Content creator Vs Influencer

CONTENT CREATOR Vs INFLUENCER

 

We  are going to be talking about the difference between a contentcreator and an influencer. Daily is on both sides of the influencer-contentcreator equation. For one, we work with travel brands, mostly in travel, but we work with brands on their influencer marketing and their digital marketing strategies and their content strategies, but we also work with content creators and influencers on building out their businesses, so we really get to do both sides, right? We get to be involved in both. And the reason it's important to differentiate between a content creator and an influencer, one, it's important for the brands because it's ultimately gonna help them achieve their goals and it's also important for you guys, you know, if you're on the creative side, to kind of see where you fall, 'cause it's gonna help you with your pitching efforts. (keys clicking) So, let's start with content creators. This, again, for us, content creators, you know, they're like the artists. They existed before the internet, you know, there's always going to be people who are pushing the brink creatively. You know, I consider the content creators the photographers, videographers, people that have a skill, like, you know, maybe it's in graphic design. People that are actually creating content. The thing about the world that we live in now, there's just such an increase and need for content. Think about it, all the brands that you know and all the businesses and the mom and pop shops, everyone needs content nowadays 'cause all of them want to be on social media.

 

CONTENT CREATOR

The  content, the need for it, is just skyrocketing. So photographers, videographers, content creators, so to speak, the time is now for you guys because there's a really big need in our industry for your talent. Now, if you're a content creator, brands don't want to work with you to leverage your numbers or your impressions, they want to leverage your creativity. So what you need to focus on is pushing yourself creatively, not copying others that you see on the interviews, but actually coming up with new filters, concepts, again, I'm not a videographer person, I'm on the brand side, but you guys need to be killing it and creating that new something or other so someone like me is like, "Oh my god, that's so cool. "I haven't seen it, I want to work with this person." That's your job. Forget the numbers ,forget the impressions. That shouldn't be where you're leading. Now, of course, having a strong social media presence is only gonna help you get more gigs, but your work speaks for itself. So if you're a content creator, my number one advice would be keep pushing yourself creatively to stand out, to make sure that your content shines in the sea of content that is already available. (keys clicking) As a content creator, your job is also to make sure your content is shining and is up to light. So, make sure your website is a portfolio style website. We want to be able to sort through your content quickly and easily. I don't want to have to feel like I'm searching. And Instagram, the scrolling, it's not, it's annoying. I want a professional website for you guys where you know it's something easy, it doesn't have to be a crazy, burdensome site, but it should have a portfolio feature where I can sort through different types of content that you create. You can show me everything ,whether it's graphic or video work or photos, you know, it should be outlined as so. (keys clicking) So, back in the day, like people that had brands, first of all, there weren't as many pop up brands as there are now, right? There was a few really big ones. I'll talk about that in a second. But people used to put their money into big ad agencies. Well, the budget's the budget, right? The budgets aren't increasing, they're just being used differently and I see now a lot of brands are doing a lot of work in house and they're divvying up their budget by using different content creators instead of using a photo firm or an agency to do all the work and creative, they're just going to the creative person themselves. So it is important that you guys are on social media so that you can be found and referred to. But like I said before, you know, it shouldn't be your M.O., shouldn't be growing your account, your M.O. should be really creating kickass content that's memorable and people are gonna save. (keys clicking) As to my other point, also, the barriers to entry to start your own business are super low. So like I said, back in the day, there just weren't as many brands. Now it's like anyone can start their own brand, whether it's a T-shirt company or, like I said, a local shop. It's easier to start your own digital business and because there's so many more, I guess, so much more need and so many more businesses that are popping up, content creators are in a really good position because they're there to help these new businesses create content, whetherit's for their website, portfolio, their flyers,you know, their menu, the list goes on, you guys get what I'm saying. (keys clicking)

 

 

INFLUENCER

To compare to an influencer, yes, there are many influencers that are also content creators, but I like to think of influencers more as media. You guys are more about eyeballs, exposure. You should be comparing yourself to, I don't know, using your audience toa magazine circulation, you know what I mean? So back in the day, a little local newspaper in your hometown may have had a leadership of 30,000, right? Well, if you have 30,000Instagram followers, that can be considered your readership. So you guys are supposed to be media. You're not necessarily, you know, your skillset necessarily isn't on the content side because you're just one human. Now, I know, of course,there's tons of influencers that kill it on both sides. They're really tech-savvy and on the content side and they have a killer eyeball, eyeball, excuse me, follower count. So of course they'regetting tons of views. That's the jackpot for any brand, but you're really competing more against traditional media, like radio,billboard, magazine ads. People should be paying you instead of them. So if you're an influencer, yes, your focus is exposure and awareness and that should be your strength and that should be what you're focusing on: always running tests on your page to see the clicks that you're getting, the swipe ups, are you getting people to sell? You should be testing your page all the time, even if it means doing your own fearkin's  giveaway by yourself, to be like, you know what, I want to test my page this month and see how many people I got to enter this giveaway, because if you're trying to be media and you're trying to have influence, you're gonna always have to be, you know, making sure that that influence is actually influential. I have noticed that influencers are trying to hide behind the word content creator, as if influencer is a dirty word, you know, and it's not like a noble thing. Whatever your opinion is, honestly, it doesn't matter. Whether you think it's a good word and you want to call yourself a content creator, so be it, the point is, if you have influence, you have influence. And I think you should own it. If you don't have influence and you're not really into being forward facing and about exposure, then focus on the content side. If you want to do a little bit of both, that's fine too. (keys clicking) I think influencers really need to focus on case studies. They need to focus on, like we've said, testing their site, their page, and their influence and putting all that good, valuable information into a case study because that's going to be important for you when you're pitching with brands to show your value. (keys clicking) What is really important to us is to make sure that anyone that we work with is always thinking like an entrepreneur. So, if you're on the influencer side and let's just say a brand comes to you and wants to work with you for your influence and then you head over to their Instagram page and their page is just the wackadoodle and it's not a good look, you know, why not propose to them, hey, you know what? I don't think, right now,you're in a position for me to drive traffic to your page. Why don't we come up with a package where I can shoot some content for you ahead of time so that your page is ready for the traffic that I send over? I mean, I love that. That's just taking it one step ahead influencer. It's showing that you retrying to create content for the brand beforehand and then using your, you know, ability to get people to go on their site as that added benefit. And again, you don't have to be an influencer or a content creator, they're not mutually exclusive. A lot of times, people are both. You know, if you're not someone who's comfortable in front, like I said, of the screen or being forward facing as an influencer, you can always be behind the scenes and really focus on your skillset. I've seen people do artificial intelligence, like robot influencers or meme accounts or accounts that are really influential in their certain niche. So, you don't always have to be forward facing to be an influencer, you just have to be creative and make sure that you're actually getting people to connect with your content, 'cause that's how you're going to get those impressions up, the exposure up, and get people to actually do what you kind of ask them to do, hence the term influencer. So, I hope you guys enjoyed this video on what we think the difference between content creator and influencer is. I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.