How legacy brands can adapt to the creator economy

Goldman Sachs recently predicted that the creator economy could reach $5 trillion by 2027. The creator economy is booming. While startups, small businesses, and companies with deep resources naturally tend to use influencers as a marketing tool, larger, more sophisticated brands are looking to leverage creators with minimal risk. People often struggle to find ways to build their brand or business. To better understand how legacy companies can maximize their potential while limiting downside, I spoke to Frank Cooper III, his CMO at Visa.

There's a lot of terminology being thrown around, so I asked Cooper to provide a basic understanding of what the creator economy is and how he sees it. “In the broadest sense, the creator economy consists of all people who use their creative talents to make money,” Cooper said. “However, at this stage of development, there is a more specific definition. Today, the creator economy refers to an entire ecosystem of people creating content online and engaging audiences with that content for communication, community, and commerce. Creators include artists, video gamers, and others. , influencers, writers, etc. However, they differ from typical “creators” in that they communicate online, build communities, and promote commerce. If you're a musician who only performs live and posts your performances on a website, you're not part of the “creator economy.” You're certainly a creator, but you're not communicating, building community, and driving commerce through digital platforms like social media and video games. Again, many more people belong to the “creative class” coined by Richard Florida, but only some are currently included in the creator economy. ”

Cooper explains that the creator economy is changing and will change marketing in many ways. “Firstly, content creators are not only creating content, they are essentially distribution channels as well. Successful content creators and influencers are able to create content that their audience wants to see. , and building an ongoing relationship with such an audience. Therefore, marketers who are used to “controlling the message” are more likely to engage creators in order to gain authentic access to their audiences. You will need to give it a lot of freedom.

Second, marketers need to collaborate with creators and develop new skills. Creators are generally not creative agencies. Forging effective partnerships with creators requires marketers to translate their goals into creators' language, not the other way around. Equally important, marketers need to hone their skills at identifying creators whose values ​​and personalities fit their brand, rather than just focusing on creators with the most followers. .

Finally, due to relatively recent changes in social media platforms' algorithms, creators are now essentially in the job of producing “hits” – groundbreaking content that people want. Money doesn't buy you hits. To maximize your chances of being a hit, primarily create great content that exceeds your specific audience's needs and expectations. In other words, in the world of the creator economy, brand marketers need to think of themselves not as “brand managers'' but as “brand value creators'' who promote brands and products through others. ”

Despite the high-profile business-impacting issues Bud Light had with its influencer program last year, Cooper said Visa currently has established partnerships with hundreds of creators. suggested that there was. Cooper said that when working with creators, the most important thing is to “ensure they can stay true to themselves while promoting Visa's brand values ​​and products that they wholeheartedly support.” Ta.

Importantly, Cooper suggests that more legacy brands need to think of themselves as “creator brands.” “Creator brands develop content that adds value to the creator experience, rather than disrupting it. Like creators in general, creator brands develop content that people want to see, and that content to foster community and commerce.”

Cooper suggests more broadly that traditional brands like Visa can continue to evolve to harness the potential of creators. For example, Cooper suggests that “many marketers at legacy brands will need to evolve their thinking and behavior to harness the potential of creators.” From a mindset perspective, the main change involves moving from a “command and control” mindset to a highly decentralized approach focused on “serving and uplifting” people. It’s not a completely leaderless revolution, but it does require a greater willingness to increase variation in approaches and embrace brand voice more comprehensively.

On the behavioral side, legacy brand marketers must adapt to the speed of the culture of online behavior. Similarly, you need to identify opportunities and respond to consumer behavior at a pace that may be uncomfortable. However, marketers will no longer be able to control the pace at which content is consumed and shared and must adapt to this relatively new reality. Additionally, because the shelf life of online he content is shorter than that of traditional marketing he content, marketers will have to significantly increase the amount of content they produce, either on their own or in collaboration with creators.

And perhaps most importantly, marketers of legacy brands can transform social media into social commerce. At Visa, we've seen a surge in value exchange by creators across social media, video games, travel, and more. Additionally, we have seen the needs and expectations of buyers and sellers evolve. At Visa, our role is to expand opportunities for commerce and value exchange by removing transaction friction and building capacity for buyers and sellers. The beauty of the creator economy is that anyone can participate. Therefore, social commerce opportunities extend to all brands. ”

Finally, I asked Cooper to share an example of how Visa is effectively leveraging creators. He said Visa's “support for the creator economy has taken shape in a number of ways since 2021, including the following campaigns we've been testing and learning from over the past few months: Visa NFT Creator Program, Visa Ready Creator Commerce Program, GetP@id Program.

In 2023, we will further focus our marketing efforts on partnering with creators, and we now have over 500 creators working with us across digital platforms. He also established clear categories for creators within his content and product teams, and his marketing efforts increased by 100%.

However, GetP@id is a great example of a creator's content being successfully highlighted in a meaningful way. Our goal was to give more creators the tools and systems they need to grow beyond a hobby into an actual business. GetP@id is a social video program that pairs aspiring creators looking to turn their passions into careers with established creators in fashion, music, and food.

Companies participating in the creator economy face similar challenges to small businesses, including economic uncertainty, lack of timely access to capital, and receiving paychecks on time. GetP@id helps young creators establish a foothold and get paid for their content. Similar to our mentor-mentee partnership, we work with established creators to share their knowledge of what it takes to build a successful career as a creator and provide direct coaching to new creators in the same industry. provided. This is a program I'm proud of, and I look forward to expanding the ways Visa can support emerging creators in the future. ”

Join the discussion: @KimWhitler