The internet is noisy for new creators. It can be challenging to figure out what advice to take, what platforms to choose to monetize, and get your name out. It can be a hard place for a lot of creators to break out. Over at diffusion, we’ve spoken with nearly 75 creators, ranging in cross-platform followings from 1,500 to 2.5M. The most common problems that creators faced when getting started were:
How do I get my content noticed?
How do I get people to pay for my content?
The answer? Develop a Content Strategy; in other words, research, plan, develop and manage everything around content. The trends you jump on, the way you format, the release times, etc. To set up a strong Content Strategy, it’s important to understand the way content is discovered in the funnel. Growth begins here.
The funnel explains how your followers and followers turn fans to discover your content, engage with your content, and support ($$?).
The four stages of the creator content funnel are as followed:
- Discovery
- Trust
- Access
- Purchase
Stage 1: Discovery
The content you’ll make to begin will ideally be free and short. The focus here is to create content that allows you to identify your niche and discover where people are already spending their time (listen to our last piece for discovering your niche here).
Why free? Well, when content is free, it has no barriers for it to spread and be consumed. Your goal should be to make it easy for people to understand but enjoyable for people to share. This can be done by focusing on the essential points of each piece you create and letting your personality shine through.
Create content where you find it easiest to do so, but remember to spread your content where people spend a lot of the time and share content similar to yours — Instagram, Tik-Tok, Twitter, Diffusion, Reddit, etc. This will give you the ability to be discovered and receive feedback on your content.
Stage 2: Trust
By focusing on continuous creation of content, gathering feedback, and adjusting for a niche. It’ll be obvious who your fans are and where your audience lies. Your goal should be to give them more — this will begin to create trust between you and those who enjoy your content.
Keep creating, find new forms of content to make (curation?), and share value by adding your perspectives.
Stage 3: Access
Once you have a good amount of followers and fans that trust you, you’re able to monetize the trust and value you provide. Currently, creators do this in various ways — courses, merch, affiliate links, digital products, etc. A way that has come up recently is providing access to exclusive communities. This allows you to have a new monetization track ( membership fee) and will enable you to deepen the relationship with fans who support you the most, i.e., your true fans.
If the value persists, people will refer others, and your community/support will grow!
Stage 4: Purchase
The final stage of the funnel is where your content and the value you provide are validated. In your community and using different platforms like Diffusion — you’ll be able to earn from fans through digital assets, merch, etc.
Continuously provide value and ask how you can go the extra mile for your followers/true fans.
Now that you know-how about the creator funnel — you’re able to be like the best in the creator economy. We will dive into how this can take you from 0–100 to earn and develop a content strategy.
If you’re interested in what I’m building, check out, diffusion, and sign-up for our waitlist. I’ll reach out. :)
