Content Creator vs Influencer: What’s the Difference?

July 15, 2024
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Ines Bertani
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Content Creator vs Influencer: What’s the Difference?

Is a content creator the same as an influencer? While both terms are used interchangeably, it might be surprising to learn that content creators are not the same as influencers.

The main difference between the two is that content creators, as the name suggests, focus on the creation and development of content, while influencers leverage their popularity and audience to promote products, lifestyles or ideas, often through partnerships with brands.

According to Creator Economy in 3D by Deloitte, understanding the distinction between content creators and influencers is key for developing more effective partnerships and capturing what your audience is looking for.

In this guide, we’ll explore the main roles and differences between these two types of digital personalities, providing key insights to help you understand which type of creator aligns best with your brand goals.

Content Creators vs Influencers: The Statistics

As per April 2024, here are the key differences content creators vs influencers in earnings, engagement rates, brand collaborations, content types, revenue streams and growth trajectory.

1. Earnings

Content Creators: Median earnings vary widely, with many earning under $50,000 annually.

Influencers: Top influencers can earn millions, but median earnings for micro-influencers often range from $30,000 to $100,000 annually.

2. Engagement Rates

Content Creators: Often see higher engagement rates, especially those focusing on niche topics.

Influencers: Micro-influencers typically have higher engagement rates (around 3.86%) compared to macro-influencers (1.21%).

3. Brand Collaborations

Content Creators: Often work on longer-term projects or create specific content for brands.

Influencers: Typically engage in more frequent, shorter-term brand partnerships and product promotions.

4. Platform Focus

Content Creators: Often focus on platforms like YouTube, Twitch, or personal blogs.

Influencers: Tend to be more active on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter.

5. Content Type

Content Creators: Generally produce more in-depth, educational, or entertainment-focused content.

Influencers: Often create lifestyle-oriented, promotional, or trend-based content.

6. Audience Relationship

Content Creators: Usually build deeper, more engaged communities around specific topics or skills.

Influencers: Often have broader, more diverse audiences based on lifestyle or personality appeal.

7. Revenue Streams

Content creators: More likely to earn from subscriptions, memberships, and direct content monetization whereas

influencers: Primarily earn from sponsored posts, affiliate marketing, and brand deals.

8. Growth Trajectory

Content Creators: Often see steadier, long-term growth based on content quality and consistency.

Influencers: Can experience rapid growth due to viral content or trends, but may face more volatility.

What is a Content Creator?

Content creators produce and share diverse forms of digital content, often videos, photos and podcasts, with the primary goal of engaging, entertaining and informing an audience.

Their aim is to build communities with the purpose of connecting and helping their followers, and because of this, they can influence their purchasing decisions.

Some examples of well-known content creators are:

  • Mr. Beast
  • Emma Chamberlain
  • Casey Neistat
  • Philip DeFranco

Working with content creators can have a positive impact on your brand that goes beyond awareness. These are the major advantages of partnering with a content creator:

  • Authentic engagement: Content creators often have highly engaged audiences who trust their opinions and recommendations.
  • Niche expertise: They typically specialize in specific topics, providing in-depth knowledge and credibility in their field.
  • High-quality content: Content creators are skilled at producing professional-grade content that can be repurposed across various platforms.
  • Long-term value: Their content often has a longer shelf-life, continuing to drive engagement and traffic over time.

Often, companies collaborate with content creators due to the value and high-quality content they can provide to audiences and potential customers. For example, an organic wine brand might engage content creators like:

  • The sommelier to showcase the wine's quality and explains its unique characteristics.
  • The chef to create and share recipes that pair well with the wine, highlighting its versatility.
  • The food photographer to captures stunning images of the wine in beautiful settings, enhancing its visual appeal.

However, some of the disadvantages of working with content creators are:

  • In most cases, their audience is not looking for product recommendations.
  • Each creator has their own process and platforms, which can impact costs or deadlines.
  • ROI can be harder to quantify, especially for long-term content strategies.

What is an Influencer?

Influencers leverage their social media presence and credibility to impact their audience’s opinions and purchasing decisions. They often partner with brands to promote products or services. They tend to have large followings that trust their recommendations - 74% of people trust their social networks.

While their content is not as produced and high-quality as content creators’ content, it’s still engaging and interesting.

Some examples of popular influencers are:

  • Madeleine White
  • Lele Pons
  • Kylie Jenner
  • Addison Rae
  • The D’Amilio Sisters

Often, brands choose to work with influencers because of their audience reach. However, these are also some of the biggest benefits of working with influencers:

  • Quick brand awareness: Influencers can rapidly increase visibility for your brand.
  • Higher engagement rates: They typically have active and responsive audiences.
  • Brand sentiment: Due to their high engagement rates, influencers provide valuable insight into how their audience—your potential customers—responds to your brand or product.  
  • Versatile content creation: Many influencers often create different content types (stories, videos, carousels, photos) tailored to different platforms.
  • Access to demographic data: Influencers often have insights into their audience demographics, which is valuable for targeting.

Brands choose to work with influencers due to their ability to engage and influence their audience effectively. For example, a skincare brand might be interested in working with influencers like:

  • The beauty guru that demonstrates the skincare routine, showcasing the product’s benefits and how it fits into their regime.
  • The TikTok dermatologist that provides expert advice on the product’s ingredients and explains its effectiveness in treating specific skin conditions.
  • The lifestyle influencer that incorporates the skincare products into their daily-self care routine, highlighting its role in achieving glowing, healthy skin.

However, some of their disadvantages are:

  • Influencers can be expensive, especially when you’re working with macro influencers.
  • Many influencers have fake followers, this is why it's particularly important to use fake follower scanners to ensure you work with followers with a real audience.

Content Creator vs Influencer: Understanding the Differences

The single best way to understand, on a surface level, the difference between content creators and influencers is through semantics. Content creators create, while influencers influence. But how does this simple wordplay translate to marketing goals? Audiences? What impact does it have on choosing one or the other?

Content Creator vs. Influencer: Main differences

Both content creators and influencers:

  • Leverage online content to interact with and grow their audience.
  • Typically excel at using popular social platforms.
  • Success for both relies on producing genuine content that resonates with their audience.
  • Both focus on nurturing and expanding their online communities.

However, working with content creators and influencers can have a different impact on your brand goals. Creators aim to connect and engage with people who share similar goals, values, and lifestyles. Influencers, while doing the same, also focus on brand partnerships and utilize online communities to influence more informed purchasing decisions.

Besides this fundamental difference, here are other characteristics that set these two types of creators apart:

1. Marketing Objectives

One of the fundamental differences marketers need to understand about content creators vs influencers is in terms of marketing objectives.

a. Content creators focus on creating deep, niche & engaging content

Content creators are mostly focused on creating engaging, high-quality content tailored to specific niche communities. Their content is often deeply relevant to their audience’s interests and needs.

b. They usually influence bottom-to-middle funnel consumer purchasing

They influence bottom-to-middle funnel consumer purchasing, which means working with content creators is more effective in the stages where consumers are considering and evaluating products.

While these creators can drive high sales within their niche, their influence may not be in mass-scale sales because their reach concentrates on specific interest groups.

Let’s take Captain Potter as an example. Sam Potter, known as Captain Potter, is a famous YouTuber with over 119K subscribers who has focused his channel on creating high-quality, adventure-themed travel videos. His content is meticulously produced, focusing on exploring and creating consciousness around the importance of respecting other cultures.

Most of his audience are adventure enthusiasts interested in learning about new destinations and travel tips. His influence is strong within his niche community. So, whenever he reviews or recommends a specific travel gear, his audience, who trust his expertise, are more likely to purchase that item.

c. Influencers aim to boost brand visibility & awareness

On the other hand, influencers aim to boost brand visibility and awareness on a larger scale. This is why they are often involved in broad promotional activities in significant events, such as product launches or major campaigns.

d. Influencers can influence top-to-middle funnel behaviour

Working with influencers is useful if you’re looking to drive top-to-middle funnel behavior. They are effective in creating initial awareness and interest in products or brands, leading to long-term consideration.

However, influencers can lead to mass-scale sales due to their broader reach and ability to capture the attention of a wide audience.

For example, Alix Earle is a popular TikTok influencer with over 7 million followers. Her content focuses mostly on fashion and lifestyle, being visually appealing and featuring the latest trends.

Her audience looks up to her for fashion inspiration and product recommendations; that’s why she even has a storefront where she sells everything she wears so her followers can buy it, too. She is building a successful TikTok affiliate strategy by creating awareness and generating interest in the brands and products she features, influencing her followers’ purchasing decisions over time.

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2. Targeting and Reach

Content creators and influencers have different target audiences and reach.

a. Content creators target niche audiences

Content creators are ideal to target niche or interest-based audiences, which makes them a great choice for brands who need to connect with specific communities.

For example, if your brand sells technology, connecting with content creators like Marques Brownlee, who focuses on a similar niche, can highly increase the number of potential customers who are deeply interested in these products.

b. Influencers have a more diverse audience

Influencers, in contrast, have a broader reach and can connect with a more diverse audience. They often extend their presence beyond social media, establishing themselves through various channels such as traditional media, public appearances, and events.

Source: LA Times

For example, personalities like Lionel Messi are featured in commercials for a wide range of brands and industries, leveraging their extensive influence and broad appeal to maximize impact across multiple markets.

3. Audience Appeal

a. Content creators are more relatable

Content creators have a more relatable connection with their audience than influencers. The main reason is that their content is often educational and entertaining, designed to engage and build a community around shared interests. Additionally, their content is often seen as more approachable and genuine, making their audience feel a closer personal connection.

An example of this is MayaFitGreen, a content creator who focuses her Instagram account on providing delicious vegan recipes. Her audience consists mostly, but not exclusively, of followers who follow a plant-based diet and want to incorporate new ideas and techniques into their repertoire.

b. Influencers are more celebrity-like

In contrast, Influencers are the “modern celebrities.”  Their relationship with their audience is often more aspirational, as they are perceived as leading a lifestyle that followers admire and hope to achieve.

This is why celebrity content often surrounds a more celebrity-like glamor. Think of TikTok influencers who often share their travels to luxurious destinations, their expensive clothes and makeup, etc.

For instance, Emily Mariko, a lifestyle influencer, became popular for her salmon bowl recipe. While she rarely interacts with her audience, she has 12.6 million followers and millions of views in each of her videos, mostly through her lifestyle and day-to-day videos.

4. Relationship With Brands

The way these two digital creators work with brands also differs.

a. Content creators have a more collaborative approach with brands

Content creators often require a more flexible and collaborative approach that allows them to co-create content that aligns with their personal style and audience. They value creative freedom and often seek more control over how branded content is presented, making sure that it doesn’t feel forced or too salesly.

b. Influencers balance co-creation with personal branding

Influencers are open to co-creating with brands but also prioritize maintaining their personal brand and image. They often share branded messaging or assets provided by the brand, being more likely to align with brand campaigns, aiming for mutual benefit.

Why Not Have the Best of Both Worlds?

While it’s common to draw distinctions between content creators and influencers, the line between the two is fluid and often overlaps. Influencers are essentially content creators with a significant impact on their audience, and vice versa. Both roles share the fundamental goal of creating valuable content that resonates with their followers.

There are creators who lean towards being influencers by focusing on product reviews and recommendations, while some influencers emphasize creating engaging and educational content. Ultimately the value of their content is what drives audience engagement.

If a creator or influencer can capture and maintain the attention of their audience, they can monetize it effectively.

Here’s why to stay competitive, collaborating with a diverse range of creators significantly enhances your marketing strategies. Each creator and/or influencer brings unique skills, interests and value that can collectively contribute to greater success.

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