The top 3 challenges creators face in 2022 (Results from more than 900 creators survey) |
There are no two journeys for creators similar. For more information on what it's like to run the business of a creator in 2022, we conducted a survey of over 900 creators. Here's what we found.
"Creators have earned their first "online dollar" with the help of millions of people, and they're joining one of the fastest-growing ecosystems on the planet, the creation economy."
An estimated 50 million individuals believe they are creators. There's now more info available now than ever on becoming a full-time creator. The word "digital creator" is entered into search engines 2.5K each month. The phrase "how do I become content creator" is the subject of 1.3K searches.
A creator is anyone who makes something. Sure, YouTubers, influencers as well as bloggers and podcasters are all creators - but so are artists makers, musicians, educators, worldbuilders, writers, and everybody from there.
This broad range of creative work ensures that no two creator journeys will be the same.
What kinds of products are created by creators and sold? What are their most difficult challenges? What are their best sources for advice? Which channels are most successful?
To learn more about the challenges of running the business of a creator in 2022, we surveyed more than 900 creators on their own businesses. We asked them about their challenges, advice sources along with creative channels, as well as content.
Here's what we found:
At all levels of experience The biggest obstacle for creators is to increase the number of people who watch their content (32.9%), followed by making time (21.6 percent) and being able to realize monetization (14.4%).
For advice on how to tackle these issues, creators typically benefit from one another. YouTube (22.6%) and personal mastermind groups (22.5 percent) are the top two spots where creators seek advice.
Social media is a way for creators to reach out to their audience, with Instagram as the most popular platform (29.1 percent) -- but that means that they need to rely on algorithms in order to get their content seen by the appropriate people.
Continue reading to take more details on the details.
What are the biggest creator issues in 2022?
We asked "What's your most difficult or biggest struggle as a creator right now?"
32.9% Growing an audience
21.6 percent Finding the time to do everything
14.4 Percent Knowing How to make money
8.86 percent of product creation
3.35% Engaging with followers on social media
2.27 Percent Keeping up with trends and changes
Over a range of levels of experience and content kinds, creators have consistently mentioned the same top three challenges growing an number of viewers, finding time for everything, and figuring out how to make money off their content.
Challenge #1: Growing an audience
and Search Engine Marketing.
7.68% would spend the money building or improving their website through using
5.66% would hire graphic designer. 4.16% would invest in an investment in
Getting your content and brand in front of the right individuals can be time-consuming and cost prohibitive, especially for those who are just starting out with an online company.
"While you're still trying to build your email list it's not enough to just send emails to people," Jessica explained. "I also have to still be very present and very visible through Facebook and other social platforms."
As Jessica is becoming increasingly active and established on social media platforms, she's able to find the right platforms and produce posts that are in keeping with her style and message. "If you're trying to build your following, people need frequent visits to your page," she shared.
She emphasizes that consistency is key -- but that doesn't mean your posts have be standardized. "You can create your own post with images, use Instagram to do Reels and have fun, you can do Reels and also be professional ... whatever you want that will allow you to be diverse in how folks can potentially discover your posts."
Social media is an effective way to reach more people, but it is also a requirement for creators to rely on the algorithmic algorithms of their posts to appear in the feeds of their followers. We'll talk more about how creators can- and can -- get away from algorithms later on.
Email is another one of the most efficient and scalable marketing channels for creators. The regular distribution of an email newsletters keeps you in contact with your target audience.
If you're a creator who wants to grow your email list and create your own email newsletter, you should check out these resources:
Challenge #2: Finding enough time for all things
When we asked respondents about their plans for spending $2,022, investing in external help was, by far, the most frequently requested response.
Additionally, we discovered that 5.2 percent of the creators use the money for personal living expenses like rent, utilities, internet expenses, as well as for their own earnings to allow them to focus more on their business.
3.42% of creators would invest the funds in time-rebuilding expenses including childcare, household support and time off from their regular jobs and shorter hours for side hustles.
Making the most suitable tools and applications can help creators make more of their time.
If you want to see what can make it simpler to manage a successful creator business, get started for absolutely no cost or join our weekly demo.
Challenge #3: Knowing how to monetize
14.4 Percent of creators agree that figuring out how to earn money from their work is the biggest obstacle they face. You've created valuable content and created an audience that is engaged- now, how do you turn that into income?
We've seen hundreds of artists earn their first money online by selling digital products, like digital downloads, online classes webinars, memberships, and other. Selling digital products lets creators earn money, without having to rely on sponsors or advertising.
Consider entrepreneur, web designer as well as creative director John D. Saunders , for illustration. In the time he started his online training course , John earned $10,000 on day of launch, and $100,000 in total from his site.
Once you've created your online course, most of the task is taken gone so you're able to make an ongoing stream of income. "While I'm in bed I'm earning income. If I'm in amusement park, with my children I'm making sales," John explained.
Discover more options for monetization to creators through these posts:
With all the options of monetization available, many creators seek out each other's examples, inspiration as well as guidance in their individual journeys. Which brings us to our main takeaways from our survey: where creators go to seek advice.
Where do creators go for advice?
We asked "What's the top source of advice for tackling your most difficult problem?"
22.6% YouTube
22.5 percent A private mastermind group
15.4% Google
8.86% Facebook group
7.89 789 % of Podcasts
5.95 percent of the non-Facebook community
4.11 percent of Blogs
1.41 14% Public forums (ex: Reddit)
Although no two journeys of creators are identical, we know that creators across specialties, products types and levels of experience face similar challenges.
It makes sense, then it makes sense that they can find solution and suggestions to these issues by asking one the other.
Creators learn from other creators. Between YouTube video, mastermind groups, Facebook groups, communities, forums, podcasts, and blogs, 73.3% of creators are surveyed to look up other creators for guidance.
Google is the only information source that isn't in the category. However, you can guarantee that its creators wrote a significant chunk of the content in Google's search results.
It is estimated that 76% of online users participate in some type of online community. 66% of them claim to join groups on the internet to connect with others with similar interests.
For creators, these communities are a vital resource. Creators join in order to learn and grow as well as we've witnessed successful creators be incredibly generous with their insights and knowledge to assist new creators.
How do other creators run their companies? What do they sell? Where does most of their income come from? What are they doing to build their audiences?
Creators are aware of many questions, and frequently look to each other to find answers and ideas.
We created the Creator Community to:
Create an opportunity to meet and collaborate
Help make the journey of creating less lonely
Create a community for creators that is open exclusively to them
Develop exclusive content specifically for community members, including tutorials, interviews with creators as well as community-based contests
In the initial two weeks of extending our community to everyone who is a creator We saw more than 1600 members and hundreds of posts with suggestions, questions, and advice.
Highly experienced creators like Emily Mills contributed useful posts such as this:
Emily's hacks served as an excellent instance of how participants can benefit from one another's knowledge which is one of the main benefits of joining a creator community.
What kinds of content do creators produce? What is the best place to share their content?
We asked "What is the most important type of content that you develop?"
33.6% courses
13.8 percent of coaching
13.4 percent social media
16.54 percent video (9.19% short-form, 7.35% long-form)
6.38% blog posts
4.76 percent of downloads
4.43% email newsletters
2.81% webinars
Nearly one-third of the respondents that took part in the poll make online courses their main form of content. Following courses, coaching, video, and social media were among the most popular kinds of media.
Here are some resources for creators looking to build and sell an online course:
Also, we learned that authors sell an average of 10.95 items.
We then asked "What's the primary channel you employ for your company?"
29.1% Instagram
22.4%
17.4% Facebook
8.97 Percent YouTube
5.41 54% Blog
5.08% Zoom
2.49 percent TikTok
0.865% Shopify
0.541% Etsy
Social media is a popular way for creators to connect with their audiences, with Instagram as the top social platform (29.1 percentage) and then closely followed by Facebook (17.4%) as well as YouTube (8.97%).
We've already mentioned that social media could be a terrific way for creators to expand their reach and build their communities and niches. But there's one major downside to relying on social media and that's the algorithm.
Social media platforms use algorithms to decide what content is displayed on their users' feeds.
Creators are subject to the whims of these algorithms . Your organic content might show up in your followers' feeds, but it also might not. The algorithms may change at any time without warning, and social media companies are far from being transparent with regards to how they operate.
As an example, the changes made on the Facebook algorithm over the past few years have led to a reduction on organic traffic , meaning fewer followers see creators' social posts on their feeds of news.
Below are additional reasons why creators don't like using Facebook:
"I consider that FB is distracting and users either don't see my posts or don't stay around."
"FB groups are untrustworthy and unreliable, and users have fled FB in the present, and it's hard to create the kind of interaction that you want there."
"I really hate having my family members go to Facebook or similar shady tech companies who collect information and use it to hook us on distraction."
"I need to hire an hourly VA to admit members, welcome them, moderate, etc. We have Google Sheets and separate Facebook Messenger software that costs $30/month and we're also dependent on Facebook's algorithm and interruptions. It's such a mess."
Creatives often create communities online on social media platforms for lack of a better solution. Facebook Groups make it easy to log in, but it's also where the benefits end.
In contrast the all-in-one creator platform such as this one gives you total control over which content you serve up to your audience and how you engage with them.
The members of the Community can:
Purchase your items
You can access your content
Post and participate in discussions with others
...all all in one place.
Since they're already signed in to shop for your goods or access your content, you don't need to sign them onto a different website or depend on Facebook. This is a more enjoyable experience for both you and your customers.
In the end it's clear that social media is an excellent marketing tool for creatorsHowever, it's best utilized as a piece of the larger plan and toolset. The creators will succeed in the event that they control how and to whom they make their content available.
Who filled out the survey?
In order to be eligible to the fellowship, candidates were required to be creators currently and members of the Creator Community. They had to fill out an application in which they explained how they planned to make use of the cash prize, as well as details about their company product, their challenges, and objectives.
The majority of the information in this article originates from questions where the creators were asked to select among a variety of answers. In the case of "If you were awarded the $2,022 fellowship, which do you plan to spend the money on?" we included an open-ended field for answers.
In response to questions about their experience in the field:
30.85 percent of respondents were classified as beginner, with an average of 2.40 years of experience
8.11 percent of respondents were classified as beginners, with an average of 2.77 years of experience
40.98 percent of respondents were classified as mid-level, with the average being 4.98 years of experience
15.80 Percentage of respondents are classified as highly advanced, with an annual average of 7.69 years of expertise
4.27% identified as experts having an average of 15.3 years of expertise
We also asked whether they're a full-time or part-time creator, or between.
39.13 Percent of them are believed to be full-time creator
18.81% identified as a creator who has a part-time job
18.59% identified as a creator and freelancer
14.70 Percentage identified as part-time creator
8.76 percent of them identified as creator with a separate part-time job
Thank you to every creator who applied for the fellowship, and who gave us an insight into their ideas, challenges, and journeys.
Key lessons to take away
The market for creators is growing with each passing year, and no two experiences are alike. We surveyed more than 900 creators in order to find out more about what it's like to run a creator business by 2022.
The most significant lessons they learned from their responses:
Creators from all niches and experience different levels face the same three main 9challenges: Growing their audiences (32.9%) while also finding time to finish their work (21.6 percentage) as well as understanding how to make money out of their efforts (14.4 percent).
If creators seek advice for overcoming these difficulties and obstacles, they seek advice from other creators. It is essential to have a community as aspect of the creation process. More experienced creators have walked in the shoes of younger creators' shoes, so they're armed with valuable knowledge to impart.
Creators primarily use social media to communicate their work with their audience and with Instagram as the most popular platform (29.1%). Relying on social media means creators are at the mercy of algorithms, which gives them less control over their content and audience.
From the more than 900 responses we used to calculate this data, no two were alike. Every journey of a creator is unique -- and we're here to support you at every stage.