The three biggest issues creators face in 2022 (Results of 900+ creator surveys) |
There are no two journeys for creators alike. To learn more about what it's like to run an enterprise that is a creationist by 2022, we polled 900+ creators. Here's what we found.
"Creators have earned their first online dollar in the millions and they're joining one of the most rapidly growing ecosystems on our planet: the creation economy."
A total of 50 million individuals consider themselves to be creators. And there's greater information than ever before on how to become an all-time creator. The word "digital creator" is used in search engines 2.5K each month, while "how do I become content creator" sees 1.3K search results.
The term "creator" refers to anyone who is creative. Yes, influencers, YouTubers as well as bloggers and podcasters are all creators -- but so are artists, craft-makers, musicians and educators, worldbuilders, authorsand all the people from there.
The wide range of creativity work ensures that no two creator journeys will be the same.
What kind of items are created by creators and sold? What are the biggest issues they face? Where do they turn to for assistance? What channels have the most success?
For more details on what it's like to run a creator business in 2022, we conducted a survey of over 900 creators regarding their business. We asked them about the challenges they face, their sources of advice along with creative channels, as well as content.
What we discovered:
At all levels of experience, creators' biggest challenge is growing an audience (32.9 percent), followed by making time (21.6%) and being able to realize monetization (14.4 percent).
When seeking advice to solve those challenges, creators primarily learn from each other. YouTube (22.6 percent) and private mastermind groups (22.5%) are among the most popular spots where creators seek advice.
The creators of content are making use of social media to reach out to their audience, and with Instagram as the most popular platform (29.1%) -- but that means that they need to rely on algorithms in order to get their posts in front of the appropriate people.
Stay tuned for more details on the information.
What are the biggest creator issues in 2022?
We asked "What's your most difficult or biggest battle as a creator today?"
32.9% Growing an audience
21.6% Finding enough time for everything
14.4 percent Knowing how to make money
8.86 percent of product creation
3.35 percent of followers are engaged on social media
2.27 percent Keeping pace with changes and trends
In all levels of experience and kinds, creators have consistently mentioned the three biggest challenges they face: Growing an number of viewers, finding time for everything, and knowing how to monetize their efforts.
Challenge #1: Growing an audience
and Search Engine Marketing.
7.68% would spend the money building or improving their website by hiring
5.66 percent would employ a graphic designer, while 4.16 percent would put their money into the development of
Making sure your brand and content are placed in front of the correct people can be time-consuming and cost prohibitive, especially for those who are new to running your own online business.
"While you're trying to build your email list You can't simply email individuals," Jessica explained. "I should also remain very active and prominent via social media."
As Jessica is becoming increasingly active and established on social media, she's able to find the right platforms and create posts that are in keeping with her style and her story. "If you're trying to create an audience, they need be able to visit you frequently," she shared.
It's important to be consistent. key -- but that does not mean that your content has to follow a formulaic format. "You can do your post with images, use Instagram to do Reels and also be humorous You can also perform Reels and be professional ... whatever you want can be done to broaden the ways folks can potentially locate your posts."
Social media is an effective method of reaching more people, but this is also a requirement for creators depend on platforms' algorithms for their content to show up in their feeds. In the next article, we'll discuss how creators want to -and are able to get away from algorithms later on.
Email is another of the most efficient and efficient marketing channels available to creators. The regular distribution of an email newsletters keeps you in contact with your target audience.
If you're an author looking to expand your list of email subscribers and begin an email newsletter, check out these resources:
Problem #2: Finding the time to accomplish all things
When we asked respondents what they'd spend $2,022 on, investing in external help was, by far, the most common response.
Additionally, we discovered that 5.2% of creators would make use of the funds to cover personal expenses, such as electricity, rent, charges, as well as their personal salary to spend more time working on their businesses.
3.42 percent of the creators use the funds to pay for time-restoring expenses like childcare, household assistance, time off from work full time, or working shorter hours for side hustles.
Choosing the right tools and software will allow creators to make the most out of their time.
For a look at what makes it simpler to manage your own successful business as a creator, get started for absolutely no cost or sign up for our daily demo.
Challenge #3: Knowing how to monetize
14.4 percent of creators believe they are unsure of how to earn profits from their work is their biggest challenge. You've created valuable content and built an engaged audience -- now, how do you turn that into income?
At , we've watched many creators make their first money online by selling digital items, including online courses, digital downloads, webinars, and memberships. Digital products let creators make money without relying on advertisers or sponsors.
Consider entrepreneur, web designer as well as creative director John D. Saunders as an illustration. When he launched his online class on the 14th of September , John earned $10,000 on the day of its launch and over $100,000 from his site.
But once you create your online course, the bulk of the work is gone and you'll be able to earn an ongoing stream of earnings. "While I'm in bed I'm earning income. While I'm out at playing in the parks with my children, I'm getting sales," John explained.
Discover more options for monetization to creators through these posts:
With all the options of monetization out there, many creators seek out each other's suggestions, ideas, and guidance on their own personal journey. This brings us to the second key lesson of the survey: How creators seek out advice.
Where do creators go for advice?
We asked "What's the number one source of advice to tackle your greatest challenge?"
22.6 percent on YouTube
22.5 Percent A personal mastermind group
15.4% Google
8.86% Facebook group
7.89 789 % of Podcasts
5.95 5 % of non-Facebook community
4.11 41% Blogs
1.41 percent of forums are public (ex: Reddit)
Although no two journeys of creators are the same, we do know that creators from different niches, product types, and experience levels face the same challenges.
This makes sense to find solutions and guidance on these issues by asking one other.
Creators are able to learn from their peers. Through YouTube's mastermind groups, Facebook groups, forums, communities podcasts and blogs, 73.3% of creators surveyed look to other creators for guidance.
Google is the sole advice source that doesn't necessarily fit the category. However, you can guarantee that its creators wrote a significant chunk of the content in Google's search results.
An incredible 70% of internet users take part in some form of virtual group, and 66% of users say they join online communities to meet others that share the same interests.
For artists, these communities can be a valuable resource. Creators join in order to improve their skills and knowledge, and we've seen creative professionals who are successful be open with their knowledge and expertise to help new creators.
How do other creators run their business? What do they sell? Where does most of their revenue be derived? What are they doing to build their followings?
Creators are aware of many questions, and frequently turn to one another for answers and inspiration.
We have created the Creator Community to:
Offer creators and entrepreneurs a place to connect and collaborate
Help make the journey of creating more enjoyable and less lonely
Give creators a community open only to them
Create unique content exclusively to share with community members. This includes courses, creator interviews, and community-driven contests
Within the first 2 weeks of extending our community to everyone who is a creator there were more than 1600 users and hundreds of posts with questions, ideas and suggestions.
Highly experienced creators like Emily Mills contributed helpful posts like this one:
Emily's hacks served as an excellent instance of how participants can gain knowledge from each other's experience which is one of the main benefits of joining a creator community.
What kinds of content are created by creators? What is the best place to share their information?
We asked "What is the most important type of content that you produce?"
33.6 percent of courses
13.8 percent coaching
13.4 Social media is a third of the total.
16.54 percent video (9.19 percent short-form, 7.35% long-form)
6.38% blog posts
4.76 percent of downloads
4.43% email newsletters
2.81 per cent of webinars
Over one-third of people who filled out the survey created online courses as their main form of content. Following courses, coaching, videos, social media and were among the most popular kinds of content.
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 products.
After that, we inquired "What's your primary method of communication you employ for your company?"
29.1 percent on Instagram
22.4%
17.4% Facebook
8.97 Percent YouTube
5.41% Blog
5.08% Zoom
2.49 29% TikTok
0.865 percent Shopify
0.541% Etsy
Social media is a popular way for creators to connect with their audiences, with Instagram being the most popular social media channel (29.1 percentage) and then being followed by Facebook (17.4 percent) and YouTube (8.97%).
Like we said earlier, social media can be a terrific way for creators to connect with new audiences and to establish themselves in their niches and communities. There's just one drawback to relying on social media the algorithm.
Social media platforms use algorithms to determine what content appears on the feeds of users.
Creators are subject to the whims of these algorithms -- your organic content might show up in your followers' feeds however it could not. These algorithms are subject to change with no warning, and social media firms aren't transparent about how they work.
In particular, changes to the Facebook algorithm in the last couple of years have resulted in the decline of organic engagement which means that fewer users are able to see the posts of creators on their feeds of news.
Here are some more reasons creators dislike using Facebook:
"I believe that FB can be too distracting and people won't be able to find my post or will not stick there."
"FB group is not reliable and gimmicky, and people have fled FB right now, so it's difficult to build an environment of engagement."
"I really hate sending my people to Facebook and similar tech companies who collect information and use it to hook users to distract us."
"I must pay for an hourly VA to admit members, welcome them moderate, and so on. We have Google Sheets and separate Facebook Messenger software which is $30 per month and we're also dependent on Facebook's algorithm and distractions. This is a complete mess."
Creators tend to build digital communities on social media platforms for insufficient reasons. Facebook Groups make it easy to sign in, however it's also where the advantages end.
In contrast this, an all-in-one platform for creators like gives you complete control over which content you serve up to your audience and how you engage with your audience.
Community members have the ability to:
Purchase your items
Get access to your Content
Post and participate in discussions amongst others
...all in the same place.
Since they're already signed in to buy your items or access your content, there's no need to log onto a different website or use Facebook. That's a better experience for you and your members.
All in all, social media can be an excellent marketing tool for creators -However, it's best utilized as a piece of the larger plan and toolset. Creatives are successful when they have control over what and how they make their content available.
Who took the time to fill out the survey?
In order to be eligible for this fellowship, the applicants were required to be creators currently as well as 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 along with details about their company product, their challenges, and objectives.
Most of the data in this article is derived from questions in which authors were required to select among a variety of answers. To answer the question "If you were awarded the $2,022 grant, what do you plan to spend the money on?" we included an open-ended answer field.
If asked about their experiences level:
30.85 percent are classified as beginning and averaged 2.40 years of experience
8.11 percent of respondents were classified as beginners and an average of 2.77 years of work experience
40.98% identified as mid-level. This is based on an average of 4.98 years of experience
15.80% identified as advanced. This is based on an mean of 7.69 years of expertise
4.27% identified as experts and averaged 15.3 years of experience
We also wanted to know if they're full-time creators, part-time creator, or somewhere between.
39.13% identified as a full-time creator
18.81 Percentage identified as creator, who also has a full-time work
18.59 percent of them identified as creator and freelancer
14.70 Percentage identified as part-time creator
8.76% identified as a creator who has a second part-time work
Thank you to every creator who submitted an application for this fellowship and gave us an insight into their ideas, challenges, and journeys.
The most important takeaways
The market for creators is growing in every sector, but no two journeys are identical. We conducted a survey of over 900 creators to learn more about what it's like to run a creator business by 2022.
The most significant takeaways from their responses:
Creators from all niches and experience degrees face the same three main 9challenges growing their audience (32.9 percentage), finding enough time for everything to be done (21.6 percentage), and understanding how to make money out of their work (14.4%).
When creators look for advice to overcome these challenges, they turn to other creators. It is essential to have a community as element of the journey for creators. The more experienced creators have walked in the shoes of younger creators' shoes. As such, they've got plenty of tips to offer.
The primary reason for social media use is to share their content with their followers and with Instagram as the most popular platform (29.1 percent). Using social media implies that the creators are at the mercy of algorithms and give them less control over their content as well as the audience they reach.
From the more than 900 responses we used to calculate this information, none of them were the same. Every creator journey is different -- and we're here to support you at any stage.