012 Key Predictions for the Creator Economy In 2023
CREATIVEBRINK
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I decided to take the last month of the year off to restore and recalibrate, but, as it turns out - December was a wild one for the creator space, so let’s get into:
Gumroad's rate increase
Audience ownership & distribution
Top trends I'm seeing for the year ahead
Gumroad's Rate Increase
Gumroad kicked the month of December off by announcing they would be transitioning to a standard rate of 10% across all their tiers this year; up from 3% for creators on the platform generating more than six figures.
This did not go over well for several reasons, but I think it can be summed up into two: the inauthenticity of the brand’s delivery and the lack of reasoning for the increase.
Message Delivery
Let’s look at the way the message was delivered: on Twitter.
Brands should avoid delivering news via social media updates whenever possible unless that message is also followed closely by a video from the CEO and an open Q&A with their audience on the changes.
The decision to increase rates, while probably in the best interest of their long-term goals, is a tough sell on being in the best interest of the creators on their platform and seemingly inauthentic to the hundreds of thousands of creators who’ve been selling their digital products.
It’s also a stark reminder for creators that we do not own the audiences on any of the current social media platforms – we simply rent them and rent is due every time a new decision is made that impacts growth or long-term monetization strategies.
Audience ownership & distribution
There are many reasons that a platform would opt to increase rates and, too often, creators fall in love with the vision of a product and lose sight of the reality: even products for creators need to be profitable, especially now.
What’s the answer for creators who want to monetize their audience but don’t want to move their products to new platforms every few months once rates increase? The answer is simple: build your own.
When a creator builds large followings (+200K) on platforms the platform largely benefits. They benefit from the brands who they can charge a premium to deliver ads to your audience. They benefit from investors when they can tout monthly active users (MAUs) because of the content you are posting. They benefit because they own that audience. The creator also benefits, of course, through brand deals, content posts, and other ways I’ll share in another newsletter, but the creator receives the smallest piece of the pie, and thanks to changing algorithms; probably only penetrates 10% of their audience at any given time.
Imagine a world where the creator owns the platform and the only way to access their audience is by partnering with the creator.
Now imagine a world where the creator owns the platform and the only way to access the 200K audience is by partnering with the creator, being vetted by their team, and delivering the type of tailored content that resonates with their community.
The creator is no longer renting the audience; they own the community and partner with the audience on revenue generated for it, by it, and with it.
This is the opportunity that waits for the creator economy and creator-led businesses.
Trends for 2023
Creators must stop thinking like employees of these social platforms and start building as Founders of their own – here are the top trends that will make 2023 a year like no other for the creator economy.
Trend #1: Rise of the Creator-Led Co.
This will be a BIG year for the creator economy and I’m betting that creators who understand how to build an audience, monetize it, and distribute content that resonates will own the year.
Trend #2: Utility-based communities
Web3 will continue to play at the forefront of this new economy as more and more platforms catch up to this new way of integrating community, digital content, and live events.
Trend #3: Merging of Tech & Art even further
AI will continue its reign and the creators who are able to master it to enhance their productivity and streamline their content will own the future. Just last week, I used a chatAI to help generate 30 topics to cover for the first half of the year – an increase of 100% over my output in 2022; then used an imageAI to generate the cover for this blog.
This was all done in a few hours and will only get better with time.
That’s all for today.
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Love + Light,
LaTecia
Want more? Follow @lateciarising and let me know how I can help you scale as a creator. Want to support this newsletter and get featured? Drop me a line & I’ll be happy to collaborate.