The Swaz Creator Program
Creator Outreach Playbook
How we find, evaluate, and invite creators — proactively and at scale, but always as an exclusive invitation, never a discount blast. The premium voice is the thing that makes a creator want the code; protect it.
The one principle: exclusivity is earned by real selectivity + a considered experience, not by the adjectives in the message. If we send “you’ve been selected” to 5,000 handles, creators smell it instantly. The discipline of who we don’t contact is the product.
Narrow the target before you write a word
- Aesthetic / niche: Nigerian streetwear, fashion, lifestyle creators whose feed already fits SOISE.
- Size band: lean into micro (≈2k–50k). High engagement, genuinely influential, hungry, not drowning in brand deals.
- Intent signals: they already tag brands, post fits, do “where I got this.” Pre-sold on the behaviour we want.
- Geo: Lagos / Abuja / PH first — delivery works, culture fits, IRL is possible later.
Mine our own data first — warmest leads
Before scraping strangers: repeat / high-AOV customers, anyone who has used a code, anyone who has tagged us. They convert far better and the “we noticed you” line is true. Then expand outward — who our existing creators follow, hashtag/geo discovery (#naijastreetwear, #lagosfashion), followers-of-followers.
Score every prospect — the 5-point rubric
Score each dimension 1–5 in the prospect log. The tool sums them (max 25) and assigns a tier automatically. Only contact A’s and B’s — the rubric is the exclusivity.
Aesthetic fit
Does their grid already look like it belongs next to SOISE? This is the #1 filter — a mismatched creator cheapens the code no matter their size.
Engagement quality
Real comments and saves, not just likes. A 6k account with a talking audience beats a 1M account with dead comments.
Audience overlap
Nigeria-based, right age, the kind of people who actually buy streetwear. Their followers should be our customers.
Posting cadence
Consistent, current output. Someone who posts fits weekly will activate; a dormant account won’t.
Personal fit
“Would I actually wear this / repost it?” The gut check that protects the brand.
The message — invitation, not a blast
1:1 IG/TikTok DM (where creators live), email as backup. Never a group send. Structure: a specific opener about their work → the invitation → what’s actually in it → one low-friction step.
“Hi [name] — we’ve been watching your [specific thing, e.g. thrift-flip reels] and how your audience responds to the way you style fits. We’re opening a small first cohort of the Swaz Creator program — your own code, commission on every sale, early access to drops before they’re public, and founding-creator status. We’re keeping it to ~25 people this round and I’d like one of them to be you. Want the details?”
What kills it: 🔥💰 urgency emojis, “EARN BIG NOW,” generic “hey hun collab?”, anything that reads as copy-paste.
Make the program feel exclusive — operationally
- Send invitees to soise.ng/join — the public invitation page. It sells the program first, then hands off to signup → application (no cold login wall).
- Acceptance is a real gate (“applications reviewed within 48h”). Not everyone gets in — that’s the point.
- Run named cohorts (“Founding Creators · Cohort 1 — 25 seats”). Real scarcity, never fake countdowns.
- A considered onboarding (welcome note, their code, a one-pager on how to earn) seals the premium impression.
Where AI helps — and where it must not
AI does: enrich each candidate (niche, recent posts, fit score), draft a personalised first line per creator, organise everyone in the prospect log, triage replies.
Humans keep: the final send, the judgement on fit, the relationship, and the voice. Every message must still read handwritten — AI gets you 80% of a personalised draft; a human spends 30 seconds making it real and hits send.
Cadence + measure
One thoughtful follow-up max, then leave them be (nagging is off-brand). Track reply rate → application rate → activation (made a first sale) by source and tier in the prospect log, and pour effort into whatever actually activates creators.