This week, I had the opportunity to speak at the Digital Summit in Raleigh on “Adapting to the New Creator Economy: Building Impactful Influencer Partnerships in a Post-Platform World“
A big thank you to the Digital Summit team for hosting me, and to everyone who filled the room with curiosity, energy, and thoughtful questions. It was such a pleasure to connect with marketers who are eager to learn how to evolve their influencer strategies for today’s changing landscape.
Here are a few of the highlights and ideas that resonated most during my session:
✨ Follow creators, not platforms
Social platforms are increasingly unstable, and brands are learning that long-term success comes from building around people, not channels. When creators cultivate loyal audiences across multiple touchpoints, those relationships become much more durable than any algorithm.
🎥 Creator-generated content (CGC) is outperforming brand content
Audiences crave authenticity, and the numbers prove it. Lo-fi, creator-produced content regularly drives higher engagement and delivers stronger ROI than polished studio shoots. At Sway Group, we’re seeing a major increase in requests for CGC, and it’s no surprise. It’s faster, more affordable, and far more relatable.
🤝 Flexibility builds trust and better results
When brands collaborate closely with creators and give them creative freedom, they see richer storytelling and better performance. Authenticity happens when creators are allowed to sound like themselves, not like an ad.
📜 Usage rights are an opportunity, not a limitation
We talked a lot about how to negotiate usage rights strategically so brands can get more mileage out of the content they’re already paying for. With the right contracts and expectations, influencer content can be repurposed across paid, owned, and retail channels, turning one campaign into months of assets.
🔍 Finding and vetting the right creators matters more than ever
The best partnerships start with alignment. We discussed how to look beyond follower counts and focus on audience fit, engagement quality, and brand safety. A smaller, more genuine creator with a deeply invested audience often outperforms someone with a larger but less engaged following.
The biggest takeaway from the session: the influencer space is evolving quickly, but brands that stay flexible, build real relationships, and think creator-first are the ones who will thrive in this post-platform era.
If you attended, thank you for making it such an engaging discussion. And if you missed it, stay tuned. There’s a lot more to share about how brands can future-proof their creator partnerships in the months ahead.
Danielle