How LTK Powers Seamless (and Lucrative) Deals for Creators and Brands

Younger consumers put a lot of stock in the opinions of their favorite influencers.

That’s become increasingly evident in the era of social commerce, with 73% of Gen Z consumers and 68% of millennials saying they look to creators to inform their purchase decisions, according to a study by Northwestern University and commissioned by LTK.

What’s less clear is how brands can enter into this space authentically, and how creators can leverage their influence in a way that’s economically viable in the long term.

LTK, formerly known as RewardStyle, aims to connect brands, creators and consumers in a way that works for all involved. Onstage at ADWEEK’s Social Media Week, LTK general manager Kristi O’Brien and longtime creator Lucie Fink spoke with ADWEEK chief content officer Zoë Ruderman about what works, what doesn’t, and how to learn from past mistakes.

What works: Good matchmaking

Using a combination of human touch and AI-powered matchmaking, LTK connects brands and creators whose audience goals live within the same niche—ensuring that the brand knows what it’s trying to say and who it’s trying to reach with its message, and then facilitating a relationship with the right creators.

We live in a “nation of niche,” O’Brien explained. A brand message will only work “if it makes sense for the creator as well, because otherwise it’s going to feel fake.”

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LTK Match, a new AI-powered tool available on the platform, is able to sift through the 250,000 creators who work with LTK alongside brand, social and sales data.

“When our brands are using LTK Match, they’re getting five times the conversion rate because there’s so much human bias in the selection of creators,” O’Brien said.

What doesn’t work: Micromanaging

Long-term relationships are a winning formula for both brands and creators, the panelists agreed, especially when brands allow creators to engage with their audience on their own terms.

Many of Fink’s fans have been following her for years, and were along for the ride as she got married, got pregnant, birthed her son and navigated postpartum and then toddlerhood. Throughout that entire experience, she was finding products that worked for her and those that didn’t—and she compiled all her favorites in a motherhood “super guide,” a digital product hosted on LTK’s platform, which she has sold to almost 1,000 people.

That guide is “one of my most popular digital products,” Fink said. “Those are just evergreen sales. People that already purchased the product are now buying the products inside of the product.”

Learning from past mistakes

As creators grow and evolve, O’Brien highlighted the importance of staying connected to the core audience. She recounted the story of one creator who, as they found success, began posting links to more expensive items—pricing out their followers and seeing conversion rates plummet.

“It’s all about making sure that you understand your audience, and that your audience evolves over time,” O’Brien said. “What you were doing in 2017 is dramatically different than what it is now.”

As a creator, Fink shared how she’s learned from her followers, even leveraging those learnings into brand partnerships. When she shared that she was teaching her young son American Sign Language (ASL), commenters explained to Fink the problems with a hearing person teaching ASL. Through those interactions, she learned about Lingvano, an app that connects deaf teachers to ASL learners, and became the app’s first hearing influencer.

“My sponsored content for them was me acknowledging that my community had taught me something,” Fink explained. “Now I’m encouraging people to use this app instead of learning from me.”