Event Creator Programs: Are You Paying for Reach, Content, or Influence?

[00:00:00] Every event on the circuit is running some version of the same program right now. Comp the badge, the flight, the hotel, and ask for a few posts in return. And suddenly your registration list has creators on it. But nobody in the room agreed on what that word actually means. Everybody wants to create content. But it turns out not everyone's content with what it actually takes to have something worth saying.

[00:00:26] Today we're going through the difference between the person you paid to show up, the person the room actually trusts, and the very expensive mistake of treating those as the same job. It's Event About It with Megan Martin. If you caught my last solo episode, you know I don't do these very often. I like a guest across the table, someone to push back on me.

[00:00:55] But this one's been sitting in my draft since Event Connect, and it kept getting bigger every time I sat down with it. So today it's just us. Somewhere in the last two years, every brand in the industry decided it needed creators. But almost nobody stopped to ask what that actually means or what they're buying when they say it. There's a great line I came across recently from a strategist who used to run a content agency.

[00:01:22] She said her team had a running joke, take a sip every time a client said, I want to be the next Simon Sinek. And really you could replace Simon with any number of names inside and outside of your industry. Ambitious, a little vague, wildly popular. That's what they're looking for. But here's the catch. Those clients wanted influence, but what they were actually chasing was being viral.

[00:01:47] And those are not the same thing. And mixing them up is exactly how events keep buying the wrong job. Somewhere right now, a client is telling their agency that they want to be the next Simon Sinek. What they actually mean is they want a TED Talk, a book deal, and none of the 15 years it took him to earn either one of those. Here's the cleanest way I found to tell these three apart. A content creator asked, what should I post this week?

[00:02:17] A thought leader asked, what do I see that's uniquely mine, that others don't have, and how do I say it in a way that's going to help somebody? Now I want to stop before you get this twisted because I did too for a long time. Content creators think in consistency and volume. Post daily, post weekly, whatever the format, show up on schedule. That's the job. Thought leadership is not that. It's not about more content.

[00:02:45] It's about more voice and more truth, specifically your voice and your truth. Some thought leaders do post constantly. Sure, that happens, but that is not what makes them one of one. What makes them one is that nobody else could have said the thing that they just said. And an influencer is a different job entirely.

[00:03:08] Loyal audience, personality, and trust, but that trust gets monetized by getting people to buy or try whatever's being shared. Three real jobs, three very different currencies. One of my favorite growth executives is Elena Verna, who wrote about all of this recently, and one line she wrote has stuck with me. She hates being called an influencer, flat out, just don't do it. And LinkedIn-style thought leader gives her the same ick.

[00:03:38] And honestly, Elena, same here. Her reasoning was very blunt. A lot of people posting online have never actually done the job. They're recycling frameworks that sound profound and then fall apart the second you try to apply them. What she does instead, she calls it the operator path. She only writes about what she's currently actually doing, which means her content changes as her job evolves.

[00:04:05] Some people call that inconsistency, when in reality, it's quite the opposite. It's earned authority with an expiration date because she's still doing the work while she's talking about it. Now, these three are not locked boxes. People move between them, and sometimes they're doing two at once. Adam Grant is a great thought leader who also runs a generally amazing content machine. Sahil Bloom started out posting threads, straight content creator territory,

[00:04:34] but grew into someone whose ideas now shape how people think about their careers. That's a creator becoming a thought leader in real time, and it happens all the time. Each domain has a different goal. A content creator's goal is consistent, engaged audience. A thought leader's goal is changing how their field thinks about something. And an influencer's goal is moving a purchase decision. Same internet, three completely different scoreboards.

[00:05:03] And I'll be honest, I feel this one personally all the time. I have a friend in the industry who is generally a great content creator. Frequent, sharp, good hooks, the whole thing. Checks all the boxes. And I catch myself comparing my output to his more than I'd like to admit, because mine is not as frequent, and it's definitely not as sexy. I have to remind myself sometimes, out loud, that we're not even playing the same game.

[00:05:31] He's growing as a creator, and I'm growing as a thought leader. Different domains, different reach, and very different goals. Comparing your reach to a creator's reach is like judging a marathon and a sprint. Both are runners, but they are completely different skill sets and have very different outcomes. Different race, different clock, but it doesn't mean you're losing.

[00:05:56] Which is exactly the confusion event brands walk into when they build one of these creator programs and never decided which scoreboard they're actually trying to win. When an event brand builds a hosted creator program, you know the ones with the comp reg, travel, hotel, in exchange for content, they're buying one of three things. Reach, the influencer trade, consistency and volume, the content creator trade,

[00:06:22] or the appearance of authority, which is what most of them are actually reaching for when they say thought leadership without realizing that real thought leadership can't be comped for a weekend. Almost nobody picks on purpose. They pick by default. And that default is always reach, because reach is the easiest thing to measure and it's the easiest to put in a recap deck. If your creator program brief could be summarized as post nice things and don't yell at security,

[00:06:51] congratulations, you just bought an influencer. And there's nothing wrong with that. Just don't be shocked when nobody quotes you in a keynote next year. Now, not everybody defaults blindly. I did meet an event organizer recently who was very honest and transparent about her creator program. Her team had to cut the production company out of the budget, but she still needed good content. So she started a creator program.

[00:07:20] She comped a handful of people's registration and got their videos and photos in return. She wasn't chasing reach. She wasn't chasing borrowed authority. She wanted usable footage and comping a few creators was cheaper than hiring a crew, which honestly is the most honest answer I've heard on this topic in a long time. And her goal is a real goal. It's just not the one most people say out loud when they pitch these programs internally.

[00:07:49] You'll hear things like community and creator partnerships when what they mean is we can't afford a video crew anymore. And there's nothing wrong with that. Just say it. So here are three questions I'd make every event brand and every creator answer up front the way this planner did. Are we paying for reach or are we paying for trust? Would this person still be saying this if we hadn't invited them? What are we actually measuring?

[00:08:18] Impressions this week or the thing that showed up in pipeline six months from now? Answer those honestly and you'll know which job you're hiring for. Skip them and you'll keep being surprised that the creator you paid for didn't move the business. And look, I'm not just throwing stones from the sidelines here. I've got receipts and they're receipts of my own. If you caught this event connect episode, you know I was one of 10 people in their first hosted creator program this year.

[00:08:46] We got comped registration, travel hotel, in exchange for posting content and driving registrations before, during and after the show. Generally well run, great communication, good collaboration. Access was strong right up until the brand announcement dropped and then noticeably thinner after. And that's the access cliff I was talking about last time. And that's not a knock on Cvent specifically.

[00:09:11] It's what happens by default when a program is built to buy reach without also building the muscle for operator trust. But let's get into my numbers because I think the receipts kind of make the point better than the theory does. And let's be honest, what I'm about to share feels a little exposing. I feel like I'm standing naked in front of all of you while I read this next part. So please be kind.

[00:09:36] There are creators in this same program with a lot more followers and a lot more reach than I have. I'm definitely on the lower end of the 10 people. And that used to feel like something to apologize for. I even still do, like now. But again, I remind myself we are playing different games. So I produced 10 pieces of content pre-event, during, and post. And here's my self-reported totals and what Cvent was asking for.

[00:10:05] About 30,000 impressions, 31,800 in reach, 858 engagements, and 163 link clicks. It's respectable. Not the biggest numbers in the room, but certainly healthy. And here's the point I've been trying to make, and I promise this is not the flex it sounds like. My biggest performing post wasn't the polished one. It wasn't even supposed to be the honest one.

[00:10:32] It was supposed to be a video recap. But the Wi-Fi at the venue was so bad, I couldn't get anything edited in time. So I threw together a carousel of raw photos from the day, purely out of necessity. That single post drove 7,400 impressions. My next best post pulled about 1,100, and my weakest, 360.

[00:10:56] That's 6 times my own nearest competitor in my own feed and 20 times my lowest post. A photo dump I only posted because I ran out of options beat every piece I actually planned and produced. My Wi-Fi accidentally proved the entire thesis. The algorithm and the audience did not reward polish. It rewarded the moment that I stopped trying to fake it and got honest.

[00:11:26] And look, this isn't just a fluke that happened to me. Niche creators with smaller, sharper audiences routinely outperform accounts 10 times their size. Because the audience isn't bigger, it's just more relevant. A creator with 300 followers who are all actual buyers will move more business than an account with 300,000 who are mostly just scrolling.

[00:11:51] Reach without relevance is just a bigger room full of people who aren't listening. So when you're building one of these programs, the question isn't who has the biggest following. It's whose smaller following actually shows up when it matters. Which conveniently brings me to my favorite part of the show. It's now time for the vent of the week.

[00:12:17] Because sometimes the only thing tighter than a load-in schedule is my patience. And my vent today is that this industry won't just say the honest things. That organizer I told you about, the one who cut her production budget and built a creator program to fill the gap, she might be the exception. Most people rap, we couldn't afford a video crew, in language like authentic creator partnerships and community-led content. And frankly, it drives me up a wall.

[00:12:46] There is nothing wrong with comping content because the budget got cut. But just say that. Stop dressing up these budget decisions like there's some strategic breakthrough. All right, enough venting. Let's bring this home. So here's my actual advice. Name your goal first. Then let the goal pick the person, but not the other way around.

[00:13:09] If your goal is reach, fast visibility, broad awareness before the doors even open, hire an influencer. That's their entire job. If your goal is consistent content, something that keeps your brand in the feed on a predictable cadence, hire a content creator. Consistency and volume is their lane. And if your goal is credibility, something that actually changes how your industry thinks about you and your brand, you're looking for a thought leader.

[00:13:37] But just know going in, you can't comp a thought leader in a weekend. Real thought leadership can take years to develop. What you can rent short term is the appearance of it. And that's fine. As long as you call it borrowed and not earned. And if your goal is honestly, we need content and we cut the production budget, just say that. It's a real goal to decide the goal. Then decide the person. Do it backwards.

[00:14:05] And you'll keep being surprised the creator you paid for didn't move the business. You can comp a badge. You can't comp a point of view. And that's it for today's episode of Event About It, where we connect events and marketing and prove that live experiences aren't just logistics. They're a growth channel. If this made you rethink what you're actually asking for the next time you build a creator, ambassador, or influencer program, send this to whoever's writing that brief at your company right now.

[00:14:34] Until next time, keep growing, keep laughing, and keep eventing about it.