Are you an influencer or Content Creator?

There’s an ongoing debate out there about who a content creator is? Vs an Influencer. If you’ve been on the internet long enough, you’ve definitely seen some content creators outrightly say “No! I’m not an influencer”, when tagged as one. This makes you wonder, what differentiates these two online personalities? Especially, when they practically do the same things, i.e. work with brands and create content online.

So where lies the differences? If you are already creating content online, which title do you think best suits you? Let’s find out

Defining the Role of Content Creators and Influencers

Content Creators

Content creators are individuals (or groups) who create high quality, informational content about a niche. They create various forms of content with the intention to; educate, entertain and grow a community. 

A content creator is likely to use original, creative storytelling to capture the attention of its audience.They would explore writing articles on a topic, documenting a business template, running a podcast or membership group as a way of building a relationship with its community members. 

That level of planned creative strategy happens because many content creators are very much interested in creating quality content and value that lasts overtime before anything else.  

E.g. A food content creator who posts videos of dishes on TikTok, can also maintain a newsletter where they share easy recipes weekly, run a cooking class and also does food tours. 

Influencers

An Influencer is an individual who creates content, ultimately seeking a brand. An Influencer is an individual who creates lifestyle content, ultimately with the vision to collaborate with brands and create personalised content for them. There are 4 tiers of influencers on social media, each differentiated by the range of followers they have, and the reach of those numbers.

Typically when a brand seeks out an influencer, the goal is to leverage of its audience as potential customers they can sell products to, create awareness about a product launch, run a promotion using that influencer as the face of it, get engagements and traction

But for content creators, most sponsorships that come from brands are paid placements like; 1-2 minute(s) video ads talking about the brand.

So can we say an influencer is a “glorified marketing and sales person” who has loyal following and influence, well yes!

While influencers often sound salesy, they are more than that! They’ve mastered how to maintain a relational tone with its followers, particularly those who are interested in the lifestyle of the influencer, beyond the content they produce online. 

Influencers create various internet trends, and when they move brands definitely follow!

Read: What Micro Influencers do differently for Brands