What's the difference between an influencer and a creator?

greetings, everyone! happy tuesday! hope you’ve had a great week so far. this edition was supposed to go live last thursday, but we hit some tech issues so here we are re-editing it at 6:09AM sitting in bed with my red light mask on.

this weekend, I traveled to sunny palm springs to attend and speak at my very first Etail. if you’re here, reply back and say hi! i’m speaking today at 3:15PM EST on Track 4.

last week, I had the honor of being one of two guest speakers for a UCLA class discussion around how to find creators, influencers, and many more topics taught my someone I look up to: Lia Haberman.

this discussion hit on so many topics that I want to dive deeper into here and one of the ones that stuck with me that also keeps coming up in meetings is: the difference between a creator and an influencer.

today we’ll break down:

• the difference between whether you’re looking for a creator influencer and why it matters

• the best way to engage in partnerships with creators and influencers

• what the strengths are for creators and influencers and how they support your brand

let’s get into it.

Community is one of the top things I am constantly asked about my brands, especially as many are seeing it as key focus in expanding their digital footprint. However, running an end to end influencer, affiliate and/or referral program can be quite exhausting to say the least, especially if you’re a small team or even just one person.

This week, I am excited and grateful to Andy, Anders, Paul and the rest of the team at SUPERFILIATE for sponsoring this edition of No Filter. Superfiliate has been in my tech stack for a variety of clients for over a year. They recently just launched their new Automations, which is one of those things I haven’t been able to shut up about. They were able to find a way to streamline a ton of program management by fully automating key processes so that you can focus your time on other things like focus on building relationships and driving sales aka the things that you need to do to scale a successful program.

If you’re looking for:
A) Automated Creator Recruitment: Automatically send direct messages inviting creators who mention your brand in their content to join your program.
B) Keyword-Based Engagement: Set specific keywords that, when used by creators in story replies or reel comments, trigger an invitation to apply to your program or nurture the relationships.
C) Application Management: Automatically approve or decline program applications based on criteria such as follower count or specific application responses.
D) Instant Activation: Notify accepted creators immediately and provide them with their unique links and codes to start promoting your brand.
E) User-Generated Content Integration: Automatically add user-generated content, like stories and reels that mention your brand, to a creator's co-branded landing page. Did I mention that any creator in a Superfiliate program gets their own landing page like this to help increase conversion?
F) Performance-Based Promotion: Automatically elevate creators to higher program tiers based on metrics like conversions or referral revenue.

If you want to see how a brand like Cymbiotika (their Vitamin C packets SAVE my life) is leveraging a tool like this, click here. With their help, it’s been so awesome to prove that community is truly everything. Plus, keeping all things from seeing affiliate sales, content, conversations, and all in one place so that I don’t need a piecemeal tech stack is a dream.

If you want to chat with the team, just tell them I sent you and click the link HERE for a free month on me.

In the world of social media marketing, the terms of “creator” and “influencer” get thrown around interchangeably, but they’re not the same. I won’t lie that I flip them sometimes, too.

However, if you’re building a brand, understanding the distinction is crucial for crafting an effective marketing strategy and to know how to properly communicate to potential partners, hires, and agencies about what you are looking for for a campaign, content, and more.

Today, we’re breaking down the differences between creators and influencers, how they each bring value to brands, and why your strategy should consider both to make your partnerships more effective.

Content Creator vs. Influencer: The Core Difference

• Creators are content-first. They prioritize storytelling, aesthetic, and quality. They might not have the biggest following or one even at all. Their craft is their ability to know how to create. Hiring a creator for a brand can look like having someone be the face of your company or to create content for you on a retainer such as making unboxing videos/recipes for examples, helping record ad content you may need, and more. An example of a creator would be my friend, Shadae, who I have had the pleasure of working with a lot on brands who needed food content here and here.

• Influencers are audience-first. They prioritize engagement, relatability, and community. Their content is shaped by what their followers respond to, and their influence is their primary asset that brands want in order gain more eyeballs on their product and build themselves into the loyal communities that these folks have created. Examples of leveraging influencers can look like:

  • Partnering with them on collaborative posts on Instagram like this post between Zab’s and Sara Tane

  • Paying influencers for posts that live on their pages (and potentially putting $ behind those posts to leverage their likeness - as long as you agree contractually!!!) like this post like this post between Seven Sundays and Joey Wellness

  • Sending product to influencers every month in the hopes that they share and you show up organically in their content

But this isn’t a perfect divide. Plenty of influencers are great content creators, and many content creators can be influential. That’s where things start to overlap.

Who’s Better for Your Brand?

Well, like anything, it depends on your goals for your brand.

Many people and brands these days are in desperate need for a content creator, whether to bring in-house or work in conjunction with their social team as this is the biggest spot brands are getting held up in. Brands have the ideas they want, but no time and/or enough experience to be the ones to confidently make said concepts come to life. This is why I really preach that hiring a creative producer of sorts is one of the biggest unlocks you can make to move with speed, efficiency, and to stay ahead of everyone else.

If you’re on a budget and want the perfect mix of making sure you’re hitting your social goals, I would be looking to hire a creator or part-time content producer to support any internal video and photo content OR set aside a content creation budget to contract creators and then have a really strong product gifting program to get into the hands of influencers of all sizes.

If you need content that aligns with your brand aesthetic, content creators are your go-to. They excel at producing engaging visuals and storytelling that you can repurpose across your own channels or following briefs that you have for trending videos you want filmed, ads you need created and more.

If you need visibility and conversions, influencers are better suited to amplify your message to a trusting, engaged audience. Their recommendations carry weight.

That said, the best partnerships come from a hybrid approach. The most valuable influencers are also strong content creators and now how to integrate a product into their content without making it feel like they were paid to do so.

Why This Matters for Influencer Marketing

Brands often make the mistake of lumping content creators and influencers into the same category—then get frustrated when an influencer doesn’t deliver high-quality content or when a creator’s work doesn’t generate sales.

Here’s where brands go wrong:

1. Hiring influencers when you actually need content

   • If you’re looking for UGC-esque product shots, aesthetic Reels, or long-form storytelling, a content creator is a better investment.

   • A high-following influencer would cost way more to do and if you wanted to leverage any of that content for paid ads, you will be paying a pretty penny.

2. Hiring content creators when you actually need influence.

   • If you need brand awareness or are looking to gain conversions, you want someone with an active audience who cares about what the person has to say. This person’s key goal is to showcase their life, what they like, etc.

   • Distribution is a key factor in whether a partnership succeeds, so you need as many eyes on something as you can.

A Smarter Approach to Creator Partnerships

Instead of putting influencers and content creators into rigid boxes, brands should take a layered approach:

1. Hire content creators to develop high-quality brand assets

   • This is your content for social, website, ads, and email. Think of them as an extension of your in-house creative team. I like trying to get a separate content creation budget in-house to contract these folks.

2. Hire influencers for reach and brand affinity

   • You’re paying for access to their audience and their ability to get people talking about your brand.

3. Look for the best of both worlds

   • If someone has an engaged audience and creates top-tier content, they’re worth prioritizing in your budget. This is why I love working with people who are on the cusp of growing their following and working with them on collaborative posts here and there.

Overall, if I was launching a new product for a brand that already exists, I would:

• Set aside budget to work with smaller influencers who are great creators to showcase how to use the product or how they integrate it. For example, if you’re a food brand, this might be collaborating with micro-influencers showcasing how to use the product or recipe content. This budget could also be just on smaller creators who create content just for the brand page.

• Set aside a paid influencer budget to activate a few big swings to get eyes on the new product and potentially push traffic to the website.

• Send the new product to influencers of all sizes that fit the niches we are trying to get seen by.

Bottom Line

The best influencer marketing strategies balance both content creation and influence. If you’re clear on what you’re paying for—brand assets vs. audience reach—you’ll avoid common pitfalls and make smarter investments in partnerships.

The creator economy is evolving fast, but one thing remains true: brands that understand who they’re working with (and why) will always have the upper hand.

It’s time for Ahead of The Trend.

A quick, snappy ode to the fun things I’m seeing online across creators, social, and brands. Sometimes, it’s a trend. Sometimes, it’s just a tip I want to share about marketing. TL;DR: just cool things I’m loving right now or things you should know.

Brand of the Week: NikeSKIMS. It feels wrong to not mention this. If you missed it, Nike has taken a bet on Kim K and SKIMS to form a new brand specifically for women that will be inclusive, high quality, and functional in order to meet a women’s need when it comes to finding a balance between performance and style.

IDK what I am expecting things to look like, but all I know is that you’ll probably catch me in all of it.

Products of the Week That I Can’t Stop Using, Wearing, Eating, and/or Drinking:

• Using: My walking pad. Yes, I am now #ThatGirl.

• Wearing: Relax Lacrosse Mesh Shorts. I played sports growing up and any time I was given a mesh short, they fit me like a pair of men’s basketball shorts. I’ve seen Relax worn by some of my favorite creators, DJs, and they recently did a sick collab with Sandy Liang. They are so comfy, go with a lot, and the inseams make it easy for the rest of my 5’3 girls to rock them, too.

• Eating: Picked up this Fix and Fog Everything Butter from Whole Foods. If you’re a nutbutter lover and love chunky peanut butter, you won’t regret. 11/10.

• Drinking: DAK Banana Split Espresso. It’s a mindf*** in the best way.

Influencer of the Week: @sibatable. I saw this post from ON Running this morning and thought it was the cutest thing ever. If you have a physical product, this would super fun to activate if it makes sense contextually within your marketing calendar to support like a launch or something like that.

That’s it for this week.

As always, if you know anyone that would like seeing this in their inbox, it would mean the world as we try and grow this thing together. Every reply, every open, and every share helps so much.

You can share this link with them: https://kendalldickieson.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Thank you so much for always letting me pop into your inbox. You’ll be getting another on Friday and then next week, I’ll be sharing my learnings from E-Tail to share what I am learnings.

Also, I will not be at Expo West this year, but if you’re going, please send me your fave finds.

Peace, love, and KPIs,

-KD

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