For years, brands have invested heavily in advertising to tell consumers what to buy, why they should buy it, and why their product is better than the competition.

But something has changed.

Consumers are no longer relying only on advertisements to decide what deserves their attention.

They are asking creators.

They are watching product reviews on TikTok. They are checking Instagram Stories before buying. They are reading comments under a creator’s post. They are asking questions in WhatsApp groups. They are searching for someone who has actually used the product.

In other words, consumers increasingly want to see a product through the eyes of someone they understand and relate to.

That does not mean consumers automatically distrust brands. It means the role of advertising is changing, and creators are increasingly becoming an important layer between brands and consumers.

Advertising Tells. Creators Show.

A traditional advertisement is designed to communicate a controlled message.

A brand might tell you that a product is affordable, effective, durable or convenient.

Creator content can demonstrate what those claims actually look like in everyday life.

A beauty creator can show how a product performs on their skin.

A tech creator can demonstrate how a device works.

A fitness creator can explain how they incorporated a product into their routine.

A finance creator can break down a complicated service in language their audience understands.

The difference is context.

Consumers aren’t simply being told that something is good. They are being shown how, where and why it might be useful.

That context can make creator content feel less like an advertisement and more like a recommendation.

The Creator Becomes Part of the Customer Journey

The traditional marketing funnel was relatively straightforward:

Awareness > Consideration > Purchase > Loyalty

But digital behaviour has made that journey considerably less predictable.

A consumer might discover a product through a creator, search for reviews on Google, watch another video, read comments, ask a friend, speak to the creator’s community on social media and eventually purchase through a link or chat.

The creator can therefore influence several stages of the journey.

They can introduce the product.

They can explain it.

They can answer questions.

They can provide social proof.

And increasingly, they can help facilitate the transaction.

This is one reason creator marketing has evolved beyond simply paying someone to post about a product.

The creator can become part of the customer experience.

Why Context Matters More Than Claims

Consider two messages.

Message one: “Our skincare product delivers long-lasting hydration.”

Message two: “I’ve been using this for three weeks. Here’s how I use it in my morning routine, what I noticed, and who I think it would work best for.”

The second message doesn’t necessarily make a stronger product claim.

It provides more context around the claim.

That distinction matters because consumers often have questions that advertising cannot fully answer.

▪️ Will this work for someone like me?

▪️ How do you actually use it?

▪️ Is it worth the price?

▪️ What does it look like in real life?

▪️ What happens if I have a problem?

▪️ What do other people think?

Creators can help answer these questions because their content exists within an ongoing relationship with an audience.

The Comments Section Has Become Part of the Review

One of the most overlooked elements of creator marketing is what happens after the post goes live.

The comments section can become a collective review.

Someone asks about the price.

Another shares their own experience.

The creator responds with a link of where to get it.

The content continues working after the original post.

This is fundamentally different from a traditional advertisement, where interaction is often limited or separated from the advertising experience.

Creator content can create a feedback loop:

Content > Conversation > Validation > Consideration > Action

That conversation is part of the value.

But Trust Is Not Automatic

There is an important caveat.

Consumers do not trust creators simply because they are creators.

Trust has to be earned.

If a creator promotes a different product every week, recommends products they clearly do not use, or gives every brand the same glowing review, audiences can quickly become sceptical.

The creator economy therefore has an authenticity challenge.

The more commercially valuable creators become, the more important credibility becomes.

For creators, that means being selective about partnerships, understanding their audience and clearly disclosing commercial relationships.

For brands, it means choosing creators based on more than follower count. The shift is from audience size to audience relevance and commercial impact.

Africa’s Creator Economy Is Moving Beyond Visibility

This shift is particularly important as Africa’s creator economy becomes increasingly commercial.

The 2026 Africa Creator Economy Report estimates Africa’s creator economy at around $3 billion and highlights the uneven distribution of creator income. It also points to the growing importance of diversified income streams beyond traditional brand sponsorships.

That matters because creators are increasingly becoming businesses themselves.

They are not simply producing content for brands.

They are building audiences, launching products, selling services, developing communities and creating direct-to-consumer businesses.

Kenya provides an interesting example.

The report describes Kenya’s creator market as particularly suited to direct-to-consumer activity, with mobile money and micro-commerce providing creators with relatively accessible ways to sell products, services and digital offerings directly to audiences.

The implication for brands is significant.

Creator marketing is no longer only about borrowing someone’s reach.

It is increasingly about participating in an ecosystem where content, community and commerce overlap.

From Influence to Commerce

This is where creator marketing becomes particularly interesting.

Imagine a consumer sees a creator demonstrating a product.

They ask a question.

The creator answers.

The audience sees other people engaging with the product.

The creator provides a product link.

The consumer purchases.

That journey can happen without the traditional separation between advertising, product education and commerce.

Twiva’s model reflects this broader shift by connecting brands, creators and product sales, allowing creators to promote products through their social audiences and earn from successful sales.

The opportunity is therefore not simply to make advertising feel more authentic.

It is to build a customer journey that is more connected.

What Brands Should Take from This

Brands should not interpret the rise of creator marketing as a reason to abandon traditional advertising.

Instead, they should rethink what each channel is supposed to accomplish.

Advertising can build awareness at scale.

Creators can provide context and credibility.

Communities can provide validation.

Commerce infrastructure can make purchasing easier.

The strongest strategies can connect these pieces rather than treating them as separate activities.

The Future of Advertising Is More Human

Consumers are not necessarily looking for fewer brands.

They are looking for better reasons to believe them.

Creators can provide that missing layer of context by demonstrating products, sharing experiences, answering questions and creating conversations around brands.

But that relationship only works when there is genuine relevance between the creator, the audience and the product.

The future of creator marketing will therefore not be defined simply by who can generate the most views.

It will be defined by who can turn attention into trust, trust into action and action into lasting relationships.

And that is where creators become more than another advertising channel.

They become part of how brands build relationships with consumers.