Dec 2022 - Feb 2023
Pierced Media
How do we minimize content monetization barriers for Gen Z creators?
Project Overview
Pierced Media, a Coil Technologies Inc. subsidiary, sought to gather perspectives from creators to understand how they monetize their online content. More specifically, the team was in search of ways to help creators better monetize their podcast content across different platforms. So, I asked:
How might we reduce barriers to content monetization for Gen Z creators?
Timeline
8 Weeks
Project Type
Content Creator research, Monetization web tools, Qualitative research
Client
Skills
Teammates
Shweta Katyal - Director of Content
Ashna Rodjan - Project Manager
Mikaela Wild - Social Media Manager
Braelyn Boynton - Developer
Why Gen Z?
Gen Z is revolutionizing the creator industry
Between 2021 & Q1 2022, Gen Z podcast listenership increased 62%
75% of Gen Zs in the U.S. use Audio content to understand themselves better, compared with 60% of millennials
**Stats from the 2022 Spotify Culture Next Report
How do creators monetize their online content?
Project Discovery & Definition
From my initial conversations with the team, it was clear that they were seeking to build tools that will help creators monetize their podcast content. During our planning discussions, the following goals emerged as priorities for this phase of research:
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Understand how creators make a living & their preferred ways of generating income.
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Recognize creator pain points associated with content monetization.
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Uncover details about how creators typically navigate distributing collaborative content.
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Highlight payment pain points associated with brand collaborations.
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Uncover which type of content creator would be most interested in an affiliate links AI tool.
Study Prep
From our study goals, it was clear that the team sought to design for a range of creator types. I structured a research plan that included conducting 10 interviews, which would allow us to understand the breadth of creator experiences, while accommodating for time constraints. I also put together an interview guide and set up a sign-up schedule for at least one internal stakeholder to sit in as a quite observer during each interview.
Participant Recruiting
After devising a research plan, I began sourcing creators for 1:1 Interviews through the User Interviews platform. Working closely with internal stakeholders, we established participant criteria and formulated screener questions to ensure that we gathered targeted perspectives from our ideal creators.
Participant Criteria
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Must be a social media creator on Instagram, TikTok, and/or Youtube.
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Must be currently earning money from the above platforms.
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Must have 10K+ followers on Instagram, 100K followers on TikTok, and/or 50K subscribers on Youtube.
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Must have used various forms of income-generating sources (google ads, brand deals, affiliate marketing).
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Must have experience working with other brands.
What can we learn from creators?
Collecting & Synthesizing Data
Using Dovetail’s analysis tools, I was able to search for and identify patterns that could potentially give us more information on how the 10 creators we interviewed monetize and the pain points associated with their current monetization experiences.
Through observing different patterns, I extracted five major insights:
Insight
Recommendation
Creators are searching for ways to balance the effort and reward of maintaining multiple affiliates.
Give them the ability to manage multiple programs in one centralized location.
Creators have scattered payment systems, so they gravitate toward tools that are intuitive and easy to use.
Provide straightforward on-boarding and a simplified dashboard.
Creators are heavily influenced by their followers when making monetization decisions
Allow for easy management of partner programs.
Creators want to expand into podcasts but need support monetizing their audio content.
Focus on automated generation of links from multiple vendors.
Creators value smooth payment processes, so they are more willing to collaborate with brands that offer quicker payouts.
Allow for immediate cash-outs.
Creator Personas
From my findings, I was able to construct creator proto-personas that can help the team address the needs of different types of creators.
The Newcomer
These creators are typically new to content creation. They are typically very open and eager to try anything that has the potential to help their online business but need resources to help guide them in turning their brand into a sustainable business.
The Cautiously Committed
These creators have started to understand how to run their content business, but are still learning how to balance their time and content priorities. They have become more familiar with the needs of their followers, but are still figuring out how to keep their fans committed long-term & have started thinking about expanding into other niches.
The Veteran
These creators have typically been making content for a while and understand the needs of their communities very well. They often know what works for them and what doesn’t, which makes them selective about their partnerships and apprehensive about adopting new tools into their brand management operation. However, because they have years of experience, they know that their content needs to evolve and are actively expanding into other niches.
Persona Needs & Opportunities
The Newcomer
Informative Resources
Key Need:
Key Opportunity:
Produce guides for creators covering content guidelines, monetization suggestions, and other valuable resources that could be helpful to those who are new to content creation.
The Cautiously Committed
Streamlining Systems
Key Need:
Key Opportunity:
Advertise tools or services that allow these creators to streamline their monetization. They’re done trying just any tool and need to be sold on products that will simplify their current process even more.
The Veteran
Evolution
Key Need:
Key Opportunity:
Make these creators feel like they are staying competitive by using monetization products produced by PIERCED. These creators know how quickly change happens within content creation and want to stay competitive.
Research Impact
Shopwithus: After sharing my findings with the Pierced team, my findings contributed to the development of a monetization tool that auto-generates affiliate links for different products creators mention during their podcast episodes.
Creator guides for program management
Allows immediate cash-outs
Managing affiliates from different platforms & vendors
Easy management of partnership programs
Easy management of partnership programs
Straightford on-boarding and simplified dashboard
**Please be aware that these are not my designs, I only contributed to the research that led to the development of this design.**
Challenges & Learnings
Knowing how to pivot: Although we wanted podcast creators, we had to recognize that the majority of our potential participants did not make podcast content. Out of 264 potential participants, less than a third met the qualification criteria entirely. I wanted to ensure that we spoke to a demographically diverse set of creators, so I had to decide which elements of the screener were absolutely essential and which could be relaxed to expand our criteria even more.
Internal stakeholder participation: Overall, I also found that having different Pierced stakeholders sit in on interviews was incredibly important for distilling insights later on. By having team members participate in this step, they were made aware of themes surrounding what creators were feeling and, as a consequence, were more open to adopting the insights when the time came. Incorporating team member participation was crucial for making stakeholders feel included in the research process.