8 mistakes content creators make – and how to avoid them

An estimated 50 million people¹ consider themselves "content creators", and that's not counting the people still trying to make it. In the 21st century, more than twice as many children want to be a YouTube star as an astronaut.²

The creator economy is booming, with the promise of a career from the comfort of your bedroom: no qualifications required, nobody's permission needed – all while doing whatever it is that you love most. But the same anyone-can-make-it charm also makes the pathway into the industry fraught with potential mistakes, as creators learn through trial and error. It's clear that there's much more to professional content creation than first appears.

As part of the Canon Europe Learning Series, we spoke to three successful content creators – Steven Herteleer, Laura Hannoun and Harrison Brown – about the mistakes they experienced as they learned their trade, so you won't make the same ones.

Harrison Brown wants you to feel something when you look at his pictures. His social feed showcases his international travels to more than 128,000 social media followers, 91,800 TikTok followers and 5,090 YouTube subscribers. The content is a palette of vibrant colours, poetic compositions and ethereal light – but it's been a journey to get there.

What have these successful creators discovered along the way, and how can budding content creators learn from their experiences? Here are their top tips.

"I think my biggest mistake was trying to be someone I'm not," says Laura. "I'm someone who likes a lot of things going on in pictures – it's very colourful and you can feel like the pictures are living. But for a moment I had this feeling that I needed to create a more serious aesthetic. I don't like to pretend to be this serious woman drinking my coffee, with sunglasses and stuff." There are no rules for what content should or shouldn't be, so be your authentic self, encourages Laura.

The second mistake Laura advises against is a technical one. "The biggest mistake that I see is with subtitles. When you put them at the bottom of the video on social media you sometimes can't read them, because of what the app has at the bottom on the screen." To ensure that your subtitles don't interfere or overlap with the information text that apps place across the bottom of your video, position them about a third of the way up the screen.

Learn as much as you can, but don't wait until you think you've mastered everything to start posting your content. "Look at tutorials, free ones on YouTube or workshops, but don't get stuck with that," says Steven. "Meet clients, show your work, accept criticism and grow – don't be stuck for years thinking your quality is not good enough, because many many people block themselves. One day your photos may be worth thousands, but there are also jobs for people who sell for €500. It's OK. Just aim at your level of quality and grow, and change your prices with the quality."

"It's important to have a good camera – the first thing I did was buy the best camera and lens that I could afford – but it's not everything," says Steven. "Network, strategy, storytelling and also finance are important. You can have the craziest photos, absolutely outstanding quality, but if you're not good on the other areas – you don't know how to talk with a client or you're not good in finances and do things for €100 when it's worth 10,000, or don't know how to sell yourself – then it's not going to work in the end."

"I think my biggest mistake was being anxious about uploading certain things," says Harrison. "I wouldn't post my work because I thought it wasn't good enough, but it doesn't matter if it's not good enough. The only way to grow is by posting and getting feedback and then doing it again, and getting more feedback. Having anxiety about what you post to the point that you're just not posting anything means that you won't learn. I'm what's important and my work is what's important, instead of what other people think of my work. My biggest mistake was just not learning that sooner."

"A common mistake that I see, in terms of video, is people shooting at the wrong frame rates," says Harrison. "As a videographer, you identify that immediately – it gives this choppy look to a video, and it's really frustrating. You can have the best piece of equipment, the most expensive equipment, but if you don't know how to use it then you might as well film it on your phone. Learn the product, and then buy the equipment, instead of the other way around. For a practical tip about frame rate, always have your shutter at double your frame rate. So, if you're shooting 25fps, you want to be shooting with a shutter of 50. This will give you a really nice buttery smooth look and it's what you view at the cinema."

"I see a lot of people getting the wrong idea about travel influencing, based on what they see," says Harrison. "Travel does have a lot of negatives: you're away from your family, you're probably staying in hostels that aren't amazing, there's food poisoning. I think people get into photography and video for some aspect of fame or social following. If you do that, the odds are that within a year or two years you will burn out and you won't enjoy it. If you're in it for the right reasons, you're in it for your own work, then the odds are you won't burn out and you'll be a lot more consistent and you'll be able to grow your career."

For more inspiration and advice from content creators, check out the Canon Europe Learning Series playlist on YouTube.

¹According to a report by VC firm SignalFire
²According to a According to a Lego and Harris poll