Content Creation Trends

TikTok dropped its 2026 predictions. If you work in social or create content, here are 3 things worth paying attention to. Trend 1: Reali-Tea. Audiences want honest, unfiltered, behind-the-scenes content. Polished still works, but connection matters more than production value now. Brands sharing learning moments, experiments, and real stories. They're building actual trust. Trend 2: Curiosity Detours. Curiosity is the new currency. Platforms are rewarding content that helps people explore new interests and niche communities. Stop trying to appeal to everyone and speak directly to your specific audience using their language, their references, and their real problems. Trend 3: Emotional ROI is everything. People buy, follow, and engage based on meaning and belonging, not just price or features. The question is why does this matter to me? 2026 is all about how people want to feel. Connection is outperforming perfection. The brands that get it will grow the fastest. If you're planning your next content sprint, save this for later. 

In case you missed it, everyone is building a personal brand now. What I'm seeing and why I think it's happening I scroll TikTok and Instagram and I go- wait, I know that person. And that person. They're all making videos now. And of course on LinkedIn. People from high school are posting career advice. College friends are doing day-in-the-life vlogs. Business school classmates are writing founder-led content. I started doing this a year ago, terrified of being judged. Now half my network is doing it too. Here's my take on what's happening: 1️⃣ The traditional career path is broken. Nobody wants to work for a giant company forever. The old climb-the-ladder, get-promoted, retire model feels outdated. People get laid off from "stable jobs" with no warning. They're seeing AI replace entire departments. The promise of job security is gone. 2️⃣ Content is the lowest-cost way to build something that's yours. You can open your phone and start with no inventory or upfront investment. No inventory, no major upfront investment. Compared to starting almost any other business, content creation has incredibly low barriers to entry. (which also makes it harder to have a moat, but that's a story for another time!) 3️⃣ Even our day jobs now require us to be content creators. CEOs are expected to post on LinkedIn. Engineers who share their work get recruited faster. The person who documents their process gets seen over the one who works in silence. Content isn't only a side hustle - it's also career leverage. 4️⃣ AI made the logistics much easier. Script writers, video editors, caption generators – the technical barriers that used to stop people are disappearing. You don't need to be a video pro anymore. You just need something to say. (on the flip side, this also makes it harder to stand out in a sea of AI slop) 5️⃣ The money moved from traditional media to creators. Brands are throwing real budgets at TikTokers and "LinkedInfluencers". When I tell my friends I make thousands from one sponsored video, suddenly everyone's interested. I thought I was late to the game when I started. Turns out I was still early!! Here’s how I built my personal brand to six figures while working 9-5:

Artificial intelligence has made everyone an artist and copywriter with perfect strokes or words. It’s so perfect that you can identify the GPT model used to create it. The downside is that all AI-generated content looks the same. What’s standing out is not the staged content we saw growing up; it’s, in fact, the total opposite. Instead of embellished and elaborated designs, people are enjoying minimal and raw content. A clear core message and minimal packaging is what make people trust because at the end of the day people want results and not a fancy edit. The mantra of authenticity and less is more has gained significant traction, with creators embracing simplicity as a powerful tool to connect with their audience. The trend of moving from overly corporate aesthetics to more relatable and genuine expressions has made social media a positive place to hang out. Image Source: The first image shows Chanel’s 2015 Mother’s Day campaign. The middle image is from RonWriting on Instagram, discussing how little people care about our posts. The right image is a hiring post for a graphic designer, featuring handwritten text contrasting the usual stock image style. How are you making your content more human? #content #contentcreation #ai #authenticity #socialmedia

I’ve spent the last month analyzing content market shifts and talking to industry professionals. Here are 5 (biggest) brand & content trends for 2026: (the full breakdown of where the industry is going, and how to make sure your brand isn’t left behind👇) 𝟭. Employee Generated Content (EGC) on demand The brands that grow the fastest will be the ones that recognize the value of the people already inside their organization. Data backs this shift:  • EGC increases consumer trust more effectively than brand content.  • Engagement is consistently higher when messages come from individuals. But most brands approach this weakly by just asking their team to "post more on LinkedIn." The winners will invest in their employees by giving them:  • A shared narrative to own  • The confidence to tell it  • A structure that makes them feel equipped, not exposed Even McKinsey started hiring content creator advisors for managing top creators and advising companies on creator strategies. _ 𝟮. Every brand is a media company The Internet is the new TV. Interest-based algorithms are pushing brands out of their comfort zones. You can’t just buy attention anymore (with paid ads) you have to earn it with content people actually want to watch. Organically. The winning formula is shifting: Value & Entertainment > Product-based content. _ 𝟯. Thoughtful, long-form content returns Our attention spans are temporarily cooked from the dopamine overload of TikTok and Reels. We are seeing a massive swing back toward substance. Creators and brands are flocking to YouTube, Podcasting, and Substack. - It’s nostalgic for millennials (the blog era). - It’s a novelty for Gen Z (who are fatigued by short-form). This shift to long-form is highly noticeable on LinkedIn, where the most rewarded (viral) posts are the ones with the most substance - in depth, tactical, knowledge-packed reads rather than short, empty posts. _ 𝟰. The "Safety Net" Career as a Content Creator The New Consumer report shows that 40% of Gen Z and Millennials want to be creators, and over half think it’s an easy job. In a world where AI is replacing roles and job security is fading, building a personal brand is becoming the real career safety net. _ 𝟱. The end of influencer era With the economy, job market, and world in rough shape, lifestyle-flexing influencers feel unrelatable at best and tone-deaf at worst. Creators who are providing genuine value for their niches, particularly those who talk about health, understanding finances, and helping you excel in your career, will be in demand. === The way I see it, 2026 will be a very exciting time. This gives smaller brands a real chance to stand out, and helps established brands feel relevant again. The best brands will think like creators. The best creators will provide genuine value. And the best content will come from the normal people actually doing the work. What do you hope to see happen in 2026?

13 marketing and content trends I'm seeing halfway into 2025: 1) Content and marketing budgets as a % of revenue is about to go up. AI is going to reduce opex costs across most B2B companies. The winners will put those savings into content and marketing, instead of just keeping the extra profit. 2) AI content won't set you apart. Everyone has the same AI tools now, which means AI-based content will not give you a moat long-term. AI content becomes standard, not special. 3) Way more content is coming. There is going to be 10,000x the amount of content posted on all platforms soon. Prepare for organic reach to go down, and to have to start paying to get reach on platforms. 4) Making products is easier now. Getting noticed is harder. Knowing how to get views online and building an audience is now more important than knowing how to code, and is the 3rd most important function of business now (outside of having a differentiated POV and differentiated product strategy). 5) YouTube is still wide open. YouTube is an S-tier channel for B2B that is still wide open (the last remaining pretty much wide open content channel in B2B). 6) Brand marketing is coming back. The goal is to be the company name people type directly into Google or the LLM’s when they need your type of solution. Being remembered beats being discovered. 7) The content wars continue to heat up. I have noticed that B2B content is getting better. More creative. More engaging. More fun. More insightful. “B2B content is boring” is not going to be a thing for much longer. 8) Media is now the highest form of leverage that there is. Look at what a16z did recently with acquiring Erik Torenberg’s Turpentine media company to produce their network of podcasts, newsletters, and YouTube content. 9) High-effort content is now the differentiator.  It is easier to create content now, which means the best way to stand out is to make something that is difficult to make. 10) Founder-mode in B2B also now applies to founder-led marketing. The founders and CEO’s who realize there is no one better to be the face of their content brands than them have an advantage. 11) B2B companies are starting to think about their content like a product. Content product = Our content is so good that people would pay for it, or sponsors would line up to advertise in it. 12) Small, elite internal content teams are working well. More companies are outsourcing all the inefficient, tedious, and time-consuming parts of content production to niche agencies and freelancers so their internal team can focus on the substance of their original insights, POV’s, audience research, recording, filming, etc. 13) Content made for scrollers > content made from searchers. Many companies are moving away from content marketing designed for conversion on search engines, to content marketing designed for consumption on social and content platforms because winning before Google is better than winning from Google.

The 3 most noticeable trends in content marketing based on my own clients, prospects, and processes: 👉 1. Fewer AI drafts: In June, three of my clients started experimenting with AI first drafts and human editors and after 4-5 months of doing this, ALL of them have stopped for 2 reasons: 🟢 It was taking us twice as long to edit these and the cost ended up being comparable. The minor savings couldn't justify the cost of all the AI tools, multiple editing rounds ... for mediocre content. 🟢 Despite great editors and great briefs, AI drafts lacked ... soul. Now, you don't exactly need soul stirring narratives to sell software (excuse the alliteration), but you do need a story, a hook, a compelling angle. And if you ask it to do "compelling," AI tools will give you sales copy. 👁️ Final word: Companies will continue to use AI to create content and I have nothing against that. Just don't rely on it to produce full drafts that you'd then edit. Use it in bits and pieces. Ask it to find updated stats, poke holes in the logic, summarize competitor pieces. Let if work with you, not in your place. 👉 2. A LOT more research content: In the last week alone, I've had 3 leads asking about my research report services. And I've spoken to many other marketers who are doubling down on proprietary research and I just want to say HELL YEAH! Why I feel this is happening: 🟢 TOFU and even some MOFU content has become harder to differentiate. Most folks who don't have transactional intent are just skimming the AI snippet for answers and it's not where you should be putting your premium writers or editors (and smart brands aren't). Smart brands are using their marketing dollars to hire data analysts and premium writers to create reports that create their own discussion pods and distribution paths. 💰 Case in point: Tommy Walker's State of Discontent report is phenomenal. The questions and insights are BOTH designed to make you think and introspect. Superpath, AudiencePlus, and SparkToro distributed it because it was data-backed, relevant, and novel. That's what your content needs to be. 👉 Higher content budget going into 2025: (And let me just say what a ride it has been. Whew.) My take? Turns out "do more with less" is yielding more groan than bottom line growth. Teams are exhausted with the lack of support but the expectation of the impossible and they're pushing back (or leaving). Incredible folks have started their own businesses and brands are realizing that it takes a village to produce content that converts. And not a stack of AI tools toppling over each other. 🔥 What about you? What are you noticing going into the new year?

This might be the first time in history where your face can work… without you. For businesses, content creation has always been a challenge. High production costs, long turnaround times, and the constant demand for fresh content make it overwhelming. Now, AI tools like HeyGen promise to create high-quality videos with AI-generated avatars and voiceovers—no cameras, no studios, no shoots. But does this mean traditional video production is dead? The goal for every brand remains the same: Create engaging, high-quality content that connects with audiences and drives results. Whether through AI or traditional shoots, the key is choosing the right approach for your brand’s needs. I recently tested some AI tools and avatars. The ability to record yourself and generate a lifelike AI version saying anything you prompt is mind-blowing. For brands that need quick, scalable content—like explainer videos, product demos, or training materials—this tech is a game changer. But when it comes to storytelling, emotional depth, and authenticity, nothing beats a real human in front of the camera. Here’s how to approach content creation in 2024: ✅ Leverage AI for efficiency—turn static scripts into dynamic videos without expensive production. ✅ Use traditional shoots for high-impact content—brand films, personal branding, and campaigns that need authenticity. ✅ Blend both to maximise results—AI for volume, human-led content for connection. Smart content strategy isn’t about AI vs. Humans—it’s about knowing when to use each. At Lanzi Media, we’re truly inspired by the future of content creation. Whether it’s the magic of AI or the authenticity of a professional studio shoot, we believe in helping you create content that feels real, impactful, and undeniably you. What are your thoughts on AI video creation? Would you use an AI avatar for your business? 👇

Are we on the verge of a long-form content resurgency? We know we're living in a short-form video world. We know short-form video is the #1 content format for people—and brands. We know platforms are prioritizing short-form video. We know it’s the engine that drives social in 2025. Yet, I can sense a tipping point. I can sense a return to substantive, long-form content. Think about the recent signals in just the past 7 days. TikTok and iHeart Media announced a new partnership launching TikTok’s Podcast Network. Beehiiv recently announced a host of new features and tools, including podcast capabilities, for creators and brands. Charli xcx launched a Substack last week to thunderous applause from some of social media’s biggest thought leaders (including the ubiquitous Zaria Parvez). And in Lia Haberman’s trend report post last week, when she asked marketers what online content platforms they are looking at exploring in 2026, almost all of them said, newsletters, podcasts and blogs (in that order—see above). All this is not even mentioning the impact the algos and these short-form videos are having on us, as people. The science is out there—and it’s not good (tldr: as one recent Vox headline says, "short-form videos are cooking our brains"). Many of us (surprisingly, led by young people) are starting to realize this and are scaling back on social media usage. There are apps you can use to stop you from using social media apps during the day. I’m reading enough about this to know it’s far more than a short-term trend. All this, I believe, will lead to a resurgence in thoughtful, long-form content—either in text or audio format. And, as a long-time creator and consumer of this kind of content, I am 1,000% here for it as it’s been a sorely missing piece of the content mix since the beginning of the pandemic.

Top Earners in 2024 & What’s Next in 25-26 2024 saw content creators in Tech Reviews, Comedy/Entertainment, and Gaming/Roasting emerge as top earners driven by massive audience engagement and high-value brand deals. But as we step into 2025, new forces are reshaping the landscape: short-form video, nano-influencer UGC, AI-led creation, and direct monetisation. Snapshot of 2024: - YouTube paid ₹21,000+ Cr to Indian creators over the past 3 years. - Brands spent ₹2,344 Cr on influencer marketing in 2024; projected to hit ₹3,375 Cr by 2026 (25% CAGR). - 90% of content creator revenue came from brand deals but the ecosystem is evolving fast. 1) Top-Earning Niches in 2024: Tech, Comedy & Gaming led by margin - Education, Fitness, Fashion/Lifestyle creators also grew, but trailed leaders by 30 to 50% 2) Evolving Revenue Streams: - Ad Revenue & Brand Sponsorships still dominate. - Direct-to-Fan Models gaining traction: * Paid subscriptions (e.g. Insta, YouTube) are helping creators earn ₹10–20L/month * Live commerce & virtual gifting are building steady parallel income - Creator-led Product Sales & merchandise are on the rise. 3) 2025 Trends to Watch: * Short-Form Video Dominance: - 70%+ of UGC brand campaigns use 15–30 sec Reels/Shorts/ - They deliver high engagement at low production cost * AI in Content & Strategy: - 76% of creators use AI for ideation, editing, trend analysis - 61% of brands now use AI for influencer operations * Nano & Micro-Influencers Rising: - 2M+ nano creators (1K–10K followers) now power hyper-local campaigns - 47% of brands prefer nano/micro creators for authenticity & ROI * Content-to-Commerce Shift: - BCG projects $1T+ creator-led commerce by 2030 - In-video shopping, affiliate links, live shopping—especially in Tier 2/3 cities—are driving new revenue * UGC as Brand Strategy: - UGC campaigns improve web conversions by 29% - 75% of brands now include UGC in paid and organic content strategies 4) Advice for Brands & Creators: - Diversify revenue, don’t depend solely on brand deals - Double down on short-form UGC with regional/nano creators - Use AI to streamline content creation & performance tracking - Build community-commerce loops via live sales & affiliate models 2024 rewarded reach, but 2025, 26 will reward relevance Creators who are community-first, AI-aware, and commerce-ready will lead India’s next wave Image captured by Akash Shukla

📊 The 2025 Creator Economy Wrapped Is Here — And the Shift Is Massive The creator economy didn’t just grow this year… it transformed. After reviewing our Top 10 Trends of 2025, one thing is clear: 👉 Creators aren’t just shaping culture — they’re shaping platforms, commerce, and entire industries. Here’s what’s defining the year (and your 2026 strategy): 🔥 1. Creators Are Going Live IRL 41% of U.S. social media users attended an in-person influencer event. Offline creator experiences are now a major revenue + community driver. 📺 2. YouTube Is Becoming a TV Platform TV screens now beat mobile for YouTube viewership. Creators are optimizing for the living room. 🛍️ 3. Social Commerce Is King TikTok Shop: 1B+ users, 15M sellers. Global social commerce spend in 2025: $1.1T. 👧 4. Gen Alpha Is a Core Audience YouTube Shorts ads are now driving more teen purchases than equivalent TikTok placements. 💼 5. LinkedIn-fluencers Are Rising Video uploads are up 36% YoY. Video watch time is up 36% YoY. B2B creators are officially mainstream. 🧴 6. Creator-Founded Brands Are Booming Influencers are launching lifestyle brands at scale—beauty, skincare, personal care, athleisure, you name it. 🤖 7. AI Is Reshaping Content Creation TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube rolled out major AI tools that streamline optimization, editing, and production. ✨ 8. Authenticity Still Wins Creators who lead with expertise, originality, transparency, and integrity consistently outperform. 🌱 9. Micro-Communities Are the New Power Channel Niche communities + in-person activations = top conversion engine of 2025. 🤝 10. Long-Term Partnerships Are the New Standard 45% of creators with 100K+ followers prefer long-term deals. Brands win with deeper trust, better storytelling, and stronger conversions. 🎯 The Bottom Line The creator economy isn’t slowing down — it’s professionalizing. The real question for brands in 2026 isn’t: “Should we work with creators?” It’s: “How do we build long-term, always-on creator ecosystems that drive measurable ROI?” Want our full 2026 predictions? 🔮 → https://lnkd.in/d-hikrSc P.S. Which trend surprised you the most? Drop your thoughts below — I read every comment. 👇 About me: I’m Alessandro Bogliari, CEO of The Influencer Marketing Factory. We’ve executed 1,000+ creator campaigns, and I host The Influence Factor podcast (top 1% globally). 🎙️ Follow for weekly creator economy breakdowns, platform updates, and data-driven insights.