Your Weekly Creator Marketing Update🚀
31.03.2025
A slightly different format this week, which we’ll kick off my latest LinkedIn post:
📰How UGC creators are transforming influencer marketing
TL;DR
A discussion around why UGC (user-generated content) creators are “reshaping” influencer marketing by offering authentic, relatable content that performs better with consumers and drives higher engagement and conversions than “traditional” influencer posts.
🟢 THE YAY
We love seeing more real life examples of brands utilising content from smaller creators. The article talks about how Groupon provides these “UGC” creators with more creative freedom and embeds the content in brand-led assets (newsletters, product pages) to build trust with existing users. Any example of influencer generated content not being used exclusively as an acquisition tool is a big win in my book.
We highlighted this last week, but it is much easier to buy reach than it is to buy great content. Collaborating with smaller-tier creators that connect with your brand and developing great content that can be re-purposed across the board with the power of paid media is a win-win.
🔴 THE NAY
Please stop labelling content that is clearly paid for and specifically briefed in as “user generated content” - it’s confusing for people like me who (still) like to differentiate between paid (IGC) and unpaid (UGC) content. And no - this isn’t transforming the industry, either.
✍️We need a reality check from influencer marketing
TL;DR
This piece was written by a student / small scale influencer at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada (if my research is correct), and I really enjoyed the quote below:
Influencer marketing isn’t inherently bad, but the curated and sometimes misleading nature of it is consequential. It’s best we think twice before putting our self-worth on the line and mistaking curated illusions for authenticity.
🟢 THE YAY
A short but thought-provoking article around the blurred lines between marketing in reality that exist within the creator industry.
🔴 THE NAY
The devil’s advocate in me would like to say that the industry has been struggling with authenticity / reality for about a decade now. In an ideal world, authentic, genuine and real content would lead to more sales. In reality though, sometimes getting a brand in front of a large audience does the trick. We can use the viral "wake up" routine as an example. While unpaid (the brand has come out to say this was not an #ad) and widely parodied and ridiculed, it has generated a huge uptick in interest in the water brand featured in the video.
📊Influencer Marketing Report: Emerging Trends 2025
TL;DR
Influencer marketing is shifting toward authenticity, deeper connections, and sustained engagement. Emerging trends highlight the power of genuine storytelling, highly engaged communities, and long-term relationships in fostering trust and strengthening brand impact. As audiences seek more meaningful interactions, brands that prioritize real connections and consistent messaging will see greater loyalty and engagement.
🟢 THE YAY
How can we not like seeing a report mirroring our own ideals?!
🔴 THE NAY
The report seems to be written based on a collection of internet articles & research heavy sources (versus actual client sources). This means we’re left wondering how likely this is to reflect what is actually happening on the brand side versus what the ideal scenario would look like. Based on my own experience, I think that (at least in the UK/EU) we’re quite a few years removed from these trends being plan A. Case in point are the rise of “micro-creators" which have been labelled a trend since 2017.
🏭Industry Headlines
⚾ “Twitch for sports” platform raises $22 million so leagues will let its creators stream games
Playback, which was founded in 2023, aims to help livestreamers get over this roadblock. Just like Twitch, it allows streamers to broadcast content to live audiences, who can respond with text chats–but unlike Twitch, its platform is specifically sports-focused. And it knows streamers are often blocked from broadcasting any official matches.
🏌️LIV Golf to pair players and content creators for YouTube exclusive competition
LIV Golf has announced a new made-for-YouTube competition featuring players and content creators in a bid to drive awareness and bring new audiences to the Saudi-backed circuit.
🚨Unilever must learn you can’t outsource trust to influencers
If Fernandez ends up putting a dent in that valuation through intemperate language and an uncompromising ‘others speak’ strategy, then future investor chats will become a lot less cosy and agreeable: out of the fireside chair and into the fire.
💻Influencer Marketing Jobs
👉Runna > Influencer Marketing Associate
👉Later > Influencer Marketing Coordinator
👉Tower 28 >Manager of Influencer Marketing
