The top 3 challenges creators face in 2022 (Results from more than 900 creators survey) |
No two creator journeys are similar. To learn more about what it's like to run a creator business in 2022, we surveyed over 900 creators. This is what we learned.
"Creators are earning their first 'online dollar' by the millions, and are part of one of the fastest-growing ecosystems of our planet: the creation economy."
An estimated fifty million people think of themselves as creators. And there's more info available now than ever on becoming a full-time creator. The word "digital creator" is searched by search engines 2.5K per month, while "how you can become a creator of content" receives 1.3K requests.
The term "creator" refers to anyone who is creative. Yes, influencers, YouTubers bloggers, podcasters, and influencers are all creators - as are musicians and musicians, craftsmen, educators, worldbuilders, writers, and everybody from there.
That broad spectrum of creative work ensures that no two creator journeys are identical.
What kind of items do creators make and sell? What are their biggest challenges? Where do they turn to for assistance? What channels have the most success?
For more details on what it's like to run a creator business by 2022, we polled 900+ creators about their own businesses. We asked them to share their struggles, sources for advice, creative channels, and their content.
We found this:
At all levels of experience, creators' biggest challenge is gaining an audience (32.9 percent) in the next step is having enough time to do everything (21.6%) and being able to realize monetization (14.4 percent).
In seeking help to overcome these issues, creators typically learn from each other. YouTube (22.6%) as well as personal mastermind group (22.5%) are among the most popular spots where creators seek advice.
Social media is a way for creators to reach out to their audience and their followers, and with Instagram as the most popular platform (29.1 percent) -- but that implies they must rely on algorithms to get their content seen by those who are interested.
Continue reading to take an in-depth look at the details.
What are the biggest creator issues in 2022?
We asked "What's your biggest challenge or struggle as a creator right now?"
32.9% Growing an audience
21.6% Finding enough time to do everything
14.4 percent Knowing how to make money
8.86% Product creation
3.35% Engaging with followers on social media
2.27 percent Keeping pace with trends and changes
Across experience levels and content types, creators consistently reported the same top three challenges that they face: attracting a larger audience, finding enough time to do everything and figuring out how to make money off their work.
Challenge #1: Growing an audience
and Search Engine Marketing.
7.68% would spend the funds to build or improve their website through employing
5.66 percent would employ graphic designer. 4.16 percent would make an investment in the development of
Making sure your brand and content are to the most relevant individuals can be time-consuming and expensive, especially if you're just starting out with an online company.
"While you're still trying to build your email list it's not enough to just send emails to folks," Jessica explained. "I should also be present and visible through Facebook and other social platforms."
As Jessica has grown increasingly active and established on social media, she's been successful in identifying the best platforms to create content that fits her brand and tells her narrative. "If you're trying to create a following, they have frequent visits to your page," she shared.
She emphasizes that consistency is crucial, but it doesn't mean your posts have to follow a formulaic format. "You can create your own post with images, make [Instagram] Reels and also be humorous, you can make Reels and be seriously ... anything that will allow you to be diverse in how users can possibly discover you."
Social media is effective in reaching larger audiences, but this also means that creators have to depend on the algorithm of the platforms for their content to show up in the feeds of their followers. The discussion will focus on how creators canas well as how they can get away from algorithms in the future.
Email is another of the most cost-effective and efficient marketing channels available to creators. The regular distribution of an email newsletters keeps you in contact with your audience.
If you're an author looking to increase your email subscriber list and create with an email newsletter, be sure to take a look at these sources:
Challenge #2: Finding enough time to accomplish everything
If we asked people what they'd spend $2,022 on spending money on external assistance was the most common option.
We also found that 5.2% of creators would utilize the cash for personal living expenses like electricity, rent, charges, as well as their personal income to be able to work more on their business.
3.42% of creators would spend the money on time-restoring expenses including childcare, household support and time off from their regular jobs and less hours at side jobs.
Choosing the right tools and software can help creators make the most of their valuable time.
For a look at what makes it simpler to manage a successful creator business, get started for free or join our weekly demonstration.
Challenge #3: Understanding how to monetize
14.4 percent of creators believe they are unsure of how to earn money from their work is the most difficult thing they have to figure out. You've produced valuable content and gained an enthusiastic audience- now, how do convert that into money?
On, we've witnessed hundreds of artists earn their first dollars online through selling digital products, like digital downloads, online classes, webinars, and memberships. Digital products let creators make money without relying on advertising or sponsors.
For instance, take entrepreneur, web developer and creative director John D. Saunders , for example. The day he announced his online class on the 14th of September , John earned $10,000 on the day of its launch and over $100,000 on his site.
Once you've created your online course, the bulk of the job is done and out of the way and you'll be able to earn an ongoing stream of earnings. "While I'm in bed I'm earning income. When I'm at playing in the parks with my kids, I'm getting sales," John explained.
Find out more about the monetization options to creators through these posts:
With all the options of monetization out there, many creators seek out each other's suggestions, ideas and advice on their own personal journey. Which brings us to our next key takeaway from the survey: Where creators go to seek guidance.
Where do creators go for advice?
We asked "What's the top source of advice to tackle your greatest challenge?"
22.6 percent on YouTube
22.5% A personal mastermind group
15.4% Google
8.86% Facebook group
7.89 percent Podcasts
5.95% Non-Facebook community
4.11 percent of Blogs
1.41 percent of forums are public (ex: Reddit)
Though no two creator journeys can be identical, we are aware that creators from different categories, types of products and levels of experience face the same challenges.
It makes sense, then, that they find the answers to and advice on those challenges by asking each other.
Creators learn from other creators. Between YouTube video, mastermind groups, Facebook groups forums, communities podcasts and blogs, 73.3% of creators are surveyed to look up others who are creators to get advice.
Google is the only information source that doesn't necessarily fit that category -- though you can guarantee that the creators created a large part of the results of searches, too.
A staggering 70% of online users participate in some type of online community. 66% of people claim to join online communities to meet others that share the same interests.
These communities for creators are a vital resource. Creators are connected to grow and learn as well as we've witnessed creative professionals who are successful be open with their knowledge and expertise to help the new generation of creators.
How do other creators run their business? What are they selling? Where do the majority of their revenues originate? What are they doing to build their audience?
We are sure that creatives ask all these questions and often seek each other out for answers and inspiration.
The Creator Community was created by us to: Creator Community in order to:
Provide entrepreneurs and creators with an opportunity to meet and network with each other
Create a journey that is more enjoyable and less lonely
Make creators feel part of a community that is accessible exclusively to them
Create exclusive content to share with community members. This includes classes, interviews with creators, and community-driven challenges
Within the first two weeks after we opened the forum to creators of all kinds We saw more than 1600 members and hundreds of posts featuring thoughts, queries, and advice.
Expert creators such as Emily Mills contributed helpful posts like this one:
Emily's hacks were the perfect example of how members can benefit from one another's knowledge One of the greatest benefits of joining a creator community.
What kinds of content are created by creators? What is the best place to share their content?
We asked "What is the main form of content that you produce?"
33.6 percent of courses
13.8% coaching
13.4 Social media is a third of the total.
16.54 percent video (9.19% short-form, 7.35% long-form)
6.38% blog posts
4.76% downloads
4.43% email newsletters
2.81 percent of webinars
Nearly one-third of the respondents who took the survey create online courses as their primary form of content. Following courses, coaching, videos, social media and were the most popular types of media.
Here are some useful resources for creators looking to build and sell an online course:
It was also discovered that creators have an average sales of 10.95 products.
We then asked "What's the primary channel you use to market your business?"
29.1 percent on Instagram
22.4%
17.4 percent on Facebook
8.97 percent YouTube
5.41% Blog
5.08% Zoom
2.49 29% TikTok
0.865% Shopify
0.541% Etsy
Creators are using social media to engage with their fans With Instagram being the top social platform (29.1 percent) which is followed by Facebook (17.4 percent) and YouTube (8.97%).
Like we said earlier, social media could be an ideal way for artists to expand their reach and establish themselves within their communities and niches. However, there's a major drawback when it comes to using social media: The algorithm.
Social media platforms make use of algorithms to identify what content appears on the feeds of users.
Creators are at the mercy of these algorithms -- your natural content may show up on your followers' feeds However, it may not. The algorithms may change at any time without notice, and social media companies are far from transparent about how they work.
In particular, changes in the Facebook algorithm in the last few years have led to an decrease in organic reach and consequently, fewer people get to see posts from creators in their news feeds.
Here are a few more reasons creators dislike using Facebook:
"I think FB is too distracting, and people won't be able to find my post or will not stick on the site."
"FB groups are untrustworthy as well as a bit clumsy, and many people are fleeing from FB at the moment, which is why it's hard to create an environment of engagement."
"I truly hate sending my people to Facebook or similar shady tech firms that collect data and then use it to entice users to distract us."
"I need to hire the full-time VA to admit members to the club, accept them as members moderate, and so on. We use Google Sheets and separate Facebook Messenger software, which costs $30 per month as well as being slaves to Facebook's algorithm and distracting features. This is a complete mess."
Creators tend to build digital communities using social media platforms due to insufficient reasons. Facebook Groups are easy to sign in, however this is where the majority of advantages end.
However the all-in-one creator platform like gives you complete control over the type of information you provide to your customers and how you interact with them.
Members of the community are able to:
Get your goods
Access your content
Post and join discussions between one another
...all at the same time.
Since they're already signed in to purchase your products or access your content, it's not necessary to sign onto a different website or rely on Facebook. It's better for you and your members.
In the end, social media can be an effective advertising tool for creatorsHowever, it's best utilized in conjunction with the larger plan and toolset. The creators will succeed by having control over what and how they distribute their work.
Who took the time to fill out the survey?
For the opportunity to apply to the fellowship, candidates had to be current creators as well as members in the Creator Community. The application was completed by applicants telling us how they would spend the prize money and also provide information on their business and products, as well as their current challenges and plans.
Most of the data included in this report is derived from questions in which authors were required to select between a range of options. For the question "If you were awarded the $2,022 fellowship, what would you use it for?" we included an open-ended question field.
If asked about their experiences level:
30.85 percent of respondents were classified as beginner and averaged 2.40 years of experience
8.11 percent of respondents were classified as beginners with an average 2.77 years of experience
40.98 percent of respondents were classified as mid-level, with the average being 4.98 years of work experience
15.80% identified as advanced. The annual average for 7.69 years of experience
4.27% identified as experts having an average of 15.3 years of experience
We also asked whether they're a full-time creator, part-time creator or between.
39.13 percent of respondents are classified as full-time creator
18.81 Percentage identified as creator who has a part-time job
18.59 Percentage identified as creator or freelancer
14.70% identified as a part-time creator
8.76 Percent of respondents are classified as creator, who also has a part-time work
Thank you to every creator who submitted an application for this fellowship. We appreciate every one of them for giving us an insight into their ideas, challenges and experiences.
Key key
The creator economy is growing in every sector, but no two journeys are the same. We conducted a survey of nearly 900 creators to discover more about what it's like managing a creative business by 2022.
The most significant takeaways from their responses:
Creators of all niches and levels run into the same 3 main challenges: Growing their audiences (32.9 percent) while also finding time for everything to be done (21.6 percent) as well as being able to make money from their efforts (14.4 14%).
If creators seek advice for overcoming these difficulties They turn to fellow creators. It is essential to have a community as part of the creator journey. The more experienced creators have been in newer creators' shoes. Therefore, they have plenty of valuable knowledge to impart.
Social media is a popular way for creators to share their content with their fans and with Instagram as the most popular channel (29.1 percent). Relying on social media means the creators are at the mercy of algorithms and give an uncontrollable access to their content and their audience.
From the more than 900 responses that we took into account for this number, there was no one alike. Each creator's journey is unique We're ready to assist you at each step.