Is Content Creation a Viable Career? | Reagan Graves

Project Summary

This project involved exploring the intricacies of building a niche lifestyle social media presence targeting women aged 15-35, delving into content creation, engagement strategies, and monetization avenues such as affiliate marketing and brand partnerships in order to assess the viability of establishing a sustainable career as a content creator.

WHY? I have always loved social media and the creativity it holds. Because of this, I’ve gained experience working as a social media manager, content creator, and graphic designer. In these roles, I kept coming across social media accounts of women that were somehow making money by simply posting about their life. Yes, those influencers you see on your own social media! Questions flooded my mind, such as, “Are they really making money, and if so, how? Is Instagram or TikTok paying them? How are they getting PR packages? Do they manage their social media alone? How do they find the time? Are they making as much as a full-time job?”

I decided there was only one way to fully understand how this niche business model really worked. By doing it myself.

Project Introduction

The last thing I wanted to do was waste my time creating a social media presence without really knowing was I was getting myself into. Research quickly became my best friend in understanding the nuance of influencers today.

From Sprout Social, a social media management tool endorsed by Forbes¹, this graph² below shows the growth of social media in modern advertising:

I realized that since 2017, there have been billions of dollars flooding social media for advertising and brand promotion for businesses and companies around the world. In addition to these astronomical numbers, it looks like it’s only going to increase in the years to come.

I then thought to myself, could influencers be a part of this modern marketing strategy? This lead me to my next shocking discovery³:

Clearly, businesses are not only utilizing influencers and their niche audiences, influencers are essential to their customer reach.

I became curious about the type of videos and posts that I had always seen posted by these creators on social media. It seemed like they were simply posting about their life; it was just lifestyle content. So why is this type of content so effective? Why do brands and marketers want to work with them? This lead me to this information from a Forbes article⁴:

With these three pieces of information in mind, I became excited about the prospect to not only use my creative skills, but to enter a highly demanded workforce I previously didn’t know existed.

Project Execution

Here are the real-life steps I took next:

1. I created new accounts on Instagram and TikTok under the same username I came up with: helloreagan_
2. I identified and defined the niche content I wanted to create & audience I was targeting:
   • Morning routines, night routines, hairstyles, fashion finds, and travel content.
   • Aesthetic and motivational lifestyle content with the target audience of women 15-35. I chose this because it’s the type of content I love to watch!
3. I analyzed similar social media accounts not only to gain inspiration for my own content, but to understand niche trends and patterns.

Now all my planning was done, here was my rinse and repeat system for posting on Instagram and Tiktok:

1. Filmed clips of my life on my iphone 12.
2. Edited on Capcut.
3. Wrote a caption.
4. Posted the video or photos.
   • I created a social media calendar of when I would post and ideas of what I could create for productivity.
5. Analyzed my insights (engagement, likes, comments, etc.)

Here are my most recent posts:

When it came to making money, these are the things I did to monetize my platforms:

1. I created a new gmail and added it to my instagram bio so that brands could reach out to me to collaborate. I spent time responding, accepting, or rejecting brand collaborations.
2. I applied to the Amazon Associates program. Once accepted, I posted my personal affiliate links on a free Wix website I created and linked it in my bio.
3. I applied to the Amazon Influencer program. Once accepted, I deleted my Wix website and posted my affiliate links there on my own amazon storefront.
4. I applied to the LTK Creator Program. Once accepted, I began posting & linking home decor and clothing items.

Here is the general breakdown of how I spent my time using these steps for the last 2 months:

Project Outcomes

Over the span of the last 2 months/60 days, here is what I achieved:

Followers: Instagram: +2,412, TikTok:+1,294

Engagement rate: Instagram: 8.3%, TikTok: 29%

Total posts: Instagram: 50, TikTok: 47

Brand collaboration offers: Total: 8, accepted 5, declined 3.

Affiliates: Amazon & LTK.

Total money earned: $565.23

So is content creation/influencing a viable career? Yes. At my level? No.

Project Conclusion

Overall, there are numerous amounts of skills I’ve learned throughout this process. Some of them include, social media management, creative skills, strategic planning & execution, data analysis, communication & collaboration, business & marketing skills, time management, and adaptability & learning. I appreciated this project stretching me to new lengths, because these skills will undoubtedly benefit me in future endeavors.

However, there are deeper takeaways I believe to be more important; I’ve learned that there are doors just waiting to be opened that offer endless possibilities and experiences! I’ve learned that I have the ability to take circumstances into my own hands and make my own thoughts and dreams come to life. I realized that instead of waiting for things to happen, taking action boosts my self-confidence and belief in myself.

There will always be more money to make and more followers to gain, but as I plan on continuing this project, I’ve learned that there are more important things to learn & more incredible people to meet when using social media in a positive way.

This is a quote⁵ that resonates with what I’ve come to learn so far:

May we all be able to use social media in a positive way to connect with others around us, share the light we all have inside, and influence the world to do more good.

—

Here is the link to my Instagram to check out my work over this last semester and as I stay active on Hello Reagan!

1. Main, K. (2024, May 22). Sprout social review 2024: Features, pros and cons. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/software/sprout-social-review/#:~:text=Sprout%20Social%20ranked%20as%20Forbes,platforms%20from%20one%20centralized%20location. ↩︎
2. 50+ must-know social media marketing statistics for 2024. Sprout Social. (2024a, May 22). https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-statistics/#:~:text=It’s%20now%20projected%20that%20%24255.8,revenue%20towards%20their%20ads%20budget. ↩︎
3. Sprout Social. (2024, June 13). What is Influencer Marketing: An Influencer strategy guide for 2024. Sprout Social. https://sproutsocial.com/insights/influencer-marketing/ ↩︎
4. Hall, J. (2024, May 2). How lifestyle content marketing can help you reach your ideal customer. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnhall/2024/04/21/why-lifestyle-content-marketing-can-help-you-reach-your-ideal-customer/ ↩︎
5. Elder David A. Bednar Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. (2015, August 1). Flood the Earth through social media. Homepage – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/liahona/2015/08/youth/flood-the-earth-through-social-media?lang=eng ↩︎