Era of the content creator: NFTs, the rise of digital tribalism and social tokens

If you want to be a content creator online and make money, you’re in the right place at the right time in history.

Here’s why:

1. With lockdowns en masse, we humans have flocked online to find solutions to our problems. Problems with life, money, health, entertainment, relationships, employment. And the list goes on.
2. We humans have also ventured online to find community and belonging to combat pandemic style isolation and a dearth of entertainment options.
3. Tribalism is being reborn in digital form.
4. Blockchain technology has created a new path to monetization – the tokenization of content and tribe/community culture.

Digital content creators

Right now, digital content creators have a gigantic opportunity to make money:

1. By solving other people’s problems.
2. By providing value to people looking for a community or tribe to belong to.

Help a million people and you’ll make a million dollars…

Matt and LiZ read

As we hurtle into the digital age, online content creation and digital assets are both part of our a passive income strategy.

So here we review the exploding opportunities to build wealth, be your own boss, own your creativity, and become financially free – all through online content, NFTs, digital tribes and social tokens.

If you’re all over what digital tokens are and why they matter to your financial future, go ahead and explore our ‘Build wealth with digital tokens’ articles.

If not, scroll down to the ‘What we cover‘ section below to find out more about the exceedingly fun but highly speculatively digital token asset class.

The fat stacks have gone digital people, lets go get some!

Build wealth with digital tokens

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  Just how much could a Bored Ape NFT make you?
  Here’s a rip-snorter of a story about how culture and investing collided to make some crypto apes millionaires. Just how much could a bored ape NFT have made you?
• 
  What is the best NFT token for long term growth?
  Looking to capitalise on the meteoric rise of NFT digital assets? In this post, we look at three top contenders for best NFT token for long term growth.

Digital tokens – what we cover

Grab a cuppa or a beverage and get ready for a mind blowing read as we cover how to make money from the convergence of content creation, digital assets and blockchain technology:

1. What is a Content Creator?
2. A new era for Content Creators
3. How do Content Creators make money?
   1. Website content
   2. Platform content
   3. Brand content
4. Digital tokens – a new way to make money from content
5. Social tokens will blow up the world
6. Where to start with social tokens

Don’t forget to check out our Digital Content Creator Series, where we review and cover content creator tips, tricks and opportunities – both traditional and crypto – in tonnes more detail.

What is a Content Creator?

In its raw form, a content creator is someone who creates usually written, video, audio or graphic material to be consumed by online audiences. Traditional examples of content creators include:

• Youtubers, Bloggers, Video gamers, music creators
• Website owners and flippers
• Social media managers
• Influencers
• Authors and writers
• Graphic designers
• Online group instigators (Discords, facebook, etc)

…and the list goes on.

A new era for Content Creators

We at the LLP are convinced that the online world has just entered a new era of unparalleled opportunity for digital content creators.

Here are the two mega trends that matter to making money through content creation:

#1 Online spending explosion

In 2020 we all started spending a lot more money online! Mastercard (and they should know they have everyones bank card data) reported that in 2020, an extra $900 billion was spent online compared to 2019. E-commerce made up $1 in every $5 or retail spending in 2020, up from $1 in every $7 in 2019.

The thing is, knowing how convenient it now is to get products services online, we’re just not going back peeps!

This is why we think content creators are in the right place at the right time in history – the online market place for products and services is both growing at a fast clip and at 20% of global retail, still has a long way to go.

#2 The rise of Web3 and the token economy

Web 3.0 is a new way for the internet to work which offers services such as computing, data, storage, participation and bandwidth that are decentralized across multiple networks with no single entity controlling them all. This means there’s less potential interference from any one party when it comes to what you’re able do, access or see online.

Web 3.0 is the idea that individuals can be responsible for the self custody of assets and services. It allows economic interactions without intermediaries, using tokens and blockchain technology.

Tokens

Tokens are part of the tech and financial infrastructure of Web 3.0.

A token economy is spinning out of Web 3.0 where tangible and non-tangible assets (like a utility, access rights, content licensing or voting rights) can be turned into digital tokens. These tokens allow participants to capture and directly exchange value on the internet.

The business model for content creators is evolving with Web 3.0 and the token economy and some mad opportunities are beginning to reveal themselves…

How does a content creator make money?

Traditionally, there are three main ways digital content creators make money:

1. Website content – where you creating content that is hosted on your own websites
2. Platform content – you create content that is hosted on other platforms like TikTok, Insta, Facebook
3. Brand content – you create content for other brands and businesses

1. Website content

Creating content on your own website can take many forms. Examples include a blog, a directory, a review site, a market place, a forum, or an e-commerce site just to name a few.

Website content is what we love because it gives you the most freedom and control, as well as passive income potential. The opportunities are vast, diverse and many of them can be passive earners.

Website content also has the longest lead time to make money. It takes passion, persistence and sass to become a winning content creator for your own websites. There’s also a steep learning curve.

So how do content creators traditionally make money with their own websites?

There’s a long list of current monetisation techniques, depending on your niche and skill set:

• Affiliate marketing
• Ad revenue
• Brand sponsorships
• Guest posts
• Digital products like ebooks, online courses, guides
• Patreon accounts
• Subscriptions
• Physical products – like ecommerce products

2. Platform content

Authors, graphic artists, video producers, journalists, designers and influences tend to do this kind of content creation. It’s where you create your own content, be it written, visual, video, audio or whatever and market and make it available on popular media and other online platforms or apps. The conventional, centralised platforms for this kind of content creation include:

• Youtube
• Audible
• Podcasts
• Tiktok
• Twitch
• Medium
• Clubhouse
• Onlyfans …etc

This style of content creation is a runner up to content websites in terms of creating passive income streams. You have less control and more financial risk than with your own websites. Instead, you are subject to the rules and algorithms of the platforms you use. If you don’t meet their requirements, they can and will shut down your account – and with it your income.

With these traditional and centralised platforms, you are also forced give away a lot of your revenue you generate from your creative and IP back to the platform.

The trade off is that you can use existing traffic on the platform to grow you brand quickly and scale up exponentially. You can’t do this as readily if you’re creating content on your own websites.

3. Brand content

We’re not so much into creating content for others because it’s not passive income. BUT, it can still be a great side hustle or work-from-home income earner. You can find nice paying freelance content creator jobs on Fiverr.

Fiverr

Fiverr is where you can take the tools of the internet and turn them into a freelance work from home income either part or full time.

On Fiverr, people earn 6 figure incomes creating content for others. They do things like writing SEO web content, designing digital marketing like banners, Pinterest Pins, book covers. The thing about Fiverr is you can work for anyone, anywhere in the world.

Another great thing about Fiverr is that you can start up for a freelance business for very little cash and start earning right away. You can also teach yourself most of the tools you need to be successful for free and online. All you need to get started is a Fivver account, which is free, and an idea of your skills and how to market them.

Canva

We also recommend a Canva account if you’re going to freelance on Fiverr. We use Canva daily and find it’s a critical tool in our content creator tool kit.

Canva lets you create the most amazing digital products using their templates and graphics, without any graphic design skills.

Canva is an unbelievable resource that you can use to market your own skills on Fiverr (by creating cool Thumbnails and other marketing material).

You can also use it to expand the services you sell on Fiverr. Canva allows you to branch into graphics like Instagram stories, Facebook banners, website illustrations, Pins, infographics and the list goes on. These are products that you can produce and that companies are constantly looking for but don’t have the time, patience or basic skill set to create themselves. A Canva Pro account comes for a very low monthly subscription fee of under 20 bucks!

Digital tokens – a new way to make money from content

There is a new way of monetising creative content with blockchain and cryptocurrency called ‘digital tokens’.

It’s already happening with NFTs and what’s called “social tokens”. Let’s dive in…

NFTs – Non-fungible tokens

Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, are digital assets (tokens) that represents things like art, music, in-game items, and videos. You buy and sell them on the internet. They use the same software as many cryptos. But there are some differences.

NFT’s are one-of-a-kind digital assets and are therefore ‘non fungible’. This means you can’t exchange one NFT for another of the same NFT (like for like) because each is unique. Like you can’t swap a Monet for a Jackson Pollock for example.

Cryptos are fungible – 1 Bitcoin can be exchanged for 1 Bitcoin.

Secondly, the software NFTs use is slightly different to crypto because NFT files store information. This differentiates them from cryptocurrency and also makes what you can use them for incredibly flexible.

NFTs have value both as cryptocurrencies and also as a digital form of expression and culture.

Non-fungible tokens are being used by artists, musicians, gamers and some brands right now to monetise their creative works and products.

There is a new spin off of NFTs that are going to be GAME CHANGING for content creators. They’re called ‘social tokens’.

Social tokens will blow up the world

What is a social token?

A ‘community’ or ‘social’ token is a token that represents a brand, an individual or a community. Social tokens are a new development in crypto and their use cases depend on the token, the creator and the community.

The nature of social tokens lends them to more meaningful and deeper relationships between creators and their communities. This is both due to the flexibility of their application and their disintermediation by design. They also allow creators to keep more of the money they make from creating, which wel bloody love! We’ll explore how below.

What are they used for?

Tokens are used to power the digital economies of creators. Creators can launch their own creator economies online, backed by their social or community token. Fans and followers of creators might buy social tokens for a few different purposes.

1. As an exchange of value – social tokens can be used as cryptocurrencies, to tip and pay for services, merchandise, special content, or other benefits.
2. For access – tokens hold intrinsic value to community members by giving them exclusive engagement opportunities with creators—like a digital fan club.
3. As assets – if tokens that are in limited supply increase in value, holders can cash them in.

If you’re curious to see an example of social tokens in action, check out Friends with Benefits, and their $FWB token.

Social tokens are part of the token economy and this gives them unbelievable flexibility and value above and beyond how content creators have monetised their creative in the past. Content creators can also use tokens to raise capital to bootstrap their creative career, in return for rights to future income.

Social tokens are new and evolving rapidly. Don’t expect to hit the jackpot on day one if you head down this path. But do expect them to influence how we organise society, community and culture into the future. It’s going to be massive!

Why social tokens will blow up the world

It’s simple. The opportunities to create, add value and monetise value are really as big as your imagination!

You can instigate a community or tribe and create a social token for it. Your community or followers can buy and use the social token to get added value products and services from you and from the community. Products and services might include:

• exclusive group membership,
• one on one access,
• digital products,
• event participation
• network introductions,
• community rewards and incentives,
• promotional opportunities, just to name a few.

Fun facts about social tokens

Here are some features of social tokens that make them different from traditional ways of monetizing content, for both content creators and communities:

• Social tokens are decentralised on the blockchain – there are no middlemen like record companies, publishers or centralised platforms taking a huge cut of your creative revenue – creators keep more of the value they build
• They are are controlled by algorithms and smart contracts – these can’t be changed like the algorithms and rules on Youtube and Facebook do
• The tokens are generally limited in supply (it’s part of their tokenomics)
• Social tokens are exchangeable for other forms of currency, which makes them part of a token economy.
• Because they are exchangeable and limited, they have a relative market value which can go up and down with demand, supply and market movements.
• Tokens can be on-sold by their owners or cashed out
• Social tokens are portable – creators are not beholden to a particular platform
• As tokens can grow in value, these features incentivise community members to contribute to and build the community, which further promotes the value of the token in a reinforcing benefits loop.

Where to start with social tokens

Crypto content creator platforms are a new and rapid growing part of the creative token economy. If you want to get started with social tokens, either as a creator or a community member, here are newest and most popular platforms:

• Audius – a platform for music content creators to create, stream and monetise their music without record companies or labels taking all of their dough
• Verasity – a platform for esports and video content creation monetisation
• Rally – a decentralised platform for content creators to mint their own social tokens and build their own creator economies
• Collab.land – a bot that manages a social token through which holders gain access to an exclusive group, network or community (on a platform like Discord or Telegram for example)
• Roll – lets creators start their own social money economy using Roll smart contracts and tokenomics
• Fyooz – aims to turn attention and followers into a financial asset and tradable commodity – a market place to trade anything, with anyone, anytime. Including content.

Using tokens on your own website

The beauty of tokens is you can also use them to monetise your creative and your content from your own website.

• Unlock – allows you to add token backed memberships to your website, your shop or a game you develop

As trends converge, we even see a time when you can create digital content that exists in and has value in the metaverse. Mind. Blown.

Stick with us as we review these platforms and how content creators can make use of different monetisation models to create their way to financial freedom!

Here’s where you’ll find out tips and hacks on how to make money creating content on the internet, Web 3.0 and the metaverse!

Digital Content Creator series