TikTok was the most downloaded social media app in 2020. When a journalist from the New York Times interviewed some of the app’s most-followed stars, they referred to themselves as content creators. Not dancers, chefs, or makeup artists, but content creators.
The title of a content creator is an umbrella term for people who share their skills through a digital platform. Since the invention of influencer marketing, the much-mocked “Insta model,” and content monetization, a heated debate has traversed through the crowd — is content creation a real job? Is it like being a plumber or an electrician? Or is it an artistic pursuit like Picasso and Da Vinci?
We answer it all and more. Let’s go!
What Is Content Creation?
Content creation is the expression of information created on a platform for a specific audience. Publishing websites, articles, photography, blogs, videography, and online commentary, including a social media presence and digital media distribution, all come under the broad definition of content creation.
A Job Without A Degree
Content creation is independent of tertiary education because of many reasons. Content creators either share their learned expertise or borrowed knowledge in content curation, which hardly requires formal training or a degree. With diversified platforms, present-day content creators see themselves as more than an ad space for large corporations. While it is a lucrative enterprise, most of the creators are in it for more than money, as they are seeking to make a real change in the way the world works.
Content Creation As A Challenging Job
Before we ponder about the real status of being a content creator, we must underline the biases that prompt this question. Is being engaged in a “real job” all about an office and a chair with a fixed paycheck. Or is it choosing an unconventional yet lucrative path to creative and financial freedom?
More than drifting away from the normalcy of a job, being a content creator in today’s competitive landscape requires being up to date with trends and understanding the business analytics of social media monetization.
The 3 Es: Education, Entertainment, Engagement
As per Indeed, content creators leverage their professional skills to produce relevant content that is engaging, entertaining, and educational to their audience. Because we are still in the developmental phase of the creator economy, nothing is set in concrete yet. This gives the content creators complete freedom to reinvent the wheel, one post at a time.
Content Creator Economy By The Numbers
The advent of the Internet and its rapid distribution in the masses laid the groundwork for the erupting creator economy of the roaring ’20s. The Creator economy has seen dramatic growth in the last couple of years, with more than 50 million self-proclaimed content creators rising to the stage to get a piece of the $104.2 billion industry. Within this statistic, more than 2 million creators earn six figures in a year with their digital business.
We, intentionally or by accident, all participate in the influencer economy. Like our favourite blogger’s latest post gets churned in the factory for the end product of a handsome brand deal or sponsorship. So we shouldn’t be surprised to hear that sponsored influencers are worth $8 billion today.
Indeed, it must be underscored that it isn’t all rainbows and butterflies. Roughly 3% of all monetized YouTubers can make above poverty wages in the US. Succeeding as a content creator requires real creative planning and an extraneous work ethic that bests the most demanding traditional jobs.
With investors pouring billions of dollars in content distribution platforms and users overriding the traditional advertisement for influencer marketing, the creator economy is the hottest club to be a part of right now.
While the leading social media platforms are a great place to start your content creation journey, you’ll always be standing on shaky ground if you continue to build your audience on borrowed land. This is why you need to create and own your space as a digital creator with TagMango and launch your cohort-based courses and online workshops.
Bottom Line
In the present day, the term ‘content creation’ has been diluted. It is thrown around a lot, but that doesn’t diminish the real and understated realm of lucrative content creation and its implication on the market’s purchasing pattern.
So, yes! Content creation is a highly challenging real job but also a lucrative one.
