Creator partnership: what companies learn from successful brands

A furniture company generated $9 million in sales with a video series entrusted to creators. Their marketing manager admitted: "Handing over the keys to the brand scared me to death." Yet it worked.

Why the creator topic has become urgent even for SMEs

Until recently, working with creators — meaning people who make content for an online audience — seemed like something just for big American brands with massive budgets. Not anymore. The data shared at Shoptalk Fall, the most popular retail conference in the US, shows that almost half of the brands working with creators get at least a 3x return on their spend. And budgets for this channel jumped by 33% compared to last year.

For an Italian company that manages ad campaigns, this means only one thing: ignoring creators means leaving room for competitors who are already using them. The topic is explored in-depth in original Digiday article , which gathers the direct experiences of three companies on the conference stage.

Follower count matters less than you think

One of the most useful lessons comes from an American women's clothing brand. For its main promotional day, it deployed 25 creators in simultaneous live streams. They weren't stars with millions of followers: a mom from Dallas with 60,000 followers sold more products than many celebrities.

The reason is simple. A creator with a small but loyal audience has built a real relationship with their followers. When they recommend a product, their followers trust them just like they would trust a friend. An Italian fashion, cosmetics, or furniture company can replicate this logic: look for niche creators who already speak to their ideal audience, rather than chasing the most famous profiles.

This also changes how you evaluate a collaboration. Don't just look at followers: look at the engagement rate — meaning how many people comment, share, or reply to the content. On this topic, it's also worth reading why creator partnerships on Instagram work better than branded posts : the reasons are the same.

Planning creators the way you plan a media campaign

SharkNinja, a company that makes appliances like air fryers and vacuum cleaners, has made creators 70% of all the content it produces. But the most interesting part isn't the quantity: it's the method. For every new product, the company builds a specific plan that answers two questions. How much content is needed to be competitive in that category? And what type of creator tells that story best?

A creator with few followers (called a "nano-creator") works well for niche products or for building trust. One with a larger audience is useful for introducing the brand to new people. The two roles are different and not interchangeable. Using them together, with a clear plan, is what makes the difference.

SharkNinja also has an internal team that monitors what is going viral every day and prepares creative ideas to give to creators. They don't wait: they react in real time. For an Italian company with more limited resources, even just dedicating one person to this task—even part-time—changes the results. If you are evaluating how to structure this work, look at what is offered today the new Meta hub for brands and creators : it is a practical tool for finding and managing collaborations.

Giving up creative control: when it really pays off

The hardest lesson to put into practice comes from a home decor company. In the first season of their video series, they worked with everyday people who didn't have their own following. Result: 200 million views and 9 million dollars in sales. Great numbers. But for season two, they switched it up: they picked creators with an established audience and let them talk about the brand in their own way.

The marketing manager admitted that this choice scared him. Giving up control of the message goes against the instinct of anyone managing a brand. But the data from the second season shows 50% higher audience engagement compared to the first. The reason: the creator's audience trusts the creator, not the brand. If the brand becomes a "guest" instead of the "host," the message comes across much stronger.

For us, this is the difference between using creators as a megaphone and using them as allies. The first approach wastes budget. The second builds trust, which is the only thing that really converts in the long run. You can learn more about how artificial intelligence is also changing the production of this content in the article on Creator content and AI: more than half of consumers prefer them .

If you want to understand how to structure this kind of strategy for your company, our pages on Digital marketing and google ads campaigns show how we integrate these channels into a coherent plan. You can find more practical insights in the area Marketing and ADV performance .

What to check before starting a creator partnership

• Define the goal before the creator: do you want direct sales, brand awareness, or trust? The type of creator changes based on the answer.
• Look at the engagement rate, not the followers: a creator with 50,000 highly active followers is worth more than one with 500,000 passive ones.
• Prepare a product plan, not a generic campaign: each launch needs a different mix of small, medium, and large creators.
• Give creators a clear brief but leave them freedom of style: guardrails are useful, but total control kills the authenticity that makes content effective.
• Measure sales generated, not just views: use tracked links or dedicated discount codes to attribute sales to each creator.
• Monitor what works every week: Viral content changes fast; those who react in real-time get better results than those who plan everything months in advance.

Frequently Asked Questions

The right creator doesn't just amplify your message: they make it credible to people who don't know you yet.