How Influencer-Generated Content Has Become Core to Brand Strategies

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Influencer-generated content is now core to brand strategies, with marketers increasingly savvy about the differences between creators and influencers and how to measure their performance.

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A recent study conducted by creator marketing platform LTK underlines the profound impact of creator marketing, an industry now estimated at $21 billion globally.

Next year, worldwide, marketers are expected to spend more than $32 billion on influencer marketing. Influencer spend is now outpacing traditional ad investment, with 80% of brands saying they increased creator budgets in 2023, per the report.

Some 92% of brands plan to increase their spending on creators in 2024, and 36% plan to spend at least half of their entire digital marketing budget on creators.

Because of what LTK calls the “significant trust” creators have built with their communities, the majority of brands it surveyed said consumers are turning to creators the most compared to social media ads and celebrities.

An overwhelming majority of brands (98%) are using creator content for channels beyond just social media, highlighting its versatility and reach.

Indeed, when asked where their marketing dollars are shifting, creator marketing and connected TV shared the top position overall for investment growth, beating out channels like paid search and paid social.

The study also found that dollars are being moved from digital ads to creator marketing because the scale of creator marketing has proven to be more efficient when compared to side-by-side, all-cost measurement.

Marketers, however, are becoming more discerning about the difference between influencers and creators.

“As marketers have got more comfortable with the creator economy, influencers have become the go-to for performance marketing, while creators are considered more for branding purposes,” says Krystal Scanlon, writing at Digiday.

Marketers are feeling the pressure to be super transparent and efficient about their purchases and the reasons behind them. This means they’re getting specific about when it’s better to collaborate with an influencer versus a creator.

Lindsey Bott, senior content manager at Ruckus Marketing, told Scanlon, “Previously, influencer involvement might have organically emerged in ongoing discussions. Now, we’re seeing brands come to us more frequently with well-defined briefs or specific suggestions right from the outset.”

The days of pay-for-reach deals are long gone, it seems. In fact, influencers increasingly have specific metrics, such as engagement rate, CPM, CPE, clicks, click-through rate and conversions, tied to them.

For example, Bott’s team has observed clients gravitating toward influencers due to their established reach and engagement metrics, emphasizing performance-driven results.

Conversely, there’s a growing interest in creators who prioritize crafting genuine, narrative-based content that closely aligns with a brand’s values and campaign themes.

“They’re unbelievable storytellers who can really shape perception,” Keith Bendes, VP of strategy at Linqia, reports at Digiday. Unlike influencers, creators usually don’t have the same set of metrics tied to them.

 “Over time, as marketers understand how a specific creator’s content performs when repurposed on their social channels or paid media, they may start to benchmark specific benchmarks for that creator’s assets,” said Lindsey Gamble, associate director at influencer marketing platform Mavrck.

According to Scanlon, this shift underscores how brands are distinguishing between utilizing audience influence and cultivating content that profoundly connects with their intended audience.

“Creators have evolved into valuable assets for brands, capable of driving substantial business impact,” says Rodney Mason, VP and head of marketing at LTK, writes at Adweek. “As we move into 2024, creator marketing is fundamental shifting how brands engage with consumers. Those marketers who embrace the rise of creators will find themselves at the forefront of this transformative wave. The time to invest in creators and their unique ability to influence, engage and build trust with consumers is now.”

In a recent webinar, “The Next Wave of Creator Marketing: 2024 Forecast,” LTK’s director of strategy insights brand partnerships, Ally Anderson, shares more detail about how “creator guided shopping” is becoming the foundation for marketing efforts and now influencing consumers through all aspects of their discovery journey.