2 social media figures have about the same amount of followers and views. But one is known as an influencer while the other, a content creator.

How are they different? If you were to hire one for your brand, does it matter who you choose?

It does! Many business owners overlook the differences between these 2 professions and assume that any account with many followers will raise sales.

This isn’t always the case. Influencers and content creators are different in a few ways.

Here’s what you need to know as a business owner looking for new ways to reach a wider target audience.

🤳🏼 The Modern Day Socialite: Influencers 📲

As in the name, influencers are known to influence their followers in one way or another, be it to buy a product, to live a certain lifestyle, to join a movement. For them, the sky’s the limit!

Did you know, influencers can be classified into different levels depending on their followers?

With this classification, you can roughly predict what will happen when you hire your influencer of choice.

Image credit: Get Hyped

From the graph above, you’ll notice that even accounts with a thousand followers can be counted as an influencer – to be more specific, a nano-influencer.

Although it looks like a small number, do not underestimate the influence they have over their followers.

Influencers are known to have very close connections with their followers. Hence, even with less followers, their engagement rate is actually quite high 👩🏼‍🤝‍👩🏽

Nano and micro-influencers, for instance, are usually just your average girl-next-door (or boy-next-door).

These influencers typically receive better engagement rates compared to macro and mega influencers since they typically have friends and acquaintances as followers.

Though it is not the case for all, nano and micro influencers on average share closer relationships to their followers on their respective platforms.

Above all, you can immediately spot an influencer when you see taggings like ‘paid partnership’ or ‘sponsored’ in their video:

By this point, spotting influencers is quite easy right?

What about content creators?

🏹 The Hawkeye of Marketing: Content Creators 🎯

Remember how Hawkeye would change his arrows when he attacked different opponents? His arrows could either electrocute, explode, spread tear-gas and many more.

In a sense, Hawkeye knew who his targets were and which arrow he needed to use.

That’s exactly what content creators do 😆

Content creators come up with high quality content for blogs, articles, social media, and with every platform they jump to, their style of writing changes to accommodate the target audience.

The majority of content creators choose their platform mostly based on where their target audience spends time at.

As examples, a vlogger choosing YouTube, an article writer posting their works on blogs, a poet sharing their poems on Instagram among so many others ✍🏼

For the most part, content creators focus on producing informative and educating content that is high in quality.

Nowadays, you can find various categories of content creators on TikTok which is arguably one of the biggest social media platforms in the 21st century.

Take a look at these content creators with different types of content:

BookTok Content Creator (Book + TikTok) – @wacananafsi

Digital Art Content Creator – @ggatoart

Educational Content Creator – @iamnicorojas 

In other cases, content creators remain mostly behind-the-cameras and away from the limelight.

Some examples of these gem content creators include IG poets, newsletter writers, lifestyle bloggers and many more.

Pro tip: If you’re on the lookout for specific content creators and want to check out their writing style, ask to see their portfolios.

They’ll most likely provide you with a link to their personal blog where they showcase a variety of content as well as links to their socials 🔗

Now that we have the basic foundation of influencers and content creators, let’s jump into what else makes them different.

🧐 What’s the difference between influencers and content creators? 🧐

1. Platform & medium

Influencers’ overall feed and appearance across multiple social media platforms are usually aesthetically pleasing which makes it the perfect resume for companies to go through.

With the public number of followers and unlimited access to their profile, you’ll get a quick insight of which influencers suit to represent your brand.

Their content direction revolves around being relatable through pictures, reels, TikTok and other content-sharing platforms.

Image credit: Sofia Shaari

But it doesn’t mean that only influencers use social media to reach people.

For example content creators aiming to reach millennials or gen Z-ers would most likely opt for Instagram and TikTok as their main platform.

Nonetheless, they are not limited to social media. Content creators who target business owners would prefer using newsletters and blog articles where more information can be shared.

2. Needed skills 📸💻✍🏼

In this aspect, influencers and content creators share some similarities.

Like any other career path, having proficient communication, writing and social skills proves to be useful for influencers and content creators.

But they part ways when it comes to technical skills.

Influencers are notably more skilled in live streaming, social media management, photo editing, promoting and even engaging with their audience.

Content creators are skilled in these skills too but they are also more focused on writing, coming up with original content, keyword research, SEO and digital marketing.

Which leads to the different tools influencers and content creators use.

3. Top tools used ⚙️🔩🔦

In general, being an influencer requires a lot of street-smart skills and quick solutions to catch up with constantly-changing trends.

Hence, it makes sense that the tools they use on a day-to-day basis are easier to access and learn.

Check out some of the most famous tools influencers use:

• Photo editors – Canva, Picsart
• Video editors – Capcut, InShot
• Background removals – remove.bg
• Post schedules – Meta Business Suite, Sprout Social

Because content creators work towards creating rich and high quality content, they do much more research as compared to influencers.

Here are some areas and tools that are familiar amongst the content creator community:

• Keyword research – Wordstream, SEMrush
• Audience behaviour research – Google Analytics, Ubersuggest
• Blogging tools – WordPress, Hemingway App
• Topic research – Google Trends, AnswerThePublic

Some of these online resources are also great for your digital marketing strategy 👀

Key Takeaway 🔑

All in all, if you haven’t already realised, every influencer is actually a content creator. But not every content creator is an influencer.

Here’s a quick glance of the differences between influencers and content creators.

Nowadays, most businesses have their own in-house content creators to come up with relatable content marketing strategies. It’s one of the known ways to raise brand awareness in this 21st century era.

On the other hand, influencers are often hired for campaigns and product promotions for a brief period of time, unlike the traditional long-contracted endorsements.

All in all, both influencers and content creators can benefit your brands in their own creative ways. If you’re looking to hire influencers for your next campaign, don’t hesitate to contact us today!

Till next time!