Become An Influencer

What Is An Influencer?
In short, the definition of an influencer, is a person with a social media following. However, what qualifies you as a good or bad influencer depends on who you ask. Some people may say that you need a large following to be a good influencer. Others might argue that it’s not about the number of following that makes you a great influencer, rather it’s the quality of your content. A third person might say it’s the loyalty of your following that show whether you are a great influencer or not. A common ground we all can agree upon is that an influencer is someone who has achieved popularity on social media platforms. In todays world, both companies and consumers base an influencers popularity with credibility.

An influencer is someone who has the capability to move and influence people. Whether this be done through inspiration, education or manipulation. We do not recommend the later as most influencer who use manipulation to gain a following, are ultimately exposed and loose their influence and following. A simple way to check if a person is an influencer is to look for a verified YouTube, Instagram or/and Twitter account.

The past couple of years, almost every major industry has seen a major rise in influencers. Influencer marketing is a hot topic and trending more than ever. It has basically become a mainstream marketing strategy and is no longer limited to a select few brands or businesses. Being an influencer has become a way for millions of people around the globe to ear their living. It’s a competitive industry. Persistent effort is requires to become successful.

Pros

• Flexibility
• Free gifts
• Somewhat easy money
• Fame
• Inspire people

Cons

• No income guarantee
• Your account may get suspended
• Bullying comments and dm’s
• One mistake can ruin your career

Pick Your Niche

To become a successful influencer it’s important to pick a niche you are interested in talking about on social media. In order to spend your days sharing original content with people, you need to find a topic you are excited about. This is essential before you start on your path to becoming an Influencer. Choose a niche that you can consistently create content about. You should also have some level of expertise in the field in order to establish yourself as an influencer. Maybe even something you are passionate about. This will make or brake you when times get rough. Don’t worry, there’s a niche market for everything. There is an audience out there for almost every topic on earth, and it is possible to build a sustainable business with it. Identify your target audience by asking yourself these essential questions:

• What do I love?
• What are my strengths?
• What are my passions?
• What are my interests?
• What do I enjoy?

You don’t have to limit yourself to just one niche. It’s possible to combine two or more topics. Just make sure that the individual niches align with one another. As an example, you can combine fitness and fashion. You can also combine fitness and beauty with food. 

So, it’s really not mandatory for you to stick to one niche. There are infinite possibilities for you to cover your passions in a interesting and compelling way. Your unique voice in the field. Here are a few top niches you can consider:

• Gaming
• Beauty
• Health and Fitness
• Fashion
• Travel
• Tech
• Lifestyle
• Food
• Sports
• Entertainment
• Business
• Parenting

Choose Your Platform

Once you have picked your niche, it’s time to choose which social media platform(s) you prefer to engage with your audience on. This does not mean that you should use all of the social media platforms out there. Depending on your niche, certain platforms might be better suited for your content and gaining a following than others. Not all social media platforms work the same way. And, not all of your content needs to be shared everywhere. You should choose one main platform where you are going to focus most of your content. You can still be active and share content on other networks, but find the one single platform where you will be spending most of your efforts.

There are many factors to consider when selecting your prime social media platform. Research into other influencers in your niche and identify which are their main social media platforms. It’s no secret that your main platform will also depend on your type of niche. Fashion influencers tend to invest most of their content and gain most of their following on Instagram, while YouTube and Twitch is the go-to platform for gaming influencers. Engage with your audience on the social media platforms where they are already spending most of their time. Here are the top five influencer social media platforms in 2022:

• YouTube
• Instagram
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Tik Tok

Your Contact Strategy

To ensure that you stay focused on the task at hand make sure you have a social media strategy. This plan needs to summarise everything you want to achieve with your social media accounts. Research the most popular influencers in your lane. Look into what times during the day they post. As an influencer knowing when to share content is just as important as knowing what content to share. Organise the days and schedules that you plan on publishing your content across each chosen platform.

The fastest way to becoming an influencer is simply by sharing high-quality content. It’s extremely important to publish authentic and unique content that resonates with your audience. This is the best way to keep your audience coming back for more content. Regardless of your niche, your content should be meaningful and valuable to your audience. Give your audience variety. Upload content in different formats such as photos, videos, text, blogs, etc. Run giveaways or contests on with the brands that you collaborate with.

Creating solution-oriented and high value content, that resonates with your followers, is the fastest way to success in this industry. As you share your expertise and build trust with audience, they will seek for more information from you. Once they start following you, you just need to make sure that you continue to create content that benefits and add value to their lives.

Share and Publish Consistently

One of the great keys to having success as an influencer is to post content consistently. Publishing on a constant basis is one of the most effective ways to success in this industry. Post useful and relevant content for your followers. Delivering quality content on a regular basis, will create a sense of anticipation among your audience. Not only that, the platform algorithms will reward you by showing you to more similar minded users. The algorithms of most social media platforms promote accounts that post often more than those who don’t post as often. This will not only boost your audience engagement but also increases your reach. The more you are able to engage with your audience, the more people will be influenced by your character and persona.

It’s totally up top you whether you choose to post daily, weekly, or at any frequency that you’re comfortable with. Just keep in mind what I just mentioned about that some platforms are more dynamic in nature and require a higher posting frequency if you want to become a success on that platform. As you post content consistently more people that are within your niche will begin to follow your profile and you will start building your own community.

Collaborate With Like-Minded Influencers
This may be the fastest and simplest way to gain a following as an influencer. Collaborate with someone who is already a successful social influencer within your chosen niche. This will help you get your business up and running. When you are just starting out, partnering with someone famous in your niche can work wonders. A collaboration basically gives you access to their fan base and allows you win their attention and following to your social media profile. Finding collaboration influencers may be tricky, but not impossible. As mentioned, look out for people within your niche and bring something of value. How can you bring something to the table? What can you offer your colleague? Most popular influencers don’t wish to be taken advantage of, so they will have certain requirements. Some well known influencers even charge a certain fee for such collaborations. Depending on your level and journey as an influencer, you should know whether to collaborate with a micro or macro influencer.

Engage With Your Followers

When posting content on social media, you will get likes and comments on your posts. When you are just starting off and you have a small following, it’s important to reply your audiences comments and dm’s. It is a good practice and shows your appreciation to audience. Another smart way to engage with your audience is to ask them a question. Start a conversation about a topic within your niche. Interactions like these help build personal connections with your followers. Other people will see that you engage with your audience and will start following you. Keep in mind that many people on social media are lonely and simply seek connection. A friendly connection can lead to a loyal follower. Hence, do your best to respond to as many of your followers as possible. It makes them feel special to you if you answer their comments or respond to their opinions or questions.

Once, your audience becomes too large to respond to every comment or question, people understand and accept that you aren’t able reply their comments and messages.

The Business

If you follow the above steps and do things correctly, you will soon start receiving dm’s and emails from brand and companies wanting to collaborate with you. This is it. It’s time to come out and declare yourself as an influencer. An influencer who is interested in brand sponsorship and collaborations. You can make it easier for these businesses to reach out to you by putting your email on your social media profiles. Announce to the world that your are open to business. Make it easy for them to reach out to you.

There are numerous influencer platforms where brands and influencers can find each other. Sign up. These platforms are a huge blessing for you to find brands in your niche who are looking for collaborations. Don’t be shy. Build a name for yourself and network with brands within your niche. This might take some time and hard work, but will help you form long-term brand relationships that might lead to sponsors that can help fund your life as an influencer. Keep in mind, that businesses pay some of the highest-paid influencers thousands of dollars a post for a single post or upload. So this industry is not in short of money. Neither is it a business that will grow out of trend anytime soon. So, becoming an influencer is definitely worth taking into consideration, if you find the whole concept attractive.