Creator Marketing: The 2024 Tactical Guide for Brands

It’s 2024, and the spotlight is on creator marketing, that social media blend where innovation and creativity meet influence.

This year, we’ll see thousands of brands dip their toes into creator marketing for the first time, looking to amplify their message with authentic content that creates and nourishes memorable relationships with consumers.

If your brand fits this look, you’ll find in this article the groundwork for your creator marketing efforts, including:

• A definition of creator marketing.
• Differences and similarities between creator marketing and influencer marketing.
• An exploration of the playing field (social media).
• Examples of creator marketing in different social media platforms.
• An introduction to creator marketing programs by social media platforms.

We’ll also put our B2B expertise to work and share how to address creator marketing in social media as a B2B brand.

Ready? Then let’s go!

What is creator marketing?

Creator marketing is a dynamic strategy where brands collaborate with content creators to co-develop and/or amplify original content.

So, what does it mean to be a creator in this context?

The definition encompasses many different types of people, but oftentimes creators are individuals with an established audience who create original content for a specific niche.

For example, Jay Clouse is a creator with a combined audience of 100k+ people, focused on the creator marketing niche.

Another (less meta) example would be Mark Brown, the creator behind Game Maker’s Toolkit, a YouTube channel about game design and production serving an audience of 1.5m+ people with incredible content for aspiring video game developers.

In short: Creator marketing partnerships focus on fostering genuine connections with the audience, utilizing the creator’s unique voice and style to communicate a brand’s message, values, or products.

What’s the difference between creator marketing and influencer marketing?

While influencer marketing and creator marketing share common ground, the key differences lie within their approach, emphasis, and – to an extent – their commitment to the brand they co-create with.

Influencer marketing often centers around leveraging an individual’s existing influence, i.e. popularity, number of followers, or even raw fame.

On many occasions, influencers are indifferent to the brands they promote – it’s just another soulless transaction for them.

A good analogy would be to put a giant billboard with your brand name on the busiest highway out there.

Does it matter if those who see the billboard are within your ICP scope? It should, but when it comes to influencer marketing, it’s easy to miss the mark.

In contrast, creator marketing places a premium on the creative process and content generation.

Creators are valued not solely for their follower count but for their ability to craft compelling and original content.

The goal is to offer a more authentic connection between the brand, the creator, and their shared audience.

In summary, creator marketing emphasizes collaboration and content creation, while influencer marketing leans more towards leveraging an existing influence for promotion.

The playground: Creator marketing and social media

The relationship between creator marketing and social media is symbiotic and inescapable: Creators thrive off social media and social media rewards original content (particularly when it’s video) with increased exposure and a number of monetization options.

Here’s how they interconnect:

• Content amplification: By definition, creators produce content that resonates. Social media platforms allow this content to reach a wider audience, fostering brand awareness and engagement.
• Audience connection: Creator marketing relies on interactions, and enables real-time conversations, feedback, and community building. This connection is crucial to establishing relationships with consumers through the voices of creators.
• Virality and trends: Creators understand and contribute to the latest movements. This allows brands to ride the wave of pop culture, ensuring their message is part of the ongoing conversations.
• Platform diversity: Whether it’s the visual appeal of Instagram, the short-form creativity of TikTok, or the in-depth content of YouTube, social media platforms serve as canvases to showcase content aligned with brand goals and audience preferences.

These factors result in multiple possibilities for brands that want to get started with creator marketing.

From addressing niche Reddit communities or filming low-budget TikTok videos to going all-in with Instagram stars or well-crafted YouTube videos, the options are there for any brand to evaluate.

Creator marketing examples

Okay, enough of definitions and technicalities: Time to take a high-speed tour through the universe of creator marketing.

We’re now diving into real-world examples of creator marketing in different social media platforms, including Instagram, X, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.

Instagram creator marketing example: Carpentry By Mar

Carpentry By Mar is the Instagram account of a Chicago-based carpenter that uses short, 90-second videos with woodworking tips and solutions in a practical, step-by-step manner.

With a follower count that’s poised to reach 700k+ in 2024, Mar stands out as both an influencer and creator – something you can easily spot by scrolling through his posts.

As an influencer, he’ll create single posts featuring a specific product or tool, and then (usually) move on.

On the other hand, his creator marketing side can be seen in his long-term partnerships with several brands (such as The Home Depot and Crocodile Cloth), which are present on more than one post and are also featured on his bio and Stories.

TikTok creator marketing example: Emily Mariko

Emily Mariko is a California-based food vlogger with 12.7M followers on TikTok.

TikTok is her primary social media channel, and she leverages the platform to share recipes and shopping tips focused on natural, locally sourced products.

In terms of creator marketing, she emphasizes collaborations with specific brands that resonate with her audience.

As such, you won’t see many household names on her feed, but instead brands that are exactly what her audience looks for in terms of values, interests, and offerings.

X creator marketing example: Tommy Sikes from Traveltirement

Tommy Sikes is a growing creator who uses X as his primary channel to share real estate opportunities in France and Italy for people who want a change of air – and residence.

Tommy combines short, descriptive posts of properties for sale with virtual tour videos and a mix of observations about what life looks like in small French and Italian towns.

The result? People who are thinking about retiring overseas get all the good info in small, digestible bits, and realtors in these regions get access to a highly defined audience on the spot.

YouTube creator marketing example: Doug DeMuro

A former car magazine writer, Doug DeMuro found YouTube as the perfect platform to show his love for quirky, unique cars.

A prolific car reviewer and video maker, Doug boasts of a 4.8M follower count on his YouTube channel.

While his creator marketing efforts are focused on monetizing his businesses (an online e-commerce store for cars and a line of merch), we can’t help to see his channel as a unique shop window for car brands that want to put a detailed guide to their products in front of millions of eyeballs.

Creator marketing programs: What’s out there?

Platforms like X, TikTok, and Instagram aren’t just spaces for content: They’re the arenas where brands and creators join forces in structured collaborations.

Moreover, these platforms have their creator marketing programs, which tend to serve three specific goals:

• Help creators hone their craft to get the best out of the algorithm (and monetize their content).
• Help brands understand best practices.
• Help brands connect with existing, successful creators.

Let’s take a look at a few of the available creator marketing programs out there.

TikTok Creator Marketplace

TikTok’s Creator Marketplace is the official platform for brand and creator collaborations. Brands can pick from 800k+ vetted creators across the globe, which represents an interesting (and time-saving!) approach to creator marketing.

On top of facilitating access to creators (which you can source by topic or area of expertise), it features incredible analytics dashboards that turn reporting on results a bliss.

Whether you find what you want or not, the Creator Marketplace is a must if your plans include creator marketing in TikTok.

Instagram and Facebook: Meta’s Creators for Business program

Meta’s Creators for Business is one of the most complete creator marketing programs you’ll come across.

It features everything a brand needs to engage in creator marketing, including:

• A database of creators.
• Guides and playbooks for co-creating content.
• Case studies and documented success stories.
• Analytics and performance indicators.

It even offers AI tools for creating and optimizing content, although you have to spend at least 100k to access those.

In any case, well played, Meta.

X for Creators and Amplified Sponsorships

Unlike Instagram and TikTok, there’s no creator marketplace or database for brands to connect with creators on X.

However, X takes a different approach: On one side, it gives access to a series of learning resources for creators, showing how to increase impact and monetize content.

On the other side, it features an advertising product named Amplified Sponsorships, which gives both brands and creators access to one-to-one sponsorships for pairing video content.

In short, X acts more or less like a traditional media brand here, pairing brands with relevant creators for a customized customer experience.

Final thoughts and key insights

Might be a hot-ish take, but creator marketing is what’s keeping social media afloat after the turbulence we’ve seen in the past few years.

Figures from Meta appear to sustain this statement. According to them:

• 78% of consumers say that creators are influential in helping them to discover new brands.
• 87% of consumers follow creators on Meta platforms (compared to 68% on YouTube and 48% on TikTok).
• 71% of Facebook and Instagram users have taken a shopping action as a result of seeing content posted by a creator.

Needless to say, B2B brands must take advantage of this scenario.

Picture this: Your brand has potential, and creators are the people wielding the megaphone to your ideal audience. Will you sit still?

Our most important advice for B2B brands that want to get started with creator marketing can be summed up in one word: Experimentation.

Experimenting with new content and growing creators while fostering on-brand, long-term collaborations can give your brand an edge you won’t find anywhere else.

And that is something we can help you with.