Creator partnerships: what companies can learn from brands that get it right

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

Why creators have become urgent for SMEs too

Not long ago, working with creators (people who produce content for an online audience) seemed like something for big American brands with huge budgets. Not anymore. Data presented at Shoptalk Fall, the most-followed retail conference in the United States, shows that nearly half of the brands using creators get a return at least three times their spend. And budgets for this channel have grown 33% compared with the previous year.

For an Italian company running ad campaigns, this means one thing: ignoring creators means leaving room for competitors who are already using them. The topic is explored in the original Digiday article, which gathers the firsthand 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 biggest promotional day, it lined up 25 creators going live at the same time. 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, followers trust them the way they'd trust a friend. An Italian fashion, cosmetics or furniture company can replicate this logic: look for niche creators who already speak to your 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 respond to the content. On this topic, it's also worth reading why creator partnerships on Instagram work better than brand posts: the reasons are the same.

Plan 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 volume: 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 in-house team that monitors what's going viral every day and prepares creative ideas to hand to creators. It doesn't wait: it reacts in real time. For an Italian company with more limited resources, even dedicating one person to this task, even part-time, changes the results. If you're considering how to structure this work, take a look at what the new Meta hub for brands and creators offers today: it's a practical tool for finding and managing collaborations.

Giving up creative control: when it really pays off

The hardest lesson to apply comes from a furniture company. In the first season of its video series, it worked with everyday people who had no audience of their own. The result: 200 million views and $9 million in sales. Great numbers. But in the second season it changed approach: it chose creators with an established audience and gave them the freedom to tell the brand's story their own way.

The marketing manager admitted that this choice scared him. Giving up control of the message goes against the instincts of anyone running a brand. But the second season's data shows 50% higher audience engagement than the first. The reason: the creator's audience trusts the creator, not the brand. When the brand becomes the "guest" instead of the "host," the message lands with more force.

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 truly converts in the long run. You can learn more about how artificial intelligence is changing the production of this content too in the article on creator content and AI: more than half of consumers prefer it.

If you want to understand how to structure a strategy like this for your company, our pages on digital marketing and Google Ads campaigns show how we integrate these channels into a coherent plan. You'll find more practical insights in the Marketing and ad performance section.

What to check before launching a creator partnership

• Define the goal before the creator: do you want direct sales, awareness or trust? The type of creator changes depending on the answer.
• Look at engagement rate, not followers: a creator with 50,000 highly active followers is worth more than one with 500,000 passive ones.
• Prepare a plan per product, not a generic campaign: every launch needs a different mix of small, mid-size and large creators.
• Give creators a clear brief but leave room for their style: guardrails are needed, but total control kills the authenticity that makes content effective.
• Measure the 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 ahead.

Frequently Asked Questions

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