What 120 Aftermarket Brand Executives Asked About Social Media and What We Told Them
SEMA invited PDE Agency to the 2026 Exhibitor Summit as a media panelist. Three sessions, 120+ aftermarket brand executives, and the same question every time: how do influencer collaborations actually work?
SEMA invited PDE Agency to join the 2026 Exhibitor Summit as a media panelist. Three sessions. Approximately 40 brand owners and marketing decision-makers in each room. Tools, lubricants, performance parts, chemicals, technology. All of them confirmed exhibitors preparing for the SEMA Show in November 2026.
The session was called "Public Relations Opportunities and Media Tips." It covered PR strategy before, during, and after the Show, how to approach media, how to build presence around a major industry event, and how to think about content as a long-term asset rather than a one-time activation.
But the questions from the room told a more specific story.
Every session, without fail, the same topic came up: influencer collaborations. How do they work? How do you pick the right creator? How do you know if it's worth the investment?
The honest answer is that most brands approach influencer partnerships the wrong way, looking for guaranteed outcomes from a channel that doesn't work that way. What we've learned running a network that reaches 176.8 million people monthly is that collaborations are not a transaction. They're a long game.
"It's like planting tomato seeds. Some will wither. Some will give you a little fruit. Others will give you a lot. But if you don't plant, you get nothing."
The brands that win with creator partnerships are the ones that plant consistently, pick creators whose audience actually overlaps with their buyer, and give the relationship enough time to produce results, not the ones chasing a single viral moment.
Other questions that came up across all three sessions: how often to post, how long organic growth realistically takes, and how to use the SEMA Show itself as a content opportunity rather than just a sales floor.
That last one is underutilized by almost every brand we've seen. The Show generates thousands of hours of authentic content opportunity, product in use, real conversations, real reactions, and most brands walk away with a handful of booth photos.
The invitation from SEMA's PR department to participate in the Summit reflects something the industry is starting to recognize: the brands that will own the next decade of the aftermarket aren't the ones with the biggest booths. They're the ones that understand how attention works today.
That's what we build at PDE Agency.