One of the main goals of marketing is to generate sales and raise awareness of your brand among other things.
There are different strategies to get that done and one of them is content marketing.
We're pretty sure you've heard the phrase ‘content is king’ countless times.
But, here's a plot twist: content is only king if it's authentic and your audience can relate to it.
This way, meeting your goals becomes pretty direct because people can see real-life cases of your products being used.
So, how do you get authentic content?
First, you must be sure of what you want and then find the right people to work with.
That’s why in this piece, we will:
- Look at the differences between content creators and actors
- Show real-life examples of brands using creators
Our goal is to help you learn more about both of them and know which one would work best for you.
Let's get started!
[fs-toc-omit]Table of Contents
Actors vs. Content Creators: 4 Key Differences
2 Examples of Brands Working with Content Creators for UGC Campaigns
Actors vs. Content Creators: 4 Key Differences
Two sets of professionals you can work with when creating content for social media are actors and content creators.
Actors are people who are skilled in acting. They follow a script that tells them what to say and how to act.
Content creators produce content that caters to the needs of a specific audience.
Both of them leverage a form of marketing, known as influencer marketing.
It involves getting people who have influence in a niche to endorse your product or service.
It’s a huge industry and according to reports, is set to reach $16.4 billion in 2022.
As a result, over 70% of marketers have plans to increase their influencer marketing budget.
There’s only one reason why brand marketers would want to do that.
They’re seeing results!
Statistics show that 48% of consumers prefer to follow creators that look like everyday people.
Also, running ads from a creator’s social media handle (creator licensing) has been reported to perform better than traditional ads by about 20-50%.
So, who do you collaborate with to create user-generated content that converts?
To answer that, let’s go through the differences between actors and creators.
Difference #1: Authenticity
Being authentic lets people know if a story that’s being told is true or not.
Creators are generally more authentic than actors.
They are not trying to force their passion when they’re on camera and consumers love that about them.
Over 20% of consumers say they will unfollow a creator if they feel they’re not authentic.
They also say they can’t trust an influencer if they promote a product they don’t care about.
Consumers have soaked in a whole lot of branded ads in the past to know when content isn’t authentic.
That’s why it’s important to give influencers creative freedom when working with them and choose people who are considered experts in your industry.
That way, the kind of results you get will be of individuals who:
- Have used your product
- Understand its benefits
- Know how it works
- Understand the gap it fills compared to your competitors
You will agree that people will find it easier to trust the recommendation of someone who has sufficient knowledge about your product.
Actors on the other hand are able to put on a good show.
They do a great job creating content but it may not always come out as authentic, and that’s what consumers are looking for.
Difference #2: Relatability
This is a quality of being sympathetic or easy to understand.
In other words, people are able to relate to what’s being said because they’ve been through similar experiences.
Which of these professionals have this quality?
Creators do!
People see the content created and are captivated by the passion with which creators put content up, and that does a good job of selling the product.
Potential customers see that and go… oh that’s me right there.
There’s an instant connection and that’s the kind of experience that you want the audience to have.
Imagine this scenario:
You’re dealing with eczema and while scrolling through your For You Page (FYP) on TikTok, you come across a creator’s post that says ‘Eczema is the Worst’.
The first instinct you’d have is to wait and see what they have to say even if you are searching for something else.
Why?
The content is something you can relate to.
You can go through their profile, see the creator’s journey, and how it resonates with you, and as a result, would feel more comfortable buying whatever they recommend.
They are easier to relate to than actors.
Perhaps that’s why 80% of consumers are more likely to buy products that are recommended by creators.
Actors, on the other hand, may not have a journey potential buyers can relate to.
Difference #3: Content that can be transformed and repurposed
Another difference between creators and actors is that content created by actors can be transformed.
In other words, the content can serve different purposes as you see fit.
When creating content, you want to avoid ad fatigue—this is when your audience becomes bored with your ads because they’ve seen them so many times.
This eventually leads to your ads being less effective.
How do you avoid this?
By creating content that can be transformed into various content types.
It’s better to work with actors in this case.
You get to tell them what to say—a script.
Then your editing team can pull appropriate hooks for marketing or transform the script into whatever type of content you want.
The whole idea is that people can move up the sales funnel and buy your product without feeling bored along the way.
Difference #4: Creative brief
This refers to a document that contains details about the content you want to come up with.
A creative brief usually includes:
- Information about your brand
- Details about your product
- Target audience
- What kind of creator you would like to work with
- The social platform the content would be on
To be more precise, a creative brief helps content creators and actors to do a better job.
So, where’s the difference?
For actors, you will usually need to include a detailed script in the brief when working with them.
As you are well aware, actors usually need a script for them to be effective.
Creators, on the other hand, only need talking points.
Talking points mean things you would like them to talk about in the video. It’s basically what should be included.
This gives them creative freedom and it’s very important if you want content that the audience can relate to.
In other words, they can do their thing.
Not being told what to say and how to say it ensures that the content is authentic as viewers can always identify fake.
How do you create a creative brief?
There are different ways, but using Insense is pretty straightforward. You can even include sample videos for them to use as references.
We’ve got a guide on how you can put together a creative brief.
To summarize, content creators are great for user-generated campaigns if you want relatable and authentic content for your audience. Actors are a better option if you want a highly scripted ad.
Now, let’s show you examples of brands that have and still partner with content creators.
2 Examples of Brands Working with Content Creators for UGC Campaigns
There are brands similar to yours that have been collaborating with creators for their UGC campaigns.
They’ve also had content and the kind of results you want.
We highlight only two of them below.
1. Hollywood Hair Bar
The Hollywood Hair Bar (HHB) is an all-natural skincare brand in Los Angeles.
Their products claim to produce tremendous results when used and what better way to advertise them than working with social media users people can relate to—content creators.
HHB’s landing page contains testimonials (which is a form of UGC) from people who’ve used their product.
Their TikTok and Instagram accounts are equally filled with user-generated content made by creators sharing views about the HHB’s products and how it has helped them.
Most of such content has between 500–400k views on their TikTok page.
2. Wonderskin
Our second example is a beauty brand that specializes in skincare and makeup products.
According to Wonderskin, they design products that work for their customers.
It’s actually written boldly on their website: Breakthrough beauty that works better for you.
With statements like that, it’s only right that they partner with creators for UGC campaigns.
And we see that on their Instagram and TikTok accounts.
They’ve got content from creators describing how Wonderskin’s product has been of help.
Let’s tie this up!
Now Over to You
It’s a wrap!
We hope you’ve learned the difference between working with a content creator and an actor.
And if you’re wondering where you can find those fab creators you can work with, you’ll be happy to know that we’ve got over 35k creators you can collaborate with.
Don’t hesitate to book a demo with Insense!
We’ll ensure you get help every step of the way.
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