What is a content creator? Let’s find out.

The creator economy is one of the biggest and most interesting effects of advancements in social communication technology in recent years. A hundred years ago, it was impossible to have content creation and distribution on the kind of scale we have today. There was no technology to support it. 

Your creative expression could only go as far as people who could physically observe it. A painter could only paint a finite number of copies of a painting. And wherever that got to was as far as he could promote his content. A smartphone, on the other hand, can take a picture (in ultra-high quality) and distribute it to millions of people in a few days. Content distribution no longer has boundaries and the result is the creator economy.

The internet and social media changed how we share our creativity with people and now we have an army of people dedicating their lives exclusively to the creation of digital content. And it is this set of people that interest us the most. Who are digital content creators? What do they do, how do they do it and what has led to the meteoric rise of this new profession to a position of eminence in the new digital economy?

Who is a Digital Content Creator?

A digital content creator is someone who is tasked with the creation of eye-catching and entertaining content for an audience. This content tends to be created with the purpose of educating, entertaining, and delighting a connected, digital audience, usually with an overall goal of creating a following of people interested in the content creator and the entity they represent. This entity could be the creator’s personal identity, their brand, or a brand they work for.

What Does a Digital Content Creator Do?

A Digital Content creator does exactly what the name says,  they create content. This content might be video, audio, images, or even texts in the form of blog posts. They create original (mostly) content that cultivates a targeted reaction in their audience and creates interest in the represented entity.

However, actual content creation goes beyond the things mentioned above. A content creator must not only know how to create content but understand how to apply this content to achieve your goals.

Content creators often wear many hats in an organization, including positions like:

• a project manager
• a marketer
• an SEO expert
• a copywriter
• AND a multimedia developer.

Add the ability to work under pressure, meet deadlines, match trends, manage expectations, organize schedules and produce results. Yeah, it’s a lot of work, so next time you see a content creator, give them a hug.

Frequently Asked Questions About Content Creators

Are Youtubers Digital Content Creators

Yes. All Youtubers are content creators. However, not all content creators are YouTubers. YouTubers focus on one format of content creation, i.e videos, using one particular medium or platform, which is YouTube. Though it might seem like a dream job, making YouTube videos isn’t exactly a walk in the park. It involves scripting, sound and audio design, editing and actually creating the video.

So, YouTubers have to be able to mesh together a number of disparate skills to be even fairly competent at what they do.

Are Influencers Digital Content Creators?

Yes, influencers are digital content creators. An influencer is someone who leverages the power of social media to create a following that can be leveraged for advertising purposes. They basically hire out the strength of their online communities to help brands advertise. 

An influencer can be anyone, from a teenage boy who loves gaming and posts videos of games he has played with tutorials on how to beat levels, to a mom who loves making home-cooked meals and posts videos of her making her favorite recipes. The common denominator is their possession of a devoted online following that can be advertised to.

Are TikTokers Digital Content Creators?

Yes, they are. TikTok blew up in 2019 and has seen more and more people join the platform. Just like YouTube, TikTok is a platform for videos but unlike YouTube, these videos are about 30s long on average and are created usually to provide people with entertainment. 

TikTok has a creator fund system set in place to pay its creators, and though TikTok has not officially acknowledged this information, it is rumored that the platform pays 2-4 cents per 1000 views. This translates to about $20 for 500,000 views which isn’t a lot and this is why TikTok introduced “integration.” Integration means that brands pay Tiktokers to advertise their brand and product on the app, and this way TikTok takes care of its creators.

Are Bloggers Digital Content Creators?

Though relatively young compared to older means of communication like newspapers, blogs are one of the oldest forms of digital content creation and distribution. In fact, you could argue that bloggers pioneered the digital creators’ economy. Focusing on the written form of content, they use stories, taglines, and new ideas to inform their audience and bring in new readers that subscribe to the information they have to offer.

Website traffic is the lifeblood of bloggers and a host of skills like drafting and writing, publishing, social media management, SEO, and copywriting are required to successfully own and manage a blog. 

Are Podcasters Digital Content Creators?

Certainly. A podcaster creates a series of digital audio files which may be in episodes on various topics. One topic might span several episodes and may need to be given special attention in some cases. These episodes are audios only and require great scripting and storytelling ability to keep the listeners drawn in and coming back for more. People can subscribe to listen for now of these shows, and many people do. 

Contrary to popular opinion, podcasts are still very popular and quite entertaining for those who enjoy them.

Conclusion

Content creators are a new wave of pioneers, blazing a trail into the heart of utilizing the internet to express and distribute individual creative efforts. As technology continues to evolve and we move closer to the realization of virtual existence, like the quickly-growing Metaverse, digital content creators will become even more important. We will need their vivid imagination to survive in a world where imagination is slowly becoming more real than reality.