Platforms and apps for content creators
Thousands of platforms and apps for content creators have sprung up in the last couple of years. Pigro has selected a few that can be useful both for the content creation phase and for sharing it with the public and monetizing it.
What is creator economy?
This term refers to the economy that has to do with the creation of content (video, audio, written, etc.) by people with different interests and passions, the content creators.
Today in the world there are about 50 million creators, of which 2 million are professionals. Of these, it is estimated that half use Youtube, and have a channel with more than 10k subscribers, while the rest prefer Instagram – 500k – and Twitch (source: https://signalfire.com/blog/creator-economy/).
According to a research by Stripe, a U.S. company that offers online payment services, by 2021 the number of content creators who directly monetize the sale of online content will have grown by 48%. More and more people, in fact, are using platforms that allow them to create and share original content with their loyal audience, without the need, therefore, to use intermediaries such as brands and media to make a profit.
Stripe looked at 50 of the most widely used platforms for creating and sharing content, whose overall monetization reaches $10 billion.
The role of Covid emergence in the content creation industry
Even if we can’t say that the creator economy was born now, a strong push has been given by digitization (which in turn has become a necessity due to Covid-19) and by the considerable use of social media in the last year, which has turned many of them into platforms for the creation of content by individuals and companies.
The pandemic and subsequent lockdown have certainly played a key role in this growth, pushing many people to become “creators”, partly to find alternative ways of relating to the world, and in particular the online world, and partly out of a need to continue with activities that can no longer be done physically: for example, the very first to monetize their online content were digital course creators.
Apps for content creators selected by Pigro
So here’s a list of apps, broken down by functionality, with which to start creating content.
Writing Apps
–Paragraphs: this free web app makes it easier to organize and write written content. For those who have large amounts of documents, it is sometimes difficult to organize ideas; with Paragraphs, you can easily extract information by asking simple questions and saving interesting answers in a new document.
–Medium: This blogging platform or CMS (content management system) allows you to write and share articles. It can be accessed for free by connecting your social profiles and starting to compile your own bio.
–Quora: is a social platform where you can get information, it is based on questions and answers from users, just like a forum, divided by topics. If you are an expert in a particular field you can create a profile for free, filling in the fields of interest, and start answering questions from your audience.
Graphics and video apps
In addition to Tik Tok, Instagram, Snapchat, and other social platforms, for the creation and editing of photos and videos, we suggest the following apps:
–Adobe Creative Cloud: the Adobe suite, of which Photoshop is part, is also available in a free mobile version, with limited functionality for photo editing, video editing, graphic design, and creation of other content for the web.
–VSCO: This app for iOS and Android, allows you to edit photos and videos, with preset filters and editing tools. In addition, you can also share your shots on VSCO’s public library.
–InShot: video editing app, allows you to make and edit videos quickly and with intuitive features, then share them on social channels.
Podcasts, audio, and music
–Soundcloud: is a music-sharing website that allows artists and musicians to collaborate, share and promote their music.
–Audible: owned by Amazon, this is a subscription service that allows users to purchase and listen to audiobooks, radio and television programs, magazines, and newspapers in digital audio format.
–Storytel: again, the app is available for iOS and Android and offers streaming subscription services to enjoy audiobooks and podcasts in over 20 countries.
Online courses
–Gumroad: is a digital marketplace where you can self-publish and sell digital services, like courses, subscriptions, books, etc.
–Teachable: helps users create courses and share their skills with thousands of users from all over the world.
Community engagement and crowdfunding
Lately, there have been several platforms where you can monetize your content, making it available to your fanbase, with the aim of creating a community that supports the creator.
–Substack: is the American platform that offers a space to publish and manage paid newsletters, created by writers and sent directly to subscribers;
–Buy me a coffee: crowdfunding platform that allows creators to receive donations from their supporters;
–Twitter “super followers”: on Twitter, the recent launch of the Super Follows feature allows creators to share exclusive content with their users for a monthly subscription fee.
Read also: The best apps for organizing work remotely