If you’re trying to market your business today, you should take the time to learn a little more about the creator economy.
The creator economy is about influencers and the way they connect on social media. It’s about people who create content online and monetize that content based on their connections to their audience.
According to a report from venture capital firm SignalFire, about 50 million people worldwide consider themselves content creators. It’s one of the fastest-growing small businesses, especially for the younger generation. American kids responded with a desire to be a YouTube star (29 percent) more than double as frequently as being an astronaut (11 percent).
What Is the Creator Economy?
The creator economy is a new way for online content creators to make money instead of relying on likes or views to gain targeted traffic. This is entirely driven by passion. Whether it’s gaming, fashion, or showcasing your hidden talents, this empowers creatives worldwide to share with the world. And offers them the chance to get paid handsomely for it in the process.
What’s driven this economy is the fact that it’s easier than ever to create and reach an audience. With a smartphone and internet connection, people can be up and running without the assistance of a third party for marketing. That means anyone, no matter how much money they have to build a business, now has access to create large followings and benefit from it monetarily.
If you can build a strong fanbase and keep them happy, you have the possibility to create a business based on your talents. Creators vary in skills and income potential. Some are happy with their new-founded hobby creating just a few hundred dollars a year. Others make it a serious business, reaching millions of dollars for their knowledge and expertise. You’ll find their content can be produced in many ways, including:
- Apps
- Blog posts
- Courses
- Ebooks
- Games
- How-to guides
- Illustrations
- Infographics
- Literary works
- Memes
- Newsletters
- Photos
- Podcasts
- Slideshows
- Tools
- Videos
- Webinars
Aside from profiting from creating and selling digital content, creators earn their funding mainly through advertising and marketing. True professionals learn quickly that income is best generated from a variety of paths. They look for sponsored content, featured product placements, donations, and subscriptions.
Platforms Far and Wide
Depending on the type of business you own, you might not have experience with the newest platforms helping drive the creator economy. Content sites that lead the pack are YouTube for video, iTunes for music, and Amazon for ebooks. They give easy-to-use tools to creators who can manage their wares and build audiences that grow along with them. They simply have to release new content, and their audience is there, ready to buy.
Of course, there are many other platforms that provide a wealth of resources to help creators build and grow their businesses. Platforms like:
- Teachable – for online course creation
- Patreon – sharing content in bite-sized pieces
- OnlyFans – a fast-growing way to build your fan base
- Etsy – for crafters and artisans
- Upwork – a community of freelancers
- Spotify – for music and podcasts
These are just the tip of the iceberg. With an industry that currently services 50 million and is growing, there are many ways to connect up and build an online presence. Let’s not forget that building your own website/blog is still one of the top ways to showcase your wares. You own it. You control the content. You choose how you market it to the world.
I’m a Business … What Content Creation Means for Me
The first step in utilizing any platform is first understanding how it fits. As you’re growing your business and looking for new ways to gain business, realizing the creator economy can move you into a new realm is a great place to start.
You sell cars or mattresses or widgets. You don’t want to be a YouTube star.
How shall the two meet?
That’s where you start. Before you find content creators to help you, you start by outlining exactly what you’re searching for. Maybe you want a writer who can create an ebook for you to generate more B2B sales. Maybe you’ve designed the next level in wearable technology. A YouTube star showing how it works would be a significant boost to your bottom line.
By researching and gaining more insight into what you want and need, it’ll be easier to find the right person for the job. You can hunt for each individual on their own. Or you can choose to work with an agency like ours that can help you put multiple pieces of your strategy together. It often requires:
- Written content: Create posts, ebooks, social news, landing pages, and any other copy that attracts an audience.
- Video content: From YouTube videos to general introduction pieces on your site, the key is in telling the story.
- Photo content: A picture is worth a thousand words, or so they say. You might not need a professional every time, but it’s important to understand your branding before you shoot.
- Graphic design: Bringing it all together with an eye-catching visual will step up your game.
It’s how you tell your story
This industry is twisting the way we think about marketing as a whole. As a business owner, you’re having to rethink the way you tell your story.
Audiences don’t take in content the way they used to even just a few short months ago. That means you have to start telling your story differently. Few people resonate with old-world marketing. Instead, audiences want a more personal connection.
This is why partnering with a creator is more important than ever.
When you engage with your audience and show authenticity in your approach, your followers and target audience will notice the difference.
The current creator market is estimated at $13.8 billion in 2021. When combined with the number of startups and growth of influencers, it’s easy to bring that number up to over $104.2 billion … and it’s growing.
The creator economy is changing the way businesses operate.
Are you ready for the next level of marketing?
