(upbeat music)
- Hey, guys, I'm Nina Zadeh, director of partnerships
at Sidewalker Daily and today,
we are going to be talking about
the difference between a content creator and an influencer.
Now, if you're new to our channel, welcome.
Sidewalker Daily is on both sides
of the influencer-content creator equation.
For one, we work with travel brands,
mostly in travel, but we work with brands
on their influencer marketing and their digital marketing
strategies and their content strategies,
but we also work with content creators and influencers
on building out their businesses,
so we really get to do both sides, right?
We get to be involved in both.
And the reason it's important to differentiate
between a content creator and an influencer,
one, it's important for the brands because
it's ultimately gonna help them achieve their goals
and it's also important for you guys,
you know, if you're on the creative side,
to kind of see where you fall,
'cause it's gonna help you with your pitching efforts.
(keys clicking)
So, let's start with content creators.
This, again, for us, content creators,
you know, they're like the artists.
They existed before the internet,
you know, there's always going to be people
who are pushing the brink creatively.
You know, I consider the content creators
the photographers, videographers,
people that have a skill, like, you know,
maybe it's in graphic design.
People that are actually creating content.
The thing about the world that we live in now,
there's just such an increase and need for content.
Think about it, all the brands that you know
and all the businesses and the mom and pop shops,
everyone needs content nowadays
'cause all of them want to be on social media.
So content, the need for it, is just skyrocketing.
So photographers, videographers,
content creators, so to speak,
the time is now for you guys
because there's a really big need in our industry
for your talent.
Now, if you're a content creator,
brands don't want to work with you
to leverage your numbers or your impressions,
they want to leverage your creativity.
So what you need to focus on is pushing yourself creatively,
not copying others that you see on the interwebs,
but actually coming up with new filters, concepts,
again, I'm not a videographer person,
I'm on the brand side, so sorry for using the wrong terms,
but you guys need to be killing it
and creating that new something or other
so someone like me is like, "Oh my god, that's so cool.
"I haven't seen it, I want to work with this person."
That's your job.
Forget the numbers, forget the impressions.
That shouldn't be where you're leading.
Now, of course, having a strong social media presence
is only gonna help you get more gigs,
but your work speaks for itself.
So if you're a content creator,
my number one advice would be
keep pushing yourself creatively
to stand out, to make sure that your content shines
in the sea of content that is already available.
(keys clicking)
As a content creator, your job is also to make sure
your content is shining and is up to light.
So, make sure your website is a portfolio style website.
We want to be able to sort through your content
quickly and easily.
I don't want to have to feel like I'm searching.
And Instagram, the scrolling,
it's not, it's annoying.
I want a professional website for you guys
where you know it's something easy,
it doesn't have to be a crazy, burdensome site,
but it should have a portfolio feature
where I can sort through different types of
content that you create.
You can show me everything, whether it's graphic
or video work or photos, you know,
it should be outlined as so.
(keys clicking)
So, back in the day, like people that had brands,
first of all, there weren't as many pop up brands
as there are now, right?
There was a few really big ones.
I'll talk about that in a second.
But people used to put their money into big ad agencies.
Well, the budget's the budget, right?
The budgets aren't increasing,
they're just being used differently
and I see now a lot of brands
are doing a lot of work in house
and they're divvying up their budget
by using different content creators
instead of using a photo firm or an agency
to do all the work and creative,
they're just going to the creative person themselves.
So it is important that you guys are on social media
so that you can be found and referred to.
But like I said before, you know,
it shouldn't be your M.O.,
shouldn't be growing your account,
your M.O. should be really creating kickass content
that's memorable and people are gonna save.
(keys clicking)
As to my other point, also, the barriers to entry
to start your own business are super low.
So like I said, back in the day,
there just weren't as many brands.
Now it's like anyone can start their own brand,
whether it's a T-shirt company
or, like I said, a local shop.
It's easier to start your own digital business
and because there's so many more,
I guess, so much more need and so many more businesses
that are popping up, content creators are
in a really good position because
they're there to help these new businesses
create content, whether it's for their website,
portfolio, their flyers, you know, their menu,
the list goes on, you guys get what I'm saying.
(keys clicking)
So, to compare to an influencer,
yes, there are many influencers
that are also content creators,
but I like to think of influencers more as media.
You guys are more about eyeballs, exposure.
You should be comparing yourself to, I don't know,
using your audience to a magazine circulation,
you know what I mean?
So back in the day, a little local
newspaper in your hometown
may have had a readership of 30,000, right?
Well, if you have 30,000 Instagram followers,
that can be considered your readership.
So you guys are supposed to be media.
You're not necessarily, you know,
your skillset necessarily isn't on the content side
because you're just one human.
Now, I know, of course, there's tons of influencers
that kill it on both sides.
They're really tech-savvy and on the content side
and they have a killer eyeball,
eyeball, excuse me, follower count.
So of course they're getting tons of views.
That's the jackpot for any brand,
but you're really competing more against
traditional media, like radio, billboard, magazine ads.
People should be paying you instead of them.
So if you're an influencer, yes,
your focus is exposure and awareness
and that should be your strength
and that should be what you're focusing on:
always running tests on your page
to see the clicks that you're getting, the swipe ups,
are you getting people to sell?
You should be testing your page all the time,
even if it means doing your own freakin' giveaway
by yourself, to be like, you know what,
I want to test my page this month
and see how many people I got to enter this giveaway,
because if you're trying to be media
and you're trying to have influence,
you're gonna always have to be, you know,
making sure that that influence is actually influential.
I have noticed that influencers
are trying to hide behind the word content creator,
as if influencer is a dirty word,
you know, and it's not like a noble thing.
Whatever your opinion is, honestly, it doesn't matter.
Whether you think it's a good word
and you want to call yourself a content creator,
so be it, the point is,
if you have influence, you have influence.
And I think you should own it.
If you don't have influence
and you're not really into being forward facing
and about exposure, then focus on the content side.
If you want to do a little bit of both, that's fine too.
(keys clicking)
I think influencers really need to focus on case studies.
They need to focus on, like we've said,
testing their site, their page, and their influence
and putting all that good, valuable information
into a case study because that's going to be
important for you when you're pitching with brands
to show your value.
(keys clicking)
What is really important to us
is to make sure that anyone that we work with
is always thinking like an entrepreneur.
So, if you're on the influencer side
and let's just say a brand comes to you
and wants to work with you for your influence
and then you head over to their Instagram page
and their page is just the wackadoodle
and it's not a good look,
you know, why not propose to them, hey, you know what?
I don't think, right now, you're in a position for me
to drive traffic to your page.
Why don't we come up with a package
where I can shoot some content for you ahead of time
so that your page is ready for the traffic that I send over?
I mean, I love that.
That's just taking it one step ahead influencer.
It's showing that you're trying to create content
for the brand beforehand
and then using your, you know,
ability to get people to go on their site
as that added benefit.
And again, you don't have to be an influencer
or a content creator, they're not mutually exclusive.
A lot of times, people are both.
You know, if you're not someone who's comfortable
in front, like I said, of the screen
or being forward facing as an influencer,
you can always be behind the scenes
and really focus on your skillset.
I've seen people do artificial intelligence,
like robot influencers or meme accounts
or accounts that are really influential
in their certain niche.
So, you don't always have to be forward facing
to be an influencer, you just have to be creative
and make sure that you're actually
getting people to connect with your content,
'cause that's how you're going to get those
impressions up, the exposure up,
and get people to actually do what
you kind of ask them to do, hence the term influencer.
So, I hope you guys enjoyed this video
on what we think the difference between
content creator and influencer is.
I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
Make sure you subscribe to our channel
to always be in the in for all things
in this industry, we love it.
And I'll see you guys in the next video.
(upbeat music)