Culture, Community, and Why Influencers Actually Work

A conversation with Mallory Gaskin of Citrus Magic and Veggie Wash

Influencer marketing didn’t suddenly start working. According to Mallory Gaskin, the reason it works now is because brands finally stopped treating it like advertising.

Mallory is the CPG leader behind Citrus Magic and Veggie Wash, overseeing brand strategy, product innovation, packaging, and go-to-market execution across some of Beaumont Products’ largest brands. In her conversation on Like, Love, Share, she breaks down what actually drives performance in creator marketing and why culture, momentum, and frequency matter more than polished ads.

“I call myself a jack of all trades and a master at all,” Mallory says. “I really just know all facets of marketing.”

That full-funnel perspective is exactly why influencer marketing clicked for her early.

When influencer marketing finally made sense

Mallory traces her shift to influencer-first thinking back to 2017–2018, long before it became a default line item in marketing budgets.

“If I’m a marketer and I’m falling for it, I know it works,” she says, recalling how YouTube beauty creators influenced her own buying behavior.

What stood out wasn’t just reach. It was efficiency.

“You’re getting their content creation that you don’t have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars creating,” she explains. “It’s original content that is a fraction of the cost of a big production.”

But just as important was measurability.

“There’s ways to track that conversion because only they used that code,” Mallory says. “So you’re able to show them this is how much sales I drew that were driven just by this influencer alone.”

That combination of awareness, content, and conversion made influencer marketing non-negotiable.

“It’s now a line on our marketing budget,” she says. “That wasn’t before. Now we have an actual cost center. That’s our influencer budget.”

Culture beats polish

One of the strongest themes in the episode is Mallory’s belief that culture, not perfection, is what stops thumbs.

“People go on social media to kind of escape the daily world that they live in,” she says. “They’re not going to be as perplexed to stop and watch an ad. But they will stop and watch content that they find entertaining.”

For her, success comes from leaning into trends and conversation rather than fighting them.

“When you lean on trends, you’re adding to the conversation,” she explains. “Brands have personality now. You want to interact with them.”

That mindset has led to unexpected wins. One standout moment came when a teacher influencer posted about cleaning her classroom before back-to-school season.

“That video did so well,” Mallory recalls. “We were getting the most engagement we had gotten all year.”

Instead of treating it as a one-off, the brand leaned in.

“I don’t stop,” she says. “I keep the momentum going. If I see momentum, I’m going to figure out how to keep it going.”

The briefing process is everything

Mallory is clear that influencer success starts long before content goes live.

“This is my specialty with influencers,” she says. “It’s the briefing process.”

The key is balance: clear guardrails without scripting authenticity out of the content.

“I leave that open a little bit because they know their audience,” she explains. “They see when their videos take off or when they don’t.”

That trust pays off.

“Half the time you don’t even know it’s about to be an ad,” Mallory says.

She contrasts that with overly controlled content, which often underperforms.

“You don’t want them to change their content and then it’s not reaching the people that you’re trying to reach,” she adds.

Platform nuance matters

Mallory is also pragmatic about how content performs differently across platforms.

“TikTok is where you want to be a little bit more rough,” she says. “The content doesn’t have to be as polished. It can be on an iPhone. It can be in the moment.”

Instagram, on the other hand, still rewards aesthetics.

“When it looks good and maybe we have the stylish influencer that put us in a really nice space, I feel like that’s really good for Instagram,” she notes.

Understanding those nuances helps brands avoid forcing one format everywhere.

Breaking into new audiences

One of the most strategic takeaways from the episode is how Mallory uses influencers to pivot brand perception.

“If I want to pivot, my influencers would change,” she says simply.

Rather than relying on expensive rebrands or traditional media buys, she sees creators as a flexible way to enter new communities.

“There’s an influencer for everything,” she says. “So instead of redoing everything, I’d get another subset of influencers that can say what I need to say as a brand.”

That approach allows brands to move faster and test new positioning without massive risk.

The real metrics that matter

While many brands still obsess over likes, Mallory looks deeper.

“I love metrics and KPIs,” she says. “I’m a big numbers person.”

But effectiveness depends on objectives.

“Sometimes I don’t care about the followers,” she admits. “I like the content that person is making.”

She’s also a strong believer in volume and consistency.

“If you’re gonna do one video with influencers, you’re probably not going to get the momentum that you’re hoping for,” she says. “But if you do 80 influencers in a batch amount in a quarter, that social proof is going to be what drives the momentum.”

Fighting influencer fatigue

Mallory doesn’t ignore the challenges facing the industry.

“There’s actually an issue with influencer fatigue,” she says. “People just know it’s an ad.”

Her solution isn’t to pull back, it’s to evolve.

“My briefing process has changed,” she explains. “I want you to entertain people. I want you to create value.”

That means humor, skits, storytelling, and sometimes barely mentioning the product at all.

“They’re talking about a horrible date,” she says. “But they’re just casually using these products.”

For Mallory, that subtlety is the future.

“There’s a big problem with some of the content being a little dry and salesy,” she says. “But I think there’s a way around it.”

And for brands willing to trust creators, lean into culture, and play the long game, that way forward is already working.