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Why You Should Pump Up Your Content Strategy With Creators

Influencer marketing is not only about distribution, it’s also about the stellar content that’s generated in campaigns

Influencer marketing is not only about distribution, it’s also about the stellar content that’s generated in campaigns. High-quality content is proven to be more efficient, and it’s the biggest contributor to increased marketing success.1 Because producing a high volume of great content poses a challenge for many brands, the ones created during campaigns shouldn’t be overlooked or undervalued.Here’s why your primary campaign goal should be shifted from distribution to content creation:

Distribution no longer breaks the bank

With the rise of social media advertising, distribution has never been as cheap as it is today. Since it’s easily obtainable at a cost-effective price, you shouldn’t focus on it exclusively in your influencer marketing campaigns. In the past, brands relied on traditional advertising by placing ads on TV, newspapers, radio, and billboards, but this was an expensive way to reach and engage an audience. In fact, the average cost for a 30-second commercial on TV during prime time can cost $112,000, and the average cost per 1,000 impressions (CPM) can cost $24.76.2 A 1-page, full colored ad on the New York Times is approximately $50,000.3But with the rise of social media advertising, the cost of distribution has dropped. During the first quarter of 2018, advertisers spent approximately $11 CPM on Facebook and $8 CPM on Instagram.4 In our creator campaigns, we found that the average CPM is between $4 and $10.

Creators can generate high volume of credible, quality content

Instead of having distribution as your primary goal, you should instead consider the value of creator-generated content. After all, it’s difficult to generate great content consistently, and creators are talented in creating remarkable images and videos. To keep your consumers engaged, you’ll need quality content — and lots of it. You may turn to creative studios to meet the demand, but this will be costly. Creators are capable of producing content for an affordable price. In fact, based on our campaigns, brands can pay creators 10x less than creative studios for content that’s of equal or better quality. Find out just how affordable a collaboration will be using our Instagram Pricing Calculator.The content produced by studios can lack authenticity, as photos are often taken in staged environments. Potential consumers may perceive them as ‘obvious’ ads, so it won't resonate well with them. Creators can showcase your brand in personal, authentic environments, and they’ll do it in a way that fits well on social media. They're skilled at generating engaging content frequently because they know and understand what people want to see and read. Because of this, you should grant creative freedom to the creators you collaborate with, as this can result in stellar content that you, or creative studios, may not have thought of producing. By leveraging influencer marketing, you’ll access authentic content that will help boost your credibility.Pro-tip: When collaborating with creators, we’ll help you include a Content Rights Usage clause. By doing this, you’ll have the permissions to freely reuse content from your campaign. All the content will be gathered in the Content Library, so it can be easily downloaded.

Key takeaway: Uplift your social media ads with creators

Instead of focusing solely on distribution, you should try to maximize the value of your campaign by integrating creator-generated content into your brand’s content strategy. Doing so will help you with:

Credibility. Creators produce quality content in authentic environments, rather than staged ones.
Engagement. Consumers resonate and engage more with authentic content.
Cost. Collaborating with creators is more cost-effective than working with creative studios.
Content Volume. Creators can generate content on a massive scale, so you’ll always have quality content to use.

Remember, influencer marketing campaigns should complement your social media strategy. By collaborating with creators, you’ll access real, meaningful content in your campaigns. You’ll be able to reuse that content in paid ads on social media to effectively amplify your distribution, raise brand awareness, and increase conversions.