How do you find and work with local creators for a local media brand?
Short answer
Recruit someone already making local video and offer them your brand and built-in audience. A creator with 3,000 followers under their own name has a much harder time growing and monetizing than one posting under a local brand with 40,000 followers and business relationships. My creator makes about one green-screen video a day.
I wasn't even looking for her. I stumbled across someone already making local videos and said: you're already doing this. Want to do it where there's a built-in audience and a brand around you?
She now makes about a video a day for us. Green-screen videos, for now.
Where do you find local creators?
Look for people already doing it. Someone already posting about your town has proven they'll show up. A stay-at-home mom whose kids are old enough, who likes being out and doing fun things, is a great profile.
A guest on my podcast who runs local sub-brands said the same: hiring locals who already make videos is the key. One of his suburb newsletters is written by a local mom of three whom people already know.
Why would a creator join your brand instead of growing their own?
"If you're just starting out and you have 3,000 followers... it's just me and I make content about Kansas City. That's gonna be way harder for them to grow, to monetize and everything. But if they can be underneath your brand, you already have 40,000 followers. You already have business relationships."
A trusted local brand is the quality brand in town. Why would a mom influencer start from zero when she can attach herself to that?
How should the brand be set up?
As an umbrella. Pick a name general enough that the Instagram, a local podcast, a full website and several newsletters can all live under it.
My long-term picture is the creator model with multiple personalities: about four different people making four different types of content on one brand's Instagram. The brand doesn't depend on me.
How do you pay creators?
I haven't settled it. I ask guests this all the time: salary, or a percent of the ad revenue? Both are on the table. What I do know is that sub-brands under a bigger brand need creators with local ties, so you have to make it worth their while.
One data point: some Instagram operators have told me they make more from pitching videos to local businesses than from their newsletter.
Does it help sell ads?
Yes. Every operator I talk to who's doing well on Instagram says it matters for ad sales. Another guest told me sponsor conversations got easier once friends and family were sharing the brand's posts.
Answered by TJ Larkin. From Local Media HQ podcast episodes, client calls and TJ's own notes in 2025 and 2026. Last updated .