Major businesses are engaging the services of creators to attract audiences and drive campaigns across social media platforms. Think of it as creator content at enterprise scale.
Amy Salazar, EVP of client services for The Team's creative group, served as moderator for "How Fortune 500 Brands Are Betting on Creators" at the Creator Lab Theater.
Salazar said creators now deliver a higher conversion than any other marketing effort and are the fastest-growing piece of the marketing pie.
Jennifer Cho is chief customer officer at CreatorIQ, which manages influencer marketing campaigns for large brands through its AI-powered software platform. She agreed that creator marketing now is essential, delivering more ROI than the traditional marketing funnel. The challenge at the creator level is scale.
Jen Adams, co-founder of GoToLinks and Drivven as well as the creator behind Interiordesignerella, emphasized the importance of evaluating a potential partnership. As a creator, she wants to understand the pain points of a brand and assess if she can be of value. "Brands need trust with the creators representing them," she said.
Cho said CreatorIQ offers creator workflow management as well as analytics. The industry is still evolving, but the importance of metrics cannot be overstated. She also said it's essential that a collaboration between a brand and a creator makes sense.
To that end, Adams has turned down clients because they weren't a good fit. "We want it to be a productive partnership," she said. "We are absolutely data-driven."
Brendan Ittelson, chief ecosystem officer at Zoom, is driving the company's collaborative platform expansion. He said creators on the brand side bring an "amazing perspective," applying truth and authenticity to use cases in real-world situations. "ThatÕs what's so powerful," he said.
What are the biggest trends in the creator space? Cho is excited to see the continuation of creator-created brands, while Ittelson emphasized the importance of numbers. When it comes to measurement, Ittelson said it is important to evaluate how the customer defines success and determine who the audience is early in the process.
"Measurement and metrics really matter," Ittelson said. "Being able to lean into knowing those metrics is just so critical."
Adams is excited about entrepreneurship. She makes the effort to figure out how to serve her community and make her content about them. Essentially, it's a CEO mindset first, creative mindset second. She advised creators not to post something because it's pretty; post it because it drives sales.
Salazar closed by asking panelists to make predictions about the creator industry in 2027.
While organic remains important, Adams said, ads will grow in importance. Cho expects to see stronger relationships, with creator marketing being seen as its own channel.
Ittelson went even further, anticipating that creators will move beyond social channels and expand into their own media groups.
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