Edition #14

Hey folks — if you’re like me, you’re probably starting to get into the busy-ness of 2024 and trying to stay afloat. Hang in there — we’ll get through this together!

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. If you want to learn more about the work Social Currant did in 2023, view our impact report here.

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Alright, so — let’s dive in to some of our updates:

• [HAPPY HOUR] We’re hosting a creator happy hour on March 7th. Join us and engage with creators and others in the creator space. RSVP Here.

• [PODCAST] I was so grateful to join Kristina Bas Hamilton at KBH Advocacy on her podcast. Check the episode out here & tune in to other episodes. It’s a must for anyone in the advocacy space.

• [COURSES] We’re launching two courses ~

  • One with the awesome Center for Digital Strategy on Influencer Marketing. Check it out here.

  • Another one with Generation Data, as part of the Democracy School. Check it out here.

• [WEBINAR] We’re also doing an influencer marketing 301 in partnership with Arena where we’re all talk about how to level up your creator program. Join us here.

• [BETA COHORT] The Beta Cohort is running, we have 10 organizations still running campaigns on the platform and matching with creators. Check out one of the videos that went live in the last couple of months through our platform!

• [CONFERENCES] We’ll be at NTEN (Portland) and the Create Good Conference (NC) conferences. If you’ll be at either one, let us know — we’d love to meet!

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Alright — now that we’ve got our promotional stuff out of the way, diving into the focus of this month’s newsletter — building a creator program & the types of creator programs you can build. As folks stand up their programs for this year, this might help you think about what types of programs you want to build:

[SPONSORED CONTENT] This involves partnering with creators to post content on their page, promoting your organization or talking about a specific cause related to your organization - it is what we typically think of when it comes to partnerships with creators. A few notes about these programs:

• Are more one off in nature.

• Are a great way to start working with creators and get internal buy in around creator work.

• Creators are used to this style of work as it’s how they’re typically engaging with other brands and organizations.

[CREATOR COHORT] This will involve building an ambassador program or a cohort of creators that are committed to doing a number of deliverables over a period of time. A few notes about these programs:

• These can be more expensive in terms of the budget, but more affordable in terms of the cost per deliverable.

• These types of programs allow you to build longer & deeper relationships with creators.

• These programs can often work well in rapid response programs because the creators are already aware of your messaging and in contact with you over a long period of time.

• These programs can be the best in crafting long lasting relationships between organizations and creators.

[CREATOR COMMUNITY]: If you’re working with multiple creators over a longer period of time, as opposed to one-off collaborations, we recommend bringing those creators together to share insights with one another, brainstorm, and support each other’s growth in general. Not only will it help the creators in their content with your organization, but it goes beyond a transactional relationship and allows you to support them in who they are and what they do, instead of only what they are doing for your organization. A few notes:

• Not every single creator you work with is going to want to be part of this, but the ones that do will bring strong relationships with your organization.

• Building programming and spaces for creators will allow you to educate creators on your issues in different ways than just a brief.

[PAID PROGRAM] You can work with creators to create content that then gets used in different paid ads. This tactic isn’t new and brands are actively investing in working with creators not just on organic content but also on paid content. On average, according to TikTok, creators ads received a 91% higher two-second view rates vs non-creator ads (12%). A few notes here:

• Not every creator is good for ads and it’s important to test content before running it as an ad.

• Working with creators doesn’t give you immediate ad rights. Make sure to build it into the contract and compensate creators accordingly.

[INTEGRATED PROGRAM] For organizations that have a large budget to invest in creators, we recommend partnering with creators in a way that is integrated with your organization’s overall digital strategy and that goes beyond sponsored posts. We all know that creators are experts at what they do when it comes to digital strategy, and organizations can take advantage of that expertise by partnering with creators on more than just a one-off post, but also by inviting them to events, giving them an opportunity to speak on different panels, as well as consulting your organization in an advisory-council relationship.

• Events

• Speaking

• Advisory Council

• Creator Community

The best creator programs are a combination, but if you’re looking to get started — hope this helps!

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weekly roundup of what’s going on in the creator economy:

• In February, Meta announced that they would recommended political content less than previously. As a user, you will only receive political content if it’s from a creator that you follow. This may have a few different impacts: a) it will limit the reach of political accounts and prevent them from reaching newer audiences. b) it may help non-political accounts engage their audiences around politics more. Read more here.

• In another move to compete with TikTok, Youtube live streams are no longer limited to the horizontal format, allowing users to stream vertically on Youtube Shorts. Check the announcement out here.

• TikTok is pushing a variety of new features, from long form content to horizontal content. Some users are even seeing increased focus on image based content.

• TikTok is continuing to push it’s shop feature and many users don’t like it. Read more about some of the products being promoted here.

• Instagram is launching a brand x creators marketplace in 8 countries. Read more here.

• Meta recently announced that it will begin testing fact-checking markers on Threads in an effort to prevent further misinformation from being spread on their platform. Read more 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:

• Snapchat Paying Creators: We’re starting to hear more and more that creators are looking at Snapchat to create content on because they’re investing in helping creators monetize.

• Collaboration posts: For some creators who have experienced a decrease in their overall reach, they’ve decided to counteract this by posting in collaboration with other creators creating similar content on Instagram. This allows the content to appear on the profile of several creators, expanding the content’s overall reach.

• Creators are frustrated with UMG’s music being taken off TikTok: A lot of creators have expressed their frustration with such a large amount of music being taken off TikTok, mainly related to their existing content being muted. Because of this, creators have been forced to either remove that past content or to keep it up with no sound on their profile and have been looking into other artists music to incorporate into future content.

• More creators are transitioning to YouTube: Due to some frustration with TikTok and Instagram, a lot of creators are creating profiles on YouTube as another way to reach their audience. There is also the added benefit of monetization once creators grow their audiences out on the platform, as well as being able to explore long-form content creation more.

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FAQs from the month:

How can I maintain a relationship with a creator if I don’t have additional budget? No budget, no problem. Invite the creator to a call to talk about what your organization is doing, send them merch if you have any, invite them to attend one of your organization’s events. Relationships don’t need to be strictly transactional. Find ways to give creators value and support them in what they do.

What should my organization focus on for its first creator partnership? If you’re unsure of where to even begin when it comes to working with creators, try doing a test based on your organization’s current digital strategy. For example, if you all want to test how people are reacting to XYZ messaging by running ads, try partnering with a creator as well; this way, you can also have a reference point to compare its results to and you can avoid overthinking your first creator test.

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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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