Build trust with creators to help your brand grow.

We’ve all seen influencer posts labeled “AD” appear in our social media feeds. However, because brands often dictated the creative aspects of these collaborations, the new wave of advertising came to feel just like traditional ads—obvious, scripted, and unnatural—often starkly different from the rest of the influencer’s projects and posts.

It may appear that there are no differences between influencer and creator marketing, but there are. Influencer marketing relies on an influencer’s trust and reputation to spread a brand’s message. While corporations leveraging influencers over celebrities generated a significant change in the industry, consumers rapidly turned disgruntled.

This laid the groundwork for the current trend toward creator marketing. Rather than depending exclusively on an influencer’s brand recognition, creator marketing places the onus on the individual to play to their creative abilities, building on the trust and credibility they have established for themselves. With creator marketing, brands take a backseat when it comes to content, often providing general guidelines and reviews as opposed to directing the entire project.

As brands navigate the latest wave of marketing, they must understand the differences between influencer and creator marketing and learn how to successfully collaborate with creators to enhance their brands organically.

The evolution of Influencer marketing to Creator marketing

Who come to mind when you think about influencers and content creators? Influencers have a big presence in more traditional lifestyle industries such as fashion, beauty, food, and travel. Creators, on the other hand, are more likely to use developing technologies and platforms, inhabiting the digital realms of live broadcasts, gaming, and entertainment content.

So, how does this relate to marketing? The primary distinction between creator and influencer marketing is in the method. More specifically, how do brands interact with individuals? By fostering trust.

Consumers are becoming weary with influencer marketing as branded content floods platforms like Instagram and TikTok, with 48% apparently losing trust in influencers. When brands, on the other hand, allow creators to effortlessly integrate an ad into their content, it offsets the distrust and allows creators to build more meaningful relationships with their audiences.

Embrace the creator economy

While trends play a key role in determining success, content marketers must have a greater understanding of how to balance technology with consistency across campaigns. This means knowing when to participate in or create viral moments, navigating a constantly changing algorithm, and tapping into emerging platforms.

Unlike influencers, content marketers build a solid brand identity that allows them to to seamlessly incorporate trends and branded campaigns into their content, rather than pushing deceptive offers on their consumers. This is due to the fact that content marketing is a two-way street in which creators know to maintain their authenticity and work with brands that share the same values, emphasizing consumer reliability and brand alignment.

Individuality is a talent for content marketers. And while it is still too early to determine AI’s impacts on the creator economy, brands are already looking at integrating the technology across marketing efforts. Both creators and brands will require assistance in navigating and activating new territories.

Both sides can benefit from working with entertainment agents who understand the value of talent and can coordinate branded deals or events while building relationships with targeted audiences.

Successful content marketing requires more than simply uploading a video or sharing analytics and metrics. It is dependent on investments from creators, brands, and talent agents, to form effective partnerships based on a comprehensive understanding of the parties involved. This will help content marketers maintain organic growth and stability as audiences move away from influencers and towards authenticity.