Originally posted as a Twitter Thread.
Interesting how Threads have become easier to write than blog posts.
We are trying to decode the creator economy that we use to guide us at Refrens .
The most important thing before we start. All creators must have their own audience. If your audience is owned by a platform that might go hostile later (a la FB) you are swimming in the wrong sea.
What you monetize is your audience. Your audience trusts you, your face, your voice, your brand. So like a teacher or doctor, your work is not delegatable. You only earn from as many as you can directly reach.
The creator economy falls into 2 brackets with respect to where their money comes from.
1) Those who teach the audience a new skill – and the audience pays. Example – @VaibhavSisinty@LiveFromALounge
2) Those who sell the audience a new product – and a brand pays. Example – @Bhuvan_Bam – also called Influencer
Change in Execution:
A. Some are creating digital products for other creators.
Lack of potential in capturing value, i.e. collecting fees for advice, enforces this. So you create an enabler product/platform instead of advising.
B. Some creators are now starting to own the brand that they promote ( a la Ramdev-Patanjali)
A broken influencer to sales attribution system enforces this.
What happens to other creators – like writers on @TeamPratilipi or @YourQuoteApp? They fall somewhere between 1 & 2. The audience pays, not to learn but to consume the creation. Freelance writers used to get fixed-fee from editors. Now they are micro-publishers themselves. (Read more about micro-entrepreneurs on Platforms)
Products in the creator or freelancer economy can do 3 things:
1. Provide a tool to create – Video editing tools, podcast creation tools etc.
2. Provide a platform to distribute – Reach and manage the audience.
3. Provide a platform to manage the business – payments, leads etc.
A good platform must do 2 of the 3 things above.
1. Youtube does all 3 of the above. But #3 partially only.
2. Spotify does 2 directly and 1 through Anchor.
Doing only 1 of 3 above means you are doing nothing specific to this audience. You would be anyone like Figma/Freshworks, with lower ARPU. You will be a commodity tool.
The challenge is in selecting a target market that is still large enough even when you combine 2 of the 3 above.