As creator marketing budgets continue to dominate in Australia, brands are increasingly moving away from short-term influencer bursts toward building long-term creator ecosystems that deliver compounding returns.
Sharyn Smith, founder and CEO of Social Soup, told Mediaweek that the shift is driven by stronger ROI, deeper audience trust, and more sophisticated measurement frameworks, as marketers reassess how creators fit into broader media and commerce strategies.
“There are a couple of layers to it,” Smith said.
“A big part is the investment brands make in finding, matching, onboarding, educating and building relationships with creators. That takes time, so it makes sense to work with those creators long term to really see the ROI, rather than starting from scratch with every short-term campaign.”
Sharyn Smith, founder and CEO of Social Soup.
Engagement compounds when relationships come first
Smith said long-term partnerships allow creators and audiences to build familiarity with brands in a way that short campaigns rarely achieve.
“When there’s an authentic alignment between a creator and a brand, audiences respond more over time,” she said.
“The relationship comes first, and the content follows. Audiences come to expect that content because they know the creator genuinely likes the brand and is creating something useful, which naturally drives stronger engagement.”
One of the clearest examples of this compounding effect is in long-running creator programs.
“One of our longest-running programs is with Aldi, which is entering its eighth year,” Smith said.
“Some creators have worked with Aldi for that entire period. Across the program, engagement has grown from around 3% to close to 10%, meaning one in ten people are engaging with the content. Those engagement rates are well above industry benchmarks,” Smith added
Brands are still missing a joined-up approach
Despite growing investment, Smith believes many marketers still fail to integrate creator marketing into their wider ecosystems.
“There’s often a lack of joined-up thinking,” she said.
“Influencer marketing is still siloed from social, e-commerce, reviews and conversion strategies. Brands need to think holistically about the whole ecosystem and the different roles creators can play across awareness, consideration and conversion.”
She also pointed to the performance of micro and mid-tier creators as an area where assumptions continue to lag reality.
“That bigger creators are always better is one of the biggest assumptions marketers need to rethink,” Smith said.
“Time and again, we see stronger ROI from working with a large group of micro or mid-tier creators rather than a single macro creator. Creators in the 10,000 to 50,000 follower range consistently perform extremely well.”
Measurement needs to go deeper than likes
As budgets increase, Smith said scrutiny around measurement has intensified, forcing brands to move beyond surface-level metrics.
“Many brands are still focused on basic metrics that don’t reflect real impact,” she said.
“We need proper pre- and post-campaign research around brand awareness, consideration and brand equity. Engagement alone doesn’t tell you whether perceptions are actually shifting.”
She added that engagement behaviour itself has changed, particularly among younger audiences.
“People may watch content without liking or commenting,” Smith said. “That doesn’t mean the content isn’t working. Metrics like saves, sentiment and utility are often more meaningful indicators.”