Creators are a staple of social media. Whether they’re influencing, educating or entertaining, creators capture audience attention. Marketers have taken notice, with 74% planning to spend more than a quarter of their budgets on creator partnerships in the next year. Sprout Social’s data report, “The Creator Economy: Making Dollars and Sense Out of Social Partnerships”, surveyed over 500 U.S. marketers to understand how the creator economy is developing.

Here are some key findings from the report:

As the creator economy develops, most marketers have more questions than answers.

• 41% of marketers want to use creators to promote their brand values, but 34% report difficulty finding creators who reflect them.
• 25% of marketers use creators to alleviate the content creation burden, but 36% lack the internal resources to manage the relationship.

Creators and brands are finding new ways to work together.

• Story posts, links in bios and branded shoutouts are the top way marketers partner with creators, regardless of platform.
• 50% of marketers hire creators to develop educational content about their product.

Creator compensation is still murky. 

• 45% of marketers cite budget as a major concern when hiring creators, whether that’s needing more of it or not knowing how to allocate it.
• YouTube is the most expensive platform for creator collaboration, with the average branded video costing $475.

Check out Sprout Social’s new creator economy report for more data and insights about the future of creator partnerships.

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