Hi everyone! It's been a while since I published Part I on how creators turn themselves into businesses, and later into empires. Today I'm sharing the next phase:
GROWTH PHASE
On Part I we talked about the creation process, the first step to becoming a creator. The next step after the creation cycle, is growing an audience.
First of all, let's remember that creators are on this journey because their ultimate goal is to make a living from creating content – usually about something they are passionate about. And if they want to make money, there are 2 clear goals that they need to achieve:
GOAL #1 → increase the number of people that consume their content
GOAL #2 → increase the number of people that would pay for it (a.k.a. SUPERFANS!)
Put simpler, they need to grow horizontally and vertically in terms of relationships.
Now that it's clear why they want to grow, and how they want to do it, let's see what they can do to achieve those goals...
When it comes to growing online, there are 2 different approaches that can be put into practice at the same time... and these are content and relationships:
create more content
create better content
reach new audiences
establish/strengthen the relationship with their existing audience
Content
On Part I I talked about the content creation process [Create → Share (+ promote) → Analyze]. When it comes to creating and sharing such content, there are some practices that can help creators grow faster, and easier! These are probably the most popular among top creators:
Creating more content has huge benefits, since there are much bigger chances of you going viral, more chances of getting to know what your audience wants, more chances of getting better at creating, more chances people want to work with you. And yes, it will definitely help you reach new people, one of the next points we will be talking about.
Note: it takes time and discipline.
Creating better content doesn't mean buying new gear to improve the quality. Yes, it helps, but that's only a small part... it actually involves –among others– creating a brand for yourself (your content), understanding your audience and improving your skills.
Note: it takes practice, and maybe money.
Creating pieces that other creators refer to (i.e. a TikTok duo or a Youtube reaction to your vid)
Note: must stay updated on new trends and innovate too.
Foster a consumption cycle: content connected/related with other pieces that their audience keeps finding interesting and fall on a cycle that hooks them not only in one piece but for a longer time consuming their content.
Note: In order to do so, what most successful creators usually do is:
plan their content
create related pieces
These practices may vary depending on the platforms (due to the difference in their algorithms) and the content type.
Relationships
Creators are human beings talking to human beings, and as simple as it sounds, their growth is based on how good they are at establishing a relationship with those who consume their content.
Creator looking to grow focus on how to reach new audiences, strengthen that relationship and finally own that audience, and the best way to do so is by leveraging the power of online organizations:
Collectives → these groups are the latest trend on how to grow online faster as creators. This is definitely one of the best growth hacks for creators trying to reach new audiences. Collaboration between creators is huge. By creating content together, and sharing them with their respective audiences, creators can reach new people that almost always will be attracted by their content. Partnering up with another creator in the same or a similar space enables them to target new people that like that type of content, being at the same time "recommended" by someone they trust.
After reaching new audiences, you need to find people that absolutely love your content. People that consume it daily, engage with it, and even share it with their peers. Yes, sure, having a big following will look nice to other people – and to brands – but if these people don't actually like your content as much, it won't make you keep growing as fast. A different approach these days is to find people that love what you do and establish a relationship with your audience. A 100 or 1000 true fans. SUPERFANS!
Communities → as mentioned on Online citizens and organizations, these entities bring people together in one place for a shared experience. They take the one-way nature of talking to your audience and turn it into a dynamic, multi-way conversation among people. This allows creators to strengthen the relationship with their audience and learn more about their preferences and how they interact online, and maybe monetize that "exclusive" experience, where they can:
share resources privately
have better interactions with their fans
have closer engagement with and between them
allow their biggest fans to be part of a culture. Their culture.
allow their biggest fans to collaborate, participating in the ideation and creation process
These ways in which creators form organizations to grow and strengthen relationships are very efficient, but they are not always easy to start... these can take lot of time and effort, and can't be bought. This leads us to the following question:
Why don't creators pay for advertising in order to grow faster?
Well, this is very hard to answer... Although it is pretty common to see businesses spend thousands of dollars in advertising to grow their customer base, this is something that creators don't do that much.
In the end, creators are usually individuals (not groups), and following someone is different than buying from a brand, mainly because you are starting a relationship. The thing here is that the essence of a relationship is authenticity, and if you promote your content as a creator, are you being authentic? I'm not saying that you can not be, but trying to see this from a consumer perspective, I don't think I would follow someone that is promoting him/herself, mainly because the magic of being a creator is reaching people through content, and not through money.
However, as creators turn themselves into businesses, it would be strange if we see themselves promoting their brands or whatever they do to make money, and I wonder if we will see more of this coming in the future...
Alright... That's it for today! It will be interesting to see how the space develops, and if there will be new ways creators come up with to grow their online presence, and if platforms help them in any way…
On Part III, I will talk about how creators monetize their audience and specially, their SUPERFANS! Stay tuned for the rest of the series cause there's still a lot to know about how creators go from zero to millions!
If you liked this piece consider subscribing and sharing it 🤘🏼 Till the next one.