Building a career in the creative industries can take a long time, even with the many tools available to help with this. Social media is one tool that can help to advance your career quicker if used correctly, which requires changing your approach from a casual social media user to a serious one. This requires many different skillsets.

Different platforms like Facebook and Twitter have particular ways of engaging people. One analogy that sums up the differences comes from Jeff Glasson in a blog from 2008 “Twitter has been likened to a giant party where you know no one but wish to make many friends. In contrast, Facebook would be a wedding reception filled with family and friends” (Tagtmeier, 2015).

Data collection over the internet has become an important tool for companies to target not only consumers but the right consumers. Whether you know it or not, it is almost inevitable when visiting a website that you will leave a data trail for companies to collect. Every time you see a privacy policy down the bottom of a webpage, there is a good chance that some sort of data collection or monitoring is taking place.

As a part of the creative industry it goes without saying that at some point you will be subjected to criticism and reviews, which can be a good or a bad thing depending on the source. Part of progressing as an artist is learning how and when to accept criticism and to take reviews with a grain of salt.

To give a review, a writer will simply state the facts of the art without detail, aimed predominantly at consumers. Another kind of review is when a critic provides a critique. For this they need to have sound knowledge and experience in the field and to show why things worked or didn't work, displaying an in depth thought process in their analysis. This is helpful because it involves a process of critical thinking and gets your brain thinking in new ways, thus when it comes to creating art you can start to implement new ideas.

There are countless ways to generate revenue in the creative industries but all possible approaches have pro’s and cons. In the end, it comes down to the individual and the stage of the career that they’re at.

One approach is the option to work as an employee which gives job security, a steady income,  and perks like superannuation, holidays and sick leave. The downside is that working as an employee for a company can take up the majority of your day and can leave you without much spare time for your own creations. This can lead to the mindset of feeling like more of “a cog in a machine than having creative freedom” (Christy, 2014). The best case scenario would be finding a job that aligns with your creative stream and helps to further your skills, technical backing and experience in the workforce, which is desirable when you go out on your own.

Being a creator of new media in this day and age doesn't come without its fair share of challenges. A creative is someone who has the desire to create art, be it a piece of music, sculpture etc. They are imaginative unconstrained and less likely to fit into traditional jobs and stereotypes. Mitchell (2014) describes one example as “they love tinkering with the technology that will create solutions”. This is often referred to as having the entrepreneur DNA streak.  

Many different skillsets are required for success in the industry including: having good foresight and foreknowledge of where you are heading and what you wish to achieve, solid technical skills, good communication, networking skills and good public relations. The old tale of 6 degrees of separation is certainly something to keep in mind at all times, it refers to that “there are no more than six connections between any two people on this planet” Tsvetovat & Kouznetsov (2011).