It’s time to talk about creator commerce.
Creator commerce drives billions of dollars in revenue for brands globally.
Why? Because over 80% of consumers are open to influencers suggesting new things to purchase.
Here’s what creator commerce is, and how brands can take advantage of it.
Table of Contents
What Is Creator Commerce?
Creator commerce refers to the multitude of ways that influencers, creators, and bloggers sell another brand’s products directly to their audience.
And it works. Brands working with creators are increasing their budgets after they see how effective influencer marketing is.
To stay ahead of your competitors and build your business, creator commerce is a no-brainer.
When working with brands, creators are compensated for creating and posting content and might make additional money via referral bonuses and commissions.
Common examples of creator commerce include affiliate marketing, using their link in bio to promote a brand’s products, or executing full-scale influencer marketing campaigns.
Tips For Creator Commerce Success
Success lies in execution. Here are four tips to get you started on the right foot.
Tip #1: Amplify Influencer Marketing Campaigns With Affiliate Links
Affiliate links seriously scale up your success.
Affiliate marketing drives ROI with creators using trackable links that give them a commission for any sales they make when promoting your product.
It’s not just about creators telling their audience about your brand, but driving measurable sales.
If you’re already working with influencers to drive sales, affiliate links can prove campaign ROI and make you an appealing brand to work with when you add in commission.
That’s where Later’s collaboration with Mavely comes in. The new partnership means you get Mavely’s best-in-class affiliate platform embedded within Later Influence, making it easier than ever to work with top creators.
Tip #2: Find the Right Influencers
In any creator commerce campaign, you have to find the right influencers.
This isn’t just about obvious details like audience size, but looking for brand-audience-influencer fit.
You’ll want to look for creators in your niche; there are creators who specialize in verticals like food and beverage, consumer packaged goods, and fashion and beauty.
You’ll want to ensure those creators have an approach, content style, and personal brand that aligns with your brand’s values before reaching out to work with them.
Here’s where using an influencer database makes a major difference.
Later’s Influencer Index has 10M+ creators to explore and find the right match for your campaign.
Book a free demo to see how it works today.
Tip #3: Work With Experts
Building a creator commerce campaign has many moving parts, from negotiating partnerships to approving and evaluating content.
This becomes more complex when you add in tracking and evaluating analytics to improve existing campaigns and report on performance.
The best way to ensure nothing falls through the cracks is to work with a trusted team of experts like Later Influence’s Services team.
The team has produced hundreds of campaigns for eCommerce brands.
They know the best ways to strategize campaigns, execute influencer marketing strategies, and evaluate data to make sure you get the highest ROI working with creators.
Tip #4: Think Like A Creator
When you’re designing your programs, think about it from the creator's perspective:
Are you providing them with fair compensation?
Are you giving them creative freedom without micromanaging output? (This is easy with the right influencer campaign brief.)
Is the campaign messaging aligned with the creator’s audience?
Have you provided enough information that the creator can effectively execute this campaign?
Putting yourself in the creator’s seat will help you design a campaign that works for everyone involved.
When that happens, you can unlock creativity that drives business results.
3 Examples of Creator Commerce
Here are a few examples to give you inspiration for your creator commerce campaigns.
Lay's “In Or Out” Campaign
When you want to eat a sandwich and chips, do you put the chips inside the sandwich or keep them on your plate?
This lighthearted debate became the foundation of a viral influencer marketing campaign for Lay's.
Working with TikTok influencers, the brand asked everyone to post videos explaining their take on the “in or out” debate. One 30-second video from @nick_kratka generated over 6M impressions.
This kind of campaign shows how injecting some fun into your messaging can drive not just engagement, but real results for your brand.
Nike “Holistic Fitness” Campaign
Nike wanted to promote the in-store shopping experience and bring a new concept into their next campaign: what do mindfulness and movement look like for you?
The brand tasked influencers to showcase their latest offering, Zenvy leggings, with in-store videos for TikTok.
Influencer @maddytaylor opted for a “come shopping with me” style video, which allowed her to show her followers around the Nike store and encourage them to check out Zenvy leggings.
The result? The campaign generated over 12M impressions and over 18K engagements.
One particular element of the video was the try-on and “haul” approach.
This viral video structure gave people an opportunity to ask questions about how the leggings fit and how they feel when they wear them, increasing engagement.
Sherwin-Williams “Spring Refresh” Campaign
Paint brand Sherwin-Williams worked with creators to create makeover content that resonated with their audience.
They asked influencers to create a two-video series promoting the brand’s Virtual Color Consultation service.
TikTok influencer @kileerainbow shared her journey of frustration with finding color palettes that felt good and matched the space she wanted to renovate.
From there, she could seamlessly talk about her experience with the Virtual Color Consultation.
Kilee was able to show how helpful the service was in developing a unique palette that looked beautiful in her space.
This authentic promotion drove over 3M impressions.
Because Kilee showed how she’s actually using the service, viewers could take inspiration from her before-and-after transformation.
Boost Creator Commerce Campaigns With Affiliate Marketing
If you’re looking to increase eCommerce sales in 2025, you have to think about creator commerce.
The key to success? How you strategize, build, and manage your campaigns.
To achieve success, you need to work with a team that truly understands the ins and outs of creator commerce campaigns.
Later’s Services team can help you set up an affiliate marketing program using Later’s partnership with Mavely, ensuring you can create affiliate links, track profits and performance, and pay creators out within the Later Influence platform.
Book a demo with Later Influence to learn more about the partnership and what it can do for your brand.
