It is often said in agency meetings: the budget, the platform, the format and the brief can all be adjusted. But the casting strongly conditions the performance of the campaign, even before the first video is filmed.
One important note: choosing a creator is not necessarily the first step in the process. In practice, we generally start from the client's objective, budget, target audience and message. On this basis, the agency then identifies the best creator matches for the campaign.
In The Feed Ep.06, Frans, Creative Strategist at Socialsky, is categorical: "Brands need to make better selections. Work with creators who respect the DNA of the brand, the product, the service. And creators must be able to say no to brands that do not match their DNA."
Poor casting means:
Good casting is the opposite: the content integrates naturally into the feed, the audience receives it as an authentic recommendation, and the brand message comes through without friction.
In Belgium, this coherence must also be cultural. A campaign designed for a French-speaking audience will not necessarily work as-is for a Flemish audience. The references, tone, preferred platforms and the way of interacting with creators can vary. This is why, for the Belgian market, it is particularly important to work with partners who are able to understand both linguistic and cultural realities.
The first criterion is thematic relevance. Does the creator already speak to your target audience, in your universe? A food creator who talks about wellness and healthy cooking will be infinitely more effective for a nutrition brand than a generic lifestyle macro-influencer with 300K followers.
A niche is not a limitation. It is a competitive advantage. A niche audience is an audience that trusts the creator on their favourite subject — and that is precisely where the recommendation carries weight.
✅ What to check: the last 3 weeks of content (outside busy periods such as the holiday season). Would your product integrate naturally into this feed without disruption?
This is the most classic trap in influencer marketing: confusing notoriety with influence. An account with 500,000 followers and an engagement rate of 0.4% reaches a larger audience, but one that is in reality more passive. An account with 8,000 followers and 7% engagement reaches a smaller but lively, attentive community that reacts and buys. The key is to choose the right influencer based on the desired objective.
Market benchmarks:
To detect fake followers: calculate the talk rate (comments ÷ followers × 100). A rate above 1% is a sign of an authentic community. Use HypeAuditor, Stellar or Favikon for a complete analysis.
This is the most underestimated criterion — and yet the most decisive in the long term.
In The Feed Ep.06, the observation is clear: "There are profiles who accept everything and anything because there is money involved. Their feed is a complete mess, it is not consistent. And their audience no longer trusts them."
Conversely, a creator who carefully selects their collaborations — who says no to brands that do not match their DNA — has an audience that trusts them. And that trust is directly transferred to the brand they choose to work with.
✅ Positive sign: their collaboration history shows real consistency, indicating that they select their partnerships and probably refuse those that do not match their DNA. ❌ Negative sign: 6 different product placements in the same week, across completely unrelated universes.
Each platform has its own codes, its own algorithm, and therefore its own influence mechanics. It is not the same creator, not the same content, not the same effect.
In Belgium, the choice of creator cannot overlook the linguistic and regional dimension.
The classic mistake: working with a French-speaking creator for a Flemish target audience, or vice versa, because their overall numbers look good.
The most cost-effective case in Belgium? The micro-influencer between 5K and 50K followers. Excellent engagement rate (5.8% on average), native content, trusted community, and an accessible budget for mid-sized brands.
The most effective strategy according to The Feed Ep.06 remains the hybrid system: 1 or 2 recurring ambassadors to anchor the brand in culture, and a rotation of micro-creators to test formats, hooks and arguments. What the small ones find, the big ones amplify.
"You use the small creators to test. As soon as a format takes off, you ask your ambassador to adapt it to their tone and voice — and then it really hits." — Chris, The Feed Ep.06
Before even looking for a creator, ask yourself one question: what does this campaign need to achieve? Awareness, traffic, sales, recruitment? Depending on the answer, the creator selection criteria change radically.
Also define your target persona in human terms: who is this person, where do they scroll, what pain or desire are they looking to address? Am I trying to reach people who are already convinced, or those who are new to the brand? This persona defines which creator community you need to target.
This is where expertise makes the difference. At Socialsky, the casting process is based on:
"We have creators who say yes or no. Those who make a real selection. I love that — because it means their audience truly trusts them." — Frans, The Feed Ep.06
Once the casting is approved, the brief must be short, structured, and leave genuine creative freedom. The 3 key product arguments, the brand tone in 2 adjectives, the essential do's and don'ts, and one single CTA. No word-for-word script.
Plan for: 1 revision round maximum. Validate on substance (message, tone, CTA), not on visual microdetails. An open bottle in the background does not kill a campaign. An over-scripted creator does.
High-performing organic content can — and should — be repurposed as paid ads. This is one of the most underused levers in influencer campaigns. But it needs to be planned contractually from the brief stage.
Ask the right questions upfront:
Important note: organic co-publishing must also be planned upfront, as it requires an additional budget.
Legal requirement: every paid collaboration must display #Ad or #PaidPartnership (law of 9 June 2023). This must be specified in the brief.
Define your KPIs before the campaign, not after. Depending on the objective:
Reporting also serves to feed the next casting: which creators overperformed? Which hooks worked best? These learnings directly inform the organic content strategy for the following month.
❌ Choosing based on follower count rather than engagement The number impresses in meetings but does not sell. An engaged micro with 12K almost always outperforms a passive macro with 300K.
❌ Not checking feed consistency A creator who accepts everything has lost the trust of their audience. Your message will not land.
❌ Ignoring platform specificities Sending a TikTok creator a brief designed for Instagram means missing both. Every platform has its codes. Every creator has their territory.
❌ Over-scripting the content The more rigid the brief, the less authentic the content, and the lower the performance. Brands that over-control get the weakest results.
❌ Not anticipating usage rights Discovering after delivery that you cannot use the video in ads means restarting a more expensive negotiation, or losing the content altogether.
❌ Forgetting the linguistic context (Belgian market) A French-speaking creator for a Flemish audience, or vice versa, is a message that does not resonate, regardless of the quality of the content.
❌ Working with someone who does not believe in the product The audience always senses it. A creator who says no to a collaboration that does not suit them is doing you a favour — and you deserve one who says yes for the right reasons.
Choosing the right influencer is a profession in itself. Between profile analysis, real engagement verification, DNA matching, tailored briefing, usage rights and reporting — each step requires specific expertise and time.
Socialsky has developed the Talent Pool (a network of 500+ selected, filtered and activated UGC creators through a rigorous process) as well as a network of targeted influencers. For each brand, we identify the right match, build the tailored brief, and guarantee activation in under 5 hours when an opportunity arises.
Our campaigns cover the full funnel: from awareness to conversion, from organic content to UGC ads, in both FR and NL. With no silos between teams — what performs organically feeds the ads, and the learnings from small creators inform the ambassador strategy.
👉 Discover our influence agency in Belgium — socialsky.eu/services/influence
Start with the niche–audience–values alignment, then validate the real engagement rate before looking at follower count. A creator with a consistent feed who selects their collaborations is a strong quality signal.
ROI, micro-influencers (5K–50K) show the best engagement rates (5.8% on average) and remain the most cost-effective format for most brands. Macros and celebrities serve massive visibility but with a less engaged audience.
It depends on your objective and your audience. TikTok is the discovery platform, ideal for reaching new audiences without a follower base. Instagram is more effective for consideration and loyalty. In Belgium, Flemish audiences are more active on TikTok, while French-speaking audiences favour Instagram.
Calculate the talk rate: comments ÷ followers × 100. A rate above 1% indicates an authentic community. Use HypeAuditor, Favikon or Stellar for a deeper analysis (follower quality, geographic origin, suspicious follower spikes).
An optimised UGC video (hook + body + CTA) is typically negotiated between €150 and €600. Extended advertising usage rights add 20% to 100% depending on the duration and scope of use.