If you have been listening to established creators in the past few months, you may have noticed a common theme – many of them are concerned about their view counts. Some creators who have millions of followers are now averaging a hundred thousand views per video, yet they had gotten used to over a million views per video. And yet while they are coming to terms with the new norm, we have seen the growth of new creators. People who have barely been on social media for a year are experiencing such a surge in their views that they have been able to quit their jobs and focus on content creation in what feels like a hot second. And interestingly, they have been able to do it with minimal follower counts.
So, why is it that the tables have turned, and what does this mean for all creators?
The Growth of AI Discovery Feeds
The only constant in life is change, and that is true in all industries, such that they keep evolving. A good example of such an evolution would be in the aviation sector, where airlines previously had to invest tons of resources in ground services in order to have smooth operations. Now, airlines are able to rely on organizations like Magnetic Engines to provide engine services, of which you can learn more on magneticengines.co. And this simple delegation has allowed more airlines to not only enter this sector but also expand their services, much to the delight of their passengers.
Social media has changed in the same way, and we can attribute this to necessity. You see, back in the day, creators had to build a loyal follower base as these people would serve as their audience. But this had limitations for both the creators and their audiences. On the part of the creators, this meant that your reach depended on the number of people who actually followed you, and if you had low numbers, your content visibility was low. And for audiences, this meant that you only had access to creators whom you followed, as only their videos showed up on your main page. In many ways, this model was a disservice to both creators and audiences.
The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into social media feeds helped address this limitation. Rather than pushing content based on a creator’s follower count, the AI models push videos that are performing well, regardless of how many followers the creator has. And the benefits of this model have been tenfold as follows:
Monetisation capabilities have also increased thanks to this new model, as the new algorithms seek to increase content watch time, benefiting creators who rely on this ad revenue.
Can Creators Adapt?
Given how successful the AI algorithms have been, they are here to stay. That means that it is up to creators to adapt to the new normal if they want to stay in the game. But how?
First off, it is very important to optimise your content so that it not only has a high completion rate but is also highly relatable, so that people will recommend it to others. The models look into factors such as click-through rates, watch time, shares, and so on. And if you can build on these, then your content can do well. So, incorporate great visuals and sounds, and be sure to cut out any lulls in your edits.
Secondly, given that you can no longer count on your followers as your content audience, you need to use social media as a funnel to a platform you actually own. Think of newsletters, private communities, websites, and other platforms where you can control what your audience sees rather than simply relying on algorithms.
And finally, it is important to note that while AI models can increase visibility, they are also volatile, so some videos will be hits while others will be misses. Accounting for this can help you weather the misses much better.
