According to Sprout Social’s State of Influencer Marketing report, 86% of consumers make a purchase influenced by a creator. And when it comes to daily, weekly, or monthly purchases, nearly half of consumers say influencer posts play a role.

Since long-term partnerships are a major component of influencer marketing today, in this piece, I’ll dive into the pros, the cons, and how brands should think about long-term partnerships beyond the typical “creator posts X times over a period of time” setup.

Beehiiv has introduced Direct Sponsorships, a new tool that enables newsletter creators to manage sponsorships and advertiser relationships directly within the platform. With this feature, creators can:

That’s a problem Alchemy wants to solve. The fintech company, founded by Isaac Wagschal, announced the launch of a $100 million fund designed to provide creators with upfront payments based on projected future earnings. Since January, it has already paid out millions to creators

Unilever’s new CEO, Fernando Fernandez, formerly CFO, announced plans to work with 20 times more influencers across its brand portfolio in a fireside chat. This is part of a broader effort to increase Unilever’s social media platform spending from 30% to 50% of its total advertising budget, with the goal of rapid growth and change.

Twitch introduced a Sponsorship tab in the Creator Dashboard.

Creator marketing platform Breakr announced BreakrPay™, a new instant payment solution. With BreakrPay™, brands, labels, and agencies can fund creator campaigns instantly, ensuring creators get paid in real time.

The PGA Tour is looking to attract new audiences by turning to creators for help.

YouTube made Partnership Ads available to all advertisers, allowing brands to feature creator videos in their ad campaigns.

Instagram announced updates for boosted posts.

YouTube has expanded its Paid Promotional label.

I recently attended HubSpot's INBOUND conference in Boston for the first time—a three-day event that unites business professionals to explore the latest trends in marketing, sales, and AI. I was fortunate to join through an activation with HubSpot Creators.