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Content Creator vs. Influencer: Understanding the Differences and Overlaps
Content creators and influencers both create and produce content for audiences to engage in. Discover the differences and similarities between the two roles and how to start your career in these fields.
With the rise of social media and internet usage, content creators and influencers are increasingly in demand. Content creators work across film, television, and social media industries and write content for books, newspapers, and magazines. Influencers primarily create content for social media channels such as Instagram or YouTube and typically promote products or services in the videos or images they share.
What is a content creator?
A content creator is a professional who produces content for an audience to engage with. Examples of creative content may include books, blogs, films, music videos, commercials, and newspapers. In this role, you write, develop, film, or edit content as a freelancer or for a brand or advertising agency.
What does a content creator do?
As a content creator, your responsibilities may range from developing ideas for content to creating and sharing these ideas with an audience. Some of your tasks as a content creator may include:
- Coming up with ideas for new content
- Creating and producing content in the form of writing, editing, or filming
- Staying up to date on trends
- Scheduling and posting content to platforms
- Analyzing content performance and strategizing for future campaigns
Your responsibilities as a content creator may vary depending on the type of content you create and whether you work for a specific business or brand, freelance, or create content for your brand.
Content creator salary
According to Glassdoor, the average annual salary for a content creator is $53,439 [1]. Content creator salaries can differ based on various factors, such as the industry or location you work in and the amount of experience you have in the field.
What is an influencer?
An influencer promotes products or services for a brand on social media platforms, advocating for consumers to purchase them. As a result of this marketing tactic, influencers earn money for the content they create discussing a brand. Influencers have gained popularity recently as more individuals consume advertisements via social media, using their following to target and reach a large audience.
What does an influencer do?
As an influencer, your responsibilities typically include partnering with a brand and agreeing to promote its product or service online. From there, you may create content—such as photos or videos to post on social media—speaking about the brand and its product or service to your followers.
Influencer salary and job outlook
The average annual salary for an influencer in the United States is $89,860, according to Glassdoor [2]. Many influencers earn their income via brand deals, ad revenue, and sponsored content versus earning an hourly wage or annual salary.
The demand for influencers continues to grow in the United States. According to Statista, $22.19 billion went to influencer marketing in the United States in 2022, which rose to $26.09 billion in 2023 [3].
Content creator vs. influencer: Key differences
Content creators and influencers have similar responsibilities, such as generating and posting content online. Still, their approaches, specific skill sets, and how they engage with audiences may differ. Additionally, while many content creators can work as freelancers, in-house, or for a particular company, influencers typically rely on self-employment through their following, with brands reaching out to them for promotion.
Focus and purpose
As a content creator, your purpose is typically to create content that an audience will enjoy. If you’re filming a video, you want your audience to remain engaged and entertained. If you’re writing a blog, you want readers to consume every word.
Influencers have a simple goal: to influence consumers. If an influencer promotes a skincare brand via social media, the goal is for the viewer to purchase an item from that skincare brand.
Required skills
As a content creator or influencer, it’s important that you have the specific job skills needed to perform your role. Content creators should be proficient in whichever mediums or platforms they’re producing content for, and influencers should know how to attract consumers and speak to their large social media following.
Content creator skills
Examples of content creator skills include:
- Writing: Many content creators generate content in the form of social media captions, blogs, books, newspapers, or other written formats. To become a content creator, you should know how to write professionally and in a way that engages an audience and makes them want to keep reading and follow your writing or brand in the future.
- Marketing: To ensure your content has an audience, you should know how to market it. Compiling content marketing strategies and campaigns to promote your content may help it gain a following.
- Audio and video knowledge: In addition to writing, many content creators produce visual content in long-form and short-form videos or audio clips such as podcasts. It’s important that you know how to capture content and edit it for easy consumption.
Influencer skills
As an influencer, you’ll want to possess the following skills:
- Creativity and storytelling: To prevent every social media advertisement from sounding and looking the same, you’ll need to find unique ways to showcase a brand to your audience.
- Social media knowledge: If you have a large social media following, you should know how to navigate various social media channels. This can include posting content at optimal times so the algorithm picks it up and shows it to your followers, engaging with your audience, editing videos, and using SEO and hashtags.
- Authenticity: As an influencer, your followers usually keep up with you because they enjoy seeing your content and believe what you’re selling them. One of the characteristics that consumers and followers value is an authentic social media personality that, despite selling them a product, doesn’t feel fake or inauthentic when doing so. You should believe in what you’re selling and partner with brands you have confidence and trust in.
Monetization strategies
The way content creators and influencers earn money typically differs. For example, as a content creator, you earn money from your employer or client. As an influencer, you partner with brands and earn money based on creating advertisements for their products. Influencers may also earn money through commission or affiliate marketing based on the engagement of their posts.
Audience engagement
The way content creators and influencers engage with their audiences differs. Content creators interact with their audience through their content, producing entertainment they think the audience will want to consume. Influencers, on the other hand, interact directly with their audience by responding to comments, sharing posts, and responding to followers via video and direct messages.
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