The past two years of the pandemic changed many lives and livelihoods. While the global economy received the hardest hit, a new one surged in popularity: the creator economy. The creator economy has revolutionized marketing and business strategies, as the biggest brands now rely on “creators” to get their brand message out. As much as 66% of businesses reported that they’d invest more in creator marketing in 2022 than the previous year.
The size of the creator economy is thought to be over $100 billion, and almost 50 million social media users worldwide claim to be creators. But what is the future of the creator economy? Will its graph continue to show an upward curve? Is it a good time to leave your 9 to 5 desk job and hop on the unconventional creator bandwagon?
Join us as we foretell the creator economy trends for the coming months!
What Is The Creator Economy?
In the social media landscape, a “creator” is a person who produces content online, whose fame stems from social platforms, and whose primary source of income is social media. Creators are also known as “infopreneurs” who share valuable information through their content. They receive monetary benefits directly from their audience and brand endorsements.
You might be asking, “What is the meaning of the creator economy, though?” This is a term used for independent businesses established by content creators, curators, social media influencers, bloggers, and videographers. It even encapsulates the software and finance tools aiding growth and monetization. In other words, the creator economy is essentially an economic system built by independent, full-time creators connecting brands and audiences via the internet.
Specifically, the younger generation is attracted to the non-traditional profession of a content creator. Gen Z wants to break loose from the shackles of the 9 to 5 industry that does not offer creative liberty. Instead of realizing someone else’s dream in a corporate setting, they are keen on using their skills to live their dream life.
What’s The 2022 Creator Economy Going To Look Like?
For all the creators out there, here is what your future may look like in 2022!
- Way more brand collaboration opportunities
The good news is that brands are increasing their investment in creator marketing. 48% of marketers reported investing over $100,000 annually in spending. Whereas 10% of them spend as much as $1 million! This signals that great brand collaboration opportunities lie ahead for many content creators.
Brands are open to spending millions because creators have a stronger bond with their target audience. They bridge the gap between brands and their customers. Therefore, they can compel them to purchase specific products. This immensely helps brands gain a leg up in social commerce. In addition, creators expand a brand’s awareness and reach, leading to increased conversion rates.
- Higher compensation for creators
Creating valuable content and keeping your audience happy can help you earn a fortune in 2022! Companies now recognize how creators can exponentially boost their revenue, and creators are also aware of the value they bring to the table. Therefore, creators demand higher compensation, and brands happily pay for them. However, many creators factored in genuine brand affinity as a prerequisite for paid partnerships with brands.
As a content creator, your fee will mostly depend on the following factors:
- Your reach and engagement
- The creator economy platforms you are most active on
- The frequency at which you post content online
- The efforts you will put into a campaign
- Long-term brand relationships
Gone are the days when brand collaborations used to be a one-time thing! In 2022, expect brands to become your best buddy and to have lasting relationships. Brands are now looking for long-term relationships with their creators.
Thank you, lucky stars! Brands will now consider you their creative partner — no doubt, your creator career will receive a significant boost this year.
- Data-driven with advanced measurements
Many businesses play a guessing game when it comes to performance analysis. This will change in 2022. More organizations will start using data-driven approaches to minimize the chances of failed campaigns and get the anticipated return on investment. They’ll measure critical metrics of popular marketing channels to ensure you deliver on your promises.
Social media analytics will also advance to offer accurate insights and expose the loopholes in strategies. These advanced measurements will help brands create a robust predictive model that allows efficient scaling in the future.
- Stories lead the way
Be it Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok; popular social media channels have added a new feature: Stories. Stories will play a crucial role in the coming months, so make sure you make the most of them. These 24-hour long clips quickly capture attention as they are placed right on top of the apps. Many additional features, including polls and votes, solicit the audience’s opinions to boost engagement.
These Stories have redefined audience engagement, forcing brands and creators to rethink how they find and engage with the audience. There are even third-party apps you can use to boost the curb appeal of your Stories.
- Creators drive creative strategy
Initially, brands viewed creators as rivals, competing with them to get more visibility. Fortunately, 2022 is bringing a change to this perspective. Brands are now open to partnering with creators, so much so that creators play a crucial role in their creative strategy. Their opinions are increasingly accepted in significant decisions related to the brand’s reach and conversions.
Creators can now liberally create content around their partner brand’s products, and brands can convert it to ads on TikTok — all thanks to Spark Ads. This new feature allows brands to convert user and influencer-generated content into ads and promote them on the For You Page, gaining more visibility.
- NFTs and crypto
In 2021, the NFT (non-fungible token) market surpassed $40 billion and is ever-increasing. NFTs have become a new technologically advanced source of revenue for creators. Though the NFT and crypto industries are said to be in their infancy, the demand for blockspace is rapidly growing. Therefore, creators and big brands are progressively leveraging NFTs and boosting their bank balance!
You can also board the NFT train to gain more profit as a content creator. All you need to do is select the NFT you want to sell — digital art is the most common one, though NFT games are soaring in popularity — and eventually, sell them. In fact, the most expensive NFT digital art was sold for $69,346,250!
- Gen-Z driven
The creator economy will be driven by Gen-Zers, who will redefine small-to-medium businesses. It is noteworthy that Gen-Z builds businesses in a highly non-conventional manner. The fundamental difference is that they rely on a decentralized team to get the work done, as they work remotely. On the other hand, the conventional business model demands employees to physically sit together and work for a specific, pre-defined, non-negotiable period.
Additionally, there are differences in terms of team composition and revenue models. While the teams are fluid and often temporal, the revenue model is community-driven.
- Infrastructure revamp
This year, the infrastructure for the creator economy will also be revised, and Web3 will impact all aspects. Web3 refers to the disruptive evolution of the internet. This version of the World Wide Web is built on blockchain technology, driven by decentralization and a token-based economy. Consequently, the payments in the creator economy will incorporate crypto, and the creator communities will transform into DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations).
All the data in this revamped creator economy will be kept secure through the blockchain system. These systems leverage asymmetric cryptography to enable secure transactions between users. Each user is given a public and a private key made of random numbers cryptographically related to each other. Therefore, it is mathematically impossible to decode the private key, significantly minimizing the chances of data breaches.
- Brands will become creators themselves
Businesses understand that creating content is not limited to content creators. They are equally responsible for churning out great content to keep their audiences engaged. They know that they are as timely and fresh as their content is, and that they’ll only stay on top of customers’ minds by constantly appearing on their social feeds.
Brands like Shopify are already doing great at content creation. Shopify consistently publishes content, jumping on new trends and talking about complicated subjects. They have a blog as well as two podcasts.
- Wary of creator burnout
Unfortunately, the creator economy is not immune to burnout, though at its peak of success. The constant pressure of generating content generates burnout for creators frequently. The “your business = you” equation further stresses them out. As a result, they don’t always feel the best version of themselves and often get surrounded by negative energy.
2022 cautions creators to beware of the creator burnout. At the beginning of this year, burnout was a hot topic for discussion. Surveys even conveyed that 90% of creators experienced this burnout, and 71% of them even considered quitting. Following the trend, burnout will be a more spoken-about topic.
- Less reliance on creator funds
Volatile income has remained a cause of concern for many content creators. Creators often report that generating a stable income is a challenge, and wait eagerly for their videos to get viral. Social media platforms often help these creators by providing monthly remuneration. For instance, TikTok released its creator fund in 2020, setting aside $200 million for U.S. creators.
With all that said, creators won’t entirely depend on these funds in 2022. Perhaps the higher brand partnership opportunities and increased creator fee will quickly make their ends meet and even help them save a certain amount per month!
This Is Your Cue, Influencers!
Unquestionably, the creator economy growth shows an upward trend! This is your sign of focusing on your career as a creator, creating a tight-knit community, and partnering with reputable brands with a similar target audience.
And if you are finding it hard to land high-paying brand collaborations, we’ve got your back! Our AI-driven influencer platform can connect you with brands that share similar interests and help you have a stable source of income with minimal effort. All you have to do is sign up at Atisfyre and leave the rest to us!
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