Luxury fashion has a problem. According to McKinsey, the industry is responsible for over $2 billion in greenhouse gas emissions every year. That’s roughly 4% of the world’s total output.

According to Google SVP Prabhakar Raghavan, “something like almost 40% of young people, when they’re looking for a place for lunch, they don’t go to Google Maps or Search.” Instead, said Raghavan, they turn to “TikTok or Instagram.”

The “5x rule” is a beloved stat, tracing its roots to sources at Bain Capital. But here’s the thing: the stat is…well, kind of old. We’re talking 2014. Possibly even earlier. 

Creator marketing can be a big investment for many eCommerce and DTC brands. It often begs the question, “is it worth it?” This new case study series will evaluate different campaigns to give you a better idea of just how successful creator marketing campaigns can be. Let’s kick off the series with an awesome campaign from Hyundai and Culture Brands.

Brands choosing to partner with America’s favorite celebrities is almost a bigger tradition than the Super Bowl itself. In the past, we’ve seen ads from Dolly Parton, Timothée Chalamet, and Will Ferrell. This year, like in previous years, there was no shortage of A-list celebrities placed front and center of the most coveted advertising slots. Celebrities ranged from Serena Williams, Alicia Silverstone, Melissa McCarthy, Bradley Cooper, and John Travolta.

Over the past couple of years, social media users have been explicit in asking for content from brands and creators that’s authentic, diverse, and inclusive. In short, social media users are begging for real.It makes sense why authenticity resonates well with social media users—especially those actively searching for new products. People want to see how products help people who look like themselves and reflect a similar lifestyle.

Most people might not group LinkedIn with mega-creator platforms like YouTube and TikTok. TikTok is the exciting new kid on the block, rocket-blasting from $82 million in revenue in the third quarter of 2019 to $1,567 billion three years later. YouTube has been around longer, but its status as the world’s top video-sharing network makes it a titanic platform for any influencer.

Combining niche marketing insights with powerful creators has been a boon to marketers. That’s why the creator economy reached over $100 billion in the middle of 2022. And now, 75% of marketers use it to one degree or another.

Since creator marketing is so successful in the DTC world, it follows that marketers would wonder if the B2B world also lends itself well to success with creator marketing.

You’ve seen it a million times in the DTC and B2B worlds. A company will take the same piece of content and plaster it across the brand’s various social media channels. The results? Lackluster. Maybe it will get engagement from the social media manager (SMM) who posted it—and, if they’re lucky, the SMM’s mom. (Provided they’re on Twitter, of course.)What’s wrong with this strategy? Aside from the fact that it never works, it’s rare to see brands—especially B2B companies—dive deep into every social media platform’s unique quirks. As a result, they rarely post creative content that engages their target audience.

2022 was a successful year for influencer marketers, and things are looking up in 2023 as well. While influencer marketing and creator partnerships will help brands grow and capture more sales, it’s also essential to keep a pulse on marketing, influencer, and industry trends.

It’s known as “algospeak,” and its premise is simple. Some online platforms use algorithms to censor or ban content by seeking out key phrases. Creators find sneaky ways of not saying those phrases while still getting their basic meaning across to their audience. Algorithms becomes Al Gore Rhythms. Dead becomes unalive. Sex becomes seggs. It’s not just a snarky way to avoid TikTok or Twitter dinging your content and sending you to the digital equivalent of a timeout. For some, it’s a necessity. One study examined how “social media work is not just materially concealed, but rendered socially invisible through its lack of … marginal status.” 

Come launch time, brand and creator collaborations have a way of looking effortless. From product names to color palettes, it’s as if the brand and creator were made for each other. A look behind the scenes, however, shows that success is no accident.

Well, TikTok is the “it girl,” right? And if there is anything an “it girl” knows, it’s trends. Brands that ride the wave of the TikTok trends get the most out of the platform and see positive results. Brands that don’t flounder in cyberspace.Lucky for you, I spend a healthy portion of my day researching TikTok trends, so you don’t have to. Here are the top 26 TikTok trends moving into 2023 from A to Z. (Let’s get cute about this…just like TikTok did.)

China’s leading tech innovation is a top reason for its place as a global commerce leader. Many of the world’s most popular social media and commerce platforms started in China first and then moved westward.

While it might seem like pickleball is a come-and-go trend, more akin to cold bucket challenges and “is it real or cake?” videos, pickleball is a trend with staying power. In the world of viral hits and short-lived fads, that’s unique to both sports and TikTok.

TikTok is one of the most powerful tools to build a rapid audience online. Anyone who’s signed up has experienced the initial “boost” that comes with your first couple of posts. TikTok’s algorithm often sets you up for success, hoping to hook you to the platform.But what happens next? You start to find out how competitive TikTok can be. After all, we’re talking about the first non-Facebook app to reach 3 billion global downloads. That’s great news if you’re looking to build an audience. But it’s also a high bar if you’re trying to stand out and build an audience.

If you want to reach these active Gen Z buyers, it’s essential to understand what messages resonate with them and what kind of content encourages their engagement. For Gen Z, that’s humorous and authentic content.

Sure, Black Friday saw an all-time high in eCommerce sales. But if you’ve been to any grocery, retail, or marketplace in the last year, you’ve likely felt the effects of inflation. Everything is more expensive right now. For example, prices for food increased by 10.4% in 2022 (the biggest increase since 1981), and energy prices have risen 41.6% over the last year (the largest since 1980).

Well, social media is officially the new word of mouth. Social media allows consumers to share your brand, and it helps you connect with consumers, build trust, and develop a community. And, now there’s a way you can leverage the power of digital word of mouth marketing to also produce more impactful content at a reduced cost. Enter user generated content (UGC).

Fact: Everyone likes to wear hoodies. Fact: Everyone wore hoodies during the pandemic. Fact: We all love expressing ourselves in different ways. Fact: Everyone can do with a little positivity in their day-to-day lives. Combine all these attributes, put them into a wishing well, and what do you get? An optimistic brand that sells positivity-focused clothing, writes Monday motivation quotes, and sells really bright and happy hoodies.

Nibble is a new eCommerce technology company that’s trying to disrupt eCommerce product pricing. The technology brings customer and merchant negotiation into the online shopping experience for Shopify stores. 

The question isn’t whether or not there’s value in hiring creators—even over celebrities—to promote your brand. There is. The question is: what’s the best way to compensate creators so you can secure more mutually-beneficial partnerships and grow your brand?

@Colesflow summarizes a hot, new consumer trend in one, short sentence: “I don’t Google anymore—I TikTok. ”While it seems funny at first, stats show TikTok is more than an entertainment and social commerce platform—it’s a search engine. For many consumers, especially younger ones, TikTok is edging out Google as the preferred search engine.

According to a 2022 Knit Report, Gen Z makes up 40% of the global consumer population and has $600 billion in spending power. The report also states that 72% of Gen Zers think brands need to do a much better job marketing to them—especially if they want to win their loyalty.

While the overall attitude regarding the current economy is lackluster, NRF reports that retail sales will still grow between 6% and 8% to more than the $4.86 trillion recorded in 2022.Even if consumers are upset by inflation and the current state of the economy, the good news is they are still spending—especially during the upcoming holiday season. In fact, 30% of all retail sales typically happen between BFCM and Christmas.

If you want to be successful in B2B marketing, make your efforts look more like DTC marketing. At least that’s the emerging train of thought, and strategy being following by Triple Whale, a marketing analytics and attribution SaaS.

Brands that sell fully sensory products, especially senses that don’t translate well in a digital setting—taste and smell—have a unique marketing challenge. It’s not an easy task, but some brands, like Pura, are still somehow knocking their eCommerce sales out of the park.

A cushy new sofa or mattress isn’t always enough to pad the discomfort of inflation and a down economy, and furniture sales are now slowing. 

Vantana is an artist who abandoned traditional work during the pandemic to focus on his creative digital projects.

If creator content is so effective across social media, should brands be turning to creators for all kinds of high-fidelity content as well? And, is there a benefit to hiring creators directly instead of going the traditional route and hiring an agency? 

In today’s digital age, the term “creator” has been taken hostage by those with a critical mass of followers and who make money exclusively from growing an audience.But the reality is that being a creator doesn’t mean you have to have hundreds of thousands of TikTok followers, and being an influencer doesn’t mean you’re qualified to ‘create.’

Metaverse focussed company TerraZero today announced a partnership with tech, gaming and AI media and event company VentureBeat, the tech that will see the two build a Metaverse event center and corporate showcase environment in Decentraland.

Here’s just some of what’s come down the pike in terms of social media updates over the past couple of weeks.

Traditionally, people have sought answers to these big questions from spiritual gurus, religious leaders, palm readers, prophets, books, community groups (sometimes cults), nature, psychedelics, and other physical sources.But, with the advent of the Internet, the growth of the Creator Economy, and the rise of TikTok as a source of information, spiritual enlightenment is innovating right along with popular technology.

While her gaming skills are on point and it’s a riot to watch her play, Alisha Ether's fun personality is what makes me continue to avidly consume her content. She’s conversational, warm, and absolutely hilarious.

While the creator-led economy opens the door for individuals to make more money than they made in traditional roles, the answer isn’t black in white in regard to how much any influencers are actually making (male or female). @MsYoungProfess, founder of F*** You Pay Me (FYPM) created FYPM in response to this problem. The organization’s mission is to bring more transparency, accountability, and fairness to the influencer industry, and to make sure influencers get paid what they’re worth.

This Govalo x Recharge integration makes it possible for merchants who have built a successful gifting program to capture all the benefits of both gifting and subscription commerce.

Authenticity works. And, based on the popularity of the latest social media app, BeReal, people want even more. Here’s a closer look at what BeReal is, why it’s growing, and how brands are sneaking onto the platform.

You’ve heard all the success stories of content creators turned business owners. Chris Grayson is one such success story. He started his career as a content creator in the gaming industry, and his success led him to start InfluencerMade, a hub with the resources aspiring creators need to experience success.

Direct mail is as old as dirt.Okay, maybe it’s not that old, but it’s been around for a long time. It’s difficult to pinpoint the exact origin of direct mail, but the Montgomery Ward catalog from 1872 is credited as the first public mail order catalog.

The women’s skincare market is tough. Think of any problem, from a pimple to a pore, and there are dozens, if not hundreds, of products available.Men don’t have the same options. Stryx was one of the first names in the industry to understand this gap and to create products that addressed men’s skincare issues specifically. 

A group of leading marketers, designers and creators have come together in support of making creative careers more accessible to young people and underrepresented communities.Announced at Cannes Lions last week, the new nonprofit has been named The Creative Ladder and is being led by Ryan Reynolds (yes, that one), Dionna Dorsey Calloway, and David Griner.

The growth of the Creator Economy can be largely (not exclusively) attributed to women and their entrepreneurial efforts.Statista, for example, found that 84% of social media influencers who post sponsored content are women, while only 16% are men. Women represent 48% of all freelancers, while 45.5% are men. And, more women than men started their own businesses from scratch during the pandemic.

Creators are about to have leverage, control, and political and cultural influence to the degree that is unprecedented.

The primary benefit of UGC for brands is that it directs customers right to your product pages. And, it influences them to buy.

Brands have a unique opportunity right now to leverage this new-ish social commerce trend and use it to blow their customer acquisition goals out of the water.

We spent the last month speaking with industry professionals about the future of the creator economy, and predictions for 2022.

See how TikTok creator @growithjessie uses this method to triple followers for multiple brands

To better understand how brands can master social advertising, I talked to the Tsar-itsa of social advertising, Savannah Sanchez.

The product detail page (PDP) is the main place where consumers interact with your brand, yet only over a third of brands invest time and money on optimizing these pages.

Reviews are such an important part of any direct-to-consumer business because they have a huge impact on relationship-building with customers and driving sales

If you’re a TikTok fan, you’ve likely seen awesome ads from creators promoting up-and-coming movies.You may have even participated in some of the viral, movie-related TikTok trends, including the “Voice of Ghostface” sound, the “Big Red Dog” effect on TikTok, or the branded “#GhostYourProblems” effect.

The most successful partnerships are ones when the partner is already a fan of our brand and understands our values.

If brands want to connect with Gen Z—especially during live events—they must rethink traditional advertising and meet them where they live—on their phones.

QYOU launched a viral multi-phased campaign for “Sing 2.” It was a smashing success. The campaign drove 26.4 million views, 2.2 million engagements, and a 9% engagement rate on posts featuring key characters, music, and messaging.

In the highly competitive eCommerce world, personalization isn’t an option; it’s a must.

Allen Edmonds has dedicated time, energy, and resources to building an eco-conscious recrafting program—without giving up luxury, leather footwear.

How retailers are leveraging digital assets to boost brand recognition, engage buyers, and grow communities

I had the opportunity to interview Chris and Fanjoy’s VP of Talent, Josh “Caru” Glodoveza, to learn more about the power of partnering with creators

We already know creators have influence over niche communities on single platforms. On YouTube, 22,000 creators have reached the one million followers threshold. On Instagram, 500,000 have achieved 100,000 followers or more.But once you’ve reached the summits of creator success on your platform, where’s the space to grow? If you feel tapped out by the possibilities present in your current community or current platform, it can be difficult to explain trends like this:

Over the past year, I've read (and written) hundreds of articles about influencer marketing, social advertising, and the Creator Economy. Here are the most important things I’ve learned and some common themes running through conversations.

A look at the future of renting land in the metaverse and how brands can activate opportunities across Decentraland and elsewhere.

While brands still often recruit celebrities for big marketing campaigns, superstars aren’t the only—or best—option for building brand credibility anymore.With the advent of social media and the rise in creator fandoms, brands are now turning to creators for endorsements. What’s more, many creators lend greater clout to a brand than big celebrities do.

Instagram is officially doubling-down on its product tagging feature, recently announcing it will be rolling out the functionality to all users in the United States, no longer reserving it for just brands.

Brands and creators are partnering to leverage TikTok’s creative power—and the results are eye-popping. With a recent TikTok report outlining impressive results from these partnerships, there’s no time like the present to team up with your favorite creators to establish social proof, boost brand and product awareness, and increase sales.

While the state of the world, commerce, and marketing is in flux, this remains the same: Successful marketing and advertising is still about finding and connecting with the right audience in meaningful ways.

I connected with some of my favorite people to get more advice about how creators can grow, find a niche, connect with brands, and be successful.

Let’s take a closer look at why the rise of the Creator Economy is changing the future of education and how creators are a new breed of educators.

Do consumers only want to spend their money with eco-friendly brands?

To better understand how brands can engage Gen Z; I interviewed Charlie Naus, Managing Director and Co-Founder of Carson+Doyle agency

This article hopes to amplify the stories of 12 up-and-coming and inspiring Black Creators. Their social accounts and creative projects exude confidence, style, drive, and grace.