“Big brands are competing less for creators | Social Media Marketing Trends 2023”

“For months, concerns over a seemingly inevitable recession have fueled restructures, layoffs, and operating budget cuts. Businesses are rethinking their spending—and often, marketing budgets are first on the chopping block. 

While we haven’t seen massive cuts in marketing spend just yet, we are seeing larger businesses reduce their discretionary spending. Budget for creator partnerships has been one of the first things to take a hit, with small and midsize content creators saying they’re seeing declining sponsorship offers and more brands backing out of paid deals this year. 

While this pullback in spending is a blow to an already precarious creator economy, it leaves the door wide open for smaller businesses to compete for top creators at lower price points.

Creators can help small businesses with their most acute marketing challenges

Small businesses say they’re feeling pinched by a possible recession, too. Twenty-eight percent of small business owners expect revenues to decrease over the next year, according to the CNBC Small Business Confidence Index. And 18% of small business owners expect their headcounts to decrease over the same period. 

For small businesses, 2023 promises to be a year of dwindling resources, shrinking headcounts, and leaner budgets that will make their toughest marketing challenges, well, even tougher. To ease the pressure, small business owners will begin leaning on the very creators being abandoned by larger businesses.” - Hootsuite | Social Media Marketing Trends 2023