When Beyoncé took her ‘Renaissance World Tour’ abroad in 2023, stories circulated of Americans flying to Paris and Hamburg, Germany to see the ‘Break My Soul’ singer live — spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars in the process. save tickets – headlines.
Travel-focused content creator Mercedes Arielle saw an opportunity. Not only did she secure tickets to see Queen Bey in Stockholm for the May 10, 2023, tour opener, but she also wanted to tell her nearly 200,000 followers how they could get in on the deal.
When the tickets went on sale, the Dallas-based entrepreneur posted a tip on her Instagram and TikTok in February 2023 for securing cheaper international tickets to the superstar’s concerts. She told Yahoo Entertainment that her tip was “a factor that contributed to 50% of Swedish ticket sales going to Beyoncé.” [in Sweden] were…specifically Americans.”
Arielle, also known as Calculated Opulence, has an audience composed primarily of black women between the ages of 25 and 44, and focuses on solo sightseeing and “affordable luxury.”
“We are serious about traveling, we have the disposable income to do that, and if we stand behind something and believe in it, we will show up,” she said.
“I don’t think people really take into account the way women of color travel internationally,” Arielle says. “Because we don’t see ourselves in marketing materials, in the campaigns that tourism boards create, or because we don’t see the kind of travel that resonates with us, we often worry that these are not places and spaces that celebrate. diversity.”
Therefore, she said, there is “a need for much more targeting, especially given our ability to spend and stimulate local economies.”
Arielle is one of approximately 12 million content creators in the US who are turning influence into a lucrative full-time career.
So lucrative, in fact, that Goldman Sachs Research estimated the creative economy to be worth $250 billion by 2023, a figure the investment bank believes could reach nearly $500 billion in the next few years.
“Where is that money going to come from?” asked Steven Bertoni, assistant editor at Forbes, during the publication’s inaugural Creator Upfronts, which the publication co-hosted with Walmart Creator in Los Angeles this week. “Brand partnerships. They think 70% of that revenue comes from brand partnerships.”
These partnerships with retailers, beauty brands or film studios can be profitable for creators and make the difference between full-time influencing and juggling a 9-to-5 job to make ends meet.
Partnerships can also be tricky – for both parties – when money and reputation are at stake, especially since content creators know how much authenticity matters.
“Content creators aren’t just people who post on social media,” Sarah Henry, vice president and head of content, influencer and commerce at Walmart, told Yahoo Entertainment. “They are entrepreneurs who have built a brand and from it built a business that offers both passive and active income opportunities. They found a way to create those revenue opportunities not only through their content, but also through the way they had to carefully manage their communities and the way they had to engage them.
It’s that tight-knit community that helped Dani Austin, who has 3 million followers across platforms, connect about hair loss and eventually launch her own hair care line to help treat it.
“I had always shared the ups and downs with my audience. I was always very vulnerable, you know, whether it was postpartum depression or something that I was going through, that was more of a struggle,” Austin said on a panel at the event. “I wasn’t afraid to share it.”
So when Austin started losing her hair in 2019, she shared that too.
“I was really embarrassed about it, and it happened for so many different reasons: stress and then alopecia from traction from hair extensions trying to cover it up and dyeing it to make it look thicker. But then I just lost more,” she said.
It got to the point where she looked at her husband and said, ‘I don’t even want to leave the house. For example, I don’t even feel feminine anymore.”
After he told her she should get a wig like the Kardashians, she not only bought one (and named it Kim), but told her audience about it, used her chemistry degree and worked with scientists to create 2021 to create her Divi hair growth serum.
Austin’s serum sold 40 million copies in its first year – all through a link on Instagram.
“I discovered a kind of hidden epidemic of women going through something similar,” she said. “And it was the first time I met my audience in person – and they were crying.”
For creator Jordan Howlett, who has 32 million followers across social media platforms and posts about everything from food hacks to how Gen Z is “aging like milk,” he likens his community and influence to the captain of a sports team.
“In the creator space you have the power to really make people feel like not only are they being heard, but that they’re part of something bigger than just themselves or even you,” Howlett said on a panel at the event . .
But managing brand deals, partnerships, posting content and community engagement, and maintaining authenticity also comes with its own stressors, which audiences don’t always see on screen.
“To be completely honest, there is serious fear with this stuff,” Howlett said. “It’s a tough grind. I mean, those levels of fear are still there. Those levels of overthinking and over-anxiety are there. They are always there. But that’s what makes you authentic. Instead of trying to mask or hide it, you [have to] be open to it.”
Howlett, who has worked with celebrities such as Donald Glover, said authenticity is the most important thing.
“When it comes to brand deals or partnerships, I never worry about involvement. Because if you do that, at that moment you are no longer yourself,” he said.
Howlett added that while having an audience of millions can be daunting, his work is much more manageable when he posts in front of his bathroom mirror.
“When you make a video, I’m just trying to talk to you,” he said. ‘You don’t see it as: OK, I’m going to talk to more than thirty million people now. You act like I’m having a conversation with you, and everyone can join in, and that’s how it helps.”
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