Cereal

With the growth of social media and video streaming platforms, more content creators are seeing tremendous growth, but even more are experiencing the darker side of hosting their content on these platforms. In this Breakfast Chat, we'll talk about some of the downsides of exclusively hosting your content on major platforms, and what content creators can do to mitigate the risks.

Let's get into it!

## Your content might be modified

Creators that are active on streaming sites know the impact of this one the best. Both YouTube and Twitch streamers will frequently report their content getting proactive copyright strikes against their videos, leading to blackouts on the video, muting portions of the video, or even removal entirely. Copyright strikes are a reasonable measure for legitimate breaches of these strikes, but the majority of cases on these sites are due to the platform or major brands having bots proactively scanning and reporting content. This creates many false reports for which there is not a clear recourse for creators. Since advertisers and large brands pay the bill, these platforms will rather take action against creators first than make sure that it's a legitimate complaint before taking action.

## Your content risks being demonetized

Discussion is always healthy, but for platforms that generate all their revenue from advertising there will always be a need to cater to baseline popularity in order to keep advertisers continuing to spend money on the platform. This is how you see creators getting demonetized by Youtube for discussion on themes like recreational drug use or even the use of inappropriate language. YouTube's own terms even say "controversial issues" are grounds for demonetization, leaving it wide open for them to interpret as convenient. While we at Cereal believe there is a line for appropriate content to distribute, we don't believe advertisers should be the ones drawing it.

## Your audience can be redirected away from you

The core issue on this list most clearly shows where content creators are vulnerable, and that is, at the end of the day each of these platforms care more about promoting themselves than you as a creator. When a loyal fan of yours finishes the latest episode in a series you've shared, YouTube doesn't make sure that they go onto something else that you've created next. They send them off to whatever the algorithm believes will keep them on their website, not on your channel.

## So what can I do about this?

What can content creators do to de-risk themselves from the way platforms operate? The best strategy is to reduce your direct dependency on individual platforms, and move your loyal fans somewhere you control. That doesn't mean not using the major platforms anymore, it just means to use them with a better understanding of the risks, and using them as ways for new fans to discover you.

Some of the ways creators that you follow do this today are:

* Create a link aggregator page, so you can swap out content and platforms to where they are investing the most energy
* Create a direct subscription, so you can email your fans directly when new content is available
* Launch a website, hosting your content directly can be time-consuming but you have control over your true fans
* Create multiple video channels, so actions taken against one channel doesn't impact another

At Cereal, we take this a step further. By creating a [Cereal site](https://www.trycereal.com/), you can easily accomplish all of the above in 5 minutes or less and even attach your own domain name, and automatically sync videos from multiple sources.

 
*Photo by [Nubelson Fernandes](https://unsplash.com/@nublson?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText) on [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/s/photos/content-creator?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText)*

Breakfast Chat

Why should you own your content and community?

Social media is often the number one strategy for content creators and businesses in reaching new audiences, communicating with their community, and monetizing with advertisements. With Twitter's recent takeover, there's a lot to say that's already been said, but suffice to say it's bringing different levels of uncertainty into the lives of content creators everywhere.
 
#### **What is happening at Twitter?**
 
Twitter went private in late 2022 with a purchase by Elon Musk. A fairly controversial figure on his own, but love him or hate him, undeniably he has shaken up both the public discourse and product offerings on the platform quite substantially. We aren't here to comment on what this means for the future of the platform, or our democracy, or social media and independent conversation as a whole. That's a huge can of worms, and a lot of it is speculative and unnecessary to how it impacts content creators running their business today.

What we'll focus on instead is how to look at this change as a content creator in 2023 faced with uncertainty.
 
#### **Social Media's role in a creator's toolkit**
 
There are three goals\* that creators achieve in using social media like Twitter:

**1\. Acquisition**
 - Using them as an audience acquisition channel, meaning that they focus on gathering a following in order to redirect that attention towards the engagement on their content, in other places like YouTube, Twitch, their own newsletter, website, or blog.

**2\. Notification**
 - Using them as a direct notification tool, amplifying those existing platform's ability to notify their fans of new content, complementing email notifications, YouTube notifications, and so on.

**3\. Engagement**
 - Using them as a community engagement tool. Giving frequent updates to their fans in short form or images so that they are engaged makes it more relevant when you want to promote new content.

\* Twitter also (sometimes) does monetization, like through their short lived acquisition of Revel, and sure to launch premium tweets at some point, but as that's not a prevalent use case we're leaving it out of consideration for now.
 
#### **What Twitter’s uncertainty means for creators**
 
When content creators talk to us about the uncertainty in Twitter's latest phase of turbulence, they mean their approach towards the above items are at risk. Twitter is incredibly effective place to acquire, notify, and engage your fans.

The impact of Twitter on creator's ability to continue to achieve those goals is quite simple. The existential platform-wide conversations focusing on its own leadership can make it harder for creators, as audiences have their attention divided or distracted by these conversations. Additionally, some users are using the platform less, or disengaging entirely. The last concern is the biggest, what happens if Twitter disappears overnight (probably unlikely, but still)?

It's a good thought experiment because it's an opportunity to reflect on how you acquire, notify, and engage your community overall. The biggest risk for creators that are overly dependent on one platform is whether they will be able to access their community if their key platform disappears overnight. How will your fans find you again? And how will you find them? Social media platforms lock businesses and creators in by not allowing users to access emails directly, so you will be able to export a user name and Twitter handle. The same goes for YouTube, Twitch, Instagram, etc.
 
#### **What content creators should do to protect their business**
 
**1\. Diversify\!**
 - Creators seeing this risk are adding alternate handles on other platforms such as Instagram or Mastodon. Twitter recently marked marking Mastodon links as dangerous but have reversed that well thought out policy. Members of the Cereal team are a huge fan of Mastodon as an approach to Twitter alternatives, so much so we’ve added it as a footer social link option on all the sites (I promise our product updates are usually more exciting than this).

**2\. Capture\!**
 - Cutting to the chase, email is probably one of the most consistent ways to reach your users. Using a email capture tool lets you build a list of your fans that are platform agnostic and you can reach in case of a rainy day in San Francisco. Twitter acquired and offered Revue that would support this, but they just shut it down. Whether for this reason or not, shutting it down certainly makes it harder for creators to capture emails of their fans and take the conversation elsewhere.

**3\. Own\!**
 - Maybe you've guessed it at this point (gold stars all around), but creators best positioned to weather this storm are the ones that [have their own website](https://blog.trycereal.com/blog/8fdde602-a5f7-4938-897a-4374c9165255) their users can signup to, stay in touch, and engage with all of your content in the same place. This gives creators the added benefit of control over their future, and an email list that is up to date and works for them. While it might seem daunting to some, the barrier to owning and running your own content and membership site as a creator has never been easier. Any creator can create and launch a Cereal site under a minute with their content and brand, and be ready to bring on their fans (and export them if they ever need to).

Any way you choose to adapt to keep your ship upright (Dear reader, I think we both just realized we walked into a nautical theme), this means rethinking your social media into predominantly an acquisition channel for bringing users to a system you control. Your goals around notification and engagement need to be operated in a way where you control as much as possible, so that you can be confident that you can run your business if one social media platform suddenly can't serve you and your community effectively.

Navigating Uncertainty as a Content Creator on Twitter

As a company that specializes in creating media sites for content creators, Cereal understands the importance of monetizing your content. Offering premium subscriptions is a great way for content creators to supplement their income and give their fans exclusive access to additional content and community experience.

In this article, we will provide a comprehensive guide for content creators on how to get started with offering premium subscriptions on their own site.
 
### **Understanding your audience**

The first step in offering premium subscriptions is to understand your audience. Knowing your core audience will help you determine the potential demand for premium subscriptions and give you insights into what type of content they may be interested in. To understand your audience, you can do the following:

1. **Conduct audience research**: Use tools such as YouTube Analytics and social media insights to understand who your audience is, where they come from, and what type of content they enjoy. It's worth separating out your general audience from your "super fans", those that will rewatch your videos, comment, and engage with your content above and beyond your regular audience.
2. **Determine their interests**: Look at the type of content that receives the most engagement and try to understand what type of content your audience is interested in. This will help you determine what type of premium content to offer. Often creators will see that the engagement from their "super fans" will have a different profile from their overall audience base, such as enjoying more experimental content, behind the scenes, or other videos that deviates from their norm.
3. **Evaluate the potential demand for premium subscriptions**: Consider factors such as the size of your audience, their engagement levels, and their willingness to pay for premium content. This will help you determine whether offering premium subscriptions is a viable option for your content. Quality over quantity matters here, while you need to have some audience established, creators often over estimate how many super fans they need to have a successful premium subscription offering.

### **Creating premium content**

Once you have a good understanding of your audience, it's time to start planning and creating high-quality premium content. The following steps will help you create premium content that your fans will love:

1. **Determine what type of content to offer as premium**: Consider what type of content your audience is interested in and what type of premium content they may be willing to pay for. Some popular options include exclusive videos, podcasts, and articles, behind-the-scenes content, and access to a private community.
2. **Plan and create high-quality premium content**: Make sure your premium content is of high quality and provides value to your subscribers. This will help keep your subscribers engaged and encourage them to continue subscribing.
3. **Use a variety of formats**: Offering a mix of different formats, such as a behind the scenes podcast for a video series, or supplementary articles for an online course, will keep your subscribers interested and engaged. This will also help you easily communicated the added value of the premium subscription.

### Setting up the subscription system

Once you have your premium content in place, it's time to set up the subscription system. The following steps will help you get started:

1. **Choose a platform for managing subscriptions**: There's no shortage of subscription management software out there, such as Patreon, Substack, or Cereal, which allow content creators to manage their subscribers and offer exclusive content.
2. **Integrate with your website**: Make sure your subscription system integrates seamlessly with your website and is easy for your subscribers to use. Consolidating content your subscribers can experience for free alongside premium content will make it easy for fans to see the value of the upgrading to a paid membership. Even better if you can [import all of your existing content](https://blog.trycereal.com/blog/573b2216-2fe0-49e1-912b-f98a34360902) to get you started quickly.
3. **Determine the pricing and payment options**: Consider different pricing options, and determine the best payment options for your audience. Make sure to test different pricing options to find what works best for you and your audience. Additionally, it's important to have a free tier so users on the fence can see the value of your offering and gives them a chance to upgrade down the line.

Looking for an option that gives you your own media website, and gives you full you control over your subscriber base, with creator-friendly pricing? Look no further than [creating your own subscription media site with Cereal](https://www.trycereal.com).

### **Promoting premium subscriptions**

Promoting your premium subscriptions is key to attracting subscribers and making your offering a success. The following steps will help you promote your premium subscriptions:

1. **Utilize social media**: Use your social media accounts to promote your premium content and build excitement around your new offering. Consider creating a dedicated social media campaign to promote your premium subscriptions, and highlighting your membership site in YouTube's out reel, Twitch chat, and with a Discord bot.
2. **Offer incentives for early subscribers**: Consider offering incentives such as exclusive access to additional content or discounts to encourage people to sign up for your premium subscriptions. Cereal gives your day one fans an immediate "Day One Supporter" badge as an additional incentive for launch day sign ups.
3. **Engage with your audience**: Regularly engage with your audience to keep them interested in your premium content. This can be done through private community forums, Q&A sessions, polls on your Cereal site, and by offering personalized content recommendations.
4. **Collaborate with other content creators**: Consider collaborating with other content creators to reach a wider audience and promote your premium subscriptions. When reaching out to other content creators, you can offer perks like [adding a "creator" page on your site for them](https://blog.trycereal.com/blog/blog__408cbcbb-34c9-43ef-9ed2-cebd8d75f57d) with links they'd like to promote as well.
5. **Utilize email marketing**: Use email marketing to promote your premium subscriptions and provide updates on new content and exclusive offers.

### In Conclusion

Offering premium subscriptions is a great way for content creators to monetize their content and provide their fans with exclusive access to high-quality content. By understanding your audience, creating premium content, setting up the subscription system, and promoting your premium subscriptions, content creators can build a successful premium subscription business.

At Cereal, we understand the challenges of building a successful subscription media site and are here to help. Our platform is designed to help content creators create a professional-looking and user-friendly media site for managing their content and offering premium memberships. With your Cereal site in place, you can focus on what you do best - creating great content.

We hope this article has provided valuable insights into how to get started with offering premium subscriptions on your own site. Good luck!

The Content Creator's Guide to Offering Premium Subscriptions in 2023

Let's talk about everything happening in the creator economy.