Creator Culture
It was only around 4 years ago when I would post a pic of my bare feet hanging out the car window with the caption “wind in my hair,” laugh, click “post,” and not think anything of it.
Now, my personal Instagram acts as a portfolio. I worry about what my coworkers think of it, looking insensitive, and getting canceled.
It is not that social media isn’t fun anymore. It is that social media is a business.
The landscape has been completely different since my careless posting days. You can’t scroll two posts without someone trying to sell you something. The girl from high school you wanted to keep in touch with now ends every caption with “Link in Bio.” Suppose you aren’t trying to make money off the platforms, every like, comment, and share is still feedback to brands advertising towards you.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Hell, it is my entire livelihood, as well as many other media managers and influencers. The idea of being on social media all day for money is enticing.
It is evident that professional influencers are making some money. If you start putting the pieces together, you notice the husbands are home at 2 pm on a Tuesday starring in their wives’ content. The influencer families are remodeling their homes or upsizing. They get plastic surgery, Birkins, and a whole lot of free sh*t. And you start to think, “I could do that?!”
The barrier to entry is low when becoming an influencer. You just start filming. Girls like Alix Earle who filmed “Get Ready With Me” TikToks consistently for 3 years and became one of the Forbes Top 30 Creators in 2024 are inspiring. So much so, that over 300 billion TikTokers have #GRWM.
That is the problem I see with influencer marketing and creator culture going into 2025. With such an oversaturated market of creators believing they can be the next Alix Earle, the stakes are higher than ever.
Is another “Get Ready With Me” video going to spark the same fame in a mass of billions?
I believe if you are going to make it as an influencer in 2025, you have to be doing something different to cut through the noise.
Different may be sharing your hot takes. The Internet is polarizing. With the algorithm designed to serve interests, the stronger opinion you hold on something will generate a greater response. The saying “all press is good press,” is true of social media. The more engagement you get on your video, positive or negative, the more they are going to pump it out to the world. A hot take makes people speak up.
With cancel culture scavenging the Internet, fewer people are open to sharing their opinions on the Internet out of fear. This makes it the narrower path, which, while more challenging, can ultimately lead to success. Look at Ballerina Farm!
Different may be an editing style. I am drawn to creators who treat social media like an art form. I have loved watching Timm Chiusano grow to over 1M followers on TikTok through his looping editing style, poetic voiceovers, and “humble opinions.” Watch here.
Thinking outside of the box, filming and editing extensively, and being vulnerable on the Internet takes a lot of commitment creatively. It also takes putting yourself out there to do something that might not hit, but taking a leap of faith can land in success.
Different may be making it on the Internet by what you are doing off the Internet. I see so many creators miss the mark by doing things IRL to post online. If we switch the focus to what we are doing in real life and share it online as a bonus, there is much more room for awe and inspiration (which leads to shares and views).
Some of the best examples of this I can think of are Half Baked Harvest (who was making meals for her family of ten and shared them on the Internet), Paige Lorenze and Morgan Riddle (who share their ever-interesting travels following their professional tennis-playing boyfriends), Livvy Dune (amazing college gymnast), and the endless creators showing the BTS of building a brand, like Coco Schiffer (who moved to NYC to start online styling) or the Milk Mob Sisters (who own a bikini biz out of Canada and package all their orders themselves on TikTok).
It is like dating. A guy is so much hotter if he has hobbies and interests. (It can’t just be all about you all the time, sis).
For influencer marketing to maintain the same leverage in the future as it does now, creators and brands are going to have to be very intentional with who they choose to work with. At the end of the day, an influencer’s greatest power is trust. If your audience trusts your recommendations, you will make more money for the brands you promote, and they will pay the price for it.
On the flip side, if creators get greedy and agree to promote every brand that reaches out to them, you will lose the trust of your audience (and your power).
The same rules apply to an ever-changing online landscape as they do IRL: stay authentic, trustworthy, and true to yourself. You are either a creator or a consumer. Choose wisely!
