Brands Broadcast; Creators Connect.

YouTube influencers already speak to (and are trusted by) your target audience, no matter what you’re promoting. Creators possess in-depth knowledge about YouTube Analytics, viewership patterns, and content strategy. Like-minded and connected, they are more than merely viewers, or eyeballs; they are a tribe.  They can be on-camera talent, writers, camerapersons, video editors, and project managers. They possess a large range of talent and capabilities, and brands can work closely with a single top creator for a large fee, or enlist a number of smaller creators at lower costs.

Is your brand ready to collaborate?

1. 1. Is the goal broad reach, or something else? If you’re just looking for views and alignment, sometimes a straight-up media buy might be the better approach. Collaborations benefit from relationship building and take time and resources to nurture. Consider your key performance indicators before engaging creators.

1. 1. Do you have the budget for both production and supporting media buys? Collaborations often exist beyond the creator’s channel; brands normally engage a supporting media strategy to kick-start success, generate buzz, and reach incremental audiences beyond that one channel’s core audience.

1. 1. Is the brand comfortable letting a YouTube creator have full creative control? Working with a creator is different from working with an agency. Creators will want to produce content aligned with their previous videos and will focus on pleasing their existing loyal audiences.

1. 1. Who’s going to own this: an internal team, or a creative or media agency? Someone needs to own, drive, and project manage the creative executions. There can be many moving parts working with many cross-functional divisions: do you have the resources?

1. 1. Is the creative integral to the brand’s creative strategy? Collaborations are most effective when built into a content strategy from the very beginning.

1. Will the brand and creator be transparent about the relationship?YouTube requires any paid product placement, endorsement, or other commercial relationship to be indicated in the Video Manager when a video is uploaded to the site. It’s also important to check for compliance with applicable local laws around disclosing this compensation.

YouTube is about building and engaging with communities. Creators consider factors like how viewers will react to sponsored content, and how frequently they can include branded content in their programming before agreeing to any collaboration or branded content campaign. Partnering with creators who share the same values and purpose as your organization is one of the best ways to demonstrate a brand’s authenticity.

• • Viewership: Are their views, watch times, and engagement levels sufficient to meet the brand’s campaign goals?

• • Audience: Does the creator’s audience correspond to the campaign’s target audience? Think bigger than demographic data, to include passion points, competencies, and affinities.

• • Safety: Are there messages on the creator’s channel that could harm the brand? Is family-friendly content a consideration for the campaign?

• • Production quality: Is the content quality on the creator’s channel something that the brand can be integrated with?

• • Professionalism: Is the creator easy to work with? Have they done brand deals before? Do they have a team in place to handle contracts and project management?

• • Additional promotional levers: Are there opportunities to tap into the creator’s network or larger audience beyond YouTube?

• • Cost: Is the creator’s regular content on the high or low end of the production scale? Does it require locations and special effects? Popular creators can be more expensive to work with.

• Brand affinity: Is the creator a good fit for the brand, and will they be a compelling brand ambassador? Are there overlaps in voice and tone? Do they like the brand? Would they want to work with the brand?

Learn to work together

Steps in creator collaboration:

1. 1. Step 1: Connect. The brand reaches out to a creator, sometimes with a preliminary request for proposal or a creative brief. Discuss involvement levels of all parties, ownership of the final product, media promotion, viewership targets, expenses, payment schedules, and creative alignment before proceeding.

1. 1. Step 2: Develop the concept. The brand and a creator decide on the video concept and what the final product will be.

1. 1. Step 3: Produce the campaign. This process may be 100% in the hands of creators, or there may be representatives from a brand or agency on set. The brand may be responsible for some aspects of production, such as props or locations.

1. 1. Step 4: Conduct evaluations. The brand’s legal or public relations teams may need to approve a campaign before launch. Be sure to follow YouTube’s paid product placements and endorsements guidelines, as well as applicable local laws on disclosing these financial relationships.

1. Step 5: Launch! The video campaign is live. If it appears on the creator’s channel, be aware that most countries have laws requiring disclosure in the video’s title or description if a creator was compensated for making it.

How creators work with brands