Nanos are the future of brand content creation - Traditional social creatives are outdated

tl;dr

• The rise of TikTok has shifted the focus of all social media platforms - towards a more content-led method of serving content to users
• This means anyone, in theory, who makes great content can achieve reach in social and engage audiences
• The proof is in the stats - in 2020 the amount of Nano creators doubled to 200 million globally - who now make up 70% of all creators
• 39% of all brands are now mainly using Nano creators in their marketing vs. 12% who mostly use Mega creators
• The biggest knock-on effect of this is: social platforms are content hungry, and brands now need to make more content than ever before in order to keep up

‘Social media content creation’ is ever-present on social job descriptions up and down the country, along with hundreds of other responsibilities - from strategy to graphic design, community moderation to influencer marketing expertise. It’s a common misconception that one or two people can run an entire brand’s social media presence in-house, for practically zero budget.?

Can one person in-house really create social-winning content while doing all those other jobs too? Or do brands now have a new option to help them win in social content?

Content-led algorithms have changed social platforms, and that’s changing content marketing.

Social media is changing at a rapid rate, and we’ve recently seen the biggest shift in how social works since Instagram launched an algorithm-based feed in 2016. It’s all to do with TikTok; not a huge platform in the US and Europe until lockdown in 2020, it quickly became a major platform in a matter of months. They have created machine learning that decides what you see on your feed that is so advanced, every other platform is now playing catch up. These changes are going to alter how social media marketing works in every way, and this change is already underway.

The biggest effect TikTok has had is the invention of the content-led algorithm. In short, the algorithm treats every piece of content on the merits of the content itself, and focuses drastically less on the person who posted it. It doesn’t sound too drastic, but that change in focus changes everything for social marketing. This shift in focus has led to changes across Instagram (Reels), YouTube (shorts), and even Snapchat (Spotlight) - no-one should consider these changes as TikTok-specific.

Platforms are now content-hungry beasts that need feeding every day.

This algorithm change means every piece of content is taken on its merits, rather than brands or influencers building up a following over time, reaching increasingly bigger audiences. Making content people like will help it reach big audiences, make content that doesn’t resonate and the algorithm will effectively bury it. Platforms need to be fed more data more frequently to give you more visibility on other people’s feeds - and that means you need to post frequently, all the time.

It’s almost that simple. Far from just posting more often, there’s a few key things to consider if you’re going to write a strategy for your social video creation:

Only recent engagement counts, really recent. Algorithms still take your track record into account, but the window to how far back the algorithm looks is quite short. The key implication; your achievements over the last 5 years mean nothing, your achievements over your last 5 posts mean quite a lot.?

Follower count means very little, too. As a user, you don’t need to follow anyone to enjoy these new platforms. This is all down to advanced ML (machine learning), tracking what you like to watch and giving you more of it. The end of measuring brands and creators by their follower counts is coming.

This means you can wear multiple content hats. Content finds its audience, which means you can post about different topics and not hit the same people. The important thing is, you can’t over-post; the platform knows who wants your content as soon as you post it, whether they know you, or not.

Trends are like rocket fuel for organic. Trends have become very important. With a content-led algorithm, platforms reward posts that are timely and relevant to a more extreme extent. That’s why we see mega trends on TikTok, when it seems everyone in your feed is getting in on the exact same trend at once, and then it’s over. Speed of change is a direct result of this new way of serving up social content.

A content-led approach means both brands and creators have a new golden rule to work to - create good content at scale to gain traction.?

There is a huge opportunity for brands - they’re called Nano Creators.?

The big winner from TikTok’s rise to dominance is the Nano creator, and it’s because of these technical changes to social media. Nano creators in the marketing world are at the opposite end to the influencer spectrum; talented creators with much smaller and niche communities to their “Mega” counterparts. Brands are already beginning to embrace the change and work more with Nano creators.?

According to Influencer Marketing Hub, 39% of brands are “mostly using Nanos” for their campaigns, the biggest sector. Only 12% continue to mostly use “Mega / celebrity influencers”. In the same study, 55% of brands were using TikTok as the main channel for influencer marketing, now above Instagram (50%).

To bring Nano creators into your social strategy, there’s a couple of changes in approach when looking at your social plans. The first is making a shift from influence to creation. Nano creators can make your brand excellent, authentic social content straight from your brief. But you shouldn’t measure Nano content by its reach, but by their ability to create relevant content for you. If you want to reach bigger audiences, think about using paid media to your advantage. The one thing Nanos can’t do for you, you can purchase - access to a targeted audience with a call to action - through any platform's paid products. Done properly, the cost of creation-plus-media will outperform other media channels for reach, engagement and conversion; figures from TikTok Spark Ads show that this “promoted UGC” approach achieves 42% higher conversion than brand-made advertising.

In summary, why are Nano creators so effective?

The short answer is, Nano creators are a highly cost effective way to make a lot of content:

• They are high quality - There’s no difference in quality between the best nanos and the best big influencers. With a wealth of talent out there if you look for it (or use a platform to find them for you). Many Nano creators spend more than 16 hours per week creating content for their own profiles (DRPCRD survey 2023).
• They’re authentic - think of Nano creators as your creative team, who are also your target audience, even your customers. Pay them to make your ads, your reviews, your funny sketches. Use them frequently, build up a relationship where they get to know the content you want.
• They are abundant - With millions of Nano creators out there making great content, as a brand you can curate the ultimate team of creators, to suit exactly what you need.
• They’re cheaper - you don’t have to pay for “influence” if that’s not what you want. Buy content and boost it via paid advertising, or go for an organic strategy and ride trends. By purchasing just the content creation, you can create effective content at scale, and on a budget.

There is an army of creators out there who would love to join your social team. Machine learning algorithms make it imperative to produce and post content at a higher frequency than ever before and with most businesses tightening their staff cost belts the Nanos represent an incredible opportunity. The cost of entry is low and the reward is exponential.?

Visit drpcrd.com to find out how you can use Nano creators to drive ROI.