According to a recent YouTube report, 65% of Gen Z considered themselves content creators. However, this surge of interest has made it even more difficult to become a successful content creator. Nowadays, content creators (and content creator hopefuls) have to be quite creative and strategic in order to stand out and secure brand deals.
We sat down with celebrity nail artist and content creator, Betina Goldstein, and Kate Spade’s Director of Influencer Marketing, Iris Coker, to get some tips on becoming a successful content creator (by way of brand deals).
Listen to Iris and Betina’s full podcast episode here.
4 Tips on Becoming a Successful Content Creator
Content Creator Tip #1: A Large Following Doesn’t Guarantee You Brand Deals
While having a high follower account across your socials certainly doesn’t hurt your chances of getting brand deals, it is not the only thing that brands are looking for.
Brands are actually looking to find the right content creators for their brand, so they can be looking at a whole host of metrics and qualities, including:
- Audience demographics: What’s the age makeup of your audience? Where are they located? What are their interests? Brands often have a specific consumer in mind when searching for partners or devising campaigns.
- Brand affinity: Does your content closely align with their brand values? Have you mentioned their brand before – showing that you are a fan of the brand? Have you mentioned anything that is in direct opposition to their brand?
- Performance metrics: What’s your engagement rate and video view rate across different platforms? Are you steadily growing or maintaining these metrics over time?
- Comment quality and sentiment: Brands want to see how engaged a creator’s community is, so make sure you are taking time to respond to your comments and DMs.
At the end of the day, brands will want to work with you because you can create interesting/unique content that resonates with your audience. Marketers now know that the best content stems from selecting creators that are well aligned with their brand and goals.
Content Creator Tip #2: Reach Out To Brands First
“Take the initiative to reach out to brands. They are less likely to know you exist if you are not proactive in reaching out to them.” - Betina Goldstein, Celebrity Nail Artist and Content Creator
Betina shares that a great way to connect with brands is over social media! This way they can click on your profile and see your content (aka resume) right away. In your message to brands, it’s best to share why you love the brand, and pitch them an idea or two of content you’d love to create for them.
Better yet, create organic content about the brand and tag them, then follow it up with a DM.
Once you do get a brand’s attention, ensure you have a solid media kit that includes:
- Who you are. Include a short bio and link to all your social media accounts.
- Performance metrics. Create a section dedicated to your following, engagement rate, and general audience demographics for each platform. Consider including comments or DMs that show how engaged your audience is. If you’ve seen a recent spike in engagement or following, be sure to mention it!
- Past brand content. Share top-performing content and which brands you’ve previously worked with, and include any testimonials from working with brands.
- Rate Card. Outline all of the services you can provide a brand including perpetuity fees/ usage rights, re-shoots and amends.
Download this influencer media kit template to get started!
Top Tip: Another great way to get in front of brands is to go to networking events. Getting face time in front of brands will help them remember who you are. Traackr’s IMPACT events are a great place to meet influencer marketers at top brands. Check out our upcoming schedule to see if an IMPACT event is coming near you.
Content Creator Tip #3: Don’t Always Rely On Creating Trend Content
“For trends, you want to be the first one there – not the last one there.” - Betina Goldstein, Celebrity Nail Artist and Content Creator
TikTok has certainly propelled a “trend culture” where you can gain a lot of reach by jumping on trending sounds, dances and topics. However, only relying on trends to get views will eventually lead to exhaustion from trend chasing and not allow you to develop your own brand identity.
As a content creator, you are developing your personal brand, so it’s more important to focus on what makes your content different from anyone else’s. Do you have a unique perspective or format that you make your content that can distinguish you from the rest of the pack?
For example, there are a lot of nail artist content creators, so Betina distinguished herself by creating 3D nail art years before it became popular. Her advice is that you can take trending topics like “butter yellow nails” and put your unique spin on it, like putting a 3D stick of butter on a yellow nail. 😊
Morale of the story: Be intentional with the trends you jump on and remember that if you’re always chasing the next “hottest” trend, you might never start a trend yourself.
Content Creator Tip #4: You Don’t Have To Overshare To Be Successful
There’s a difference between expressing yourself authentically and feeling that you need to give every part of yourself over to your content.
While it’s important to create content that is authentic and original to your brand, you do not need to share every single detail of your life with your audience.
Betina is a great example of a successful content creator who creates authentic content but does not share her personal life online. Betina decided that she wanted her platforms to showcase her nail art and celebrity work, instead of focusing on her (as a personality) In fact, you rarely ever see her face!
Of course, there are many different ways to be a content creator. Some folks are okay with sharing their life publicly. But if you are not one of those people, don’t feel like you need to change. For content creators and influencers, it can be difficult to set boundaries of what is okay to share online and what is not. Ultimately, you, as the creator, need to figure that out for yourself.
Make sure you are setting up boundaries to protect your mental health as a creator.