Top Brands Need Creative Freelancers With Social Media Skills Now More Than Ever

The transformation is complete. Long gone are the days of social media being the medium of Friday-night selfies, well plated meals, and “rule of thirds” engagement photos. As our collective social footprints have expanded, so too has the opportunity for brands to deliver targeted content. While the strategy and execution of such campaigns may have originally been assigned to scrappy marketing interns, it has since exploded into the fastest growing avenue for full-blown professional content production. If you are a frequent user of social platforms like Instagram or Tik Tok, you have probably noticed this shift – but now the data is in.

In 2023, brands on Glimmer spent more money and booked more creators for social media-related creative services than ever before. Glimmer’s fastest-growing service category, Social/Digital Media, surged with a whopping 157% increase in bookings through our talent discovery experience. By year’s end, brands had booked a staggering five times as many projects for social media producers than in 2022 – the most in the sector. In addition, we saw spikes in new Creators joining the platform as content strategists and influencers, with the latter surging 153%.

One key takeaway from this yearly analysis is that services centering around social media are no longer just stand-alone offerings. Brands were four times more likely to hire creators for these services when combined with those from other categories. Social media services were most often combined with offerings in videography, photography, writing, and editing.

While our data showcasing the recent demand for creative services involving social media is overwhelming, it is not entirely unexpected. A couple of years back, we discussed the global market’s need for creators who can support an “Always On” content model. Since then, Glimmer has worked to bolster our Creator Management Platform to support these new services at the vanguard of this tectonic content shift. As a result, clients like Instagram trust our platform to meet the moment as they continue to manage and discover their creatives through Glimmer.

The message is clear: multi-dimensional creators are in demand and brands are paying a premium for them. This is why we build our platform toward embracing emerging trends in the creative workforce. Whether it’s finding a commercial editor that can also produce portrait cut-downs for Tik Tok or hiring a photographer who is just as good in front of the camera as behind it, Glimmer provides all the tools needed to be competitive in 2024.