In today’s article, we’ll be discussing the concept of a social marketplace. First, we’ll dive into the definition: after that, we’ll explain why it’s important for YouTubers and then present some examples of the marketplaces in question. Aspiring YouTube creators should be aware of the potential that social marketplaces offer. Keep reading to learn more!

What is a social marketplace?

A social marketplace is generally defined as a marketplace where consumers and vendors can effectively communicate with one another and each other. In previous years, communication between a vendor and a customer would often go through slow lanes, such as calling a support line or sending an email. With a social marketplace, consumers are welcome to approach the vendors and expect a quick response. These consumers are also often given ways to quickly become vendors themselves, or to communicate with other consumers. The reason why marketplaces like this are springing into the social consciousness now is because the Internet allows and encourages their existence. Prior to the Internet, instant long-distance communication was costly and limited, but with the prevalence of social media, smart devices and the growth of Internet access/online business, the relationship between consumers and vendors has been permanently changed. Nowadays, people have unprecedented access to each other. This means a number of things for business, among them being that older businesses need to change to adapt and newer businesses can utilize this new way of doing things.

How do social marketplaces relate to  YouTube?

Of course, you’re on Grin because you’re concerned about growing your following on YouTube. So what does a social marketplace have to do with that? Everything, actually. YouTube is a frontier of what people call “new media”. New media refers to on-demand content offered by the Internet, including blogs, vlogs, social media, online games and, yes, YouTube and Netflix. New media differentiates itself from old media by being more accessible and interactive than ever before, and is quickly overtaking old media in terms of viewership and cultural prominence. As a staple of the Internet, YouTube is where content creators go to express themselves through videos and near direct interaction with their viewers. YouTube in itself isn’t a social marketplace (it’s missing the marketplace part- money is typically exchanged between MCNs, creators and advertisers, not the viewers themselves), but there are many social marketplaces built around it. In the interest of growing as a YouTuber, exploring these social marketplaces might be a good idea. To encourage that, we’ll be listing our best examples below.

What examples can you give?

Famebit

Famebit is a social marketplace, but it’s also an influencer marketing platform. Its goal is to connect brands and agencies with content creators on YouTube and other new media platforms. In order to utilize Famebit, though, you’ll need at least five thousand subscribers- for a newly-starting YouTube channel, this may be a difficult target to reach.

Grapevine

Grapevine is another social marketplace/influencer marketing platform, and it has basically the same goal as its contemporary, Famebit. What sets apart Grapevine, however, is a lower barrier of entry- with only one thousand subscribers, YouTubers can start utilizing their platform to connect with brands and agencies.

Reelio

Then there’s Reelio. Reelio sets itself apart from Grapevine and Famebit by having a fairly high bar of entry (ten thousand subscribers!), but because of that high bar, the brands utilizing the platform are some of the biggest in business. Think Target, VISA and Lifetime. Most YouTubers could never dream to make deals with those people, but social marketplaces like Reelio allow them to connect to business partners like never before. By the way, the YouTubers here aren’t actually the consumers. The YouTubers for these social marketplaces are the vendors. Ultimately, they’re the ones wearing the pants. Brands are paying them for their services, not the other way around.

Grin

Finally, there’s us, Grin. Ours is a hybrid in many ways, but doesn’t work like the others we just listed. Our app was created to allow content creators from all over the world to connect with one another and start collaborating on content together, since we believe that’s the key to a channel’s growth. This makes the users of our platform both vendors and consumers. On our Grin Platform content creators can pay each other for their services. These services can be collaborations on videos, shoutouts for smaller channels, or even things like art, channel and sound design work. In addition to our app and marketplace, we also offer our blog. You’re actually reading it right now! We populate our blog with plenty of informative posts like this one, so if you’re interested in reading more, just click here and stick around.