- Ashwath's Newsletter
- Posts
- Edition #13
Happy New Year — it’s finally 2024, and I’m sure like me & the Social Currant team, you’re anxious, nervous and excited for this Presidential election year.
To all the new readers — welcome! Every month, Ellie & I (& the rest of the team helps too!) put together a round up of news, highlights, tests and things we’re exploring around the creator economy as it relates to the progressive/impact space at Social Currant.
If you were forwarded this email, subscribe here.
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Alright, so — let’s dive in to some of our updates:
In case you missed it, we launched an impact report talking about our work from 2023, learnings and predictions for 2024. Today’s newsletter will dive into it in greater detail. If you haven’t already, check it out here.
We also wanted to give folks a little preview of our creator engagement plans this year. From the newsletter to monthly creator briefings, we’re on track to build more ways we can engage creators and share resources. If you have any ideas, let me know!
We’re hosting two events on the 13th of February:
And finally — we launched a beta cohort. We’ve got over 10 organizations (7 as part of the beta) actively running campaigns and working with creators. If you’re interested in participating in the learnings, working with creators and optimizing your workflows in managing creator relationships, respond to this email!
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Now for the extra special stuff — for today’s newsletter I’m going to focus on all things 2024, some of our predictions & recommendations on how to best set yourself up for success when it comes to running a strong creator program and working with creators.
What we learned in 2023: A few of our top learnings from 2023:
Creator programs have to be integrated into other parts of your digital and communications strategy. (Creators @ events, Creators talking to press, Creators on advisory boards, Creator content in paid media & so much more.)
Think about engagement with creators in similar ways you’d think about engaging with other stakeholders. Start with one, but don’t stop there. Explore ways to continue building relationships with creators through events, calls, social media and more. Quick tips:
Host a quarterly creator call. Or even one on one calls with creators to continue building relationships with them.
Engage on their social content — not just the sponsored content you do with them.
Offer to share resources from your organization.
Provide guidance and support in rapid response moments, specifically around issues you focus on.
Rapid response with creators works, only if you have relationships with them before hand. Build strong relationships with creators and you can activate them much quicker when it comes to rapid response moments, a lot of times quicker than any other tactics.
Predictions: Three 2024 predictions, pulled from our larger report:
AI vs Creators: As we look at the role of AI in the elections, we predict that creators will become a critical ally in stopping the spread of misinformation (& some in starting it) — we must make sure that we have steady lines of communication with as many creators as possible so that we can continue to share information with them and equip them in the fight against disinformation.
Creators with Communities will be important allies and partners in the work in 2024. With IG channels, the continued growth of Discord and the rise of platforms like Beehiiv, creators are continuing to build communities with their fans and in 2024 we will see an increased importance of creators who have communities vs creators who don’t.
Youtube: As the creator x impact space continues to mature, we will see increased investment in searchable long-form content in partnership with Youtube creators that builds on the investment in short-form formats.
Quick tips & Recommendations: A few other tips & recommendations to get you thinking in 2024.
Be flexible: Be ready to ignore your talking points and even your messaging brief based on how the creator thinks content could do and let them take their spin on content through their lived experience.
Experiment: The creator space is new — and we need to be experimenting as much as we can to explore new tactics. Try new platforms, new creators and generally try to test as much as you can!
Build Templates: Build template contracts, outreach emails, briefs and more that you can tweak and edit in campaigns.
Finalize Your Tech Stack: Finalize what tools you’re using — whether our platform — or as simple as your contract provider, payment provider and more that will allow you to move quickly.
Where To Start: If you’re unsure where to start, here’s a few tips on things you can start building as you build your broader strategy.
Identify creators: Think through who the creators you want to work with are:
Friendly creators: Folks already engaging with you in some way.
Community: Who are you trying to reach through your content? Can you find someone who represents that community + is a creator and work with them?
Finally — search using the social media platforms, match with folks on our platform, DM creators you know, reach out to talent agencies and try to start building a list of the creators that are accessible so that when you’ve got campaigns finalized, it’s easier to get things rolling.
Think About Messaging: Try to do research, if you can, or collect existing research on messaging around your issues. Try to put it together in a digestible format — so that you’ve got somewhere to start.
Plan processes: Who will be reviewing content? Is it multiple people? Who will send the contract? Make sure the rest of your team is prepared to engage with everything that working with a creator comes and make sure they’re prepared from an expectations standpoint too.
What This Can Look Like: Creator programs can be some of the most impactful campaigns. We’re dropping some examples of what work with creators could look like:
Working with a creator to share information about the Inflation Reduction Act and reach millions of people. WATCH HERE.
Bringing smaller and larger creators to amplify critical voices and stories around the impact of a shutdown. WATCH HERE.
Working with creators to share their lived experiences around issues to drive awareness for their audience around the importance of the issues. WATCH HERE.
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Creator Economy News I’m Reading:
It was social media day in DC, with the CEO’s of Meta, TikTok, Discord, Snap and X getting grilled by Senators around the impact of their platform on children. Youtube was not required to come to the hearing. Read more here.
UMG is going up against TikTok, arguing that TikTok does not pay music artists fairly. TikTok has been at the center of conversation around pay since last year and continues to pay creators very little compared to other platforms, especially Youtube. Read more here.
Mr Beast started a conversation around platform monetization after posting his first video on Twitter/X. Read more here.
Misinformation and disinformation is going to be a big topic this election cycle and beyond. Here’s an example of how AI can be used in a harmful way to spread information.
Food influencers are warned by the FTC over paid content and the failure to disclose them. Read here.
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Anecdotes, observations & what we’re hearing from creators: We recently hosted a call with some creators and had a bunch of interesting anecdotes from creators:
While long-form might become a focus, the creators aren’t changing the way they produce content. They’re still focused on creating content that resonates with audiences.
Some creators have never used hashtags and don’t see them as super helpful in reaching newer audiences.
A lot of creators, especially issue focused creators are thinking about shadowbanning.
With layoffs across major media outlets this week, we’re only going to see an increased scrutiny on the media and an importance of journalists. It will also be interesting to see how many of the journalists continue at other outlets vs try to launch newsletters / become creators.
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FAQs from the month:
What factors go into pricing? Is it just followers? Not really — it’s a lot more. Here’s a few factors that go into consideration when thinking about rates:
Average Views
Engagement
Style of content
Cost of producing content
FT vs PT creator
Usage Rights: are you running ads on the content?
And a lot more. It’s important to take this into consideration when you’re thinking about rates and how to pitch creators in an equitable manner.
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If you made it all this way - thank you! For reading, trusting creators and me. I'm building Social Currant to make an impact and you all are a part of this journey. Until next month!
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