Linktree’s 2023 Creator Report: : How to Navigate Attention Overload and Break Through the Noise

The creator economy is bigger than ever. In one “internet minute,” 60M minutes of content are streamed, 167M TikTok videos are watched, and 65k photos are uploaded to Instagram. It’s no wonder that more than 40% of people “feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of choice on the internet.”

Our ability to pay attention has deteriorated over the past two decades — as a result, creators are vying for limited attention, thus facing challenges in reaching and growing their audience, and making money off their work.

With more than 200M creators competing for a share of the market, the Linktree 2023 Creator Report is here to guide you through taking ownership of your online channels, cutting through the noise and securing the bag.

Getting your sh*t together

The internet is vast and diverse, with creators sharing over 100M links to 7.5M different websites in 2022. Despite the dominance of platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok, they make up only a fraction of the links shared, highlighting the fierce competition for attention.

So how do you cut through the noise? Creating a unified digital presence can lead to cross-discovery. Users visit Linktrees more than three times a month on average, suggesting that showcasing all your content can lead to returning visitors discovering new content. You also don’t need to be an internet star to see this kind of engagement, a majority of these links are generated by small-scale creators!

The most successful Linktrees receive traffic from Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter, but don’t limit yourself to just your social media profiles. Visibility is key and having a consistent link in bio drives more visibility for your content. 

Unifying your content is important, but it’s only the beginning. Reducing dependence on online algorithms is the next step to gaining more creative freedom and capturing your audience’s attention.

The Algorithm is NOT your friend

Algorithms control content discovery on social media and search engines, creating barriers between you and potential followers. To break through, consider your Linktree as a direct line to your audience, giving them what they are looking for without having to wait in line for information.

On social media, catering to the algorithm leads to “content collapse,” meaning that the same content gets served over and over again, thus limiting diversity in content. Instead, focus on authenticity over algorithms and guide your audience efficiently. 

The order of links on your Linktree significantly impacts engagement. The first three links receive much higher click-through rates (CTRs) than the rest. Creators who create and post priority links,  links that draw more attention via fun and engaging animations, saw a boost in engagement, and this is ideal for highlighting important content, the latest releases, and online storefronts.

Building a community fosters authentic relationships and insulates you from algorithm changes. Community-building links like Patreon, Reddit, and Typeform have tripled in clicks, showing audiences’ desire to connect with creators.

Once again, you don’t need a huge following to benefit from a community-focused approach: a majority of creators who have received engagement with their Discord link are also small-scale users.

Turn your likes into cold hard ca$h

Turning your side hustle into a successful career is harder than ever but necessary for long-term financial stability. In fact, according to this year’s Creator Report, only 75% of creators earned more than $500 off their work in the last year and only 2% of creators made more than $50K (a livable wage). So what is a creator looking to expand their revenue opportunities to do?

Creators are finding success by making it easy for their audience to support them, including tips, requests, and sales through storefront links. Links to platforms like Shopify and Spring increased in 2022, driving millions of clicks. And one of the biggest players in online commerce, Amazon, continued its growth, especially on Prime Day and Black Friday.

This year during Prime Days we saw a 30% increase in accounts with Amazon links and links created nearly doubled. Visitors were also eager to explore their favorite creators’ storefronts. Average daily clicks on Prime Days increased by 113%, showing the power of seizing a key moment to create momentum. In fact, Amazon storefront links were the most clicked links on both Prime Days, across all of Linktree.

Last year on Black Friday, Amazon links saw 184% growth in clicks and a 39% increase in average daily clicks compared to the month prior. It’s not just Amazon links that see increases during these big events. In fact, clicks on Shopify and Spring via Linktree grew 150% during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. What’s more, average daily clicks were 90% greater during the holiday weekend than in the entire month of October.

But it’s not just deals and shopping holidays that make sales spike online. Product recommendations hold purchasing power, with content creators influencing a significant portion of US consumers’ buying decisions among Gen Z and millennials. Affiliate marketing, where companies pay a commission for sending them referral traffic and sales, presents a massive opportunity for all creators.

Small creators are tapping into affiliate revenues as consumers prefer to buy from people they know/trust, and there’s lots of opportunity to earn from being a tastemaker in your niche. 

So, what’s the bottom line?

Creating authentic content and making it available to your followers all in one place will help you outsmart the algorithm, get it all in one place, and monetize your work in a way that’s simple and meaningful for your audience. 

Check out the full report here.