A lot of people discovered that they can get paid to do what they love, all thanks to the monetization system in social media and streaming sites. They can play games for hours or cook various recipes, and all they have to do is film it as they do their thing.
It sounds like a good deal since it won't really feel like work, but content creators don't often show what happens behind the scenes, which is why you might've missed the aspects of the job that don't sound as appealing.
Struggles of Getting Viewers
Getting a couple of views won't be enough for you to earn on social media. You need to build up your brand and account so you would get more followers, and in turn, get more views. Most, if not all social media and streaming platforms will use that to calculate how much you get paid.
With YouTube, for instance, you will need to accumulate 4,000 hours of watch time from viewers in 12 months before you can generate ad revenue, as well as 1,000 subscribers at least. The requirements will vary depending on the platform you intend to focus on.
Editing Takes a Lot of Time
Most of the video content you'll find on social media has already gone through meticulous editing to remove unnecessary or unwanted scenes. They are also usually pieced together and the sounds are cleaned out and matched.
It will be easy enough once you get the hang of your editor of choice, but even with the skills, it will sometimes even take hours to edit one video, let alone many more in the succeeding days as you post more content.
You Will Eventually Get Content Fatigue
When you've been creating content for a while, you are bound to experience fatigue, wherein you no longer have the ability to come up with new ideas for content. Some creators experience it sooner while others later, but not necessarily everyone gets it.
If you're among those who have ideas storming in every time you need them, then you can consider yourself a lucky one, but the workload still doesn't end there, since the more ideas you think of, the more work you'll have to put in.
It Takes a Lot of Your Personal Time
If you intend to take on content creation as your main source of income, you will have to give it your all, which means that you will have to invest more time and leave little for everything else. Depending on the content you create, you might even spend the whole day working.
This is a common problem for a lot of creators. Some, like creators of video gaming content, tend to feel isolated after some time since most forms of gaming don't really give you the luxury of hanging out with people in person.
Not Everything is In Your Control
One of the keys to successfully monetizing your content is creating something that people would want to see. If you're flexible with your content, then you will likely survive the ever-changing tide of trends, but having a singular theme could mean that you would lose engagements someday.
You will also have to learn about the algorithm of the site you intend to post on. By simply posting without understanding the mechanics, you will only rely on luck to get viewers to watch your content. Plus, your revenue will be subject to the platform's policies, so you might get more or less in the future.
