THE ONES YOU SEND, THE ONES YOU SAVE

Personality creators do comedy skits, share honest glimpses into their lives or build whole careers around a very specific niche. They talk straight into the camera, to their community. Their content often has very high share counts, because it is so funny or so relatable that you cannot keep it to yourself. More sent than saved.

Aspirational creators talk into the camera too, but rarely. Their feeds are made of the perfect morning, the perfect outfit, the perfect trip and the beauty routine that takes forty minutes and looks like five. Their save counts are often very high, because this is content you keep for the next shopping spree or as inspiration for your own photos. Often it is saved for later – a vision board with a ring light.

PERFECT HAS A SHELF LIFE

Aspirational creators often work extremely well for a while. Then a few things tend to happen. In a world that runs on trends, many profiles look beautiful and very similar. Without personality, it becomes hard to stand out, and whoever cannot stand out becomes replaceable. Many feeds already read like the shopping magazines of the past, only perfected. Not everything is an ad, but it often feels very curated. And when aspirational creators do talk to their community, it is often only because a product needs presenting. Beautiful alone is not personality. At some point, people scroll past.

Personality creators tend to build a very loyal community, because their appeal rests on a character and not a trend. A look can be copied in an afternoon. A character, with its humour, its timing and its quirks, is much harder to imitate. That is why they often have the longer online life and steadier engagement, and why many of them move into acting, comedy and other industries.

WILL ASPIRATION STAY?

It has become fashionable to write off aspirational creators. If that content does not feel good to you because everything looks too perfect, that is completely fair. But it is still in demand. Many luxury fashion and beauty brands, for example, lean towards aspirational creators, because their world is meant to be desired. Many companies of everyday products lean towards relatable ones, because their customers want to recognise themselves. Still, some everyday brands also work with aspirational creators to build a certain image. The target group and the brand goal decide, so we expect both to stay.

WHAT COMES NEXT

Personality will keep gaining ground, but not at the expense of aspiration. What will change is how the two meet. Aspirational creators will need to show more and more personality, because the overly curated look is already wearing thin, and character is the one thing trends cannot replace. That means talking to the community about more than the next product, at least in certain formats. Aspirational content, yes, but with personal and relatable moments. If not in the feed, then in stories and reels.