Relationships between brands and creators with audiences nowadays are mostly discussed in terms of analytics, to the detriment of the real essence of the connection – the emotional bonds and meaningful interactions that often underpin the success that metrics indicate. 

As RadarQR‘s new Vice President of Public Relations & Influencer Marketing, Larissa Long understands both perspectives – from companies focused purely on metrics to creators fostering lasting audience relationships. 

The former National Media Director brings unique insights into conversations about building connections, backed by years of experience managing celebrity partnerships during social media’s early days, to building event-based communities, and now transforming the dating app industry. 

Her experience tells her that successful creators combine data insights with genuine engagement, emphasizing that understanding human behavior matters more than marketing metrics in today’s social media environment.

The Evolution of Creator Marketing

“When I first started influencer marketing, everything was celebrities,” Larissa recalls. “Somewhere around 2021, it started moving towards people who started only to be social media influencers. But at that time, it was still about working with many celebrities, athletes, musicians, and actors.”

The focus during those early days was purely celebrity-driven. Working at Essentia, the bottled water company, Larissa’s role was “purely to work with celebrities and find ways to get them to make social media posts.” 

However, the industry has undergone a dramatic transformation. “Now that pretty much doesn’t happen at all anymore. So it’s a very different market.”

Beyond Pure Metrics

This transformation brought new challenges in how brands evaluate partnerships. As Larissa explains, “Analytics is important. Data is important because you must know what’s working and what’s not. But data is so easy to manipulate. As a PR person, that’s pretty much what I do: manipulate data. But there might be data there that isn’t so great. We just leave that off.”

The limitations of a purely metrics-driven approach became apparent in the user-generated content (UGC) space. “When user-generated content first started, probably around 2018, it really started to become super popular. It was very different than it is now,” Larissa observes. “What I’ve noticed is, it’s not genuine, it’s not authentic. They’re releasing content, but it’s not going to the right audience.”

The problem has become so pronounced that creators themselves are recognizing it. “I’ve also noticed in the last six months that people who had UGC in their profile descriptions have removed that. So I think they’re even knowing that it’s harming them as well.”

The Return to Real Connection

Larissa’s current work with RadarQR represents a shift toward meaningful connection. “It is a dating app, and it’s revolutionizing the way people use online dating,” she explains. “So many apps are just swipe, swipe. Nobody wants that. You don’t have any sort of engagement with these people.”

Instead, RadarQR takes a different approach. “What’s great about what we’re creating is you meet first, and then you decide if you want to swipe,” Larissa says, adding that this emphasis on real-world connection before digital interaction reflects a broader shift she’s observed post-pandemic. “What we learned most from COVID is we actually want to be together.”

The company is launching in Houston in March. “I’ll actually be in Houston for a month, which is crazy,” Larissa says. “And we’re going to launch all over the city and start showing people and it’s like our first big city launch. We’ve launched in other smaller markets, but now we’re going to launch in our first big city.”

The Future of Creator Marketing

Larissa sees technology, including AI, as a tool rather than a replacement for human creativity. “It’s not necessarily that AI is bad,” she explains but emphasizes that “AI needs to be fed. And so that’s what keeps marketing people… We’re the safest because it’s our job to be creative, and AI doesn’t know how to do that.”

“You have to be very diverse,” he adds, hinting at platforms like Pinterest being a “second Google search” due to its unique proposition. “When you Google any product, Pinterest is usually in the top five things that come up in the search. And so that’s why Pinterest is so important.”

This perspective informs her provocative take on marketing education: “If I went back to college, I wouldn’t have gotten a degree in marketing. I would have gotten in psychology.” She emphasizes that while data analysis can be taught, “creativity goes much further. You can teach them [analytics]. But creativity is a much harder thing to learn.”