Intro

There was a time where showing your face on social media was enough. Or, understanding the steps to launch a digital product, and doing it, strictly, was the recipe for a predictable and scalable profit. Well, not anymore.

It’s getting harder and harder to stand out, to have an audience (imagine a loyal, passionate one), to turn your presence on social media into a long-term success.


How the future of content creation is going to look like in 5, 10 years? Will there be social media as we know it today? What will social media platforms look like in the near and long future?

In the past year, the staff of Memberse has spent a great deal of time, discussing the future of Content Creation.

Our discussion would range from various points of analysis about the matter, such as perspective, impact, numbers, social responsibility, technical challenges, expectancy, mental health, sex, behavior, sales, and finance, to name a few.

Summary

What You'll Learn

The 14 Rule: 7 Pains & 7 Traits of Success

Through this deep dive into creators’ lives, talking to hundreds of creators from all continents of the world, we were able to put together a list of the most common pains, difficulties, and wounds that creators have.

Here are the most common 7 pains that we identified that you are suffering today, let us know if you agree:

  • Too much algorithm dependency. To what % your content is being delivered today?
  • Having to post so regularly that you run out of content options, thus jeopardizing the quality of your content, leaving no space for creativity, to experimentation.
  • Having to keep up with trends on a daily basis, forces you to consume social media trends more than you would like to.
  • Difficulty in understanding the value of a follow. People follow you for different reasons. Some of these people are legitimately interested in your content, others will follow and never see anything from you again.
  • Not knowing how much time, money, or resources is worth spending in content creation.
  • Having to adjust your whole business according to all of a sudden changes and updates on social media platforms, this leads us to:
  • Not having ownership of your content, your audience, and your business. Regular social media offer limited monetization options, and it's hard to bring your audience to different social media channels every time something goes wrong;

Does any of these sound or feels familiar to you?

We did, however, also find 7 patterns that every profiting creator has, and that can differentiate them from the all-too-similar professionals in the field. Let’s see if you empathize with this side, as well.

The patterns are:

  • Having an entrepreneurial mind; Always thinking of new projects, ideas, and improvements.
  • Being a good project manager. That is, knowing how to do and balance it all: handle script writing, research, filming, editing, marketing plan, business plan, schedule, produce development….it’s a lot.
  • Having real interest in the behavior of those who follow you, understanding their feedback and data;
  • Being aware of your own reality, understanding that you must share it with vulnerability to establish sympathy and/or desire;
  • Tendency to focus on 3 key factors: trends, technological changes, and personal perception of things (one must know or talk about as many things as they possibly can, like if you were trying to impress someone on a date);
  • Creators tend to establish an audience before introducing any product. Using viral videos, social media trends, or simply whatever is working for the algorithm at the moment to gain followers. Maybe this has happened to you. One day, you see that you have thousands of followers and go “what should I do with this now?” Don’t worry, it’s a good thing. It opens up several possibilities. For starters, this gives creators a deep perception and perspective of who their followers are, facilitating the choice of best product to introduce. Additionally, by the time you already have some level of trust from your audience, it will likely increase sales and attract ad possibilities;
  • Are you aware that you have an advantage and leverage over classic brands?
    Compare yourself to Coke-Cola. It’s like comparing a motorcycle and a semi-truck making a U-Turn. The creator is the motorcycle - much less powerful, yet lighter, more agile, more accessible. For a creator to quickly join a trend or introduce a new style, or product, it's just like a motorcycle making a U-Turn. For Coke, nothing is simple. It requires millions of meetings and dollars. Semi-trucks don’t be making U-Turns every day. They may depend on such brands for profit, but they know that the brands will never communicate with consumers the way they do.

But Why Communities?

Community equals Solidity. Community equals people who are consuming your content and really caring about you, other than millions of people who don’t. Unfortunately, a culture of big numbers and virals has been established on the internet. We’re not saying that it isn’t cool if you have content with millions of views. It is and you should be proud of it. However, when it comes to long-term thinking and content creation as a means of life, just viral videos won’t do. Because their big numbers do not represent solidity. Millions of people that saw one piece of content from you will also see millions of other pieces of content from other people. The Community is those people that actually became attached to the piece content, to you, to your brand. These people may be far from millions. May even be far from thousands. But they will bring you more value than all of those other million people that have no idea who you are. They are your community, stick to them and they’ll stick to you.Let us cut this short: now we know that it’s all about COMMUNITY.

You can have the hammer, the nail, and the painting, but what’s going to keep your place warm is the wall.

Community isn’t only about people.  It’s also about the environment that your content creates, the values behind it, and choice. People have the option of following thousands of content creators for free.

Now do this quick math with us, real quick: 1 person, can follow Thousands for free. Not every 1 person, pays for content. Let’s say, every other person is willing to pay for content. This narrows by a double the chances of who this person will choose, among thousands, to pay for content. Why would they choose you?

Here’s a cheap analogy for you: Grocery Store.

Your favorite Grocery Store, may not be the one that is the cheapest. Say you have two grocery stores near you.

GS A: is cheaper, yet a little farther, it’s also dirty, disorganized and their staff is rude;

GS B: is more expensive, but a little closer. You walk in there, people greet you with a smile. You know exactly where to get your broccoli and your peanut butter. You just feel more comfortable there.

People tend to choose one Grocery Store and make the habit of going to the same one most of the time. In the same way, they choose a few preferred restaurants, a few preferred paths and times to walk their dogs, and they even choose who to say ‘hello’ to when passing by.

You create a community around you.

Now just get that and applied it online.

What is your online routine?

Which social media platform do you choose to explore first? Which news outlets do you choose to read first? How long does it take for you to answer a text?

What criteria do you use to double tap on something or comment on it?

If you don’t see anything from one particular creator/account, do you go to their page just to make sure you haven’t missed anything?

Yup. Community, man. We don’t you to have millions of random people checking you out just on that one particular piece of content. We prefer for you to have hundreds, thousands of people who care about you in the way that they go look for you, that they are committed to what you’re creating, and especially to you.

How To Build Your Community

Here are the most important factors of creating a community. But please note, this is a list, but not a ‘how-to manual’. There are no priorities or step by step. That’s because people have different forms of creating communities. There’s no right way of doing so. You have your own communal and social instinct that should guide you through this process. We’re trying to help, to add something. But do trust your instinct above all.

For example: if you want to build a community to talk about film, you can just organize a watch party (which can be done online!). The actual gathering of people to watch will generate several different forms of interaction.

Alternatively, you could create a film club in which people will watch films on their own time and there’s a rating/debate system in place, through a forum chat. This will also generate different forms of interactions.

In both cases, you’re gathering people with similar interests into the same space, whether that space is virtual or not.

For Content Creators, specifically, there are a few additional things to consider:

Identify who in your audience would be a part of a community you created

Here are the most important factors of creating a community. But please note, this is a list, but not a ‘how-to manual’. There are no priorities or step by step. That’s because people have different forms of creating communities. There’s no right way of doing so. You have your own communal and social instinct that should guide you through this process. We’re trying to help, to add something. But do trust your instinct above all.

For example: if you want to build a community to talk about film, you can just organize a watch party (which can be done online!). The actual gathering of people to watch will generate several different forms of interaction.

Alternatively, you could create a film club in which people will watch films on their own time and there’s a rating/debate system in place, through a forum chat. This will also generate different forms of interactions.

In both cases, you’re gathering people with similar interests into the same space, whether that space is virtual or not.

For Content Creators, specifically, there are a few additional things to consider:

Create a space in which people can feel exclusive

You know when you are in a social situation and people don’t really know each other, so it gets a little awkward? And then, these people are divided into smaller groups, say, they are divided into tables of 6. Then even those who were more quiet or shy, are now more comfortable start talking. Well, that’s the Power of Space. From the moment people understood the environment that they will be in for a certain time, and who they will be surrounded by, they tend to feel more comfortable. Virtually, this also applies. Someone may not be comfortable commenting on a public post, but they would be commenting in a closed environment.

Invite people. Like, more than once

People are shy, even online. Or, sometimes, we are slow to understand that someone would actually be very cool if we just give it a shot. This is even more common when it comes to situations that involve socializing and sharing. However, once you feel part of the community, it’s very pleasurable. As the leader and creator of this community, it’s your job to get people to go through this process. They will be very thankful to you after you prove you were right. So don’t be afraid to insist.

Establish Rules

This is very important. A community that is a mess, isn’t a community, it’s a party. Parties are great, but they serve a different purpose. Rules help goals to be achieved and if your community is about learning or achieving something, you will have goals. Rules will also grant people the feeling of safety, respect and harmony. This will increase the likelihood of people interacting more, becoming more friendly and interacting more. It doesn’t have to be a whole constitution. Sometimes all you need is one or two rules!

Check on People

Do you know when you’re taking one of those guided tours at a museum or a free walking tour with the dudes with the umbrella? If you have a question, chances are that your first reaction will be “let me ask the guide”. Because that person is the leader and the one who knows the content. Yet, when we’re talking about a community of a content creator, which can have thousands of people, it will be very difficult for you to hear or answer everyone. So do try to create ways for people to be heard.

If you don’t know how, we thought about it. We created this DM option that people will be able chat with you directly, for a price.

Give People, and yourself, a Purpose

Right, this sounds very cliché, we agree. But here’s the thing about purpose: it’s what drives people to be a part of something that they wouldn’t normally be or do. Maybe one Saturday night you have tickets to watch a nice concert, but it also happens to be your grandma’s birthday. What drives you to choose to go to Grandma’s birthday is Purpose. The joy you’ll give her will give your a deeper, long-term, endless amount of good feelings if compared to watching that concert. Why do you create content? What makes you do what you do? What makes some days better than others?

In summary, Community is the way to a financially viable, ad-free, content creation life.

Let Us Get Academic

There’s this paper, from June 2022. It’s called “How brand-stakeholder dialogue drives brand-hosted community engagement on social media: A mixed-methods approach”.

Do you know what brand-stakeholder dialogue is?

It’s exactly what it sounds like, but nowadays it has a higher meaning because ‘stakeholder’ doesn’t only refer to investors or shareholders. It relates to every person connected with the brand. Employees, consumers, investors, regulators, society, the environment, and the community around you.

Traditional brands have taken brand-stakeholder dialogue to a whole new level in the past decades and especially in the past decade, thanks to social media.

HOWEVER (yes, capital) let us rewind:

7. Are you aware that you have an advantage and leverage over classic brands?

Compare yourself to Coke-Cola. It’s like comparing a motorcycle and a semi-truck making a U-Turn. The creator is the motorcycle – much less powerful, yet lighter, more agile, more accessible. For a creator to quickly join a trend or introduce a new style, or product, it’s just like a motorcycle making a U-Turn. For Coke, nothing is simple. It requires millions of meetings and dollars. Semi-trucks don’t be making U-Turns every day. They may depend on such brands for profit, but they know that the brands will never communicate with consumers the way they do;

The writers of the aforementioned paper, XinyanZhaoa and Yi-Ru ReginaChen ake the following point:

Identity performance cannot be discussed in isolation from the communities with which individuals align themselves and the ways in which those communities establish and maintain the relationships that comprise them. On social media, which is predicated on notions of connectedness and the establishment of social networks, these acts of alignment are very much to the fore, and affordances for realizing and displaying connections with others are built into the infrastructure of the applications people use to communicate. These affordances include, amongst other things: the visible display of one’s network of followers or friends; the ability to ‘like’ posts and for this information to be shared amongst your network; the capacity to comment; and the way one can congregate around issues or concepts by using conventions such as the hashtag in Twitter.

XinyanZhaoa and Yi-Ru ReginaChen

Identity performance cannot be discussed in isolation from the communities with which individuals align themselves and the ways in which those communities establish and maintain the relationships that comprise them. On social media, which is predicated on notions of connectedness and the establishment of social networks, these acts of alignment are very much to the fore, and affordances for realizing and displaying connections with others are built into the infrastructure of the applications people use to communicate. These affordances include, amongst other things: the visible display of one’s network of followers or friends; the ability to ‘like’ posts and for this information to be shared amongst your network; the capacity to comment; and the way one can congregate around issues or concepts by using conventions such as the hashtag in Twitter.

What does that mean? They’re saying that social media was built over the concept of connecting one person to another, though IDENTITY. The main forms of communication for these connections are based on things that can generate identities, like LIST OF FOLLOWERS, LIKES and COMMENTS. Certain other forms of communication, help these connections take place, like HASHTAGS.

THIS, is why Content Creators have leverage over brands.

Brands, my friends, are NOT able to establish a 1-1 identity with anyone or anything because they’re INSTITUTIONS, not HUMANS. They are made of a group of thousands of people.

You can’t become friends with the Community Center. The Community Center is a building. You become friends with the people inside the Community Center.

Marketing tools will get people to enter your building (it’s a metaphor for your social media profile, still not calling you dumb, just clarifying). But it is how you receive those people and what kind of activities you do inside the building that we’ll keep that community inside.

If you want to know more, we can get Best-seller on you, no problem. We recommend:

“The End of Marketing: Humanizing your brand in the age of social media”, by Carlos Gil. Good book. Check out the name of this chapter:

Write this down: the ability to hold attention and providing value are the commodity, not followers.

To Become (And Remain) A Successful Creator, You Need to Know All These Patterns

From our side, we’re committed to building something for this reality. Our goal is to develop the best app with successful creators in mind. We did and will continue to improving it.


We’re taking all this into consideration: How should be the experience for Creators? For followers? How should Creators charge? Monthly? Perpetually? One time? Creators do that for a living, that’s why they need a predictable, stable income. One of the most common complaints was regarding understanding the value of a follow. How many of your followers would pay for your content? Once you figure that out, these people are merely followers anymore. They are Members. We’re a membership-based platform. And who can be part of this community? We concluded that a member that pays monthly is part of a community that you, the creator, started.

In Conclusion

We created a place where creators can start communities of people that will share with like-minded people the absorption and consumption of content. If you want to try it out, download our app here, follow us on social media and be part of our community.

Alright, we’ll stop here. Check version 2 for more