By Thomas Peham, VP of Marketing, Storyblok
With constant shifts and changes in social media, creators face challenges when they over-rely on a single platform for showcasing and monetizing their talents. These challenges highlight the risk of becoming dependent solely on a few platforms when building a follower base, which can be impacted by unexpected feature changes or platform decisions.
To mitigate these risks, it’s important for these creators to avoid over-reliance on a single platform. How? Creators need to prioritize building personal relationships with their followers, employing tactics such as direct engagement via newsletters or personal blogs and platform diversification. It’s also important to spend time posting, liking and commenting on more than one platform. Forward-thinking creators will view these challenges as valuable lessons in the importance of nurturing a robust audience base not tied to a single platform. Done right, embracing this strategy can enable creators to grow their audience base, increase fan loyalty and ultimately set them up to be more resilient creators.
The Imperative of Platform Diversification
According to Statista, the size of the influencer market has more than doubled since 2019. This year the market was estimated at a record 21.1 billion U.S. dollars. For creators aiming to ensure their presence’s longevity, platform diversification is more than just a contingency plan – it’s an opportunity to connect with a broader audience and safeguard your content against unpredictable disruptions.
Adapting content for platforms like Instagram, YouTube, or Threads, can ensure that your creative output remains accessible to your audience. The rapid popularity of is a great example of how embracing a diversified approach can bring opportunity for a creator to grow. According to Qwartz, Threads has rapidly notched up a huge user base, becoming the fastest-growing social app ever by surging to 100 million registered users within just five days of its release.
This approach involves more than simply reposting videos to other platforms. Creators should tailor their content to the unique strengths and audience preferences of each platform. Take time to learn and understand what algorithms work best on each platform. The goal is to optimize a follower’s experience each platform and making sure a creator’s brand looks and feels cohesive across multiple platforms.
Capitalizing on Opportunities in Similar Apps
Challenges in the digital space can serve as an opportunity for creators to explore similar platforms. If a creator wants to move away from TikTok; Instagram’s Reels, for instance, allow for the creation of short, creative videos. Data shows that Instagram Reels have become Instagram’s fastest-growing feature worldwide. When the feature was first released, Instagram’s usage in Brazil grew by 4.3% – a testament to how much influence a feature update from a company can impact the usage (or abandonment) of that platform.
Transitioning a follower base to new platforms requires strategic communication and consistent branding. The key is to make the transition as smooth as possible, ensuring that followers feel at home on the new platform and that your brand remains recognisable and content is appealing.
Building Rapport and Strengthening Direct Engagement
Augmenting platform diversification, direct engagement with your audience can serve as a should be a more direct and personalized approach to building a creator’s following. Creators can cultivate stronger relationships with their followers through personalized DMs or newsletters. This direct approach can foster deeper connections, enhancing audience loyalty and reducing reliance on third-party platforms. Data shows that 40% of Twitter users have made a purchase as a direct result of a Tweet by an influencer.
Live streaming platforms, like Twitch, present another opportunity for real-time interactions. These platforms allow for a level of immediacy and interactivity that rivals other real-time content experiences.
Challenges in the digital space serve as reminders that a resilient audience base is integral to a creator’s success. Creators must ensure that their audience base is not solely dependent on a single platform, but rather, is spread across multiple platforms and nurtured through direct engagement. By diversifying platforms and focusing on building personal connections, creators can ensure that their creativity thrives despite any digital landscape shifts. This focus on adaptability and diversification is crucial in an ever-changing digital world.
About the Author
Thomas Peham is an experienced SaaS professional, hobby runner, semi-pro photographer, and certified barista. He works in SaaS marketing since 2014, and heads the marketing team as VP Marketing at Storyblok, the first Headless CMS for developers and marketers.
