With an increasing number of people using ad blockers, Meta testing paid ad-free options in the UK, and 69% of consumers trusting influencer recommendations, brands are realising that they need to demonstrate authenticity to effectively reach their audience. Partnering with influencers, content creators, and Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) bridges that gap, driving both trust and performance.
Digivizer has seen influencer-led campaigns across multiple B2C brands deliver in addition to strong earned media impressions and engagement, a 21%+ higher Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) and on average 46% lower Cost per View (CPV) when posts are promoted into paid when compared to standard ads. Creator content not only looks good, it performs better too.
Whether it’s driving awareness through unique storytelling, building consideration with real-world use cases, or converting with paid assets, advocacy works.
With 75% of people using social media for purchasing advice and 58% having bought something because of an influencer, the opportunity for brands is clear: Partner with great natural story tellers with influence to help tell why your brand matters.
Shifting from Ads to Advocacy
Consumers today are tuning out traditional advertising more than ever. With fewer people engaging with interruptive marketing, brands can no longer rely on ads to capture attention. The rise of ad-free subscription models, signals a fundamental shift in how audiences want to experience content online.
Instead of pushing messages at audiences, brands must create useful content that feels authentic, human, and relevant. Influencers, creators and KOLs fill this gap by acting as genuine advocates, presenting brands within their day-to-day lives, in a voice and style their followers already trust. This shift from transactional advertising and “pay for comment” to genuine advocacy improves perception and builds long-term relationships with audiences who are increasingly resistant to conventional ads.
In practice, this means marketers and advertisers need to rethink campaigns. Instead of asking yourselves “what do we want to say?”, think about “who do audiences want to hear from?”.
Why Creators Drive Better Results
Creators do more than amplify reach: they improve campaign efficiency and impact. Beyond the numbers, creator content is inherently more engaging. They earned their audience for a reason. Audiences choose to follow creators as they find them aligned, authentic, relatable and trustworthy.
This performance uplift applies to both organic and paid campaigns. Organic creator content builds social proof and credibility, which is often the tipping point for purchase decisions. When reshared and linked as a collaborator post in paid media, these posts retain that trust, leading to higher engagement and lower Cost per View.
The secret lies in authenticity. Audiences respond to people, not logos, and creator content encourages a human connection while maintaining measurable ROI.
When to Engage Influencers
Timing is crucial when integrating creators into your strategy. The right engagement at the right stage of the customer journey can significantly boost performance.
Awareness: Creators can introduce your brand to a relevant audience through storytelling, lifestyle content, or experience-based posts. This feels natural and builds initial trust.
Consideration: Influencers demonstrating tutorials, reviews or how they integrate it into their daily life provide social proof, helping audiences weigh options and understand how your product fits into their lives.
Conversion: Influencer content repurposed in paid campaigns can drive direct actions, such as click throughs, form fills, or purchases, thanks to the trust already built through organic exposure.
You can also provide special discounts or packages offered through influencers for additional benefits to their audiences as well as helping them earn on referral. This also creates a strong measurable impact, especially if they are driving this through their direct channels, often at a lower cost than through traditional paid advertising.
By mapping creator activity to each stage of the funnel, brands ensure their campaigns are not only visible but also meaningful, delivering measurable outcomes at every step.
Integrating Influencer Content into Paid Media
Repurposing creator content in paid campaigns maximises ROI and efficiency. Wondering how to do it and have it look good?
Collaboration posts (influencer + brand) can be amplified to reach wider audiences without losing authenticity. Creator-led assets often outperform brand-produced content in-feed, driving higher engagement and lower costs per impression or views. Testing multiple versions of creator content allows marketers to optimize campaigns effectively and respond to audience preferences in real time.
By integrating influencer content into paid campaigns, brands combine trust, relatability, and data-driven strategy to deliver both measurable results and long-term brand value.
Building in influencer earned media content monitoring to understand what is generating the most earned media returns for you (in brand mentions or hashtags you are following), can give you the best indicators on what content will do best in a promoted collaboration post.
Building Long-Term Relationships
Short-term influencer campaigns may deliver temporary results, but they rarely create lasting impact. Their audience can identify quickly if this is a paid for quick comment or something that is truly valued by the creator. Long-term partnerships allow creators to integrate products authentically over time, increasing audience trust and engagement.
Long-term engagement gives creators a sense of ownership and investment in your brand story, which translates into more creative, nuanced and authentic content. This approach transforms creators from transactional partners into true advocates, which is increasingly essential in social media.
When influencers genuinely believe in a brand, and are willing to incorporate that brand into their everyday life over the longer term, their advocacy feels natural, boosting effectiveness across campaigns. Brands that nurture these relationships often see consistency in messaging, stronger audience resonance, and higher performance metrics.
Effective influencer campaigns aren’t one-off, short-term transactions or overly scripted collaborations. They’re not about forcing messages or treating creators like ad space. When content feels inauthentic or purely promotional, audiences tune out fast.
The real value and trust comes from partnerships that allow creators to share genuine experiences in their own voice.
Tips for Engaging Creators
Getting the most from influencer partnerships requires careful consideration. Here are some of our best tips for working with creators and influencers.
- Give them creative freedom: Allow creators to retain their authentic voice and style. Overly scripted posts reduce credibility and engagement.
- Align on goals: Identify where the win-win-win is. The one for their audience, the one for the influencer and the one for the brand. Clearly communicate what the campaign aims to achieve, but let the creators interpret how to deliver that message in a way that best resonates best with their audience.
- Compensate fairly: Influencers value recognition, credibility and financial reward for their expertise. Respect and reward their contribution to your brand’s success.
- Respect audience trust: Avoid overloading creators with demands that compromise authenticity. Followers can spot forced promotions, which can damage both the creator’s reputation and your brand’s credibility.
Following the above steps ensures partnerships are mutually beneficial and sustainable over time.
Why Influencers and Creators Love Being Engaged
Creators often love working with brands. It reaffirms their influence and value by their audience. But when they do, they value opportunities that enhance their profile, authority and income. What do they gain from relationships like this?
- Credibility: Aligning with brands that fit their audience and values builds trust and authority in their area of expertise.
- Promotion: Collaborations can expand reach and grow their own community.
- Earnings: Fair compensation acknowledges the creative effort, referral income and expertise involved.
Recognizing these motivations helps brands form partnerships that are productive, sustainable and mutually rewarding.
How Digivizer Helps Brands Build and Measure Influence
Digivizer allows brands to track superfans and identify who’s already talking about topics that matter the most to your brand, making choosing the right influencers easy.
It also enables brands to gain permission-based access to key performance metrics on branded posts. Measuring the outcomes of your content (and theirs) creates strong real-time feedback loops that help identify who to connect with, what content to amplify in paid media and who to reward for performance.
Beyond insights, Digivizer also offers specialist Influencer Agency Services. With 15+ years of influencer engagement experience, Digivizer can simplify the process of engaging creators, deliver to proven frameworks for paid partnerships and product gifting programs that deliver real value to both brands and creators. The end-to-end approach ensures every partnership is measurable, transparent and designed for long-term success.
The numbers don’t lie, influencer content converts better, costs less, and builds more trust. The real risk isn’t investing in creators, it’s not.
Ready to see what creator-led growth could look like for your brand? Talk to Digivizer about how you can turn authentic partnerships into measurable results.
