How can your company join the creator economy?

Are you a creator?

Do you create content, art, music, images, songs, poems, articles, or anything else people want to see, hear, and enjoy?

Then you are a creator.

Once you’re creating something unique, something using your talent and skills, that makes you a member of the creator economy. A global community of millions of talented individuals all doing amazing things, whether as a side hustle, part-time, or your full-time job or business.

To be a creator and member of the creator economy you don’t need to be making six or seven figures with millions of fans. All you need is to turn your unique talent into creative output which will inspire people to want to follow you, interact with you (usually online), and buy your work, subscribe, or support you in some way so that you can keep creating the things they love.

What is the creator economy?

According to a United Nations report, the creator economy and creative work worldwide is worth $2.2 trillion and is expected to keep growing.

Similarly, Forbes and other reports expect the creator economy (including platforms such as YouTube) to be worth over $100 billion by the end of 2022. Around 50 million creators are active worldwide, with 2 million full-time professionals or business owners.

Not only is the creator economy growing, we are also experiencing a paradigm shift from an economy of ’value capture’ to ‘value creation.’ Many among the latest generation, Gen Z, actively aspire to become creators. According to a recent study, 29% of American high school students want to become professional full-time entrepreneurial creators instead of taking white or blue-collar professional routes (e.g. doctor, lawyer, sales, etc.).

Alongside these dramatic societal and economic changes, we are seeing the rise of Web3, with blockchain powering the creator economy of the future.

Web3 and blockchain will radically change how the creator economy evolves. It will make an innovative and immersive metaverse possible. In 2021, $30 billion was invested in Web3 platforms, blockchain projects, metaverse-based concepts, and other technology companies in this incredible new ecosystem.

All of the tech giants (Facebook, Apple, Google, etc.) are betting big on this, as are venture capital (VC), angel, and private equity (PE) investors.

Thanks to advancements in blockchain technology, creators can monetize their work in new ways with NFTs (non-fungible tokens) and fractional NFTs (F-NFTs). DEIP sits comfortably at the intersection of these exciting developments. It presents a new platform for creators (including creators of the creator economy) to engage with their audience, grow, scale, and monetize their work using decentralized finance (DeFi) tools such as NFTs and F-NFTs.

Now let’s take a closer look at how aspiring creators can join, participate, and profit from the rise of the new creator economy.

5 ways your company can join the creator economy and grow

#1: Build your brand

In many ways, you are your brand.

Fans of creative works buy into the ideas and the person behind the work. The way you actively engage with fans online across multiple platforms is so important.

You’ve got to build your creative brand. Leverage brand assets and creations to engage a wider audience and increase revenue. Think of your brand (personal and creative) as an asset: what’s the most effective way to use these assets and how can you get more out of them?

Could you encourage fans to subscribe?

Could you use blockchain-based protocols and platforms — such as DEIP — to engage fans and customers within the Web3 ecosystem?

This is the future, so members of the creator economy need to be thinking ahead and making the most of these huge leaps forward.

#2: Build your audience

Your audience, your fans, are the real source of your income as a creator. The more fans and larger audience you have, the more revenue you can generate. Of course, not all of them will pay/buy, which is why increasing the size of your audience as a creator economy operator is so important.

Once you’ve got enough fans, a portion of them will start buying your work, subscribing, and investing in your business.

Your audience loves your work because they are passionate about it. Make sure to follow these golden rules for the tone of voice and how to engage fans across numerous social channels.

#3: Join a decentralized platform

Joining a decentralized platform, such as DEIP which is fast becoming a driving force in the creator economy, is crucial. DEIP has also partnered with NEAR and Octopus Network to accelerate our growth and support even more creators and creative professionals across this emerging creator economy ecosystem.

DEIP is a decentralized infrastructure platform, a Web3 and blockchain-based protocol, for the creator economy.

As part of this, DEIP has recently won a grant from the NEAR Foundation to build more blockchain-based and decentralized tools for the creator economy.

On the DEIP platform, creators can accelerate the monetization of creative assets. NFTs aren’t the only blockchain-based monetization mechanism around. Now creators can tokenize these, turning one intangible asset (creative work or collection) into F-NFTs.

#4: Get creative with monetization

With F-NFTs and other DeFi instruments, one asset can be effectively split — similar to shares in a company — or a subscription amongst hundreds or thousands of fans, making them more affordable and accessible.

Not only is this better for fans, it markedly improves the way creators can generate income from their work, making it more regular and dependable.

When you get creative with monetization mechanisms, it will open doors, increase revenue, and make your creator economy company more secure.

#5: Scale to succeed

If you’re already active in the Web3/blockchain-based creator economy, you will be aware of some of the most successful brands in this space, such as Bored Ape Yacht Club, Cool Cats, and CryptoPunks, being only a handful.

They have scaled, are successful, and have even raised investment capital.

What are they doing right?