Content Creation and Brand Identity — How Brands are Building Their ROI

There was a time when the only way you’d hear about a product or brand was through advertisements displayed on your television. However, the last decade has seen a massive shift in consumer behavior, prompting brands to focus on alternative and personalized marketing. New-age content creators and influencers have dethroned traditional advertisements.

Content has become such an integral part of our daily lives that we rely on it for basically everything from entertainment and news to purchase decisions and more. And if a brand/business does not have a social media presence, it’s almost as if they’re invisible in the market.

If you are a content creator, you would have at some point wondered how so many people are doing what they love and making six figures out of social media? Say Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook? Brand collaboration is the answer and one of the most commonly used, powerful content monetization techniques. Especially after the global pandemic hit, brands are focusing on content creators for brand management and awareness. They have decided to allocate a considerable amount of marketing budget to influencer marketing.

Brand Curates; Creator Connects

As a creator, you have a personal connection with your audience, which most brands crave. Because the leads generated are organic and will help reach the audiences on a personal level. You have to leverage the fact that the brands get 3x more leads with content creators, and it’s 25x less expensive for them than spending on digital marketing.

It’s not always about the number of followers and more about the engagement ratio — how many likes and comments you get for a post, how your followers respond to you, and the nature of the connection between you and your audience. And hey, if you have a multi-channel presence, even better.

Creator Collaboration Done the Right Way

For landing a brand collaboration, there are some crucial factors that you should not compromise.

• Define your niche. If you’re all over the place just posting random content, even if you have tens of thousands of followers, you might not get a collaboration offer.
• Understand your value as a creator. You might be promoting that particular brand, but always make sure you know what’s in it for you. Because, your talent, skills, time, the content you create, everything is super valuable for your future as a creator.
• No “hey dm for collab” requests. Be professional. Just because you are focusing on social media does not mean you act like friends and acquaintances. These are your potential clients and your source of income. Prepare a short, personalized, and benefits-driven message or mail.
• Creating content is a real job. So always be consistent in generating the content. Have a proper strategy in place, schedule your posts, track them, analyze them, and look out for possible improvements.
• Once a collaboration comes to an end, always have a report to share with your brand. This will help in landing long-term or future brand collaborations.
• Finally, never collaborate for the sake of it. Identify your potential clients, reach out to them the right way. It’s okay to start small and build your way up.

Just like how the brands are building their ROI, you can build yours too. Content creation is more than just being famous on social media. With little to no investment, you can create a brand that can snowball into huge returns.