Party people, I'm not sure who needs to hear this but keep going. Keep creating and keep putting in the work. What's right for you is on the way.

Recap: The top clicks in the last two sends were The Great Online Game and 5 YouTubers You Need To Know.

Callout: Don't forget to subscribe to Creator Crew TV.

Today's Highlights:

• Where brands plan to spend their budget
• Discord launches an audio rooms discovery feature
• Gaming Influencers are the future of Esports
• In-house
• Leveraging Empathy To Build & Market Creator Products

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Creator Coin Watch

Top Weekly Bitclout Creators

1. elonmusk ~$60,626.56

2. naval ~$41,038.62

3. chamath ~$28,183.41

4. craig ~$27,776.47

5. Da5id ~$27,398.05

6. WhaleSharkdotPro ~$27,042.54

7. arianagrande ~$20,997.23

8. balajis ~$18,413.52

9. dharmann ~$18,010.19

10. jakeudell
~$17,577.41



*BitClout data is taken prior to every newsletter send.
Current BitClout Coin price = $154.73 per coin. Down from $172.12 per coin.

Top Weekly Rally Creators

1. PTM Coin ~$57.45

2. KSK Honda Chain ~$53.08

3. Allie Coin ~$51.966

4. Gen.G Strike Coin ~$51.04

5. Kevin Chou Coin ~$39.21

6. QuestCrypto ~$34.38

7. ART Coin ~$18.14

8. Skot Coin ~$17.93

9. Moon Coin ~$16.01

10. CAT ~$15.50

*Rally Coin data is taken every prior to newsletter send. Current RLY Coin price = $1.027 per coin. Up from $1.06  per coin.

Talking Creators

Where Brands Plan To Spend Their Budget

Pre-creator economy boom and the pandemic, a majority of marketing budgets were spent on Instagram and Google. Now budgets are seeing more allocation to YouTube, TikTok, and Twitch as influencer marketing budgets grow.

Facebook and Instagram will not lose their dominance, but they will become amplification channels rather than discovery as customer acquisition costs (CAC) increase and limited tracking (aka iOS 14.5) impact ad performance.

If you're a consumer brand, it's worth testing your spend on YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat for prospecting, and Instagram/Facebook for retargeting. Test this by using UTMs to segment the traffic driven by your creators and creating custom audiences for IG/Facebook retargeting and lookalikes based on audience behaviors (e.g., purchases, add to carts, lead form submissions, or longer than usual dwell time).

When done right, the result is usually a lower CAC and higher conversion rates. Just note that this won't be 100% clean attribution as some customers might Google or directly search your product (especially when using TikTok), so keep an eye on your direct traffic.


More On Creators

• The creator of Dogecoin speaks on everyone's favorite meme coin.

Talking Social & Platforms

Discord Launches Audio Rooms Discovery

The challenge with live audio rooms is the same challenge that impacts podcasts. Discovery is difficult. It's the reason platforms like Clubhouse are showing a decline in downloads (that and an increase in vaccinations). Discord looks to get in front of that problem with the addition of a searchable public feed of curated Audio Rooms.

Gaming Influencers Are The Future of Esports

Despite being a multi-billion dollar industry, Esports athletes are dropping the pro route and going the influencer route. The reason? Influencer money hits different and it doesn't require 18 hour days of training. Yes, 18 hours.


More On Platforms

• Collective raises a $20M Series A to aggregate the back-office operations in an all-in-one subscription for creators.
• Jellysmack raises their Series C with help from Softbank Vision Fund 2 to expand internationally. (shouts to Steven Sunmonu for the tip)

In-house (original essays, thoughts and content)

When you get good at sales, really good at sales, you realize it less about tactics and IQ and more about EQ. The same can be said about founders and product managers. Those that excel are able to leverage large amounts of EQ and empathy to properly address customer's pain points. This is why founder/market fit is so important. The ability to understand and leverage the first-hand experience of a market on a visceral level is important. When you’re the building for creators, first-hand experience of a creators challenges is essential. To gain that knowledge, you need to be a creator yourself.

Leveraging Empathy To Build & Market Creator Products

Gems

• Following up on the game: The Internet gives more opportunities to those that show up consistently.
• Platforms have a predator problem: A new report highlighted that kids are being preyed upon online in record numbers. The kicker? Platforms are well aware.
• It's all connected: Amazon and Apple are creating their own mesh networks. Who needs wifi and hotspots?

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