What is a Content Creator?

A content creator is someone who produces rich, engaging content for their audience. Learn more about their role in creating value for brands of all sizes.

What is a Content Creator and How Can They Bring Value to Your Brand?

In an Instagram post, content creator Emily Mariko silently mashes up salmon and rice and tops it with a satisfyingly ripe, sliced avocado. In less than 12 hours, the video gained 43,000 likes, with comments celebrating the creator’s “famous salmon dish.”

Mariko making her “famous salmon bowl” recipe

The rest of Mariko’s videos follow a similar pattern. She chops, dices, and slices in silence, creating simple, minimalist dishes for 1.3 million followers.

The rise of content creators producing videos and photos around their hobbies and passions has become increasingly common. It’s opened a new window of opportunity for brands to collaborate with hobbyists-turned-pros who have built a name around their talents.

But what exactly is a content creator and how can brands enter their world?

What is a Content Creator?

A content creator is someone who produces rich, engaging content for their audience — not too dissimilar to user-generated content. This often comes in the form of TikTok videos, YouTube videos, Instagram feed posts, Stories, and Reels, blog content, and audio bites, but it can vary depending on the creator, their audience, and their niche.

Content creators have become an increasingly popular go-to for brands since the blossoming creator economy has made it easy to partner with talented creators. There’s debate about just how big the creator economy is, but studies show there are somewhere between 200 and 300 million independent creators — many of whom have monetized their passion (helping coin the term passion economy more recently).

Brands that partner with content creators can access engaged, trusting audiences in specific niches while generating high-quality content for their own channels, including not only organic social media, but also paid ads, email, website, and more.

Why Work With Content Creators?

Content creators love to create. They often have valuable skill sets that bring a new dimension to your content library—for example, they might be excellent videographers who can create beautiful slow-mo videos of your product or they might be great at creating funny, on-trend memes.

There are plenty of reasons why you should work with content creators. Here are a few:

• Added authenticity: Content creators prioritize their audiences. They know what their viewers love to see, so they are able to create engaging content on a variety of platforms.
• Expert skills: Tap into a wealth of skills that you don’t have on hand in your in-house team, whether it’s video editing, photography, or witty copy.
• A content goldmine: Working with content creators gives you access to tons of content that you can use over and over again across many different channels.
• Access to their audience: Content creators have worked hard to nurture their existing audience, which gives you access to an engaged audience in your industry.

Content Creators vs Influencers: What’s The Difference?

The terms content creator and influencer are often used interchangeably, and while there are many similarities (they both partner with brands to create content, for example), there is one key difference.

• The main goal of an influencer is to influence purchasing decisions of their audience.
• The main goal of a content creator is to produce engaging high-quality content for the audience they’re trying to reach.

If you’re running a campaign, you might engage with a content creator to produce blog and social media content, while an influencer will predominantly promote your product to their audience.

This piece breaks down the main differences between a content creator and an influencer.

When You Might Need a Content Creator

Wondering when you should partner with a content creator? Here are some scenarios where it can be beneficial to bring a content creator on board.

• Create high-quality out-of-house content: If you don’t have the skills to produce high-quality content in-house, partnering with content creators can help you fill your content library with high quality images, videos and blog content.
• To inject authenticity into your campaigns: Content produced by creators is not only high quality, but also authentic. Leveraging this can help you resonate with customers on a more personal level, and produce even better results.
• Generate engagement around a new product launch: Content creators are excellent at producing engaging content for their viewers. If you need high-quality content for an upcoming launch, you might choose to partner with a relevant content creator.
• Ongoing campaigns: If there’s a content creator in your niche who’s the perfect fit for your brand, it makes sense to nurture a long-term partnership with them.

Different Types of Content Creators

There are 300 million content creators out there, so it can be overwhelming trying to figure out who you should work with. The beauty of the creator economy is you can find people to work with in pretty much any niche or industry. Take Ragmop and Goose, for example. The content creator duo shoots videos of the puppets they make. It’s niche, but they have over 200,000 followers on Instagram.

Ragmop and Goose’s loveable puppet characters have garnered a huge Instagram following.

While content creators span many niches, they can be categorized based on two things:

1. Their skills: Do they specialize in photography? Writing? Video production? Do they create short-form or long-form content?
2. Their audience size: Just like influencers, content creators come with different-sized audiences, from 1,000 followers to one million and beyond.

When choosing which content creators to partner with, consider their skill set and their audience size — but don’t be won over by numbers. Just because a creator has one million followers, it doesn’t mean they’re a good fit. The majority of their audience might not be interested in your brand, so it can be better to opt for a niche creator with fewer followers.

What a Content Creator Can Do For You

Content creators are a great asset to have. Not only are they excellent at what they do, but they often have a pre-built audience of loyal fans who hang on to their every word.

Here are some of the things they can help you do.

• Reach a new audience: Want to get in front of a brand new audience? Content creators can introduce you to their viewers, transferring the pre-built trust from their personal brand to yours.
• Expand your reach: Even if you don’t want to reach a new audience, you can still work with content creators to expand your reach in your existing industry and increase your market share.
• Provide high-quality, authentic content: Content creators can populate your content library with high-quality assets you can use across your marketing campaigns and website.
• Social media content: Content creators tend to have substantial followings on social media platforms, making them the perfect springboard to share your brand and products with their followers.

Content for your website: Content creators often have a specific talent and can use that to produce top-notch content for your website, whether it’s video tutorials, product photography, or blog posts.

4 Examples of Content Creators in Different Niches

1. Ruff and Puff – Dog Walker

‍ Ruff and Puff is run by a dog walker in New York City who creates cute and engaging content around dogs. He often promotes dog-related products on Reels, Stories, and Feed posts.

Ruff and Puff’s Instagram account is full of delightful dog content from the dog walker’s daily walks.

2. Tori Dunlap — Money Expert

Tori Dunlap is a financial expert who’s on a mission to help everyday people get better with their money. She creates videos, graphics, and Instagram Reels about saving tips and financial health.

Tori Dunlap runs Her First 100K, a finance advice account for women

3. Emily English – Food and Nutrition

‍ Emily English (a.k.a. Em the Nutritionist) shares healthy recipes and nutrition advice with her 270,000 followers on TikTok and regularly collaborates with brands in the health and wellness space.

Emily English creates fresh, healthy recipes for her followers to copy

4. Jo Nakashima — Origami

Jo Nakashima has accrued more than two million YouTube subscribers by posting detailed and engaging videos of his origami craft.

Jo Nakashima shows his 2 million subscribers how to create intricate origami creatures and structures

How to Work With Content Creators

Ready to start working with content creators? Here are a few steps to get you started. Or if you want to dive deeper, read our full guide to partnering with creators here.

1. Find The Right Creators

Your campaign will only be as successful as the content creators you partner with. Decide what you want to achieve with your partnership and find creators that fit the bill. For example, if you want to promote your new range of multivitamins, find creators who are already creating beautiful content around nutrition and health.

You can use Aspire’s influencer search engine to filter creators by their audience size, skill set, and industry.

2. Build Relationships

For best results, your partnership with content creators should be long-term. This way they have the chance to understand your brand and understand what resonates best with the people you want to reach.

To foster better relationships, make sure you create detailed briefs, set expectations from the start, create slick workflows, and encourage open communication.

3. Manage Payment

The cost of working with content creators will vary depending on the kind of campaigns you’re working on, the length of your engagement, and audience size. It’s important to iron out the financials before you start working together so there are no nasty surprises for either side.

There are two ways you can manage this:

• Pay a retainer: You can pay a consistent sum each month for an ongoing partnership that includes a certain amount of deliverables each month.
• Pay a one-off fee: If you’re engaging with content creators on a short-term basis, you can decide to pay per piece of content, kind of like a “pay-as-you-go” scheme.

Once you’ve chosen your content creators, signed a contract, and organized payment, you can get down to the nitty-gritty, like what content they’ll create and repurpose, the goals of the campaign, and the cadence they’ll post at.

Collaborate With Content Creators

Content creators are the perfect partners for building your content library and spreading the word about your brand and products. Start by finding relevant content creators in your niche, building ongoing relationships with them, and working closely with them to create excellent content for your campaigns.