Five Tips for Making the Best Use of Creators, How to Be Your Own Casting Director, and More

Content creator marketing has become an essential part of brand marketing strategies.?

But figuring out how to balance brand goals with audience interests in creator campaigns is crucial. In this age of authenticity, if the content is too promotional, it will alienate followers and could even damage a brand's reputation. If the content is not relevant to the audience, it won’t get engagement and its purpose goes unfulfilled.

Five tips for how to strike the balance:

1. Choose the right creators. Choosing creators who fit with your brand feel and values is crucial. Outcomes are more authentic when an influencer aligns with and has genuine passion for your brand. Audiences are more likely to trust and be persuaded by recommendations from such creators.
2. Define clear goals. Know what you want to achieve with your influencer campaign. Clearly identify your target audience, goals, and how you’ll measure success. Then work with influencers to create content accordingly.
3. Provide clear creative briefs. Your creative brief should outline your campaign goals, target audience, and desired messaging. Clear instructions will help your influencers create content that is both on-brand, engaging for the audience, and consistent with your goals.
4. Encourage influencers to be creative. Don't just give your influencers a list of talking points and ask them to create content according to some formula. Encourage them to be creative and experiment with their own ideas. It will give them the freedom to create content that feels fresh, is more authentic, and is more likely to appeal to their audience.
5. Measure outcomes and make adjustments as needed. Regularly monitor campaign outcomes and make adjustments if you need to. Pay attention to engagement metrics and feedback from your audience. If your campaign is not performing according to your goals, you may need to make changes to your approach.

Find out more about the value of creator marketing and how to put together a plan .

How to Be Your Own Casting Director

Daniel Cangelosi , creative director and partner at Jersey Filmmaker , has it all figured out.

Having cast 100% of his branded content projects himself for more than five years, he was convinced of the value of being his own casting director from day one and has never looked back.

His award-winning content development and production company, specializing in sports and entertainment documentary and branded content, creates thousands of video assets a year for clients and partners like 谷歌 , DoorDash , 沃尔玛 , Red Bull , Delta Air Lines , and SHOWTIME . ?

That doesn’t mean Cangelosi didn’t have to mess it up his first time out to learn his lesson.?

Read the full story

What Else You Should Know

• The Google results page of the (very near) future [Insight Partners]
• Advice on how to time your social media posts [Hootsuite]?
• Instagram templates! [Later]
• For inspiration: Recent best ads of the week [The Drum]

How Backstage Helps Branded Content Creators

Looking for a one-stop shop to find all the talent you need to crush your next branded project? With tens of thousands of talent profiles, Backstage’s vast talent marketplace has all the successful actors, models, creators, and more you’re looking for. And workflow tools enable you to easily find right-fit candidates in a fraction of the time. Find out how Backstage empowers you to create better content faster and tell your brand story.