Connected Thinking x MAD//Fest: Creators Driving Commerce

This month we took Connected Thinking to MAD//Fest, where our Head of Brand Marketing Lucy Robertson gave an insightful session on the Creator Economy Stage. The stats don’t lie, we know that consumers trust recommendations from individuals over brands, even if they don’t know the individuals in question.  

So, we brought a quickfire session on Creators Driving Commerce – read on for our key takeaways:

- Don't sleep on livestream shopping - the time is now to make it work for your brand. The market in China has seen growth of 620Bn in the last 7 years, and the phenomenon can increase conversion rates by up to 5x, with clothing brands seeing the most success already as the top purchased category so far in 2024.

- Think bigger picture when it comes to your creator partnerships - longer term campaigns allow you to gather data to understand the profile of a seller for your brand and adjust/ optimize campaigns accordingly. Take our Very case study as an example - after 12 months, we drove a 1:17 return for the brand thanks to this approach – check out the full case study here.

- Do your homework on who you're partnering with - interrogate the insights and don't be afraid to ask for more intel. There's no use investing in a creator whose CTR just doesn't match up to their follower size, look beyond follower size into engagement and better yet, sales figures if they have any case studies available.

- Get your tracking method locked early - whether you're using discount codes, affiliates or trackable links. If using trackable links, ensure your website houses a first party pixel to provide a more holistic view on the user interactions leading up to a sale. While discount codes offer creators something meaningful to give back to their audiences too. Make sure you have decided on the method upfront so that you can track clearly from the launch of a campaign.

- Bring your creator network up to speed on the overall objective. Too often the focus is on the output alone - bring them on the journey of what you hope to achieve, whether that is sales, traffic, or engagement, and allow them to optimise their content accordingly. Guaranteed better results for both parties, win-win.

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