Edition #8

Happy Tuesday! I hope you’re having a great summer and are able to enjoy some time off with your friends and family. To all the new readers from our webinar series / the Community Boost Summit that are getting this newsletter for the first time — 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/impact space at Social Currant.

If you were forwarded this email, subscribe here.

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.

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PROGRAM ALERT: Before I dive into the main highlights, I want to share some news. Social Currant is launching a cohort based program for organizations that are looking to engage with creators. We’re pooling our resources from over 1500 creator collaborations into a 6 week coaching program aimed at helping you work with creators.

It’s a paid program and you can learn more here. You’ll hear from the team, our awesome creators and more about the best ways to get started.

Alright, so — let’s dive in to everything else:

1. Social Currant is turning THREE this month and we’re celebrating with a Happy Hour. Come hang out, hear more about what we’ve been up to and let’s celebrate together. RSVP here.

2. We were grateful to organize a host of webinars this month. Missed out and want the slides + recording? Reply to this email and we’ll send them your way.

3. VidCon Baltimore is coming up at the end of the month (28 Sept - Oct 1) and we’re excited to be speaking on a panel and attending. Make sure you’re signed up.

4. We’re excited to be testing a number of features including content approval which will allow you to go from start to finish with a campaign. Ready to use the platform? Sign up for a demo here.

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Navigating The Different Parts of The Creator Economy: Today I’m going to do a little bit of a landscape overview on the creator space, how to interact with the different parts and what the differing goals are. It’s important to understand the nuances as it comes to navigating the creator economy and working with different folks in the space.

CREATORS

• Micro vs Mid vs Macro vs Mega vs Celebrity: There are a number of sizes of creators. We broadly see them as and have a few recommendations on their needs / things to keep in mind:

  • Micro (Under 25K): Sometimes it can be their first content collaboration so it’s important to over communicate and share all the details.

  • Mid (25K - 100K // up to 500K on TT): These are the creators that are typically starting to actively work with brands and it’s important to build long term relationships with these creators.

  • Macro (100K - 1M): You may be navigating a relationship with an agent or a talent agency.

  • Mega (1M - 3M): You may be navigating a relationship with an agent or a talent agency.

  • Traditional celebrities: Typically, you can treat this similar to a press strategy by inviting celebrities (like journalists) to events and building relationships with them over time.

• Political / Impact vs Other: It’s also important to keep in mind the differences in working with political/impact creators vs general creators:

  • Political creators tend to already understand your issue area more. They can also be more amenable to rapid response because they understand the space better. It’s important to also keep in mind that being a political creator may mean a loss of traditional brand income and you should compensate creators accordingly.

  • General creators tend to be interested in talking about your issue area but they may not have been asked before. They may often not be political experts but they have lived experiences around various causes. It’s important to be more patient and offer more policy guidance when it comes to working with general creators.

• Platforms: When it comes to the different platforms and how to navigate collaborations on them, check this blog post out.

• Agent Represented vs Non-agent Represented: Working with agent represented vs non-agent represented creators can come with challenges and benefits. A few things to keep in mind:

  • Agent represented creators can be easy to work with on the operations of the creator work — contracts, payments, responsiveness. However, they may have legal teams so get used to contract redlining. They also tend to adhere strictly to working hours of 9 - 5 vs creators may respond around the clock.

  • Non represented creators are easier to build a relationship with because you can directly communicate with them. However, in some cases they may drop off campaigns, ghost you if other things come up or if they’ve got a lot of campaigns going on.

• Full time vs Part Time: Not all creators are full time creators and it’s important to keep this in mind when communicating with creators. This may mean you get more responses after 5PM from some of the creators or they may need more time to edit content!

• Content: Different content types = different styles of work and timelines. A few content types:

  • Direct to Camera

  • Skits: Harder to edit and change around (ask for scripts in advance!)

  • Vlogs (ask for concepts in advance!)

  • GRWM / Trends (try to avoid copyrighted music!)

AGENTS

Talent agencies can be your best friend and your worst nightmare. It’s important to keep a few things in mind:

• Looking for good talent agencies — folks that understand how the brand side works and are looking to build a deal that is a win-win.

• Make sure the agent actually represents the creators they’re pitching you. An easy way to check is by looking at a creators email and seeing if the agency on the email is different than the agency pitching them.

• Ask agents for other creators amongst their roster. Agents typically represent more than one creator and could be an easier way to work with multiple creators.

• Understand the goals — the responsibility of agents is to protect creators. This can often mean being careful around political content to avoid a creator getting under fire for something they say. If they’re slow or charge extra, more likely than not — this is why.

• Beacons released a wide list of talent agencies and you can build relationships with folks using this list. Check it out here.

AGENCIES, PLATFORMS & OTHER:

• Marketplaces & SaaS Tools: There’s also marketplaces and tools (like the one we’re building) that have tools to help you work with creators easier.

• Marketing Agencies: You can work with agencies to help you craft strategy (we operate as one) and the power they bring is typically existing creator, talent agent and talent agency networks.

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Creator Economy News I’m Reading:

• Meta launched a branded content library, similar to their ad library allowing you to look for branded content that any creator may post (IF they use the paid partnership label). Check it out here.

• TikTok continues to focus on it’s shopping experience. Read more about their plans with this and their steps to reduce the competition here.

• Nancy Scola published an article about the TikTok ban, implications and how the app has become a key source of news for many young people. Read the article in Politico here.

• Youtube is sharing some secrets, tips & tricks for creators looking to create more content on the platform. Check it out here.

• LinkedIn is jumping into the paid sponsorship game — you can now disclose if a LinkedIn post is sponsored. This not only shows the increase in the brand sponsorship space but also highlights how platforms like LinkedIn & partnerships with creators on it can be a great way to reach your audience. Read more here.

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NEW SECTION: Anecdotes, observations & what we’re hearing from creators:

• We’re seeing a rise in Snapchat usage with creators using the platform more. We were grateful to collaborate with an awesome creator on the platform and reach over 100,000 people in 24 hours. We’re excited to continue testing the platform and collaborating with creators.

• We’re starting to see more and more conversation around Twitch and are looking into collaborating with creators on the platform more. So far the creators are extremely open to talking about issues they care about and we’re excited to dive into the platform a lot more.

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

• In Person: We’re always on a mission to bring creators into impact spaces and we’re testing that more with a number of in person collaborations with organizations in DC. Hosting an event? Invite some creators into your spaces!

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FAQs from the month:

Can I get perpetual usage on content? The short answer is yes, if you have a large budget -- the long answer is you probably don’t need it! We have a few folks ask for perpetual usage from time to time so that you can use the content in ads / repost down the line but it can often drive up the price. More often than not, you need the content within the next 18 - 24 months for a few specific reasons so it’s better to negotiate for those reasons to avoid increasing the budget dramatically.

It’s also better to let creators know how you will use the content so that they don’t feel like they’re signing something they’re not comfortable with.

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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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