Creator Content beyond The Social Feed
In this conversation, Linqia strategy lead Keith Bendes tells Gordon Glenister that the influencer debate has moved on. Brands no longer ask whether creators are worth it, they ask how much to spend and how to do it well. The newest shift, over the last 18 to 24 months, is the realization that creator content does not belong only in the social feed. It outperforms polished brand content across connected TV, audio, digital out-of-home, programmatic display, billboards, and even television, as long as it is re-edited to fit each channel. Bendes argues a single influencer campaign can power an entire marketing engine, and closes with the trends he expects to define 2026.
Key highlights
The era of justifying influencer marketing is over. The conversation with brands is now how much to spend and how to do it strategically, not whether to invest at all.
The big shift of the last 18 to 24 months is that creator content is no longer just a social play. Brands are moving it into connected TV, audio, digital out-of-home, and programmatic display buys.
People want to see relatable people, not over-produced commercials, especially as TV viewing falls and online attention spans keep shrinking.
In one B2B campaign this year, Linqia sent 8 LinkedIn experts a fake CMO product to film spoof influencer videos, then stitched the clips into a hero asset plus a TV spot, billboard, train station ad, display ad, and PDP page, proving one influencer campaign can power an entire marketing engine.
Tested against brand content on any channel, creator content outperforms, and it takes just one AB test on television for a client to see how large the variance is.
It is not creator or brand, it is both. On a campaign with a frequency of 7, Bendes might serve 4 creator ads, 1 brand ad, then 2 more, using the brand message to set the tone.
The idea that creator content looks too rough for premium channels is nonsense. Applebee's built a whole commercial from social content around the song Fancy, and McDonald's deliberately left the TikTok likes and comments on screen in a TV spot.
Do not drop raw creator clips into new channels. With smartly structured contracts you own the usage rights, then post-production makes the content native to each placement.
For 2026, Bendes predicts three trends: serialized or episodic content built on a consistent style and cadence rather than trend chasing, higher production quality, and longer, richer storytelling.