In one of our last month’s posts we discussed the expansion of the creators’ economy and how it is changing the marketing scenario globally. You can read the blog here. In this article, we will discuss the topic in further detail exploring the opportunities and challenges of the creator economy.
OPPORTUNITIES OF CREATOR ECONOMY
The creator economy offers many opportunities for creators and in the process allows creators to make a living from their creativity, while also helping brands in their marketing campaigns. Some of the key opportunities include:
To reach a large audience:
With the rise of online platforms and social media, it is easier for creators to share their content with their followers. This provides a huge audience to the creators through which they can build a community and connect with their fans. This also allows brands to build awareness for their products and services.
To monetize content:
Online platforms have allowed creators to monetize their content in various ways, like through advertising, sponsorships & merchandise sales. This provides creators with a new source of income that can help support their work.
To connect with fans and followers:
Due to social media, the creators can now directly connect with their fans and supporters, allowing them to build their brand, credibility and a community around their content. Due to a community like this, brands are eager to collaborate with these creators for promotion purposes.
CHALLENGES OF CREATOR ECONOMY
But with advantages come challenges too. The creator economy do present some serious challenges and creators & marketers must have to overcome in order to succeed online. They are :
Competition: The creator economy is open to all and that is why the competition is growing exponentially. More and more people are creating and sharing content online. That is why, it has become hard to find unique abd genuine content creators these days.
Changing algorithms and policies: Online platforms and social media are constantly changing their algorithms and terms and conditions that decides how a content is shared and promoted. This is actually making it difficult for creators to predict how their content will score in the market which then again decides the creator's audience and income.
Exhausting mental health: The pressure to constantly create and share content can overwhelm most creators. It is exhaustive to always work to create content even if you are on a vacation. It is more stressful to be online and active to share content as the success comes when you engage with your followers and not just if you post and disappear. This leads to mental health issues. This has made it difficult for creators to sustain their work over the long term, leading to a decline in mental health and income.
Unpaid Invoices: This is the most difficult part - unpaid invoices. First there are brands who don't want to pay at all in exchange for said deliverables. Then there are brands who refuse to pay on time. There are brands that take advantage of creators, refusing to pay them after a collaboration - which consequently take a toll on the creator's confidence.
It is indeed difficult to predict the future of the creator economy as it is constantly evolving. Studies show that it will continue to grow as more and more people have access to the internet which means more people will turn to creators while sharing their point of views and thoughts, ideas and creations.