What is a Digital Creator? The Only Guide You’ll Need

“Digital creator” sounds like a title someone made up, but it’s very much a real and thriving job field. On Social Cat alone, we have over 30,000 influencers who consider themselves digital creators. Facts. 💯

So, whether you’re hoping to hire a digital creator, become one yourself, or just wondering what it’s all about, this guide is for you. We’ll answer questions like:

• What is a digital creator on Facebook? Or, what is a digital creator on Instagram? (Spoiler alert: digital creators do the same job regardless of platform.)
• How can I find digital creators for my brand?
• How can I become a digital creator?

But first, let’s start with the basics: What is a digital content creator?

What is a digital creator?

If you Google “What is a digital creator?” you’ll get the dictionary definition: a digital creator is someone who makes content for online platforms.

These could be people who create content for social media, bloggers, or even people who contribute to forums. They might make videos, take photos, write posts or reviews, or do any number of things related to their platform of choice.

I think you’ll agree–that’s some pretty vague wording. You could technically be considered a digital creator if you post anything online.

But that’s not what people mean when they use the term, is it?

The common perception is that digital creators make videos and photos for social media. So, if you see someone referring to themselves as a “digital creator,” that’s probably what they mean. UGC creators and influencers both fall into this category. Let’s explore the differences between them. ⬇️

What’s the difference between influencers, digital creators, and UGC creators?

” Digital creator” is an umbrella term that covers the other kinds of creators we’re about to discuss: influencers, content creators, and UGC creators are all considered digital creators. They all create videos or photos for online use, particularly on social media.

Here are the two main categories of digital creators:

• Influencers: An influencer’s primary goal is to build a community with their content. After they’ve grown a sufficient following, they can promote brands to their community using their platform–usually making branded videos and photos for their social media accounts.
• UGC creators: If someone’s a UGC creator, they don’t have a community built around them and may not even be trying to become an influencer. Their main goal is to get paid, creating great content for brands they love. They’ll work from their home studio to create content but don’t post it on their social media channels.

Those are the primary differences between influencers and UGC creators. If you look online, you might also see the term “content creators” being thrown around, but that’s more of a generic or synonym for “digital creator.” If someone says they’re a content creator, you’ll probably need to ask a few questions to determine whether they’re trying to grow a platform. That’ll tell you if they’re an influencer or more of a UGC creator.

Again, if you look up “What is a digital creator?” there are a lot of other fancy terms and titles out there–we are, after all, in marketing. But don’t worry–the concepts here are pretty simple.

Where can I find digital creators?

Thankfully, finding digital creators to promote your brand isn’t hard. Here are some popular ways to find them:

Social media

You can use hashtags and other discovery features on social media platforms to find influencers and UGC creators in your space–the kind of people you choose to reach out to will depend on what you’re looking for.

However, as we’ve discussed before, searching takes a lot of time and energy, and the response rates are pretty abysmal. So, if you want to get results quickly (and save some time), you may want to consider using a platform.

Digital creator platforms

Platforms like Social Cat or Clip provide access to vetted influencers or UGC creators. They do a great job pre-screening the creators they allow on their platforms and offer a safe way to manage collaborations by serving as a go-between.

The best part is that you can manage everything in one place on these platforms. We mean it. For example, you can find influencers on Social Cat, message them directly on our platform, sign contracts, get content, and more. Clip offers a similar service for UGC creators.

Using a platform is the best way to connect with digital creators. It saves you time and makes making your campaigns a reality easier and faster.

How to become a digital creator

We didn’t forget about you, aspiring digital creators! If you’d like to become a digital creator, here are a few steps to follow:

1. First, decide which type of digital creator you want to be: an influencer or UGC creator. If you’re starting from zero, you’ll probably want to start as a UGC creator first and then become an influencer later. The UGC Club is a great place to learn how to become a UGC creator.
2. Next, pick a niche: If you want to be a UGC creator or an influencer, you must focus on a niche. What are you passionate about? What do you want to create content around?Don’t overthink it: A lot of times, the emphasis on being passionate about something can be confusing and overwhelming. You don’t need to dream day and night about something to be able to make content about it. Just pick something you like well enough to stay consistent. That’s how you’ll make actual progress–if you can keep creating new content, week after week.
3. After that, start creating content: This is, by far, the most essential part. Start posting content around your niche. This step will take the most time, but if you’re patient, commit yourself to learning, and keep at it, you’ll see results.You’ll need to learn how to film correctly, what equipment to use, how to find deals, and more. The UGC Club is an excellent place for in-depth information on these topics.
4. Finally, keep making content. As you do, you’ll land your first deals, then learn from those experiences and improve your skills, and then land more deals. Keep going–eventually, you can make this your full-time job if you keep creating and learning! But, as we mentioned before, learning how to do this takes time. Be patient with yourself and with the process, and keep making content no matter what.

There are two things you have to keep in mind when you’re trying to become a digital creator:

First, understand that being a creator is a skill. It takes time to develop and master your skills, but if you keep at it, you’ll be in a good spot after a year.

This leads us to the second thing: you also have to be consistent. You can’t try it for two months, get frustrated, and quit. That’s what most creators do, and that’s why they fail.

If you can motivate yourself to keep going even when things get tough, you’ll be one of the few who succeed.

Once you’ve created enough of a community around your content that you have around 1,000 followers, you can consider yourself a nano influencer. The good news? We know TONS of brands who are looking for nano influencers!

Clearing up the confusion

So that’s it–everything you need to know about digital creators, including what they are, how to find them, and how to become one.

If you see other definitions online, that’s okay. Different people define a digital creator differently (some think more of influencers and some of UGC creators). Still, if you read closely, you’ll discover that they’re talking about the same things we are in this article.