17 Tips to Build Your Social Media Presence

In today’s digital world, having a strong social media presence is increasingly important for both brands and individuals. Social media serves as a great tool to build brand awareness in the consumer’s mind. Without a presence on these platforms, you may be at a disadvantage compared to competitors who are leveraging social media marketing.

Building a strong and successful social media presence can pose a challenge amidst the ever-growing array of social platforms and mounting intricacies.

Building a presence transcends merely posting an image with a caption. It requires a strategic approach intertwined with creativity and a true understanding of your brand to cultivate brand recognition. We’ll start by defining what a social media presence entails and its importance.

What Is a Social Media Presence and Why Is It Important?

A brand’s social media presence represents their visibility and engagement across various social platforms. It involves building genuine relationships with consumers and establishing online communities. A strong online presence can help to deepen connections with existing customers while reaching out to new ones.

With over 4.95 billion social media users across the globe, this represents a substantial opportunity to broaden reach and visibility for any brand. The use of social media can be pivotal in creating trust and credibility with the consumer, cultivating genuine connections, and expressing your brand’s values and personality. All of these elements can work together to drive brand awareness and foster a positive brand image, allowing for growth.

It is important to note that a social media presence isn’t something that can be created overnight. It requires a strategic mindset and a well thought out plan to achieve optimal outcomes.

With that in mind, we have put together 17 tips to help you build and grow your social media presence.

1) Pick the Right Platforms

With a growing digital landscape, there is a vast array of social media platforms that you can use. However, don’t let this overwhelm you, and don’t try to get famous on every platform. Understanding your brand, your audience, and what platform will best align with these is essential.

For instance, if your brand focuses on creativity and artistry, platforms such as TikTok or Pinterest that allow for creative content would be most suitable. On the other hand, for a sophisticated, established business, platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook may be more appropriate. Nevertheless, it is important to conduct research to identify which platforms best align with your brand and where your audience is most active.

If you use Instagram as one of your platforms, consider some of the best video editing apps to create your Instagram reels.

2) Identify Your Audience

Effective social media marketing relies on your ability to identify your audience. Understanding your market allows you to choose the most suitable social media platforms and effective strategies.

For instance, if you are targeting younger consumers, platforms like Instagram and TikTok would be ideal choices. Statistics show that for Gen Z, 75% are using Instagram as their main platform and 69% on TikTok. On the other hand, if you are targeting older consumers, you may consider platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn.

Knowing your audience can also help you develop appropriate strategies. For example, Gen Z consumers prefer personalized content and influencers. So, if Gen Z is your audience, leveraging influencer marketing can help establish connections between the consumer and your brand.

3) Make People Aware You Are On Social Media

Sometimes it can be hard to grow a following on social media when you first start. It can be even harder if no one knows where to find you. Make sure you link your social media to your website, email marketing, etc. so that your current consumers are aware of your accounts.

4) Set SMART Goals

SMART goals are:

● Specific: Give concrete targets (followers, views, shares).

● Measurable: quantify or at least suggest an indicator of progress.

● Achievable: Are your targets realistic?

● Relevant: Do your KPIs (key performance indicators) measure engagement?

● Time-Based: Set a fixed point for assessing campaign success.

Setting smart goals will allow you to keep track of what you want to achieve, set realistic timelines, and ways of measuring success. Any successful brand or social media personality has likely set SMART goals to reach the point of success that they desire. Setting goals will hold you accountable and help turn your aspirations into realistic objectives.

5) Create An Editorial Schedule

Creating a content calendar is so important to ensure timely posts. Balancing running a business can be stressful as is. Keeping a calendar will allow you to track when you are going to post, what you are going to post, and on what platform. It will hold you accountable and prevent you from forgetting to make a post. This is also a great way to track and look back at previous posting schedules.

Using a calendar tool like Sprout’s will allow you to streamline your social media planning and scheduling.

6) Be Human

Regardless of the platform you are on, it is imperative to be real, honest, and authentic. Consumers want to feel like they can connect with the person behind the brand. Companies that fail to convey their personality through social media risk appearing cold and ingenuine, which can deter consumers from the brand. Think of ways you can incorporate fun posts like “behind-the-scenes” content of what goes on in the company. This shows viewers the real people behind the seemingly impersonal brands they encounter.

Take Duolingo, for instance. They are a great example of how a brand has effectively leveraged TikTok and created videos showcasing their playful personality to engage with consumers. They have been so successful that they have even made a lasting impression on non-Duolingo users.

7) Leverage Trends

Trends are constantly changing across social media. It is important to stay up-to-date and take advantage of their popularity. Jumping on the right trend that aligns with your brand can lead to viral posts and help you gain exposure. This not only aids in reaching new customers but also shows your current consumers your brand personality.

Consider Chipotle as an example. They are a great demonstration of how a brand utilizes TikTok to showcase a variety of posts ranging from hacks to promotional content to trends. With ASMR videos being very popular, they leveraged this trend and made an “ASMR” video of their Chicken Al Pastor, which they recently brought back to stores.

With podcasts on the rise, this can be another great way to leverage content creation and get personal with your brand as a business. You can use a white glove B2B podcast partner to help you network with your ideal potential clients, while at the same time building an audience in your niche to close more deals easily. They can help manage and create written SEO, video, social, and audio content from each episode to drive more people to your website and increase sales.

8) Make Use of Visuals

A picture is worth a thousand words. Graphics can grab the attention of consumers when they are mindlessly scrolling through social media. Ensuring you use visuals in your posts, like images, videos, infographics, etc., can help your post stand out. Once you grab the attention of the viewer, they can go further to read your caption if they are interested. Don’t underestimate the importance of visuals in having a strong social media presence. It is noted that people will retain 80% of what they see, only 20% of what they read, and 10% of what they hear. Below is an example of a visually appealing social media feed for the brand, Pleasing.

9) Stay Active

Post, post, post! It’s not enough just to create a social media account; you must be active to maintain awareness. Finding a balance between staying active and not posting too much is crucial. Discover the right balance between the frequency and timing of posts. This comes with time! You may start to notice patterns the more you post.

Remember to also stay engaged with your followers. Respond to their comments, share their stories, like their photos, and be responsive to direct messages. This level of interaction can foster loyalty and a sense of connection.

With the overwhelming amount of social media activity that can occur, it can be hard to track and keep up with everything. Using a social media listening tool can streamline this process and collect all relevant online information about your brand on a centralized platform.

10) Be Engaged With Your Audience

Many people will see your content, but it is those who engage with and interact with it that are so important. In order to foster an interactive environment with your consumers, you need to show the person behind the screen. This doesn’t necessarily mean posting a picture of yourself, but allow your personality to come through in your posts. This creates a friendlier and more interactive environment. Respond to comments, ask questions, and prompt your viewers to engage with the brand. This will create meaningful experiences and grow genuine engagement.

11) Don’t Try To Oversell

Trying to push and close a sale may be appropriate in certain situations, but not on social media. Social media should be used as a medium to help grow your brand and its awareness. Pushing the hard sell on these platforms is likely to steer away consumers. They want a brand that is genuine and truly cares about their concerns. Focus on social media to engage with the consumer, offer useful tips, answer their concerns, etc. By showing that you care through social media, this can drive sales in other aspects. A push for sales through social media can come across as bold and intrusive.

12) Track Engagement

It’s great if you are creating fun content and have a good posting schedule going, but you need to know how your posts are doing. Tracking the success and engagement of your posts is a great way to identify what is working and what is not. This will allow you to plan future posts and strategies based on past trends and what has been effective. Using a platform such as Sprout Social, Hootsuite, etc. can provide you with a platform that summarizes engagement data, allowing you to draw key insights and patterns to inform future strategies.

13) Give Users A Reason To Follow You

Potential followers need a reason to follow you! People don’t want cluttered feeds, so they will only follow someone or a brand if they have a reason to. Whether you post exclusive content, tips/tricks, or special sales for your followers on certain platforms, these can all act as incentives for people to follow your account.

14) Host Giveaways

Giveaways are very popular on social media and are a great way to engage and interact with your customers! A lot of brands will ask contest participants to follow them, like a post, leave a comment, share their story, or some combination of these, in order to enter the giveaway. By doing so, the brand is getting people engaged with their page, increasing their awareness, and giving a chance to try their products. This is a great way to create an experience for followers that will create a positive association with the brand.

15) It’s Not All About You

It’s important to post about your brand, what you’re doing, and content that you have created. While doing this, you have to remember that social media is about you and the other person viewing your page. Make sure the followers know you care about them and see their posts on social media. If a follower makes a post and tags you in it, you should like it, leave a comment, or share it on your story. It shows your followers that you are engaged with them, shows authenticity, and makes them feel valued. This helps to foster an online community and relationships.

16) Generate New Ideas

It’s important to stay relevant and capture the attention of your followers. Don’t always share the same thing over and over. This can get boring and lead followers to avoid your account if they know you always post the same thing. Make sure to incorporate innovative, new, and exciting posts that can capture the interest of your followers. Keep in mind that consistency is still key. That is, come out with new content but maintain consistent branding and messaging throughout to send a uniform message across all your posts.

17) Learn from your mistakes and successes

It’s okay to make a mistake! Starting a social media presence can be a hard task, and you will likely see failures and successes along the way. It is important that you take those failures and learn from them to improve your strategies moving forward. Also, make sure to identify what is working. You may notice that your consumers are more receptive to certain types of content. You want to make note of this so you can continue to utilize effective strategies. Social media listening tools like HootSuite and Sprout Social can be helpful in measuring your performance and identifying what is working and what is not.

Conclusion

It takes time to build a strong social media presence, so don’t get discouraged. Stick to these tips and learn from your experience. If you view social media as a medium to create authentic connections with your consumers instead of just a selling method, you will see your business start to grow. Remember, patience is key. Now that we have run through 17 key tips, how will you start to build your social media presence?

Written by Kaitlin Duong

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Jony Studios is a client-focused media production studio offering audio/video production, B2B podcasting, and audiobook services. They have worked with a wide range of clients from small businesses to larger organizations such as Penguin Random House, Amazon, University of Waterloo, Freakonomics Radio and many others.

Top 10 AI Voice Generators

Artificial intelligence (AI) has made many groundbreaking advances in recent years. Developing into such a powerful tool that is so easy to use. AI can imitate humans so convincingly that many industries have picked up the use of artificial speech.

Being able to quickly generate speech that sounds human is so beneficial for many people. But not knowing where to start is an issue that may discourage you. There are many options to choose from, but to make it simpler, here is a list of the best options.

ElevenLabs

To start, ElevenLabs has an amazing variety of tools for users looking for help with voiclines, audiobooks, chatbots, and more. With many voice options and even customizable voices, you can pick the desired language and give it a try.

ElevenLabs offers different levels of subscriptions, providing users with more characters and lengths of use. From $5 to $300, you can choose what level fits you best.

This super easy-to-use site makes your synthesised voice in 60 seconds. With the fully adjustable voice options, not only can you pick the type of voice you make, you can even replicate your voice. 

Murf AI

The studio in Murf AI is extremely user-friendly and professional. You have up to 120+ voices to choose from and a range of languages for any type of voiceover, speech, or reading you need. 

Murf AI is a trusted AI tool for many. You chose the plan you want ranging from $0-$75 a month, depending on your needs. There is also a free trial, giving you access to everything for 10 minutes to see if Murf AI is the right choice for you.

Murf AI is wonderful for getting down to the pitch, accents, speed, and emphasis with their tools. This quickly generated speech is almost identical to human speech, giving you the best quality for your work.

Resemble AI

Resemble.ai provides users with 60 languages, easy-to-use technology, and a variety of voices that can even replicate your own. There are so many tools that can be used on this powerful site. Resemble.ai even has deepfake detection software that will help you find the difference between real and fake voices. 

The basic subscription here starts at $0.006 per second, providing you with the perfect amount of freedom to play around with. You can also demo before purchasing, and if you decide you want more, the pro subscription is waiting for you. All you have to do is contact them and receive a quote.

Speechify

Speechify is an amazing text-to-speech tool that can help anyone who has trouble reading. Speechify can read back anything in realistic human voices, even replicating the voices of celebrities or yourself. 

With a free option, Speechify is an amazing place to start. A pro option is available for $139 a year. This will give you even more voice and languages, higher speed, and imported and scanned text options as opposed to just the text-to-speech feature of the free version. 

Speechify wants to focus on text-to-speech for users with learning disabilities and physical disabilities. Dyslexia, ADHD, vision problems, and more—they want to make reading accessible to everyone. Ranging in a bunch of languages makes this easy for anyone learning languages.

Synthesys

With complete customization, you can create a voice with the perfect tone and voice for any project you need. Using a wide range of languages, you have so much freedom with Synthesys.

Synthesys has options for everyone. With a free option, you can easily use voice, video, and image generations. For creators, they recommend the second option, which costs only $99 a month. Some may prefer the business option, which gives you an even bigger range of features and costs $198 a month. 

Play HT

Play HT has tons of amazing voice options, including an age range, language range, emotional range, and cloning option. They have endless possibilities for what you can do. They have so much more than most AI voice companies because of all the easily customized options. Their character options are also customizable, so you can make them say certain things differently according to your needs. 

With customizable pricing ranging from free to $99 a month, you can customize your plan.

LOVO AI

LOVO is a text-to-speech AI that uses a wide range of characters and languages to produce realistic voices. You simply pick the character with the right tone and adjust as needed to fit whatever you need to read. They also have producer mode, where you can edit emphasis and pauses correctly to fit your needs. 

With 4 packages, you can decide how much you need from them as well as get a 50% discount for your first year in the higher 2 options. 

Not only do they have voices, but they can also do videos, art, and writing. 

Animaker Voice

Animaker Voice is an animation and voice site that quickly and easily generates any type of voice you need. With a simple, four-step method of making a voice, you can get anything you need. 

For around $19 a month, you can get the pro version, which gives you more voices, more storage, more voice options, and more. 

Listnr

Listnr wants to give you the best AI voices possible. They have 1000+ voices in 500+ languages, giving you a wide range to experiment with and customize to fit your needs. Listnr is super easy to use and gives you editing access right where you make the voices. 

The levels of subscriptions are perfect to let you decide what exactly you want from them, giving you the best opportunity to make your voiceovers.

Respeecher

Respeecher is a tool made for content creators. It’s perfect for fillmamkers of any level to add or adjust voices in videos. They can also clone voices wonderfully, giving you the option to add in more dialog without needing the voice actor any more.

Important things to know

While AI Voice Generators are awesome and can come in handy, real-life narrators still have a lot of value and give that human touch that can go a long way. Some platforms don’t currently allow AI-generated narration. For example, ACX (Audible) still does not allow it for audiobooks, it has to be a real narrator.

Also, if you are a business leader who wrote a book and want to grow your brand, there is nothing more personal than narrating the book you wrote to your audience using your voice.

Although it can be challenging to find the time to go to a recording studio, there are new innovative methods that allow you to do it from the comfort of your own home while delegating everything else to a trusted audiobook production partner.

Do you think AI narrators will be able to replace human narrators?! Let us know in the comments below.

Conclusion

With how much technology has advanced, the new world of AI has become one of the biggest tools for many different types of people. From creators to small businesses, AI can help you create everything you need. These sites all have free versions that make it easy to get started. Now that AI has become such a helpful and important tool in the business world, it can only go up from here. Having a reliable source to help you is key to effectiveness. 

Written By Ali Grant

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Jony Studios is a client-focused media production studio offering audio/video production, B2B podcasting, and audiobook services. They have worked with a wide range of clients from small businesses to larger organizations such as Penguin Random House, Amazon, University of Waterloo, Freakonomics Radio and many others.

Understanding the Creator Economy

I’m sure over the years you have noticed the way social media has taken off and made its way into people's everyday lives. The media is so much bigger than anyone can imagine, with over 200 million creators, 4 million of those creators having over 100,000 followers. 

With such a fast-growing economy, the creator economy is one of the most effective marketing tactics. All the amazing content creators using platforms like YouTube, Twitch, and Etsy, as well as all the creators making podcasts, movies, music, and e-commerce, have revolutionized the marketing world. Now the creator economy is worth an estimated 104 billion dollars. This development in the industry has made it essential for business and commerce. 

In 1996, Bill Gates predicted that in the future “Content is King”. In this essay he wrote, he describes how “Content is where I expect much of the real money will be made on the Internet, just as it was in broadcasting.” And well, he was right. This fast-growing economy will have over 207 million content creators in 2023 alone, with only 45 million of those being considered professionals. 30% of 18 to 24 year olds consider themselves content creators, as well as 40% of 25 to 34 year olds. There’s around 40 million users with over 1000 active followers on Instagram alone. 

You can see the copious amount of people embracing their passions and using media to make a living off of them. The strategies, skills, and talents put into media give anyone the opportunity to make or spark their career. Creators can build communities to support them in their art, and with the engagement and support, it brings in a bigger outreach to grow.

What is the Creator Economy?

Anyone who creates any form of content falls into the creator economy. Every Instagram post, audiobook, YouTube video, podcast, or live stream; anything that is created, consumed, or distributed in the digital world is part of the creator economy. Social media is one of the biggest contributors to the creator economy. 

The creator economy allows ordinary people to share their messages and passions with the world. People can market their content and build an online community of people to interact with and support their pursuits. When this content is monetized, the creator can make money from it, and this starts the cycle. Brands can also work with creators, usually bigger creators, but any creator can be sponsored or have a partnership with companies to further promote their content and meet the brand's needs. 

Content Creator or Influencer

The first thing we need to know to understand the economy is: what exactly is a content creator? People tend to use influencer and content creator interchangeably, but that's not actually right. Content creators create content that is targeted at a specific audience with a promotional, informative, or entertaining intent. They let their work be their brand rather than making themselves a brand. While influencers are the people promoting things because of their personalities, they are also the face of their businesses.

One way to differentiate the two is by asking yourself: does the person delivering the message make it effective, or is it the product itself that I like? An example of this is when a YouTuber promotes a game by talking about how much they liked it. The game might be exactly what you want, but the person delivering it to you is the reason you want it. If you saw an ad for it where it was marketed as something on its own, would you still want it? 

Content creators may also be influencers; however, not all influencers create their own content. Popular names on social media can be either, and as it is such a fine line, it can be difficult to separate the two. Any content creator can become an influencer with the right following. Monetized and skilled content creators who make a name for themselves can turn that into their career and make a living off of it. Their skills can be formed beforehand through training or schooling, or they can be spontaneously made and improved through their work.

If you’re a business that wants to know how to find and hire the top content creators to grow your brand, you check out this article which has a lot of helpful information on that topic.

Common roles in the creator economy 

Going off of the influencer topic, there is a lot more than just the creators that go into this economy. The people behind the scene are just as important to making it work. 

Content created by influencers is one of the easiest markeing tools, but with that having the right influencer is important. There are a few different typesof influencers with various styles and effects to any given audience. 

As content creators can become influencers, audiences tend to pay more attention to their opinions and advice on what to do in their own lives so they can be more like their favorite creators. They are some of the most influential people ever, as their content has such an impact and is constantly a click away. 

Key Opinion Leaders, also known as KOLs, are people who have credentials in a particular field, making them experts. There are people like this on social media who post content about their field, provide information, or entertain people with content relating to their field. Some examples are doctors, vets, coaches, police officers, and many more. A doctor can create reaction content and say their opinion as a doctor on the situation or promote products they enjoy using, and it looks more reliable as they are actually a doctor and have the knowledge to know that product is the best option. 

Brand ambassadors are influencers with a closer relationship to the brand. They might receive PR packages for free from the brand that they can open on their social media and promote the products at the same time. 

Affiliates are commission-based creators. They receive things like payment or a free product for selling the brand's products. They can pair up with the brand to set things up in a way that's a little more relaxed and doesn't need to be as much of a commitment to the brand. 

Customer advocates are the smaller creators; typically, they are the people with a stronger connection with their very active, loyal community. They share a common interest and can encourage brand loyalty simply because the whole community uses it. 

Another form of content creator is the producer. A producer for a company is usually someone who loves creating anything and everything. They can be used to diversify the content they put out and experiment with different types of content. They can use all this content over and over again to keep pushing promos. This type of content creator is most common with direct-to-consumer brands, where they can upload it all to their social media accounts at their convenience and schedule. This is cheaper and more diverse for these brands. 

The last type is celebrity content creators. Anyone who comes from an outside source of fame, such as movie actors, athletes, or authors, can start a social media account to show their irl (in real life) content and promote their projects and favorite products. This means they will already have the influence and fame to impact people's decisions. Creators who also have over 1 million followers are considered to have celebrity status. This also means they have a bigger reach, impact, and effect on people. 

 Managing Content Creators

Brands need to think about the content creators they work with. Not having a hundred content creators to pay and manage is more efficient for them, but having only a few might not be enough. Looking at the types of content creators, the audiences that come with those content creators, and the engagement rates they get will help pick which ones are the best options.

Searching for keywords or phrases will help filter the creators on the site you are looking for, giving you the best options to choose from. Reaching out to a few creators will be best, as some might not line up with your views and some might not be looking for partnerships. 

There can be different types of hires, apart from content creators and influencers themselves. 

Recruiting and onboarding people are those who make clear contracts and communicate with the content creators since the creator must integrate the brand's promotion into their content in ways that reflect both of them equally. 

Relationship management helps the creators reflect their strengths and allows them to be a bit more creative with the promotions. 

Campaign workflow managers look at the number of content creators the company is working with; this means the creators aren't affected, but the company is watching the numbers. 

Product fulfillment is in charge of the inventory and watching the products go out for creators. Influencer payment is carefully managed, as product sales, commissions, and fees are all incorporated into this. They also must watch dates for when to pay the influencer, as if they are late or forget, it may have significant effects on their relationship with the creator.  

How has it changed? 

Now, in 2023, the internet has been vastly different since the beginning, so marketing and business have changed too. Social media has developed into a tool for businesses to promote themselves and find better ways to advertise. 

Now that the internet has developed into the amazing resource it is, people can more easily start their own businesses and projects. The content that ordinary people without experience can create diversifies the industry and increases consumption. With there being so many styles and niches for people to experiment with, content never runs out. Creative endeavors are also not limited to being simply videos or photos because podcasting and live streaming are rising in demand too. 

There are also far more tools to help you make what you need to make. The options are endless. 

Comment Sold is a site made to help you sell products on social media. 

Amazon Live can sell products from streams. 

Karat is a digital marketplace.

Fourthwall is a virtual reality platform that can showcase work. 

LTK monetizes social media content and is mainly focused on lifestyle content. 

Kajabi is an online course site to help teach you a variety of topics of your choosing.

These are just a few of the many tools you can look into to help you grow as a content creator or just look around as a customer. 

Being Authentic

Lifestyle content is ever-growing and becoming more and more popular, creating a bigger market for original, personal content for the audience to connect to the creator on a deeper level. Vlogs, BTS (behind-the-scenes), and podcast content, along with unique, authentic content, do far better now than they did in the past. 

Audiences can tell when the content creators they watch are genuinely passionate or invested in their content. If ideas are new and innovative, it shows in the content. Creators who just follow trends and old ideas will be boring, as they aren’t putting their hearts into the content the way a passionate new creator would. Being authentic, even if you are second-guessing if anyone will be interested, is better than doing something everyone has already seen and gotten over. 

Content creators can use these fresh, innovative ideas to their advantage too, because brands see the pre-established fanbase of genuine people enjoying the content as more impressive than inactive followers. Brands bringing in content creators like this establishes relationships and networking for promotion.

The passion of the content creator shown in the promotional content makes it seem more genuine and convincing, leading to better sales of the product. The content creator makes it resonate better with the audience that way, and it benefits everyone involved. 

How Does Technology Encourage Growth Of The Creator Economy? 

First of all, the creator economy would be almost nonexistent without technology. Creators depend on the platforms they use to make their content. All the platforms used to post their content are essential to their job and sharing the content they make. Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Twitch, and Etsy, just to name a few. There are tools they use, such as Adobe Creative Cloud, Photoshop, or other photo and video editing platforms, that allow them to create what they want to create. 

Technology like cameras, laptops, drawing tablets, and microphones helps creators create every day. Without the technology to support creativity, the creator economy would be boring, and not many people would actually care. 

Where is it going?

The creator economy is continuing to grow and is expected to nearly double from the current $250 billion dollar economy by 2027. As it expands, it creates a better mix of freelance jobs and 9-5s. The gig economy is skyrocketing into a much more common way of working. With the rise of content creators, influencers, and celebrities contributing in some way to the industry, there is less demand for people to be in an office five days a week. The COVID-19 pandemic proved the power of working from home. 

The Gen-Z generation has already shown a significant interest in content creation, so as they get jobs and start to figure out what they want to do with their lives, we might see a huge peak of content creators. Amateur and professional qualifications used in content creation aid in bringing up the popularity and demand for these roles. By bringing in the different niches, new ideas and common interests in content creation and freelance jobs are predicted to overtake the typical 9–5 of the present world. People enjoy the flexibility, diversity, and enjoyment that come with having something less structured. 

The strategy of the industry

One strategy that is very common for anyone working on building up a foundational fanbase or community for their business is the funnel method. 

The goal at the top of the funnel (TOFU) is to introduce the brand and begin to broaden your reach to new audiences. Giving people a base to gain interest in your brand and eventually spread the word. 

Increasing your brand awareness is not as hard as you may think. Of course, it's not a guarantee of how much you will gain, but there are things you can do to encourage growth. 

• More creators 

• This will expand the number of viewers you get and increase your reputation by being shown everywhere. 

• More posts

• With more posts and diverse types of posts, you are showing your brand in a multitude of ways, giving your company the best chance to have the most traction.

• Creator reach

• The creators you work with can use their marketing strategies that work with their viewers to help push the brand more.

• Followers on brand pages

• Having your own numbers helps immensely.

• Users making their own content

• People on their personal accounts can make videos talking about the brands they like, and though they do not have a large following, they can still be some of the most influential.

In this first step, getting your creators to make specific content to help further the reach, you will notice the difference. Unboxings, blogs, vlogs, branded hashtags, linked products, and mentions will all directly push the product. 

The middle of the funnel (MOFU) is when you are trying to get your brand to be at the forefront of people's minds by adding that level of integrity and common knowledge so people will share your service or product. This is the educational step where possible consumers are learning why your product or service is the right choice over other options. 

You want to cultivate an audience that depends on your brand. To do this, you need to consider a few things along with taking it into your own hands. The following points might help you consider what is important:

• Paying attention to engagement rates

• Finding what type of content makes views go up or down and following along with that. You want to work with the audience, and if you are growing from videos over photos, you might want to try doing more videos. 

• The ratios of likes and dislikes or positive and negative comments

• You want to listen to your audience's criticisms. If people aren't liking the content you are putting out, changing it up a little might be what you need. 

• Quality engagement

• Check the analytics often because you will see if people are just scrolling past, actually watching, or engaging with the content. You want the most from people, as that is what will push your content through the algorithm. 

• Following size 

• Growing a following of millions of people is not always a necessity. Yes,  it is helpful as many people are on your page, but you also want to have an engaged audience. Pushing your content on bigger creator pages will do better than for small creators, as there is more audience per creator.

The type of content you want here is more informational or influential. Content with BTS (behind the scenes) looks into the product or company, giving customers a more personal experience of getting to know and relying on the brand. How-tos, Q&A’s or FAQ's, and informational streams or videos where customers can get questions answered are really helpful.

Seeing the product in action or getting to know the brand better adds security to it. You can even do contests or giveaways to get real people working with the product. People really like the idea of getting things for free, so by playing into human psychology like this, you are effectively promoting the things you offer. 

Lastly, at the bottom of the funnel (BOFU), the main goal is to ensure all the viewers become consumers. You want to try to get as many customers as possible at the bottom of the funnel because this is where the audience gets figured out. Are they here because they are interested in the product, or are they here because they liked the content? You can deliver certain types of content to convince the remaining people to buy your product. 

Having all the things that make it easy for people to get your product or service makes it much easier for people to purchase from you. Between impulsive purchases and thoroughly thought-out purchases, you want them to be easy to get a hold of. 

• Clickable links

• Having an easy-to-see link to lead people directly to your page makes it easier to find exactly what they want. If the consumer just watched a video with a product in it they now want, a link in the bio or pinned comment will make it easy to quickly find and purchase.

• Subscriptions

• By having people subscribe to sites, emails, or newsletters, they will always be up-to-date on information and see new updates or products they can jump on.

• Leads 

• Things relating to items or subjects your audience is interested in will help bring more interest to your product. If you are making a product with a customizable option or specific design, having it relate to a fandom your audience typically releases to will help push the interest in your product. An example of this would be a game controller with popular characters from a game on it.

• Discount codes

• Discount codes are typically seen as a specialty that not everyone gets. Seeing that you are the small majority selected to use this code encourages people to want to take the opportunity.

• Sales or deals

• Similar to discount codes, making things cheaper than normal gets people excited as it means they will have more benefit from getting the product or service than they would normally. Some people might be considering your product, and seeing it is 15% off will be the driving factor in getting them onboard with the purchase.

• Influencer specials 

• An influencer promotion of a company is already a helpful tool, but giving them something to help their fans out is an added bonus. By combining the interest with the product and giving a special offer to their favorite topics and creators, audiences are more likely to jump on the opportunity that their favorite influencer is giving them.

As mentioned before, influencers are huge influences on the promotion of a product, so getting them to do content about your product adds to the benefits. Reviews, direct messages from the creator, and special offers will encourage this further.

Having a better touch point with customers leads to an improved customer experience and a better relationship with the audience. Everything leads back into a cycle of improvement.

Most social media sites have tried to update their platforms marketing tools. Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook are just some examples of platforms that have developed a marketplace or shop feature, making it easier for brands and influencers to work together and continue to use their platforms. The whole industry depends on each other for these things and makes a profit from pairing up. 

Fun Facts

Some fun facts to think about when considering your part in the creator economy: 

• Anyone has a chance to be a content creator, with no major split between men and women (52% men, 49% women, and 1% identifying differently).

• Right now, only 13% of content creators are Gen-Z. The market is being opened to them, but people of any age can create content. 15% are boomers, 30% are Gen-X, and 41% are millennials. This means there is the least amount of Gen-Z at the moment, but this is expected to change in a few years. 

• Around half the people who make content use it as a way to express themselves rather than as a way to make money. Additional 66% of creators have other jobs. Content creation is not a main source of income for a lot of creators, as you don’t have dependability when you first start, and you need a strong basis to earn enough. More than half of all beginner creators make $100 or less in a year. 

• On average, across all creators, it is estimated that they earn $59 an hour. This number won’t be accurate for everyone, as it is vastly different from creator to creator. 

• Around 48% of users on social media say they would consider purchasing a premium subscription. 

• There are twice as many people looking for educational content than there are peopole looking for entertaining content. Along with that, 2 out of 3 people spend some time every day learning something, and in younger generations, that number increases to 4 out of 5 people. Educational content is on the rise. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, the creator economy has a variety of unique opportunities for anyone of any age and any status to dive into. The enhanced job opportunities and niches that push beyond the normal job scene make it such an important part of our society today. The ever-evolving role and impact the creator economy has on the world makes it an important thing for businesses to utilize to their advantage. With a lower cost and better effectiveness, content creators are some of the best tools to promote a brand, so learning more about the future of the content economy is important to know where it will go and where to invest your time.

Written By Ali Grant

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Jony Studios is a client-focused media production studio offering audio/video production, B2B podcasting, and audiobook services. They have worked with a wide range of clients from small businesses to larger organizations such as Penguin Random House, Amazon, University of Waterloo, Freakonomics Radio and many others.