As a person who teaches a social media management degree, influencer is a rare job but social media specialist (working for an organization or as a freelancer to deliver content) is very much a practical job.
Having studied social media managers and musicians (and written a dissertation on the social media practices of professional musicians), practitioners of social media are like musicians. Some musicians play in their room, for fun. Some play with others in the community, also for fun, but with more time commitment. Some get more serious and have "musician" as one of things in their portfolio careers. Some get more serious and have multiple types of music-making in their career portfolio. Some are full-time musicians in a teaching mode. Some, a very rare some, are full-time touring and writing popular musicians. But mostly only people think about "famous" (full-time touring and writing popular musicians) when they think about professional musicians (or maybe just even musicians).
Some social media folks do quirky projects on social media for their own enjoyment and never tell anyone who they are (like Capt. Andrew Luck: https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/46307811/captain-andrew-luck-return-stanford-football ). Some run the accounts very ably for a nonprofit org that they love. Some run the accounts so ably that they get paid by the nonprofit org to run the accounts. Some people use their content posting to jump off into other jobs or to establish expertise in an area that they can use in other ways (like getting speaking gigs and such, which can pay). Some monetize their accounts directly, but only for small amounts of money (nano-influencers, micro-influencers) while they do a full-time job elsewhere. Some include content creation as a portfolio piece; it makes some money but not a lot. Some get hired as social media managers, which is a 9-5 workplace job. Some go full-bore and make independent content creating their job, but usually not for very long (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/11/style/lee-tilghman-influencer.html) The very tiniest tip of the iceberg is the famous influencers and celebrities who often function as models while their team does the technical and practical work.
So: there are lots of roles for professional social media folks.
Liz and I talked about a sports analogy that I think is similar to the musician one. The base of the pyramid is enormous, but the pyramid gets very steep very fast. More like a steeple than a pyramid.
So Stephen, can you make any generalizations about content creation? The reading public wants to know.
I think that the sports analogy is good, but professional social media is not that steep, in my estimation. I think specifically the sports analogy I would pick is the English Football League System, which includes a huge array of folks at a WIDE array of levels of skill and investment (and also, by extension, the non-league sides, which are for the love of it).
Some generalizations about content creation:
1. It's a skill that you have to practice.
2. There is a sort of knack that some people have for understanding what other people want to see and hear; a cross between empathy, market awareness, and bench-sitters' observation; you can grow in this knack, but some people have it way faster than others.
3. It's work, a lot of work: coming up with ideas, picking which ideas to run with, detailing the ideas, writing/creating/shooting the content, editing, transferring the content to web, tailoring it for different platforms, following up on it (and that's before adding ads into the mix).
4. No one knows why some posts blow up and others don't. Sometimes you have hunches that come true, but other times stuff you don't try that hard with pops, and stuff you labor on won't go. Like anything, really.
Thank you for creating quality content in my comments section ❤️
Semi-related note, here's a great video that details what the salary, lifestyle, and level of competition is like at every level of world footbal. Very few players are making any money. https://youtu.be/nE3UCwZR3zs?si=RejWNt6K38v8CyCL
My goal is to be an economics literacy influencer! I agree in the five years since I have created economic content, I have learned so much about communication, systems, business development…etc it has helped me in my 9-5 job too!
I think the benefits from content creation depend on the platform as well. Short-form platforms (like TikTok) incentivize "influencers" while long-form platforms (Substack, YouTube, podcasts) are friendlier to content with a goal to teach.
When I was writing my dissertation, I always wondered to myself, "Who is going to actually read this aside from a handful of economists? If that?" Don't get me wrong -- the skills I learned during the PhD allowed me to be more critical of papers than I otherwise would be, and it taught me to tackle a big research question in logical, sequential steps. It also taught me tenacity and persistence (or at least helped me build onto those qualities).
My goal with my posts is to make economics research accessible and interesting. I would like to go further than Substack in the near future, but that's currently a work in progress. I probably get the same satisfaction as other economists on here: helping others learn about economics feels good. My take is answering a question with all the research we have on it. Getting a PhD means you focus on the methods to answer research questions, not learning every single trend... So I'm learning a lot about the world myself.
Yup. When I was trying to build a platform I was terrified of being forced into short form video (TimTom, IG). But then I learned that Substack was a big deal and the rest is history. So glad that I could build a platform for writing by writing, instead of doing little videos of me dancing…
There are several things that I find creepy crawly with social media. If you are promoting good information, such as "eat healthy," "fix that broken faucet," that's one thing. If you are taking selfies as a lifestyle influencer, with immaculate detail to eyeliner and several heart-felt coffee-mug worthy sayings of advice, and people are actually listening to you, that is worrisome. If you are a "spiritual influencer," I wonder about the fitness of the medium. Wouldn't it be better to just have friends? I think part of our culture is the attraction of being famous, regardless of the path there.
So you're saying I should rethink my upcoming “Live Laugh Love” project? 😉
Actually, you're anticipating what the follow-up newsletter will be about. Liz also recommended that you not make your content creation about yourself. She says it should be about solving a problem for people. That's a spoiler.
As a person who teaches a social media management degree, influencer is a rare job but social media specialist (working for an organization or as a freelancer to deliver content) is very much a practical job.
What role do you see for content creation if it's not one's full-time job?
Having studied social media managers and musicians (and written a dissertation on the social media practices of professional musicians), practitioners of social media are like musicians. Some musicians play in their room, for fun. Some play with others in the community, also for fun, but with more time commitment. Some get more serious and have "musician" as one of things in their portfolio careers. Some get more serious and have multiple types of music-making in their career portfolio. Some are full-time musicians in a teaching mode. Some, a very rare some, are full-time touring and writing popular musicians. But mostly only people think about "famous" (full-time touring and writing popular musicians) when they think about professional musicians (or maybe just even musicians).
Some social media folks do quirky projects on social media for their own enjoyment and never tell anyone who they are (like Capt. Andrew Luck: https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/46307811/captain-andrew-luck-return-stanford-football ). Some run the accounts very ably for a nonprofit org that they love. Some run the accounts so ably that they get paid by the nonprofit org to run the accounts. Some people use their content posting to jump off into other jobs or to establish expertise in an area that they can use in other ways (like getting speaking gigs and such, which can pay). Some monetize their accounts directly, but only for small amounts of money (nano-influencers, micro-influencers) while they do a full-time job elsewhere. Some include content creation as a portfolio piece; it makes some money but not a lot. Some get hired as social media managers, which is a 9-5 workplace job. Some go full-bore and make independent content creating their job, but usually not for very long (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/11/style/lee-tilghman-influencer.html) The very tiniest tip of the iceberg is the famous influencers and celebrities who often function as models while their team does the technical and practical work.
So: there are lots of roles for professional social media folks.
(I only mention the caveat at the beginning about the studying because sometimes musicians don't like being compared to social media folks, haha.)
Liz and I talked about a sports analogy that I think is similar to the musician one. The base of the pyramid is enormous, but the pyramid gets very steep very fast. More like a steeple than a pyramid.
So Stephen, can you make any generalizations about content creation? The reading public wants to know.
I think that the sports analogy is good, but professional social media is not that steep, in my estimation. I think specifically the sports analogy I would pick is the English Football League System, which includes a huge array of folks at a WIDE array of levels of skill and investment (and also, by extension, the non-league sides, which are for the love of it).
Some generalizations about content creation:
1. It's a skill that you have to practice.
2. There is a sort of knack that some people have for understanding what other people want to see and hear; a cross between empathy, market awareness, and bench-sitters' observation; you can grow in this knack, but some people have it way faster than others.
3. It's work, a lot of work: coming up with ideas, picking which ideas to run with, detailing the ideas, writing/creating/shooting the content, editing, transferring the content to web, tailoring it for different platforms, following up on it (and that's before adding ads into the mix).
4. No one knows why some posts blow up and others don't. Sometimes you have hunches that come true, but other times stuff you don't try that hard with pops, and stuff you labor on won't go. Like anything, really.
Thank you for creating quality content in my comments section ❤️
Semi-related note, here's a great video that details what the salary, lifestyle, and level of competition is like at every level of world footbal. Very few players are making any money. https://youtu.be/nE3UCwZR3zs?si=RejWNt6K38v8CyCL
My goal is to be an economics literacy influencer! I agree in the five years since I have created economic content, I have learned so much about communication, systems, business development…etc it has helped me in my 9-5 job too!
Well, you're doing all the right things! I love your newsletter, my shortcut to economic news.
Thank you! That makes me happy to hear.
I think the benefits from content creation depend on the platform as well. Short-form platforms (like TikTok) incentivize "influencers" while long-form platforms (Substack, YouTube, podcasts) are friendlier to content with a goal to teach.
Jordan, what does writing on Substack do for you? I noticed that your posts are pretty long and in-depth.
When I was writing my dissertation, I always wondered to myself, "Who is going to actually read this aside from a handful of economists? If that?" Don't get me wrong -- the skills I learned during the PhD allowed me to be more critical of papers than I otherwise would be, and it taught me to tackle a big research question in logical, sequential steps. It also taught me tenacity and persistence (or at least helped me build onto those qualities).
My goal with my posts is to make economics research accessible and interesting. I would like to go further than Substack in the near future, but that's currently a work in progress. I probably get the same satisfaction as other economists on here: helping others learn about economics feels good. My take is answering a question with all the research we have on it. Getting a PhD means you focus on the methods to answer research questions, not learning every single trend... So I'm learning a lot about the world myself.
Yup. When I was trying to build a platform I was terrified of being forced into short form video (TimTom, IG). But then I learned that Substack was a big deal and the rest is history. So glad that I could build a platform for writing by writing, instead of doing little videos of me dancing…
There are several things that I find creepy crawly with social media. If you are promoting good information, such as "eat healthy," "fix that broken faucet," that's one thing. If you are taking selfies as a lifestyle influencer, with immaculate detail to eyeliner and several heart-felt coffee-mug worthy sayings of advice, and people are actually listening to you, that is worrisome. If you are a "spiritual influencer," I wonder about the fitness of the medium. Wouldn't it be better to just have friends? I think part of our culture is the attraction of being famous, regardless of the path there.
So you're saying I should rethink my upcoming “Live Laugh Love” project? 😉
Actually, you're anticipating what the follow-up newsletter will be about. Liz also recommended that you not make your content creation about yourself. She says it should be about solving a problem for people. That's a spoiler.