The three biggest issues creators are facing in 2022 (Results of 900+ creator surveys) |
The journeys of creators are not alike. To find out more about what it's like to run a creator business in 2022, we conducted a survey of over 900 creators. This is what we learned.
"Creators have earned their first 'online dollar' with the help of millions of people, and they're joining one of the fastest-growing ecosystems on the planet: the creation economy."
An estimated 50 million people think of themselves as creators. There's now more info available now than ever on becoming an all-time creator. The term "digital creator" is searched by search engines 2.5K times every month. The phrase "how do I become content creator" is the subject of 1.3K search results.
A creator is anyone who makes something. In fact, YouTubers, influencers, bloggers, and podcasters are all creators - as are musicians makers, musicians, educators, worldbuilders, writers, and everybody from there.
That broad spectrum of creative work means that no two creator journeys will be the same.
What types of goods do creators make and sell? What are their most difficult challenges? Where do they turn to for advice? Which channels are most successful?
For more details on what it's like to run a creator business in 2022, we surveyed 900+ creators about their business. They were asked about the challenges they face, their sources of advice, creative channels, and the content they create.
What we discovered:
In all experience levels, creators' biggest challenge is gaining an audience (32.9%) in the next step is finding enough time for everything (21.6%) and understanding how to make money (14.4%).
For advice on how to tackle the problems, they mainly benefit from one another. YouTube (22.6 percent) and private mastermind groups (22.5 percent) are among the most popular sources that creators go to for help.
The creators of content are making use of social media for connecting with their fans and their followers, which is why Instagram being the most popular channel (29.1%) -- but that means they have to rely on algorithms to get their content in front of the appropriate people.
Keep reading for an in-depth look at the data.
What are creators' biggest issues in 2022?
We asked "What's your greatest challenge or difficulty as a creator now?"
32.9% Growing an audience
21.6 Percent Finding time to do everything
14.4 Percent Knowing How to make money
8.86% Product creation
3.35 percent of followers are engaged on social media
2.27% Keeping up with changes and trends
Across experience levels and content types, creators consistently reported the same top three challenges that they face: attracting a larger audience, finding enough time for everything, and knowing how to monetize their work.
Challenge #1: Growing an audience
and search engine marketing.
7.68 percent would use the funds to build or improve their website through employing
5.66% would hire a graphic designer, while 4.16 percent would put their money into the development of
Making sure your brand and content are placed in front of the correct users can take a lot of time and be expensive, especially if you're not experienced in running an online business.
"While you're still trying to create your list of email addresses it's not enough to just send emails to individuals," Jessica explained. "I should also be very present and very noticeable via the social networks."
As Jessica is becoming more active and established on social media, she's been successful in identifying the best platforms and produce material that is in line with her brand and tells her message. "If you're trying to build an audience, they need be able to visit you frequently," she shared.
It's important to be consistent. important, but that doesn't mean your posts have be standardized. "You can do your post with images, use Instagram to do Reels and have fun, you can perform Reels as well as be serious ... Anything to try to diversify how folks can potentially locate your posts."
Social media can be an effective way to reach more people, but this is also a requirement for creators depend on platforms' algorithms for their posts to appear in the feeds of their followers. We'll talk more about how creators want to -as well as how they can change their algorithms in the future.
Email is yet another of the most cost-effective and efficient marketing channels available to creators. By sending out regular emails, your newsletters keeps you in contact with your customers.
If you're a creator who wants to increase your email subscriber list and begin your own email newsletter, you should go through these tools:
Problem #2: Finding the time to do everything
If we asked people about their plans for spending $2,022 to help others, investing in external aid was the most common option.
Also, we found that 5.2 percent of the creators make use of the funds to cover personal expenses, such as electricity, rent, expenses, as well as for their own earnings to allow them to focus more on their business.
3.42 percent of the creators invest the funds in time-rebuilding costs like childcare, household assistance and time off from their work full time, or working less hours at side jobs.
Choosing the right tools and software can help creators make more of their time.
If you want to see what can make it simpler to manage your own successful business as a creator, get started for absolutely no cost or sign up for our weekly demonstration.
Challenge #3: Knowing how to monetize
14.4% of creators say that figuring out how to earn income from their efforts is the biggest obstacle they face. You've produced valuable content and gained an enthusiastic audienceNow, how do convert that into money?
At , we've watched hundreds of artists earn their first online dollar by selling digital products, like digital downloads, online courses, webinars, and memberships. Digital products let creators make money without relying on advertisers or sponsors.
For instance, take entrepreneur, web developer as well as creative director John D. Saunders to give an illustration. The day he announced his online course on , John earned $10,000 on launch day and $100,000 overall on his site.
Once you've created your online class, the majority of the job is done and done so you're able to make an ongoing stream of revenue. "While I'm in bed I'm earning income. If I'm in playing in the parks with my kids I'm making sales," John explained.
Find out more about the monetization options to creators through these posts:
With all the options of monetization out there, many creators look to each other for examples, inspiration as well as guidance in their own personal journey. This brings us to the main takeaways from our survey: where creators look for suggestions.
Where do creators go for advice?
We asked "What's the top place you go for advice to solve your biggest challenge?"
22.6 percent on YouTube
22.5 Percent A personal mastermind group
15.4% Google
8.86% Facebook group
7.89 percent Podcasts
5.95 percent of the non-Facebook community
4.11 41% Blogs
1.41 percent of forums are public (ex: Reddit)
Though no two creator journeys are the same, we do know that creators across specialties, products types and experiences levels are faced with the same challenges.
It makes sense, then to find solution and suggestions to those challenges by asking each the other.
Creators can learn from the work of other creators. Between YouTube videos, mastermind groups, Facebook groups communities, forums, podcasts, and blogs, 73.3% of creators are surveyed to look up other creators for advice.
Google is the only advice resource that's not necessarily in that category -- though you can be sure that creators produced a big chunk of the content in the results of searches, too.
An incredible 70% of Internet users participate in some type of virtual community, and 66% of users claim to join online communities to meet others that share the same interests.
For artists, these communities provide a crucial resource. Creators are connected to learn and grow We've observed creative professionals who are successful be open with their knowledge and experience to aid the new generation of creators.
How do other creators run their businesses? What do they sell? Where do the majority of their revenue come from? What are they doing to build their followings?
We know that creators have many questions, and frequently turn to one another to find answers and ideas.
The Creator Community was created by us to: Creator Community in order to:
Provide entrepreneurs and creators with a place to connect and connect with one another
Help make the journey of creating more enjoyable and less lonely
Make creators feel part of a community that is accessible exclusively to them
Create exclusive content to share with community members. This includes courses, creator interviews, and community challenges
Within the first 2 weeks after we opened the community to all creators We saw more than 1600 users and hundreds of post with answers to thoughts, queries and tips.
Experienced creators like Emily Mills contributed to helpful articles like this:
Emily's hacks served as a great instance of how participants can learn from each other's expertise which is one of the main benefits of joining a creator community.
What types of content are created by creators? Where do they share that information?
We asked "What is the main form of content that you develop?"
33.6% courses
13.8% coaching
13.4 percent social media
16.54 percent video (9.19 percent for short-form and 7.35 percent long-form)
6.38% blog posts
4.76 percent of downloads
4.43% email newsletters
2.81 per cent of webinars
More than a third of those who took the survey created online courses as their main form of content. After the courses, coaching video, and social media were among the most popular kinds of media.
Below are some helpful resources for creators seeking to design and market an online course:
It was also discovered that creators have an average sales of 10.95 merchandise.
Then we asked "What's the most important channel that you use for your business?"
29.1 percent on Instagram
22.4%
17.4 percent on Facebook
8.97 Percent YouTube
5.41% Blog
5.08% Zoom
2.49% TikTok
0.865 0.65 % of Shopify
0.541% Etsy
Creators are using social media to connect with their audiences and their followers, with Instagram being the most popular social media channel (29.1%), closely followed by Facebook (17.4%) and YouTube (8.97 percent).
Like we said earlier, social media can be an ideal way for artists to expand their reach and to establish themselves in their communities and niches. There's just one drawback of relying on social networks the algorithm.
Social media platforms employ algorithms to determine the content that appears in feeds for users.
Creators are at the mercy of these algorithms . Your natural content may show up on your followers' feeds however it could not. These algorithms are subject to change with no notice, and social media firms aren't being transparent with regards to how they operate.
In particular, changes on the Facebook algorithm in the last couple of years have resulted in a decline on organic traffic which means that fewer users are able to see the posts of creators on their feeds of news.
Here are a few more reasons why creators don't like using Facebook:
"I consider that FB is distracting and users either don't see my content or won't stick around."
"FB groups are not trustworthy and unreliable, and users are fleeing from FB in the present, and it's tough to get the kind of interaction that you want there."
"I am really averse to the idea of directing my friends to Facebook or similarly shady tech companies that harvest data that they use to lure users to distract us."
"I must pay for a full-time VA to allow members in to the club, accept them as members and moderate them. We use Google Sheets and separate Facebook Messenger software, which costs $30 per month and we're also slaves to Facebook's algorithm and interruptions. This is a complete mess."
Creators tend to build communities of sorts using social media platforms due to the lack of an alternative. Facebook Groups make it easy to sign in, however that's where most of the benefit ends.
In contrast this, an all-in-one platform for creators like gives you complete control over which information you provide to your customers and how you engage with your audience.
Community members have the ability to:
Buy your products
You can access your contents
Post and discuss with others
...all in the same place.
As they're already registered to shop for your goods or consume your content, you don't need to sign them into a separate platform or use Facebook. This is a more enjoyable experience for you and your members.
In the end it's clear that social media is an effective marketing tool for creators -however, it should be used as a piece of an overall strategy and toolkit. Creatives are successful by having control over how and to whom they distribute their work.
Who took the time to fill out the survey?
For the opportunity to apply for the fellowship, applicants must be active creators and part in the Creator Community. They filled out an application in which they explained how they planned to spend the prize money and also provide information on their business, products, challenges, and objectives.
A majority of the information contained included in this report originates from questions where the creators were asked to select among a variety of answers. For the question "If you received the $2,022 fellowship, what would you use it for?" we included an open-ended answer field.
In response to questions about their experience level:
30.85% identified as beginners, with an average of 2.40 years of experience
8.11 percent of respondents were classified as beginners, with an average of 2.77 years of work experience
40.98 percent are classified as mid-level. This is based on an average 4.98 years of experience
15.80% identified as advanced. The average for 7.69 years of experience
4.27 Percent of them are considered experts having an average of 15.3 years of experience
We also wanted to know if they're full-time creators, part-time creator, or in between:
39.13% identified as a full-time creator
18.81% identified as a creator, who also has a part-time job
18.59% identified as a creator or freelancer
14.70% identified as a part-time creator
8.76 percent of them identified as creator who has a second part-time work
Thanks to everyone who applied for the fellowship. We appreciate every one of them for giving us an insight into their creative ideas, struggles, and journeys.
The most important takeaways
The economy of creators is expanding, and no two creator experiences are alike. We surveyed nearly 900 creators to discover more about the challenges to run a creator business in 2022.
The most significant conclusions from their answers:
Creators of all niches and degrees face the same three main 9challenges growing their audience (32.9%) while also finding time to get everything done (21.6 percent) as well as knowing how to monetize the work they do (14.4%).
For advice from creators in order to conquer these obstacles and obstacles, they seek advice from other creators. Community is a crucial element of the journey for creators. Experienced creators have walked in the shoes of younger creators' shoes, so they're armed with valuable tips to offer.
Social media is a popular way for creators to share their content with their followers and with Instagram as the most popular channel (29.1 percent). Utilizing social media can mean that creators are at the mercy of algorithms and give an uncontrollable access to their content and their audience.
Of the 900+ responses that we took into account for this data, no two were identical. Each creator's journey is unique We're there to help you through each step.