People flocked with their iPhones to the ‘Influencer Dream’ similar to the ‘American Dream’, or the Gold Rush with their shovel. With a low barrier to entry, the concept of monetization was democratized and the world cheered for such flexibility. With the rise of competition, inflation, among other reasons, there is a shift in the creator economy that has left creators burnt out and scratching their heads asking themselves, ‘what’s next for my business?’
In this post we’re exploring what has changed and what you can do to stay ahead of the curve.
Old monetization methods aren’t working the same
With a traffic jam of content creators on social media, gone are the days influencers are able to grow quickly. Creators have been forced to play the ‘algorithm games’ in order to get seen on these platforms. This is the fast track to burnout. We’re forced to shift focus from posting what you want in order to what we think the algorithm wants.
The game is rigged – these platforms manipulate unpaid labor.
That’s why social media experts will often tell you that if you’re not getting results, it’s because you’re not posting enough, you’re not creating enough content, you’re not creating content that your audience wants to see. You’re on the content creation hamster wheel
The top ~1% is making most of the revenue
The top 1% of podcast earners make the vast majority of podcast ad revenue. Although efforts to broaden podcast revenue through new creator programs at Apple and Spotify will hopefully help more creators get paid.
It’s visible in the math: 3% of YouTubers earn 90% of the platform’s revenue.
Companies are spending less money on social media ads
With a recession, brands are scaling back and being more reserved with ad spend across social media platforms. YouTube has saw a 2% decrease in it’s Q3 earnings report, which doesn’t sound like a lot, until you realize 2% is over 7 billion dollars.
Snap, reported a net loss of $360 million during Q3, and the company has seen engagement in the U.S. decrease by 5 percent year over year.
Companies are spending less money on influencer marketing
Influencer marketing is no different from these types of ad spend. Brands are following suit by allocating less budget on influencer marketing as well. Thirty-seven percent of businesses are expected to spend less than $10,000 on influencer marketing this year. This is lower than the 49% registered last year.
Affiliate marketing brings pennies
While I constantly speak on diversifying your income, I also speak on placing more effort where you can make more money. Affiliate marketing is a very easy way to drive revenue. Some affiliate marketing tactics might get you in a groove for bringing in extra cash, but remember that directly selling your own products can yield higher cost per purchase over time.
Affiliate marketing is here to stay since it accounts for over 15% of businesses revenue. I’m not saying not to participate. With people spending less money, think carefully about where you should place your maximum effort. and Focus on sharing in ways that are authentic.
How to build a healthier economy:
More ownership between monetization channels
Ownership comes in different forms: what it comes down to is direct access of communication with their audiences (emails, RSS feeds), and owning direct monetization relationship with end users (Kajabi, Stripe, Paypal, etc).
Creators are also setting up their own websites on their own domains, as a way to build more direct relationships. They are diversifying through TPT and Etsy. But they know that the end result is that these 3rd party companies aren’t sharing the buyer analytics and data. They need more ways to access their buyers. Not to mention, these third parties take a cut of your revenue. Check out how much revenue you lose sharing to Etsy.
Creators should streamline their ‘tech stack’
Keep track of what you’re spending monthly
With prices everywhere increasing, platforms are following suit with their monthly price. It’s important to do a hygiene check to determine if you still need the services that you are paying for. Try keeping a snapshot of your routine subscriptions in a spreadsheet like Airtable. This has provided me a quick way to review my monthly spend.
Audits like these are natural! I can’t tell you how many times my last EdTech companies went through audits and cut what we could do in another platform.
Own your own data rather than rent from big platforms
This is not to say don’t show up on social media or not to sell on TPT or Etsy, but also sell on a place, like Kajabi, where you get access to every use, and the detailed data that will help you sell more.
By owning full access to your content, you have a greater chance you can make more money since you know the full attributes of contacts that land on your page and why they’re there. With that, you can target them with personalized content.
Invest in platforms that can are multi-functional
Instead of paying for an email marketing platform, a place to host my products, a flexible website, and more – I bundle that price with Kajabi. With Kajabi, all of the tech ‘talks’ to each other since it’s built into once system. Instead of paying hundreds of dollars per platform, I pay one price for everything I need to run a business. It also includes the reporting to educate me on my next move.
Curious what Kajabi can do for your business? Try a 30 day free trial here. When you trial with my link, you’ll receive live Zoom calls with me (& email support during your trial period) to help you get set up as! Let’s reach your goals, together!
Read this next: How to Upsell your products through Kajabi
