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Welcome back, Creator!

As 2023 wraps up, it's important to look back at our goals. This means learning from both our wins and mistakes. Knowing what works and what doesn't helps us grow our sphere of influence faster.

To start 2024 fast, we need to plan our goals smartly. It helps to break big goals into smaller, clear steps. Aim for doing just enough to get results, then repeat what’s working. This is the best way to succeed without getting overwhelmed.

It's also important to celebrate every small win. These small steps add up to big achievements. If you get off track or a video you worked hard on completely bombs, don't feel bad. Just fix it and keep going. Every day is a new chance to work towards your goals. Let's go into 2024 ready to be efficient, effective, and achieve our goals!

In this newsletter, we will be covering the exact things you will need to do to continue growing and serving your audience in 2024!

Learn the art & science of shipping more winning ads

The problem: your team isn’t shipping enough winning creative to scale ad accounts. 

The solution: get your team to master the art and science of creative strategy with Thumbstop. 

Every Sunday, you’ll learn how to bridge the gap between media buying and creative, helping you ship more winning TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube ads.

You’ll learn:

⚡️ The Art: creativity cheat codes, trending ad formats backed by Motion data, and how to build creative performance teams the right way.

🔬 The Science: analytical skills that make marketers 10X more valuable, tales of scale & experimentation, and advanced creative analysis techniques.

Trivia Question: How much does the average TikTok influencer with 1k-10k followers earn from partnerships or sponsored posts? (Answer at the end of the newsletter).

TODAY’S MENU

• 8 Keys To Growing Your Following In 2024: To consistently grow an audience on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube, there is one crucial strategy that content creators must employ.

• Creator Economy Monetization Strategies: To maximize the creator economy in 2024, content creators can focus on three key strategies that were successful for top influencers in 2023.

• 3 Websites That Utilize AI in Creative Editing Processes: There is no doubt using these three sites can help you crank out more entertaining and engaging content with the power of AI.

• 4 Viral Trends You Can Leverage In December: This is the list you have been waiting for! If there’s one good thing to come out of our TikTok addiction, it’s that we have a pretty excellent grasp on what’s trending on TikTok in December 2023.

• What’s The #1 TikTok Keyword: We’re at the height of shopping season for Christmas. This keyword might surprise you as it has garnered over 8.9 Billion views in the last 5 years!

NEWS

8 Keys To Growing Your Following In 2024

To consistently grow your following on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube, one crucial strategy that content creators must employ is creating and sharing content that is authentic and resonates with their audience. Here are some key aspects of this approach:

1. Authenticity: Audiences tend to gravitate towards content that feels genuine and relatable. Creators who stay true to themselves, their values, and their brand are more likely to establish a loyal following.

2. Understanding the Audience: Knowing what the audience likes, needs, or wants to see is critical. Creators should engage with their audience, listen to their feedback, and adapt their content accordingly. Knowing what questions your audience is asking can give you a leg up. Utilize AnswerThePublic.com to dig deep.

3. Consistent Posting: Regularly posting content keeps audiences engaged and helps attract new followers. It's important to maintain a consistent schedule without sacrificing content quality.

4. Trending Topics and Challenges: Participating in trending challenges or discussing current topics can increase visibility and appeal to a broader audience.

5. High-Quality Content: The quality of the content, both in terms of production and substance, is key. Videos should be well-edited, clear, and visually appealing, and the content should be informative, entertaining, or both.

6. Engagement: Interacting with the audience through comments, messages, and community posts can build a stronger connection with followers and encourage more engagement with the content.

7. Collaborations: Partnering with other creators can expose a content creator to new audiences and bring fresh perspectives to their content.

8. Adaptation and Evolution: Platforms and audience preferences change over time. Successful creators are those who adapt their strategies, experiment with new content types, and evolve with the platform and their audience.

CREATOR MONETIZATION STRATEGIES

3 Easy Tips For Maximizing The Creator Economy In 2024

1. Leveraging Social Commerce and Affiliate Marketing: A major trend observed in 2023 was the shift towards social commerce, where influencers directly contributed to sales through their content. This was often achieved through the use of affiliate links and coupon codes, enabling a clear track of conversions and sales generated by influencers. This approach allowed brands to measure the Return on Investment (ROI) more effectively and influencers to earn performance-based fees.

2. Creating Content That Aligns with Brand Narratives: Influencers like Amanda Cerny, who worked with Playboy and Glamira, exemplify the importance of aligning content with brand narratives. Influencers who can tell powerful stories that resonate with a brand's message, while maintaining authenticity, are increasingly preferred. This approach shifts the focus from just the size of the influencer's audience to the quality and impact of their content.

3. Adapting to Evolving Platform Features and Trends: The rise of platforms like TikTok in influencer marketing spending highlights the need for creators to stay adaptable to new features and trends. TikTok, for instance, has become a valuable channel for influencer marketing due to its virality and algorithm promoting new content discovery. Influencers who can effectively use such platforms for engaging content creation and promoting products have a significant advantage.

In addition to these strategies, it's important for creators to continuously evolve and adapt to new tools and opportunities for monetization. For instance, live selling has become a lucrative skill, and creators with established platforms are increasingly looking toward creating their products or services, adding another revenue stream beyond traditional brand deals. We recommend utilizing LEAD VORTEX as the software to create, build, and sell your products to your following.

AI FOR CREATORS

3 Websites To Help You Create and Edit Your Content 3x Faster

Several websites offer AI-powered video editing capabilities that can significantly speed up content creation for content creators. Here are three notable platforms:

1. RunwayML: RunwayML offers AI-powered tools that allow for innovative video editing, including features like automatic object removal, style transfer, and more. Their platform is designed to be accessible to creators without a deep technical background. Website:

2. Lumen5: This platform leverages AI to help transform text content into engaging video content quickly. It's particularly useful for creating social media content, promotional videos, and more, with minimal effort.

3. Descript: Descript provides an all-in-one audio and video editing tool with AI capabilities. It allows for automatic transcriptions, easy editing of audio and video by editing text, and other AI-driven features like removing filler words and dead space.

CURRENT TRENDS FOR CREATORS

Leverage These TikTok Trends In December

“Name a Woman” Trend | Example: Posting a funny video where you ask your significant other to name a woman and show whether or not they say your name.

“Eyeglasses Trend” | Example: Posting a video lip-syncing to this song while wearing the new Ray Ban camera glasses, using lots of mirrors and movement to show you you’re recording through your glasses.

“Well You Don’t Know Me” Trend | Example: Posting a video to this sound (usually a photo carousel) demonstrating an eerie link between you and someone else, showing how you’ve been connected without you realizing it.

“I’m a Little Drunk and I Need You Now” Trend | Example: Posting a photo slideshow to this sound where the first slide is you with the text overlay “I’m a little drunk” and the second slide is something you always want when you’re drunk, with the text overlay “and I need you now”.

#1 Trending Keyword On TikTok The Last 5 Years

Keyword: TikTok Dropshipping

5-year search growth: 7,700%

Search growth status: Regular

Total TikTok Views: 8.9 billion

Description: Dropshipping is the movement of products directly from a retailer to a buyer. Dropshipping is popular because it allows e-commerce businesses to easily distribute their products without the expense and hassle of holding inventory. TikTok serves essentially as a marketing platform for drop shippers and assists in promoting brand awareness. The algorithm push by TikTok for content creators who have created TikTok shop products has been felt by the majority of creators in December 2023.

CONTENT CREATION TIP

One effective content creation tip for staying organized while planning out a month's worth of content is the use of a content calendar.

Creating a content calendar helps in several ways:

1. Ensures Consistency: It helps maintain a regular posting schedule, which is crucial for building an audience.

2. Facilitates Strategic Planning: You can align your content with upcoming events, holidays, or product launches, ensuring your content is timely and relevant.

3. Improves Time Management: By planning, you can allocate specific times for content creation, editing, and promotion, which helps in better time management.

4. Allows Flexibility: Even with a set schedule, a content calendar is flexible. You can move pieces of content around if something more timely or important comes up.

5. Encourages Collaboration: If you’re working with a team, a content calendar makes it easier to collaborate and keep everyone on the same page.

There are various tools available to create a content calendar, from simple spreadsheets to more complex project management software like Trello, Asana, or specialized content planning tools. The key is to choose a system that works best for your workflow and stick to it for effective content planning.

We Aim To Serve!

Trivia Answer: TikTok influencers with 1,000 to 10,000 followers could earn between $20 and $150 per sponsored post, while those with over a million followers could earn from $1,200 to unlimited amounts per post!

Thanks for reading!

Catch you on the next edition of THE CREATOR REPORT!

The Misfits

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