The creator economy: what is it and how can brands engage with it

The globalization and the pandemic that followed have transformed the way people create and consume content. Research shows that there are around 50 million content creators. Social platforms have contributed the most to empowering independent creators like online educators, influencers, sports professionals, fitness gurus, and motivators who make a living out of content creation.

But first things first, to make the picture clear, you have to understand what the creator economy is.

What is the creator economy?

The creator economy refers to a community of independent creators and curators, including bloggers, photographers, and social media influencers. Content creators who are part of the creator economy are moving towards building their independent businesses around what they are passionate about.

Unlike in the past, when it wasn't easy to make a living out of passion, today's content creators have plenty of opportunities to make a business out of their passion. Thanks to modern technology and digitization.

Tables have turned, and things have changed now—influential content creators are making millions by creating content from their smartphones in the comfort of their homes. One of the major ways today's content creators make money is through brand collaborations.

Social platforms backing the creator economy

The landscape of content creation and brand collaboration is drastically changing as people have more freedom and flexibility to bring life to their creative ideas. The creator economy is growing to new heights in a way it resonates with the generation of today and the modern audiences. Several innovative and lucrative platforms have emerged and soared to great heights.

Let's look into some of these platforms.

Patreon

Patreon is a membership platform that comes with modern business tools for content creators of different niches to make money.

OnlyFans

With over 50 M users last year, it is one of the industry's current most popular adult fan club sites. Not just adult content, content of all types is capable of generating real money.

YouTube Super chat

Super chat is an innovative way for YouTube gamers to generate revenue as users can pay for pinning comments in live videos.

How brands can benefit from the creator economy

The brand that wants to remain relevant and powerful in the era of the creator economy must find ways to empower content creators and foster online communities. Creating an online community around your brand can be a big task.

It is a significant commitment from the side of your brand to be successful. But the advantages of creating an online community can be highly rewarding. If you are not yet convinced whether an online community is a worthwhile investment, here are some of the major advantages of online communities.

Create real connections

Online communities help create a link between customers and brands. Most importantly, community members feel connected and interact with each other around topics they are passionate about. If the members of your community can function, create and innovate with each other online, the ripple effects offline can be much bigger.

Facilitating active user participation with your brand

Customer participation is no longer limited to filling out feedback forms or writing reviews. Instead, customers are demanding personal connections with the brand they buy from. Online communities allow users to learn about new products, engage with peers, share their experiences, and offer feedback. The next level of participation is co-creation, where you can invite creators to contribute their ideas to grow your community.

Foster better customer experience to stand ahead of the competition

Online communities are involved in several internal functions of your business, including content creation and marketing. Your community plays a significant part in their customer experience and overall satisfaction. An online community is an efficient tool that helps you to stand ahead of the competition and offer moments of delight in real-time by creating products that match your customer requirements.

Generate leads and get new customers

If you want to generate more leads and acquire new customers, an online community can be a great place to begin. Because an online community makes you discoverable, and you are offering value to them. A community is a critical tool to expand your audience and bring more traffic to your official website.

Drive revenue growth

Community members can easily find products and services through discussions with other members. Advertising your partner brands is also effortless, and it drives more interest and hence conversions through advertising.

How to build a community online?

If you want to improve the performance of your business and grow your brand, you must work on creating an online community. Here is a quick guide on how to start an online community.

Build your audience first

Online communities work as platforms for your brand to interact with your audience to engage them and your business goals. If your goal is to build an online community, start by finding the right people you would like to add to your community. Harness the power of content marketing so that you can be found on the internet, build trust among your audience, and transform their attention to revenue.

Define goals for your online community

Every online community contains several goals. But the major goals of every online community are as follows.

● What will the community accomplish for you as a business owner?

● What will the community provide for the members?

Think about the results you would achieve after developing an active online community.

Here are some of the questions you can consider when defining a goal.

● How big is your online community?

● What would be the demographic of your community members?

● What will attract people to your community?

● What topics will be talked about, and to what extent?

The ultimate goal must be to create an online community with access to the best content, connections, and opportunities. When setting up an online community, conduct market research to understand more about your competitor brands and how they manage their online communities.

Choose a platform to deliver your services

To foster an online community and become a part of the creator economy, you need to have a platform. If your business already has an application, you can begin from there. Otherwise, you can create your own online community platform and integrate community features like in-app chat and activities fee. You can also add gamification capabilities that allow members to compete with each other.

Awarding badges to users after specific achievements can also increase engagement and increase user retention. Leverage a ready-to-use community marketplace, for example, Fanso, to create community platforms like OnlyFans or Patreon. Having an online community marketplace helps you to connect you with your community and allow other users to contribute their content.

Create content

When thinking about how to make an online community platform, you must also consider the content you would be hosting. You must create starting content to have something for your community members to discuss around which the community will be growing.

If your online community has videos, consider videos of a few different niches or a specific niche. You can also allow other content creators to host their videos on your community platform, thus expanding your network. User-generated content gives your online community a platform to share its unique content and engage with other users of similar interests.

Best practices of online communities

Before getting into steps to create your own community, let's quickly look into some best practices every online community must consider. These tips will ensure that the communities run smoothly even when starting small.

Focus on a niche to begin

Before getting into online community building, make sure you choose a relevant niche. Why should your audience be a part of your community? What unique topics are you planning to cover? What's a popular topic that you are interested in and don't have a community around?

Set guidelines

Guidelines help to clear rules that allow you to inform people to behave in a certain way without ruining the experience of other users. Keep your guidelines around your online community simple: Be kind, polite, don't spam, only share relevant content, etc.

Create a habit

Most community members look forward to seeing mail in their inbox every day. Create such habits around your online community with emails, notifications, etc., to keep your community engaged.

Change the marketing approach

Brands have started to rethink how they promote their products and services to adapt to the ever-changing landscape. Today's content creators can help brands reach customers who want to engage with the brands on a deeper level instead of a one-time engagement.

Conclusion

Online communities are powerful tools to power your audience's trust, loyalty, and engagement with your content. But the rewards come at a cost, and thriving online communities requires time, effort, and smart investments. Brands can leverage online communities and support the growth of the creator economy to grow their business.

Adapting to this revolution will help brands to create effective marketing strategies and facilitate audience engagement. Make sure you explore new businesses that focus on real content and real people to thrive in this competitive business world.