Edition #6

[JUNE] Running Integrated Campaigns

Ashwath Narayanan
July 05, 2023

happy Wednesday! I hope you’re enjoying the end of the long weekend and the start of the second half of the year (!!!). If you’re new here, welcome! — every month, I put together a round up of news, highlights, tests and things we’re exploring around the creator economy as it relates to the progressive space at Social Currant.

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I also share more about what we're up to at Social Currant, my interactions with creators and how you should be thinking about working with creators. so, let's dive in.

Some highlights from the work we're doing at Social Currant:

We’re back from Vidcon — Vidyut & I took the stage alongside some awesome folks to talk about the importance of nonprofits working with creators.
We were on a few great panels this month too, talking with the folks at Freedom Forum about the intersection of news + creators & joining Impactive to talk about measuring the effectiveness of creator work. Check their great tool out!
We’ll be at Netroots next, on a panel with NextGen America, pitching at the new tools showcase and rep-ing our booth. Reply if you’re joining — I’d love to meet.
We’re excited to demo some of the new features we’re releasing, primarily our updated campaign dashboard and first party sign on — giving you access to critical creator data. Give us some feedback by signing up for a demo with our CTO here.

Some of the key learnings, observations and recap from Vidcon, panel, chats with creators etc:

When TikTok first launched, their directive to creators was quantity. Create as much content as possible. It’s now changing with more focus on quality content that engages the audience.
Youtube is still king — with the company taking back the title as headline sponsor from TikTok. (TikTok was the main sponsor in 2022)
There were more creators on the industry track attending sessions — showing a growing trend in creators think of their presences as businesses and formalizing their platforms.
The intersection of social impact, politics and creators is still nascent but growing.
The biggest part of Vidcon was the creator activations and brands are still going above and beyond to give creators unique experiences. Youtube had a custom denim jacket station while Instagram had a support section allowing creators to chat with support staff on questions they may have.
AI was a dominating topic (as expected), but the conversation was about AI can enhance creators not replace them.
Want to read more? Make sure to subscribe to Lia Haberman’s coverage as well as Business Insider who were at the event.

Running an integrated creator campaign: One of the things that’s top of mind for me is the concept of creator programs. A lot of times, creator work lives in a silo from other parts of the organization. It shouldn’t. Today, I’m focusing on a few key ways we see clients and partners integrating creator work into the breadth of their organization:

Always On: Maintaining always on creator campaigns that go up and down in terms of scale depending on the needs of the communications department. This allows the building and maintenance of creator relationships 24/7.
Creators on staff: Explore ways to bring creators on as consultants, strategists, thought partners and more. For us, we’ve got two awesome creators on staff.
Creators as a part of digital: If you’ve got a paid department, make sure to integrate them into the creator work so that they can share learnings on what they’re seeing and also learn from the organic testing creators are doing. Further, working with creators can be a more affordable way to get high converting video content.
Creators with lived experiences: Engage creators to share their lived experiences. Whether that could be through the content itself or inviting them to speak at an event, lobby on the hill and more.

You don’t have to work with creators in one specific way — anything is possible as long as everyone know what is going on.

Creator Economy News I’m Reading:

You can now run ads about political and social issues on Reels. More from FWIW.
TikTok is ending it’s BeReal competitor TikTok Now. Read the full article here.
Twitch is facing competition from Kick over payouts to streamers. Read more about how it’s important to get creator compensation right.
Meta will be launching it’s Twitter competitor later this year. Get a preview of it here.
Influencer trip gone wrong — read more about how a not so great brand did a not so great influencer collaboration to get some not so great results. Check it out.
TikTok’s COO, V Pappas steps down, causing a number of creators to ask about how the culture at TikTok will now be affected. This move seems to be part of a quiet push at TikTok to move towards entertainment instead of social media. Read more here.

Some ideas we're testing/looking to test. I'd love to chat with you if you're interested. Grab some time / reply!

Whitelisted Ads vs Native Ads: We’re looking to work with folks to compare the performance of creator content that’s whitelisted vs run in ads to see if there are tangible improvements in conversion rates when whitelisted. The Instagram update may allow this testing and use of whitelisted ads as a tactic moving forward.
Hyper local creators: We are constantly investing in building out a network of hyperlocal creators and think you should too!

FAQs from the month:

Okay, I want to work with creators. How do I get started? I get this question a lot & here’s how I would break it down:

WHY do you want to work with creators? Is it to create awareness, narrative change, petition acquisition, get good content? Start there.

WHO do you want to reach? Next think about who you want to reach. Are you trying to reach Gen Z? Folks in Nevada? Folks with an interest in reproductive justice? Think about the audience. Then ask them or try to assess who are the creators these audiences follow. Is it a lifestyle creator?

WHAT are you are going to do with them? Now that you’ve found your creator, what are you going to do with them? Instagram stories? Invite them to an event? Focus on what the collaboration looks like.

Then, finalize rates, contract, share messaging, answer questions and go live. IT’s important to make sure you have the Why, Who & What!

Have a question you want answered? Reply to this email with it!

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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