As we look to 2023, creator-led marketing continues to expand its impact on the marketing world. According to one study, 60% of marketers said that influencer-generated content outperforms branded posts. As a result, creators are seeing their compensation increase to correspond with the value they’re driving brands. The success of influencer marketing has demonstrated the importance that consumers place on word-of-mouth recommendations and social proof.
The beauty of influencer marketing lies in its celebration of creators’ unique voices. Impactful creators come in all forms, shapes, and sizes, from micro-influencers to celebrity powerhouses, and from online jokesters to political analysts. Below, we spotlight three creators to watch in 2023, and highlight how their differences have positioned them for success.
Coming in hot as Tarte Cosmetics’ No. 1 EMV-driver from September to November 2022 was micro-influencer and costume makeup guru Naomi, known as Bunny & Fawn on social media. While it's rare for a micro-influencer to rank as a large brand’s top EMV-driver, Naomi is a shining example of how smaller-scale creators inspire an intimate connection with their followings. With a mere 37.5k followers across social channels, Naomi’s Instagram engagement rate exceeds the average of Tarte’s other top nine earners by a whopping 118%. During that time frame, Naomi secured $825.2k EMV for Tarte via 83 posts, a 642% EMV increase from the prior three months. While many brands in the beauty and cosmetics spaces saw EMV declines during the same time frame, there’s no doubt that Naomi can be partially credited with Tarte’s 13% boost.
How did she pull it off? As seen by her 83 posts mentioning the brand, she clearly put in work. More importantly, she kept her followers inspired, consistently posting fresh makeup ideas via video tutorials across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube—an important factor, given that video content tends to generate higher engagement, and therefore ROI. Naomi posted entertainment-inspired body art tutorials, often based on cartoons, celebrities, and holiday looks. Among her ~1k posts during the time frame monitored, Naomi shared 31 consecutive Halloween makeup looks for the 31 days in October, with her top post being a tutorial inspired by the character Helga Sinclair from Disney’s 2001 animated feature film “Atlantis: The Lost Empire.” The post generated 467 comments, a 19% engagement rate, and ultimately secured $116.8k EMV for all 13 brands mentioned, making Naomi a top creator for the likes of L'Oréal Paris, Maybelline, and NYX, in addition to Tarte.
Content creator Rashan Mh has her hands in all-things fashion and beauty. Most notably, the established influencer ranked among haircare brand ghd’s top 30 earners during the time period monitored, despite authoring just three branded posts. Her highest-earning piece of content featured a hair-curling tutorial that used ghd’s HELIOS hair dryer and ceramic brush hair rolls, resulting in a comment from the brand itself. Thanks in part to representation from Rashan, ghd enjoyed $15.1M EMV during the time frame monitored, an 18% boost versus the previous three months.
With just north of 500k followers across Instagram and TikTok, Rashan drives quite the impact. For reference, ghd’s 44 established content creators from September to November each averaged $50.0k EMV, while the brand’s 42 powerhouse creators averaged $79.1k EMV each. Meanwhile, Rashan drove $103.4k EMV for the brand, exceeding averages for both groups. While ghd proved Rashan’s top brand, she also sparked buzz for fashion brands Dior, Zara, and The North Face.
Powerhouse fashion maven Vanessa Chen has been on the rise for quite some time now, largely by touting “fast-fashion” brands such as Aldo Shoes, Boohoo, Shein and more. This year, Vanessa even scored press in top-tier publications like Nylon, Vogue, and Business Insider. During the time period monitored, she ranked as shapewear brand SKIMS’ No. 1 ambassador, collecting $428.3k EMV via just nine posts, a 33% boost in EMV versus the three months prior. For comparison, the average potency of SKIMS’ powerhouse creators as a whole was only $54.1k EMV. Additionally, Vanessa’s nine mentions of SKIMS proved the lowest post count among the brand’s top 15 EMV-drivers. So how did she power so much engagement?
As seen by the examples of Naomi, Rashan, and Vanessa, creator marketing celebrates influencers of all backgrounds, community tiers, styles, and voices. As we look to 2023, creators will further their stake in the industry, along with the sense of authenticity they bring to their followers via embracing their differences.