Creators share what they want businesses to know about brand deals now and in the future

Brands big and small often team up with creators to help reach new people and communities and up-level their creative. Creator Week is a time when creators join Meta to celebrate, collaborate and, of course, create. This year, Creator Week events spanned Los Angeles, Indonesia, Brazil, the UK and India, with creators learning from each other and getting tips about how to grow their communities. Digital media creator @jowaansully created reels onsite at Creator Week Los Angeles highlighting interviews with emerging creators on the future of brand and creator partnerships and the storytelling power of Reels.

Throughout the evening, many creators spoke about the importance of businesses letting them be their most authentic selves in their collaborations—and, in turn, authentically advocate for the brand they’re working with.

One of Meta’s “On the Rise” creators, musician @mikaylageier, likes to make brand deals feel “seamless” for her audience. “For businesses that want to collaborate with creators, I would highly recommend giving some kind of creative freedom to the creators to give their input on what they think would be the best way to showcase your product,” she advised. “We do this day in, day out… we know what works on the internet.”

Say your business wants to reach new potential customers. Collaborating with a creator could help you achieve that goal by gaining “visibility into an audience that might not gravitate towards [your] brand,” said @jowaansully. “I know just by merging with [a] brand, my friends would be like, if Jowann’s okaying it, then it must be dope, and I need to check it out.” Data shows that creators are connecting businesses with their community through personalized and relatable content. For example, 51% of people surveyed agree that “I trust what a creator says about a brand more than what the brand says about itself.”¹

According to Meta’s “Future-Ready” creator of tomorrow @donalleniii, the future of brand and creator partnerships in the metaverse is going to be centered around three F’s: freedom, flexibility and fluidity. Don Allen suggested that businesses will have more freedom in the metaverse when working with creators to go over the top and “be extra” in their partnerships. In the metaverse, businesses aren’t limited by the physical restraints of current reality, allowing for more experimentation and multiple creator identities.

Learn more by watching the videos here about how Reels elevate storytelling and what types of branded content could come in the future from “Future-Ready” creators of tomorrow such as @paigepiskin.

Want to learn more about partnering with creators? Get 6 tips for working with creators to help fuel business growth—and get advice directly from a creator our how-to guide.