Social media and influencer marketing professional Austin Null launched We Get It in May. The creative agency aims to deliver influencer marketing campaigns built with creator input from the beginning, along with creator-produced paid social assets, creator-developed organic social content series, and even learning and development sessions where creators educate C-suite executives about their communities.

“Brands need to come alongside and empower existing creators and communities if they want to have a true impact on culture instead of trying to hijack and dictate it,” says Austin, the agency’s Chief Creator Officer, who brings 13+ years of experience spanning both creator and agency roles.

As a former creator who amassed over 750,000 followers before transitioning to agency roles at Fullscreen, McKinney, and Ayzenberg, he witnessed the shift from community-building to content production. 

“When influencer marketing first became a thing, brands were like, ‘Wow, these people are getting a lot of views and these communities are very engaged. We need to be part of this somehow,'” Austin explains. “Now, brands are coming in and giving notes on influencer content like it’s a TV ad. It’s been more about how the influencers can serve the brands instead of how the brand can serve the existing communities.”

Central to Austin’s philosophy is the recognition that creators have built valuable communities that brands need to respect rather than simply extract value from. 

“Creators are the ultimate stewards of community in a social first world,” he asserts. “Creators are the ones creating culture.” This insight drives We Get It’s business model, which Austin describes as a “creative agency powered by creators” that places them at the center of all marketing functions.

“I’m going to bring in creators as freelancers and build strategy and creative with them so that it’s not just some internal person that’s never made content or built a community,” Austin explains.

The company plans to bring in creators for week-long strategy sessions, paying them what they would typically charge for a brand deal just to “use their smarts.” As Austin notes, this approach creates a win-win: brands gain genuine strategic insights while creators receive a new revenue stream in an increasingly competitive field.

“Right now, creators are making money in a lot of different ways, but within these spaces, it’s like, ‘We’ll pay you for this influencer marketing post, we’ll pay you to make this organic social content that will live on the brand channels,’” Austin explains. “I also am coming up with a new opportunity for creators to just bring them in as freelancers to just use their smarts.”

This model pairs creators with what Austin calls “creator strategists”—professionals with brand and agency experience who know how to translate creator insights into deliverables that meet client expectations.

Real Content vs. Scale

While working with Intel, Samsung, Popeyes, and other major brands, Austin consistently delivered successful campaigns by prioritizing human connection over technological scale. This hands-on approach stood in contrast to the broader industry trend he observed, where many influencer marketing companies emphasized their tech platforms and massive creator networks.

“Many influencer marketing has really been reliant on like, scale, scale, tech platforms, tech platforms,” he observes. “I think that there are some valid things there, but ultimately, creators are creatives, and culture and community only thrive through genuine connection. And I don’t think you can reach that at scale.”

Rather than maximizing the number of creators in a campaign, We Get It will focus on deeper integration with fewer, more strategically selected partners. “You can have content at scale, but you can’t truly thrive as a brand in these spaces and be part of the conversations that you want to be part of just by putting out content for the sake of content. This is why I’m very adamant on We Get It being labeled a Creative Agency because creators are the best Creative Directors in a social-first world,” Austin argues.

Budget Allocation: The Broader Transformation

Austin has observed that most brands still allocate their marketing dollars incorrectly, directing too much toward traditional advertising and not enough toward social-first, creator-centric approaches.

“From a high level, brands right now are still not allocating their marketing dollars correctly, in my opinion,” Austin states. “There’s still like so much is going towards TV, so much is just going towards traditional advertising from a paid media spin angle.”

His position is that social media should receive “over 50% minimum” of marketing budgets. This view is gaining traction among major corporations—Austin points to Unilever’s recent commitment, under its new CEO, to allocate 50% of its marketing budget toward social and influencer marketing, as a notable example for the industry.

“That is how every brand should be doing that. And I just love that Unilever, which is one of the biggest brands in the world, is leading the charge there,” Austin says. “If they’re doing that with over a billion dollars in their marketing, you should be doing that as well.”

Industry Voice at VidCon

Austin’s perspectives on community building in the creator economy will be showcased at VidCon 2025, the global event for digital creators and their communities, taking place from June 19 to 21 in Anaheim, California. Having attended VidCon for over a decade, Austin has witnessed its growth from a YouTube-focused gathering to a complete industry summit covering all digital creator platforms.

“I’ve been going to VidCon since 2012/13,” Austin recalls. “It’s obviously changed a ton.” Now, he’ll be contributing to that ongoing development as a speaker on multiple panels across both the industry and creator tracks.

On Thursday, June 19, Austin will join the “The Outsized Impact of Niche Creators” panel on the Industry Track, discussing how brands can better utilize creators beyond mere content production. On Friday, June 20, he’ll participate in the “How I Built This: Org Charts, Operational Strategies, and More” session, sharing his agency’s structure and approach alongside other founder-executives. Later that day, he’ll lead a mentorship session titled “Balancing Being a Creator and What’s Next?” On Saturday, June 21, Austin will complete his VidCon schedule with “The Anatomy of a Deal: The Agent. The Creator. The Brand.”

One of the topics he aims to highlight is niche creators. “I think niche creators are going to offer a lot of value,” he says. “Like I said, we can go niche down and get niche content, but we also can niche down and get niche insights by actually bringing these creators in to have them be part of the process.”

His creator track mentorship session will particularly draw from his personal transition from creator to agency executive to founder. “That one will be super fun just to have conversations and just learn where everyone’s at,” Austin explains.

Rebuilding Social Media’s Foundation

Ultimately, Austin shares that his vision for We Get It and the broader creator economy is about returning to the basics of what made social media valuable: its ability to connect people around shared interests and foster genuine interaction.

“It’s a massive industry,” Austin reflects. “People are seeing money and they’re forgetting why we even came to this space to begin with, which was creators, their community, and their impact on culture.”

As someone who has lived the creator experience and managed multi-million dollar brand campaigns, Austin’s mission isn’t just launching another agency, but helping brands and creators work together to serve communities rather than extract value from them.

“I know what creators are like. I know the value of that. But I also understand how brands work,” Austin concludes. “Both sides need to reset and reevaluate how we work together. But more so, brands, I think the industry needs to reset and reevaluate how we work together.”