Kylie Jenner is a role model. Not only in terms of beauty and fashion, but also when it comes to business. Influencers big and small all over the world are using their reach and know-how on social media channels, as well as their experience with lifestyle brands, to build their own business. The start of a new era – say hello to the Creator Economy!
In marketing and media, influencer relations have become indispensable. Even at ZUCKER.Berlin, the daily work routine is also about influencer collaborations, samplings and Instagram trends. Measured by quantitative factors such as the follower count or the engagement rate as well as evaluated on qualitative criteria such as the visual language, tonality and, of course, likeability, we always enjoy working with content creators for clients from a wide range of lifestyle sectors. Over the years, we have built up a broad, reliable network and established certain types of cooperation. With the phenomenon of the Creator Economy, these already routine workflows can now be revolutionized. Ladies and Gents, this is Influencer Marketing 2.0!
Creator Economy: What, who, why, how?
The term Creator Economy refers to a business model in which content creators build their own brands and use their community for themselves, i.e. to market their own products. Influencers set trends. If other brands can exploit this for their products, why not the influencers themselves? Of course, they earn a bit of “pocket money” from collaborations with (in our case) Foot Locker, Alpinols or Nanoleaf, for example, in addition to new products for their own use – that’s the business. But in the end, the creators function here as service providers and ambassadors for others. Was it only a matter of time before they began to use their know-how and their community for their own projects? Fact is, the Creator Economy is not a brand new phenomenon; Kylie Jenner launched her beauty brand Kylie Cosmetics back in 2014. However, the potential of this new social media business development has seen increased interest in recent months…
However, the creator economy is not just about influencers developing brands with trending products and promoting them in their Instagram stories. This “new” type of economy also includes support from the social media channels themselves. Instagram, Facebook or TikTok support creators in generating sales through integrated shop functions, the possibility of integrating affiliate links or shopping ads. To put it that way: Instagram & Co. are evolving into the tele-shopping of 2021.
They are supported by various tools that facilitate workflows and create transparency. One of these tools is Pietra, a platform by a US company in which celebrities such as Will Smith have already invested. Pietra is a kind of full-service program that can, for example, manage the store system or the shipping of products. It also creates a network between creators and producers or retailers.
For companies that bet on influencer marketing and want to continue to build up collaborations with content creators, this means: Watch out! So far, the impact of this creator economy may not yet be too noticeable, but that could change as more influencers embrace the phenomenon and feel like starting their own brand. This new self-employment gig does not necessarily mean that they are no longer interested in collaborations – on the contrary. The various sources of income are precisely what is attractive! Nevertheless, it may be that collaborations change in the near future. Short-term sampling collaborations could turn into long-term collaborations like German super model Lena Gercke and About You. Lena launched her own fashion brand LeGer at About You some time ago. In the best case, long-term collaborations also generate sustainable customer relationships – that’s actually the dream of every company, isn’t it?
We see potential in the Creator Economy and are very excited about the further development of this relatively new phenomenon…
Of course, we don’t want to withhold our (so far) favorite Influencer brands from Germany from you. Here you go:
Xenia Adonts / Attire the Studio
Credits of main picture: Unsplash / Carlos Muza
A post by Laura Dörling