TikTok Changes, Creator IPOs, Elon's Blackmail (Plus $260K in Grants)

Marketing Strategy for Creators
By Idia Ogala · Dec 19, 2023 · Vol. 001

Good morning and welcome to Clout101! We’re super excited to have you as part of the community. In this week’s issue we're exploring how big names like Kim K, MrBeast and Kristy Sarah are revolutionizing creator businesses and creative collaborations.

We also provide insights on monetization, give you some practical ways to leverage tech for better efficiency, and share over $250K in Creator Grants (mostly FREE entry, with urgent deadlines)!

You ready? Let’s dive in….

🔥 WHAT’S TRENDING?
#1. Business is Booming for Top Creators 

The Gist:

Kim K, Mr. Beast Land Historic Marketing Deals with the NBA

  • Both creators recently secured significant marketing deals with the NBA. MrBeast's Feastibles brand is now featured on Charlotte Hornets jerseys, a deal worth about $16 million per year, while Kim Kardashian's SKIMS has become the official underwear partner for the NBA. […]

    These deals underscore both creators' expanding influence in the business world and support the NBA's strategy to increase sponsorship revenue through innovative avenues.

IPO Ambitions: 

  • Both creators have also been linked to Initial Public Offerings (IPOs), where a private company sells shares to the public. Recent companies to follow this method of funding include Instacart and Coinbase.

  • SKIMS is expected to earn $750 million in sales in 2023, up from $500 million in 2022, and is targeting 2024 for its IPO. The company is reportedly valued at $4 billion.

  • While there are no confirmed plans for 2024, MrBeast and his team have explored IPO options for Feastibles and MrBeast Burger in the past, including alternative equity crowdfunding platforms to attract everyday investors. […]

The Rundown:
Learnings + Takeaways for Creators

B2B Collaborations Are Gold

  • The true power for creators lies in approaching collaborations from a business-to-business perspective, not solely as endorsers or advertisers.

  • MrBeast and Kim Kardashian had a deep understanding for what their communities wanted, developed targeted products to fill this gap, and then leveraged their influence to partner with the NBA as equal stakeholders, able to participate in the financial upside.

  • All creators have the ability replicate this approach in some capacity. 

There’s Value In Traditional Clout

  • It’s important to find balance in your approach. Digital influence is important, but mixing it with the traditional social prestige could make you unstoppable.

  • We recommend that creators intentionally find partnership opportunities with well-known brands for accelerated growth.

  • Benefits of big brand partnerships (like the NBA) include: reputation equity, access to extensive distribution channels (media, merchandising, finance), vendor networks, big production budgets, industry know-how and best practices.

How could you replicate this same approach for your creator business? What are some traditional organizations with value in the culture that you could pursue meaningful collaborations with in 2024?

#2. TikTok, YouTube Play Musical Chairs?

The Gist:

YouTube Has Big Plans for Short-Form Content…

  • Earlier this year, in a product update, YouTube introduced new analytics features focusing on short-form video content, particularly YouTube Shorts. These updates offer creators better insights into subscriber growth and content preferences.

  • This shift underscored YouTube's strong commitment to promoting short-form video content in 2023 and beyond.

… While TikTok Pushes Creators Toward Longer Videos

  • Known for its bite-sized videos, TikTok is now nudging creators to experiment with longer content, similar to YouTube's traditional format.

  • In late October, the platform started testing videos up to 15 minutes long with a select group of users, signaling a move towards longer content.

  • This strategy is designed to boost monetization opportunities for creators by providing more ad space, which could lead to increased earnings.

The Rundown:
Learnings + Takeaways for Creators

Long Form is Here to Stay

  • While it seemed like viewer attention spans were decreasing (making long-form extinct), this TikTok news is a reminder that monetization is largely dependent on long-form. It’s here to stay.

  • As Gary Vee says though, success online is about embracing the AND, instead of being paralyzed by the OR. In this case, short and long-form videos pair together very well for overall growth.

  • Long-form content is great for storytelling and for building deep connections with your audience, while short videos can act like teasers to draw people into your content collection.

Your Content Vision Is King

  • Since media platforms are always changing, it’s important to find a content strategy that works for you and your audience first, then be ready to adapt to new features and algorithms shifts.

  • Make sure your content feels right for your brand and connects with your audience, then use these platforms as distribution tools for exposure and monetization.

#3. Elon “Blackmailed”, Could Lose $75M in Revenue

The Gist:

  • Last month, Elon Musk of X faced criticism for agreeing with a user's tweet suggesting that Jewish people were promoting hatred against white people.

  • This controversy led major companies, including Walt Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Comcast, the parent company of NBCUniversal, to suspend their ads on the platform.

  • Musk, defending himself against accusations of anti-Semitism, argued that the advertisers' actions were “blackmail”.

  • As of December 14th, over 200 brands have reportedly halted their advertisements on X, a move Musk indicated could risk the platform's survival, potentially leading to a $75 million revenue loss by year's end.

  • To mitigate this impact, Elon is reportedly exploring a partnership with Amazon to sell X’s available ad inventory to small businesses.

The Rundown:
Learnings + Takeaways for Creators

You might be thinking, “why should I care?”. Let’s break it down…

Revenue Drop: 

  • This potential $75M hit is X’s second big revenue blow in the last 6 months. Back in June 2023, The New York Times reported a 59% drop in U.S. ad revenue as brands were concerned by a rise in hate speech and explicit content on the platform.

  • For context, advertising revenue is the bread and butter for X, responsible for 90% of its income.

Possible Impact on Creators:

  • As brands participating in the boycott move their ad budgets to less ‘problematic’ platforms (like Instagram/Facebook), X could be deprioritized as a channel to support marketing campaigns. Which could have two effects:

    • Less ad revenue share over time ($$)

    • Less value associated to your viral posts, organic engagement, and followers on X

Preparing for the Uncertainty:

  • Diversify! If X is your main thing, consider branching out to add other text-focused platforms to your mix. Cross-promotions to incentivize your X followers to join you on other platforms is also a sound contingency plan.

📊 MARKETING DEEP DIVE

Using AI to Become a Global Creator

The Deep Dive:

If you’re like me and scroll through Instagram and X for hours out of the day, you’ve probably come across dozens of AI tools that boast about “helping you 10x your business in seconds”, and a plethora of other hard-to-believe, overwhelming claims. 

While many may feel too good to be true, there are dozens of tools that could make a massive impact in your creator business. For this week’s Deep Dive, I want to cover the rise of the language dubbing generator — AI powered tools that translate your audio into foreign languages, helping your content reach the 75-80% of the world that doesn't speak English.

I first learned about this strategy on a March 2022 episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, where MrBeast revealed that for 6 months he and his team were hiring voice actors in foreign countries to localize his YouTube videos. He launched eleven channels, including in Spanish, Russian, Portuguese, French, Hindi and Japanese (where he had the same voice actor as Naruto Uzumaki from the popular manga TV series, Naruto). 

This strategy of taking existing content and redistributing it in multiple languages was very successful for MrBeast, helping him expand his global reach and introduce his brand to millions of new content viewers. For context, his Spanish-language channel, MrBeast en Español, currently has 25 million subscribers, with its most popular video (Squid Games Real-Life Competition) recently eclipsing 112 million views.

As the interest in this strategy grew, YouTube introduced a feature allowing Creators to add multi-language audio to their videos, helping them avoid the stress of managing multiple channels, and supporting creators looking to push their content to a more global audience.

Screenshot of Multi-Language Audio Track Feature (courtesy of YouTube)

Your YouTube audience can now view select audio tracks in different languages, with your content defaulting to match their preferred language. Per YouTube, Creators using multi-language dubs observed over 15% of watch time from non-primary language viewers, with over 2 million hours of dubbed video watched in January 2023 alone.

The Creator Application:

So what does this mean for you? Replicating this content model for your creator business could be simple with the help of AI. 

Below we compiled a list of the best AI translation tools that we’ve tested for you (non-sponsored). 

These solutions require you to simply upload existing content and select the desired language, to receive fully translated videos – with captions, sometimes using your actual voice, and in a few cases with your mannerisms (kinda, lol).

Best Tools for Translating Audio + Captions:

  • Rask AI (28 languages currently available)

  • Wavel AI (20+ languages currently available)

Best Tools for Translating Audio + Captions (with Mouth Movement): 

These AI solutions are especially perfect for creators that don’t have elaborate productions, with multiple subjects and dynamic shots. We’ve found that first-person, talking head videos and single shot interviews (where the camera goes back and forth between multiple subjects, like My First Million) work best to optimize the technology. But as these software companies continue to improve, I imagine the available use-cases will grow.

Now that we have that situated, here are some tips to help you design your multi-channel strategy:

  1. Pick Your Platforms Wisely: Start by deciding which platforms you want to focus on. You've got options like YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and X. But remember, as of December 2023, YouTube is the only one offering that unique multi-language audio track feature we discussed above. Want to replicate this on TikTok and Instagram? You might need to set up separate accounts for each language.

  2. Choose Languages That Align with Your Goals: Think about which languages to dub your content into. Are there any markets you want to prioritize? For example, if you're eyeing a partnership with SHEIN, and they're big in Singapore, you may want to consider Mandarin as one of the translation languages.

    You should also dive into your existing platform insights (on IG, for example), to see where your content's already doing well in overseas. And lastly, you want to use tools (like this) to check out the most spoken languages globally.

  3. Go All-In with Translation: It's super tempting to just focus on translating your latest stuff, but the issue here is when you pull in new fans, they're going to attempt to binge on your older content too. Translating your entire catalog keeps your new audience engaged, which could also make you more favorable to social media algorithms.

Happy Creating 🍾

💰️ CREATOR GRANTS
Our Top (FREE) Creator Grants 

🏆️ COLLABORATION OF THE WEEK
Kristy Sarah x ALDO, ftw! 

The Gist:

The link-up we didn’t know we needed! Today’s Of the Week feature highlights a content collaboration between Kristy Sarah and ALDO Shoes. Kristy is a 28-year-old creator, filmmaker, and entrepreneur known by many for her hilarious content on TikTok & Instagram (20M followers combined). 

Below you’ll find one of Kristy’s many viral videos where she does a funny product test for her viewers, channeling her inner gymnast by dancing and doing backflips (in heels) at the store. 

Kristy & ALDO adapted this already viral content series, but this time using ALDO Boots as the subject of her “curated chaos” (below).

The Rundown (What we love 🖤):

This is such a great example of organic creator partnerships because it:

  • Amplifies an existing, proven content concept – rather than reinventing the wheel

  • Embraces what makes Kristy beloved by millions of fans, tapping into her personality 

  • Maintains a consistent premise, doesn’t alienate her audience as sponsored content often does

  • Gives ALDO brand association with Kristy’s content as she continues to grow her community and video collection over time (assuming they drop the bag and pay for category exclusivity, which would be smart).

🤝 FREE BRAND BRAINSTORM 
Serving: Digital Content Creators

The Category: Digital Content Creators

The Brand(s): Online graphic design companies like Canva / Adobe / Visme

The Pitchable Platform Idea: A Visual Storytelling Masterclass Series

Context: A masterclass (virtual or physical) highlighting your unique process of digital content creation and visual storytelling, using one of the aforementioned online creative platforms.

The masterclass could be broken down into 3 segments: 

  1. A live walk-through of your creative process – from ideation to publication

  2. A brief segment where the Brand could promote their product, offer exclusive insights, updates, discounts, and incentives for participants to sign-up

  3. A moderated Q&A where participants can ask follow-up questions and engage in more backstory (either with you as the main subject, or you interviewing another creator that you admire and bring on board)

Why it works for the Partner: 

  • Brand alignment with you, as the creator, and your audience (both on social media as a lead-up to the event through marketing, but also following the event by promoting marketing materials that include your likeness)

  • Product conversion (potential paid subscribers)

  • Email marketing leads (potential email subscribers)

Why it works for the Creator:

  • Helps you pivot out of the “content creator” box, and funneling your influence into becoming a thought leader within your industry

  • Direct financial incentive $$$ (Based on a fixed fee)

  • Affiliate commission on product conversion (if negotiating % splits)

  • Email marketing leads (from promo data you shared with the Partner)

  • Not having to assume production costs (Partner covers costs, incl. content creation expenses)

DISCLAIMER: These ideas are for inspirational purposes only 😀. We can't guarantee the success or specific outcomes of these ideas when you negotiate with brands. Every brand is unique, and so are their terms and conditions. We encourage you to do your own research and seek professional advice if needed before entering into any agreements. If you need support executing something like this (from platform development through brand pitching),  I offer a consultation service. More info here.

💼 CREATIVE CAREER CORNER
Highlighting Top Creator Roles 

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