Why Influencer Marketing Works for Some Brands and Fails for Others

What makes influencer marketing and content creator partnerships really work? In this episode, I talk to Jolene Roelofse, the founder and CEO of one of the leading influencer marketing agencies, Fluence Africa, who's also the founder of the Africa Creator Festival.

We're also joined by Sipo Alfim-Kwanazi, content creator, storyteller, and MC.

Someone who's known for creating a piece of content on TikTok today and being at the Safda's presenting awards tomorrow.

From being on a Netflix movie or show today to showing up on another channel, creating another piece of content.

We talk about why influencer and content creator partnerships work and why they don't work.

Coming from a marketing background, the marketers that get it right are the ones that believe in having, like some of the brands we work with, a squad that is always on a group of people that continuously tell the story.

They play an ambassadorial role as opposed to just, I'm an influencer, I'm a content creator.

We also get into why authenticity matters so much in content creation and why brands need to give content creators the freedom to create and build.

And of course, with AI growing so rapidly within the influencer marketing space where we are seeing synthetic content, content creators also creating content and influencing on behalf of brands, we also discuss where we are with that today and where that puts content creators and the brands they partner with.

Understanding the concept of AI, how AI is being used is very important because you can't put your head in the sand and go, oh, no, it's not going to affect me.

I'm good.

I'm authenticity.

I've got that on lock.

You know, my numbers are great and all that sort of stuff.

No.

Understand what AI is doing.

Understand what's going on.

And when you find yourself in a situation where you can actually even seed it slowly in your content, why not?

This is The Lead Creative.

I'm your host, Mongia Zimtati.

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