Learn from the best with our WABD series! Our top performer this week is social media superstar CC Clarke.
CC has 1.9M followers on Instagram, 711.6k followers on TikTok, and 325k subscribers on YouTube. We analyzed her TikTok and Instagram performances to bring you the best tips!
Content Type
CC is a Fashion, makeup, and lifestyle creator, but she is also an artist and releases her own music. Her online presence is multi-faceted: rather than fitting within a particular niche, her content reflects her status as a public figure. CC shares a lot of her personal and family life, covering her experience as a mother on a daily basis.
Branded Content and Partnerships
CC loves brands! In 2021, she mentioned 153 different brands a total of 909 times across her channels.
Her most tagged brands were: L'Oréal (mentioned 64 times), Maybelline (48), Benefit (46), Too Faced (27), PrettyLittleThing (27), NYX (27), LookFantastic (26), ASOS (23), Haus (18), and NARS (17). On average, CC mentioned a brand six times, so these totals far exceed her usual numbers.
LookFantastic and L'Oréal were two particularly important partners for CC, while most of the other brands mentioned above were mainly tagged in organic content and in one-time campaigns. In 2021, CC ran 27 campaigns on her Instagram and TikTok with brands like L'Oréal and LookFantastic, and to a lesser extent with Makeup Revolution, Beauty Bay-Com, PrettyLittleThing, and Maybelline. CC mainly worked with major beauty brands, tagging them in a large volume of organic, unpaid content. This is a great technique to maintain brand relationships outside of contracted deals.
Let's dive deeper into the strategy behind all this tagging.
Top Five Most Successful Sponsored Posts on Instagram
Instagram is CC’s most important platform. This is where she’s most active, and where her community is largest. CC averages 38 monthly posts, with an engagement rate of 3.4%. CC's sponsored posts score high engagement and visibility, making her an enticing partner for brands.
We selected CC’s top five most successful sponsored posts on Instagram to show you what worked, and what’s valuable to brands. These posts were ranked by Earned Media Value, or EMV.
EMV (in $) measures engagement with social media content about a brand that is created by a third party (here, creator CC Clarke). Earned media is content about a brand that is not created by the brand itself (e.g. influencer endorsements, collaborations, word-of-mouth recommendations).
You can read more about how EMV is calculated, and why it’s relevant to brands (and therefore to you), by clicking here.
1) Collaboration with S19 Lab
In this reel, CC does a playful before/after of her legs using S19 Lab’s Super FX body makeup. The post scored a 21.5% engagement rate, 374k views, and 58k likes, generating $74k EMV for the brand. CC also conducted a product giveaway in the description, hence the post’s high engagement and rate of sharing. The post proved a great opportunity for this small brand to gain visibility. The giveaway format is highly enjoyable, both for the brand and for CC’s community, as it clearly displays the product. CC delivered a clear message, showing the problem the product is solving, how to use the product, and the results it provides, all in a 30-second reel.
2) Collaboration with Very UK
This collab with British retailer Very UK is a carousel post featuring different outfits matched with CC’s baby girl. In the comment section, CC engaged her community to vote for their favorite look, and many users followed through. Each picture captured a moment in her daily life, displaying her joy over being a mom. The outfits and backgrounds were coordinated around specific color themes, with the general atmosphere of each photo being candid, authentic, and not overly produced.
The collab gave the brand great exposure, generating $55k EMV. The post itself got a 2.8% engagement rate, with 56k likes. Rather than working on highly curated moments, CC left space for her personality and spontaneity to shine through, ultimately benefiting Very UK.
3) Collaboration with LookFantastic #1
For this campaign with beauty retailer LookFantastic, CC shot a haircare ASMR video using L'Oreal’s color protection More than Shampoo. Her followers loved the reel, commenting that it was "satisfying" and asking for more. Even L'Oreal’s owned account liked the post. The campaign generated $55k EMV for both L’Oreal and LookFantastic, as each brand was tagged in the publication. The post scored a 13.3% engagement rate, 36k likes, and 233k views.
Although it's not her niche, CC is good at creating sponsored content that is both satisfying and informative. Just as she advertised SL19 Lab’s body makeup, in this case, CC showed the problem, the solution, and the result, all in a fun, quick video.
4) Collaboration with LookFantastic #2
In this collab, CC shot another ASMR reel, using a skincare set by Elemis. The reel generated $50k EMV for the brand, scoring a 11.2% engagement rate, 31k likes, and 197k views. CC’s playful and bubbly personality, along with her "soothing" content, resonated with her followers. Many of these followers wrote about buying the products featured in the post, which is not uncommon on CC's account.
5) Collaboration with Makeup Revolution
Coming in at No. 5 is a collaboration with Makeup Revolution for which CC shared a reel presenting Makeup Revolution's Matte Bomb Lips lipsticks. The campaign generated $49k EMV for the brand. The post scored a 10% engagement rate, with 30k likes and 168k views.
While CC’s audio offered a review of the product’s texture, color, smell, finish, and sensation, the reel showed her trying out different shades in a very satisfying fashion. I almost bought one myself...
CC’s Top Five TikTok Posts
CC averages 17 posts per month on her TikTok, where she has a 28.6% engagement rate. Much like her top Instagram sponsored posts, CC’s top TikTok posts display her quirky, fun personality. They are all branded content, but not all of them are sponsored posts. These posts are ranked by engagement rate (ER). Let’s do a quick round-up!
1) This collab with Philips went viral, with a 195.5% ER
2) A review of a lipstick set from Amazon comes in second with a 52.5% ER
3) A hair color collaboration with L’Oreal Paris takes third place with a 45.2% ER
4) Another ad for L’Oreal comes in fourth with a 35.5% ER
5) Her partnership with ghd takes fifth with a 22.7% ER
Recap of CC’s Keys to Success
1) Reels are an amazing format to promote brand partnerships…
2) …And there is no such a thing as too many reels.
3) By choosing to share her personal life, CC brought her community closer (though you shouldn’t feel pressure to share your private life on social media).
4) Selling a lot of products doesn’t damage CC’s authenticity, because her personality takes over every post she creates.
5) Although she doesn’t have a niche, CC targets the kind of brands she works with (beauty and fashion) to stay relevant and trustworthy. That way, it doesn’t look as though she tries to push any paying brand to her community. The result is sponsored content that remains coherent with her overall account.
Final Thoughts - Why is CC One of the Top 10% Fastest-Growing Creators?
CC is a superstar, so her fame might not be relatable to smaller creators. However, when looking closer at her work, there are actually a lot of practices that can be applied for success, regardless of follower count. From the creative way that CC brings sponsored content to her loving community, to how she lets her bubbly personality drive her content, there are countless tips that can inspire creators of any size!
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In Createur’s What Are The Best Doing Series, we let you learn from the best. We’ve selected profiles from our database and come up with fresh, exclusive insights on the top 10% fastest growing creators.
Top performers/fastest-growing creators: Creators who experienced the largest growth in 2021 in terms of follower count increase, earned media value (EMV), engagement, and other success metrics. Not to be confused with the largest creators in terms of overall follower count.