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Hey — Ryan To here.

In today's edition:

We're witnessing the professionalization of creator marketing...

Projected $44B in creator spend in 2026

74% of brands shifting budgets to creator programs

Micro-influencers (10-100k) capturing 40% of total influencer budgets

Fortune 500 companies have caught onto the game

For consumer founders, this is early signs of competitive heat coming in

So in an effort to educate y'all here's where the future is:

Meta paid creators $3 billion last year. +35% YoY.
Creators are what keeps the lights up for social media platforms.

→ Creator accounts post at 1.2–1.8% engagement.

→ Brand accounts post at 0.7–1.2%.

50% more engagement on the same platform

The algorithm's job is to find content that holds attention.

Creators are the supply. Brand accounts are not.

The same discipline that makes a creator dominate the organic feed is exactly what makes a winning paid ad.

Which means creators train themselves to make perfect Meta ads. Every day. Organically. For free.

Once you understand this is the game we all play, your perspective changes

Choose one of two options with every campaign:

To build trust:

Build long-term engagement with creators.

A creator using your product for 6 months will outperform one-off videos.

Slow. High-cost. High-trust. How you 'build brand'

Sell the damn thing:

Brief them to sell not 'authentic'.

You have 2.2 seconds, open with the product or customers scroll past.

The brands that win in 2026 will treat creators as 2 separate suppliers:

So please stop asking to : "post something authentic about us this week, we'll pay you $5k and see what happens."

Pick one lane: the middle is where campaigns go to die

Creators aren't influencer marketing. They're Distribution Channels, Creative directors. And on Meta, they're what keeps the algorithm spinning.

Have a great day ❤️