How To Stand Out As A Creator On Social Media
The creator economy has evolved, but the strategy remains the same
In a saturated creator economy, how do you stand out?
There’s a piracy scam happening on Twitter where bots are creating dropshipping shops based on Twitter comments. The bots look for replies on artwork asking “Can I get this on a tshirt?” The bot then downloads the image, creates a listing and replies to the comment with a link to their pirated artwork available for purchase.
The solution to this is extremely clever, and gives a bit more faith in humanity. Knowing how fiercly Disney is fighting their intellectual property, some sly dogs are making posts like the one below, and replying “I need this on a tshirt”, tricking the bot creators to sell degrading images of Mickey Mouse.
Using Printify, it’s shockingly easy for creators to make products that ship worldwide. Then using social media (for free), it’s easy to get your product in front of people.
Because it’s so easy, many people are doing it. Because many people are doing it, it’s hard to stick out from the rest.
So what’s a creator to do?
I’ve been inconsistent with making content for my personal brand, so if you feel I don’t have the authority to talk on this, I think that’s fair. My day job is running the Instagram for VeeFriends, an intellectual property created by GaryVee, focused on cartoon stroytelling. The company, like most companies, makes money by selling products (trading cards, pins, plushies, action figures).
The same formula goes for creators.
The first question I’d ask is a creator hoping to make a side/full income: What can your fanbase expect from your content?
For VeeFriends, we make content using our fictional characters to teach people how and when to bring specific traits in your daily life.
For example, this post features our character Gratitude Gorilla:
Users swipe and read that TODAY, 2.9 billion people don’t have access to the internet, which means their opportunity in the world is stifled. If YOU are reading THIS, you have access to the internet, and proabably a smartphone. YOU have more opportunity than almost half of the world. If you’re reading this newsletter, I assume you’d agree that it’d be a shame to waste the opportunity by not attempting to build an audience around something you find interesting.
Creating content is all about storytelling. In a world where bots are making products, we have to lean on our ability to connect with others through stories. That’s our edge as humans.
Computers have been beating great chess players for over 30 years, but when we think of the best chess players in the world, Magnus Carlson comes to mind. We don’t pay attention to the computers that beat him.
We’re more interested in humans than the stories that computers can tell.
I’ve touched on this before in a June edition, Storytelling Becomes Everything When The Barrier To Create Is Near Zero.
The second quesiton I have for creators is: Do you have a product that solves a need in the niche you talk about?
For VeeFriends, our 283 characters speak to certain traits we’d like to see more of in the world. Some characters include Empathy Elephant, Patient Panda, Hard Working Wombat. For collectors, having the trading cards/pins/plushies are constant reminders to have empathy for others, or that hard work pays off, if you can stay patient.
In my personal brand, I haven’t built a product, although I’ve flirted with the idea of a cool looking coffee mug so you can start your week off reading The Bleeding Edge with a nice cup of coffee.
I’ve also considered doing freelance work as a creative director to help direct and product content for creators who want to elevate their social media content. With 6+ years of doing social media as a full time job, i feel confident in helping someone make social first content that works to drive an audience surrounding a niche.
If you or someone you know has a needs a part time channel manager or creative director, I’d be interested in having a conversation.
If you’re someone looking to make a name for yourself in a specific niche, you have to be interesting and bring value to the viewers. To start, talk about what you know. Then get good at delivering the message. Then get really good at it. From there, find a porblem to solve in that niche, and sell it as a product.
And understand that it will take time. Probably years. If you’re in it for the long haul and stay consistent, you will find success.
Thank you for reading! See you next Monday at 7am ET :)