Hello and happy Wednesday creators!

I am currently writing this while bundled up in a sweatshirt, sweatpants, and winter hat. Listen, world: I said I liked FALL weather last issue, what is this winter madness?!

I also wanted to take a second to give a massive thank you to Alex the Grape 🍇 in this issue, as he gave me some incredible feedback on the last issue of my newsletter.

Alex let me know that while the content and tone of voice are solid, I tend to tease too much and don’t provide much of a payoff when it comes time for the story. Alex astutely identified that this “teasing” is only leading to unwanted repetition, taking away from the actual news itself, and making it feel weak.

This feedback from Alex is exactly what I’m looking for from my readers! As a creator, I only thrive when my audience is enjoying not only what, but how I’m covering the latest creator news. So Alex, thank you again for the killer feedback. I’m going to make an effort to add more value and tease the content a bit less throughout. 😎 

Readers, if you want to see something added to these weekly reads, or you want to let me know what you hate and why, PLEASE don’t hesitate to respond to this email. I wouldn’t be creating these without you amazing folks, and your feedback is always taken into consideration!!

Thank you again, Alex

The State of the Creator Space 🔍️ 

There are a TON of creator space breakdowns and reports throughout the year, but today I wanted to touch on a recent report from Linktree that has some wild stats.

While we may be able to guess about trends, sentiments, and even demographics on certain platforms, this year Linktree takes it a step further by covering some relatively untouched analytics.

I’m going to dive into some of the nitty gritty below, but at a high level, the Linktree crew tackled defragmenting your online presence as a creator, avoiding the algorithm, turning clicks into cash, and more.

Let’s dive into the big pieces:

• First, they start out the report by laying down some groundwork. There are currently 200M creators in the market (I wonder how/where they got this number), and thus, there’s a whole lotta content.

• Then, we get the super fun insight that our attention span as humans is now a third of what it used to be in 2004. WOOOO! opens reddit*

• They also add the point that nearly half of the people (40%) who shared insights for this survey believe that there’s just too much to choose from on the internet. Curate people, curate!!!

• They then dive into what could only be described as an ad for their service (no shame in that game baby, I see you!). But they also shed light on a few interesting subsections here.

  • Creators have, on average, seven different social platform profiles.

  • While Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok seem to be the main platforms for creators, they only make up 25% of the links on Linktree.

  • Now this is where it gets interesting. Links to the following platforms are all up:

  • Eventbrite are up 200%; LinkedIn is up 42%; and Google Docs is up by 27%. This leads me to believe that there has been a TON of value added by in-person events, courses, or guides, and creators focusing on LI may point to creators looking to build out even more opportunities as “professional creators.”

• The report then dives into where the most popular Linktree profiles drive traffic from. No surprise here: IG, Twitter, & TikTok. DuckDuckGo also made this list, nothing to report on there, though. I’m just surprised that people actually use that engine.

• They also take a second to mention that QR codes drive a good amount of traffic, so get those stickers out, peeps.

• They then dive into (what I believe to be) the most stand-out part of the report. 75% of creators want to create content different than they are now but feel that they need to adhere to the algorithm in order to see continued success. Pic of me reading after that statistic.

• They touch on how building out your audience in a place that doesn’t require an algorithm for viewership is super important, and that platforms that facilitate this are up across the board (Patreon, etc.).

• Apparently “half of creators” made money from their content over the last year. Not too sure what number they’re halving, but they break it down a bit more granularly:

  • 72% of creators made less than $500 🙃 

  • 17% made between $500-$5K

  • 5% made between $5k-$10k

  • 4% made between $10k-$50k

  • 2% made over $50k

• My takeaway? As always, we need to lift up the creator middle class.

• But it’s not all gloom and doom, Linktree has found that creator revenue has gone up 25% on average over the last year!

• Got some Amazon affiliate links or perhaps products listed on the site? If not, get on it. Prime Day saw a 113% increase in storefront clicks.

• Speaking of holidays, they also mention that you should take advantage of Black Friday/Cyber Monday offerings as a creator.

Phew, that’s a lot of stats. And if you’ve read this far, genuinely thank you. I thought I might have lost you back at bullet two!

If you want to read the full report, go check it out below. I definitely didn’t cover everything noted in the report, and plus, the UX is really fun.

[Read the Full Report]

Creator Economy News 🚨

This week I’m switching these sections up a bit. I’m going to be writing some more in-depth breakdowns of the latest news to save you a click, instead of just teasing and linking you to the story. But as always, if you want to learn more, check out the hyperlinked articles & videos!

• Are we speaking the same language? With Spotter & YouTube’s new partnership, we most definitely will be. The two brands are teaming up to bring more accessible language dubbing tools to creators so content can reach a more global audience. As someone who travels and loves watching creators from all over the world (especially fishing content), I invite and applaud this feature. Hopefully, this is something that may help the creator middle class grow & get more recognition!

• Instagram recently held an event in NYC featuring an appearance from the Head of IG, Adam Mosseri! At this event, Mosseri shed light on topics such as Reels Bonuses, Links in the feed, News on IG, and more. I would break this down further, but… OH WAIT I ALREADY DID 😎 

• I remember watching Dude Perfect’s first videos when they were just a bunch of college bros huckin’ basketballs in their backyard. Now they have almost 60M subscribers, they’ve built a massive theme park for their fans, and most recently, they launched an app and streaming service featuring exclusive content. As creators continue to seep into the mainstream and rival organizations like ESPN, I can only begin to picture the traditional entertainment realm in the next 5 years. Creator-led content across the board? Yes, please!

You should see these 👀

• Oh Shell no. Shell (yes, the oil company) and Fortnite are under fire after….. sorry I just had to be sure I’m reading this article correctly… under fire after collaborating with gaming influencers to get kids to play on a new map that had players fill up their in-game cars with a new type of Shell gasoline to race across the map. Next up, a Fortnite Marlboro map (jokes, I can only hope)!…🥴

• No more buying from TikTok, or any other social media platform in Indonesia. In an attempt to avoid further monopolization by tech companies, Indonesia bans any transactions of “goods” on all social sites. In short, these massive DTC companies are snuffing out millions of small local businesses, and TikTok is among the biggest culprits.

• This one isn’t even news, it’s just wholesome af. Plus, seeing a creator grow over 20M subscribers in three years is absolutely incredible. Don’t give up creators, you never know where you may end up in just a few short years.

Creator Spotlight 🔦

If you’re a skier and you don’t know this name, where have you been?!

Meet Henrik Harlaut, one of the best skiers in the game right now. From street to park, contests, or even all-mountain cruising, Henrik makes the sport look easy.

Watching Henrik stomp every trick he lines up for (besides the ones where he falls on his head) makes me hungry to jump back into ski season.

While Henrik is an incredible athlete who constantly impresses with his skiing, he’s also a super talented creator who makes some sick videos on YouTube.

Whether it’s his full skiing movies, behind-the-scenes, videos from competitions, tutorials, raw and uncut videos, or beyond; Henrik marries his love for skiing and creation on his channel.

One of my favorite parts about Henrik’s content is the fact that you can tell that he isn’t creating videos to get more recognition or money, he’s doing it because he genuinely enjoys creating content.

Watching these videos almost feels borderline voyeuristic, like watching someone’s home videos, but in a good way. Mixing his favorite music (mainly old-school hip-hop) on top of his edits, you can begin to see the care and craft that goes into these videos. Small clips of his travels, showcases of his falls, and good times with his friends; these videos are a peek into the life and experiences of Henrik.

While the videos have the energy of home movies, they’re still masterfully crafted, and insanely entertaining. Be sure to check out Henrik’s content, and if you’re not sure where to jump in, definitely consider starting here. While this movie was produced and polished by a production company, it’s still a gorgeous film and a solid introduction to Henrik himself.

Keep shreddin’, Henrik!

To the Dedicated Readers ❤️ 

If you’ve made it this far into this issue, thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to read my ramblings.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this issue, I was challenged by one of our readers to write an even better version of this newsletter by teasing less and writing more.

So, if you’re reading this right now, and you truly enjoy the deeper breakdowns, please please please do me a favor and reply to this email letting me know!

I write this for all of you, and if I’m not creating content in a way that you enjoy, then I’m not doing all that I can to make the best content possible.

Thank you again to Alex for the challenge, I didn’t know how much I needed the kick!!!

Want to go even further? 🚀

If you’d like to keep learning about topics like the ones shared above, stick around! But more importantly, check out the links below to further your development as a creator. 😎

1. Sign up for CreatorPad - pssssst. It’s free 😉 

2. Join our free creator community - seriously, you’ve read this far, come hop in and say hello!!

3. Find a personal mentor to learn from - Stop going at it alone, create content with a professional creator in your niche!