The Big Differences Between a Hobby vs Professional Content Creator

Wondering what the difference is between a hobby vs professional content creator? Here’s what makes the difference—from a professional content creator!

This blog post is brought to you by my 💡How to Build a Niche Community Online Course

In the beginning, creating content online was purely a hobby. But times have changed!

Gone are the days of not being able to monetize content creation, in fact, it’s one of the biggest growing industries in the world with more and more creators becoming professional content creators every day.

I took content creation full-time in 2020, and over that time learned there are definitely clear differences between a hobby content creator and a professional content creator.

P.S. – In the context of this post a professional creator is described as a content creator who is paid for their content creation vs. a hobby content creator that is not.

In this post, I’ll be sharing everything you need to know about what makes the difference between creating content for fun and being considered a professional creator in the industry. Let’s get into it!

Hobby Vs. Professional Content Creator

Hobby Content Creators Don’t Have a Clear Brand or Niche

The beautiful thing about being a hobby vs professional content creator is you can truly talk about anything you want if you don’t plan to ever monetize your content.

But what makes a professional content creator truly is being known for something in the content space (which is what brands are looking for too when it comes time to work with you).

If your content is a hogpog of different videos, topics, and ideas that have no correlation to each other—it’s a pretty clear sign you don’t intend to grow a niche community online through your work.

P.S. – Having a clear brand and niche doesn’t mean you’re talking about the same exact thing every single video/piece of content, but it does mean there’s a clear general theme your content follows that people most likely follow you for.

Professional Creators Have a Plan For Their Content

‘If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.’

When you do content creation professionally, like any job, you show up prepared.

Now, does this mean you have a perfectly curated content schedule for every hour of the day? Absolutely not!

But it does mean you have a clear plan for what types of videos you’ll post, how often, and when, as well as a production plan for when you shoot, film and edit your content on a regular basis.

If you post three videos one week, then another one three months from now it’s probably due to a lack of planning your content—the number one thing that makes a professional content creator!

Hobby Content Creators Don’t Attract Brand Partnership Attention

When it comes time for brands to scout content creators to work with, they’re looking for creators with a clear brand that aligns with theirs and a creator that posts consistently.

Hobby content creators don’t tend to attract brand partnerships as they don’t have a clear online community that is interested in what that brand wants to sell.

Professional content creators on the other hand, have a clear plan for how they’ll attract brand partnerships and the proper set up to work with brands once they do get approached (like a registrered business or sole tradership, a media kit, invoicing process etc.).

Professional Content Creators Understand It Takes Skills Like Any Job

There’s a misconception in the content creation space that anyone can do it.

And although anyone can get attention on social media, not everyone can be a professional content creator.

Like any job there are hard and soft skills involved in being an influencer or content creator that you’ll need to learn to make this a job or career of any kind—including but not limited to editing, SEO, campaign management, on-camera skills, time management and more!

Hobby Content Creators Don't Focus On Social Listening

This goes back to the ‘niche and brand’ bit, but social listening to understand what your audience wants from you is a key part of being a professional content creator that isn’t necessarily as important to hobby creators.

When you’re building a niche community online it truly is about having a relationship with your audience and having a ‘community first’ mindset.

If everything you create is just for you with no correlation to what your audience wants, it’ll be very difficult to monetize as a creator over the long term.

Consistency Is the Biggest Difference Between a Hobby & Professional Content Creator

For all the differences there are between a hobby and professional content creator, it really does all come down to one thing.

Consistency.

Every professional content creator simply started as a consistent hobby content creator, and that’s the way it’ll always be!

In finding your brand and voice, creating a content schedule and consistently producing high-quality content, I guarantee you’ll be well on your way to becoming a professional creator. Which is basically getting paid to create content about things that you love!

Final Thoughts on Hobby & Professional Content Creators

I hope this post helped you realise the difference between hobby and professional content creators, from having a clear niche and brand, having a plan for your content, attracting brand partnership attention, understanding it takes skills like any job, focusing on social listening and putting consistency above everything.

You’ve got this!