How Southwest Airlines Builds Influencer Programs That Scale with Kara Salazar

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In Episode 80 of Creator Economy Live, we’re joined by Kara Salazar, who leads influencer marketing at Southwest Airlines. Kara breaks down how the brand’s creator strategy has evolved over the past four years — from launching and scaling Southwest Creator Day (including its international expansion to Cancun) to managing major cultural moments like the assigned seats announcement and the massive social response that followed.

We also dig into what makes influencer marketing in the airline industry uniquely challenging, whether “free flights for posts” is really a thing, and how Southwest balances brand storytelling with real-time community feedback. Plus, Keith and Brendan unpack the latest creator economy news — from TikTok’s Branded Buzz payouts to Instagram’s hashtag limits and YouTube’s new AI creator tools.