What do businesses think of the Creator Economy (and how you can create a business model to benefit profits) -
As a content creator There are many ways to make money: by selling goods and services, by selling of courses, and by promoting content.
Content creators often build their careers around their passions: through blogging, course creation, and creating merchandise that reflects their brand. Content sponsored by sponsors is another fantastic way to increase your revenue.
By combining a few bits of knowledge, some data to support your argument with some effort and you'll be on the way to making more and creating relationships which will yield.
What is the Creator Economy? Economy Function?
It is all about the distribution of content (education or entertainment information) delivered via the web as well as web-based app platforms for the general public. Based on Signalfire that the Creator Economy is built of "over 50 million independent content creators, curators and community builders such as bloggers, influencers on social media and videographers, as well as finance and software tools designed to help them in their growth and to monetize."
Creators
Creators make up the core of the Creator Economy. Creators provide the content that consumers love to consume. From dance videos on TikTok to pictures on Instagram videos on YouTube (and all the way to) Creators provide us with each and every day a reason to look for information, to keep our attention, and entertain ourselves.
Creativity is desired and will always be a demand. Creators provide that content to the masses.
Consumers
Imagine consumers as creator's customers. Most platforms, customers aren't charged for content. Consumers vote with their thumbs - by moving quickly or visiting a creator's profile to take in their content.
Though consumers might not actually make a purchase for contents they like however, they often are affected by the creators of content to buy products or purchases that are blatantly presented, or subtlely shared.
Throughout 2020-2021, TikTok creators began displaying The Coldest(tm) containers of water on their 60-second videos. Although the company has not shared their sales as a result of this placement of their product in light of the length of the placement and the number of content creators that were involved, one can assume that the placement was at the very least, a modest amount of results, or even growth. A quick internet search for the product reveals numerous pages of reviews and sales possibilities.
Consumers can be influenced by artists they admire and follow.
Platforms
Content creation platforms move and disappear - or come and stay. Vine was one of them. was an American video-hosting service where users could share six-second-long looping videos. (Wikipedia.) Vine has been in short supply. Other platforms for social media sharing (like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok) are still around.
Platforms give creators the opportunity to share their content, and a built-in audience to take in the content.
Businesses
The Creator Economy business can be any one or a combination of many participants. Creators can themselves become companies. Social media platforms can be companies. But what we want to pay attention to is the role of businesses as content sponsor.
Companies (like the one called The Coldest(tm) that was mentioned earlier) look for content creators as influencers who they can work by putting their products on display or endorsement.
Content sponsorship is an integral part of a business's advertising strategy. Find influencers who will use and spread your brand's message so that their audiences will be your new customers.
The Creator Business Model
From our previous definitions, interactions between creators of content, their platforms, and business sponsors have the potential to earn the creators with revenue. There are many ways this can happen.
Platform Revenue Sharing
Often called "creator funds" platforms offer more well-known creators to keep producing media. As creators are driving usage of their social media platforms, giants such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and yes, TikTok, pay creators to ensure that traffic continues.
Advertisers pay platforms for ad place and time. (How many times have you sat through 5or 15 second advertisements on YouTube to be able to see the video?) The platforms rely on the creators to drive traffic. Thus, having content that can drive traffic is worth investing in. And that's where you, the creator of content, step into the picture.
Platforms have the capacity to pay waiting to compensate you for the content which provides something (information, education, entertainment).
Affiliate Marketing
Content creators have played a role in the world of affiliate marketing from the moment the beginning of social sharing. Armed with affiliate links, bloggers, YouTubers, Facebookers and many more talk about the their products and services they are using in their work and then post affiliate links with their followers, which they can purchase from.
Affiliate marketing (like product and brand placement below) is effective because the followers believe that the source of content uses and endorses what they are sharing. Often termed "social evidence," endorsements and reviews aid consumers in making purchase decisions by relying upon trust.
Product Placement
As with the Coldest Water(tm) previous example it, the placement of product is generally discreet. (With this particular example, TikTok users simply had their signature blue bottle in this video.)
The placement of a product also indicates endorsement by the content creator. If you notice somebody you admire wearing the product, it is likely that they are happy with it. You then infer that you'll, too.
In the article published by Elite Daily, people who use the platform become obsessed by items they've found via influencers. For everything from skin care items to storage containers for food, product placement works.
Brand sponsorship
Brands pay for content. If you're offering a newsletter, video or podcast or blog entries, some courses, brands will pay you to promote your content.
Many TikTok creators' entire accounts are focused on Amazon "finds" which they want you to buy and test. In many instances, those products can sell out simply through these endorsements. Sponsored content is a win/win for both the brand and the consumer.
Most often, companies seek to fund content that is in relation to the products and services they provide, however that doesn't mean that it is always the case. The larger brands, like Coca~Cola such as CocaCola are sponsors of events and other content because they believe it is an opportunity for sales as well as the content can be seen by lots of. One of the most well-known Coke commercials featured a player from the football team "Mean Joe Green" sipping a Coca~Cola during a game. It is not common for athletes to drink drinks such as that during sporting games, but this advertisement did a great job with people and continues to be a reference for over forty years.
The majority of brands tend to seek sponsorships for content that aligns to their services and products. If you are offering online training on photography, for instance then you could seek sponsorship opportunities from related products and services like photo sharing sites that cater to professional photographers, cameras, and photography equipment.
The courses that offer cooking and recipe content might find sponsors from the producers of kitchen utensils as well as food preparation tools as well as food and beverage brands.
The more aligned your brand's content, and the bigger your audience, the more likely a company will agree to sponsorship opportunities.
Working with Sponsors to monetize Your Content
Though sponsors could approach you to work together, it's much more likely (at at the very least, when you're just starting out) you'll have contact potential sponsors. You'll need to prepare before you do that, so that you can effectively present your services and also be prepared to respond to the questions of potential sponsors.
Develop Your Sponsorship Offerings
Start by deciding what your sponsorship offerings will be, and how much you'd like to charge for the sponsorships. Consider all the content you provide, how often you post, and finally how you want to set the fees for that.
Certain content you should include in sponsorships:
- Main site
- Classes
- Lessons
- Blog posts
- Newsletters
- Podcast episodes
- Social media content
Define the time span of the sponsored content:
- Per blog post
- Per social post
- A course or lesson
- For newsletters
- Per podcast episode
- or for a specified length of time, such as weekly, monthly, annually
Create a page on your website (or a downloadable PDF) that outlines the opportunities for sponsorship. Then, you can direct your marketing efforts to this page, and all inquiries that you get.
Make a Media Kit
The media kit of your company is an opportunity to shine! It should include all of the essential elements to showcase the brand you represent. You can incorporate information that is from your About Us page, but should not be as long a narrative as easily digestible information bits of information. Brief paragraphs and bullet points can be great for the form of a media kit.
Include:
- Statistics on brand names
- How many students take your classes?
- How many site visitors you have
- The number of subscribers to newsletters
- Podcast listenership
- Information about the course (how many classes? How many lessons?)
- Audience demographics
- Followers of social media per platform
- Brand information
- Logo
- Tag line
- Testimonials
- The timeline of your beginning and where you are today, showing progress
An effective media kit can aid potential sponsors in deciding if your brand is a good choice for them and the best place to channel their sponsorship funds.
Create a list of potential Advertisers
Spend some time creating a list of potential sponsors/advertisers. Utilize a spreadsheet for adding the website address and email address (or Contact page) or contact number (if you already have one) and phone number as well as any other relevant information.
Make an email that you can send to advertisers you're interested in (or to use in the part of the contact form) in which you describe who you are and the company you've built and what potential sponsorship opportunities you're sharing. (You may also apply this as a loose script to call potential sponsors.)
Note in the section of your spreadsheet that details the date of the outreach and the additional discussions you had with sponsors and the outcome.
Keeping all of this information all in one location will help in coordinating your outreach and ensure that you're not being left out of any possible possibilities.
the Future of the Creator Economy
Since the advent of the printing press through the most recent social media platforms and the ability to publish whatever you like online, content continues to be consumed in large volumes.
As young people get older and become more savvy, the use of technology to create a life that they can manage themselves. The ability to think creatively and understand the various ways content creates revenue can allow to live a nomadic lifestyle (van life, DIY, as well as bicycling to name a few) and funding goals (like small sustainable farms, tiny homes as well as photography) in addition to supplementing daily work with more passive earnings (like sponsorship of content, online sales merchandise) as well as course development).
The future of content is now, and you're just a few steps away of making something extraordinary (and getting paid to do it).
Get our business canvas creator template to create your own personal path to sustainable financial viability by creating content that matches your passion!