% of creators received more compensation than the previous year. What’s more, receiving compensation for their brand content was important to 96% of creators.
Featuring data from brands and agencies that are actively engaging with influencer marketing, our latest report, “Can Creator-Led Marketing Really Drive ROI?,” offers must-see insights into the 2023 creator economy.
