Why Engagement Numbers Lie in Creator Marketing

For years, brands have been told to trust engagement.

Likes. Views. Comments. Shares.

On paper, these numbers look reassuring. In reality, they often tell us very little about whether a product actually moved closer to a purchase.

At Toppins, we’ve spent time closely observing how creator-led campaigns perform beyond the surface. What we’ve learned is simple but uncomfortable. Engagement is easy to measure. Intent is not. And confusing the two is expensive.

Engagement is attention, not interest

Engagement shows that someone noticed content.
It does not show that they cared enough to buy.

A video can go viral without creating a single moment of genuine consideration for the product inside it. A comment can be written without any connection to purchase behaviour. A like can be accidental.

Yet these are often treated as success metrics.

The problem is not that engagement is useless. The problem is that it is incomplete.

Why brands keep relying on the wrong signals

The reason engagement metrics persist is not ignorance. It’s convenience.

They are:

• Easy to track

• Easy to report

• Easy to compare

Purchase intent is none of these.

Intent lives in subtler actions. Saves. Replays. Profile visits. Direct messages. Follow-up searches. Moments where attention turns into curiosity.

These signals are harder to capture, but they are far closer to truth.

The cost of chasing vanity metrics

When campaigns are optimised for engagement alone, three things happen:

• Creators are rewarded for virality, not relevance

• Brands struggle to justify spend internally

• Marketing teams lose confidence in creator channels

Over time, this creates a trust gap. Budgets shrink. Experiments stop. A powerful distribution channel becomes underutilised.

The irony is that creator content often does influence buying decisions. It’s just not being measured properly.

A more grounded way to think about creator ROI

At Toppins, we approach creator marketing with a different lens.

Instead of asking how many people reacted, we ask:

• Did this content trigger consideration?

• Did it lead to a measurable action?

• Did it move someone closer to a purchase decision?

This shift changes how campaigns are designed, how placements are chosen, and how success is evaluated.

It also changes the conversation from hype to evidence.

What matters next

Creator marketing is not broken.
The way it is measured is.

As brands mature in this space, the focus will naturally move away from surface-level metrics and towards signals that reflect real behaviour.

The brands that adapt early will not just spend better.
They will understand their audience better.

That’s where the real advantage lies.

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