Hello there, party people, and welcome to the grand world of how to be an influencer! What I mean is: it’s so much more. You might think that influence on social gains is all about being photogenic and funny, and sure it helps to have some talent; being a creative thinker won’t hurt your case, but fundamentally it is about connection.
Unlock Your Unique Influencer Superpower
You’ve all heard it before: be authentic. And it’s true that you should be yourself, but it goes beyond that. Your job is also to find your angle—your area, or the thing that makes you distinct from the other people out there. Here’s how it works:
Craft Your Irresistible Niche
The first step (as you probably guessed) is finding your niche. What do you feel passionate about? What can you bring to the table that most others can’t? Coursera says that doing so will ‘help set the tone of your YouTube channel and will also help you position yourself as an industry expert in that niche when you create valuable content for your channel’. Okay, so if you are someone who talks about everything from drug addiction to conspiracy theories to the sexiest Halloween costumes, would you rather follow them… or someone who is known as the person to follow on sustainable fashion?
Develop Your Magnetic Personal Brand
When you have your niche, it’s time to brand your perception. As LinkedIn puts it: ‘Your personal brand is your fingerprint. It’s the unique identity you present to the world.’ A good personal brand, according to LinkedIn, starts off with the essentials: defining your mission and audience. Your personal brand should be so distinctive that your followers can recognise your content even without your name.
Master the Art of Storytelling
Connect with people who love stories. Share the motivation behind your story, the struggle of getting started, or the lives changed. As Meltwater notes: ‘Don’t just provide content; provide value. For people to follow you or even take note of you, you must focus on quality. Your stories need to be interesting. They need to educate and inspire.’
Dominate Your Chosen Platforms Like a Pro
All right, now that you have your brand identity sorted, head to your chosen platforms and conquer them—but don’t go being everywhere. You’ll play to your strengths and concentrate on where your audience hangs out.
Crack the Instagram Algorithm Code
But Instagram is still the mother lode of influencer content. And according to Hootsuite, there’s a way:’make the most of handy features such as reels and stories, and drive your engagement rates by commenting on the post, interacting with DMs, and asking questions’.
Become a TikTok Sensation Overnight
TikTok’s popularity has also unlocked new opportunities for influencers. Riding the zeitgeist wave is key. It’s important to find your voice, but your voice also needs to be ingrained in the zeitgeist. Think about how you uniquely take what’s on the internet and make it yours. What do you do to add your own perspective to the trends going on right now? For me, one of my favourite types of content is that real, raw, horror-looking but really funny thing that I do 90% of the time because it’s just my reflection. This story is derived from a transcript of the ‘Why is TikTok so Good?’ episode of the ‘Can This Even Be Called Work?’ podcast, which is edited and produced by Rachelle Hruska MacPherson and Amanda Lewan.
Build a Loyal YouTube Community
YouTube might be the one for you if you’re comfortable creating long-form content. HubSpot says that a great recipe for this type of video is to ‘create educational or entertaining videos that solve viewer problems’. And, again, you must stay consistent: commit to a regular posting schedule and stick to it.
Skyrocket Your Engagement with Proven Strategies
Engagement, in the parlor of influencer culture, is everything. If you sit atop a million-strong follower count, but nobody ‘likes’ your posts, it would be like screaming into the void—a tragic boast. Engagement turns a group of listeners into a communitarian charitable cross, a community of believers.
Create Content That Sparks Conversations
Just to your fans is not sufficient. Indeed, creating inspirational content involves provoking a real discussion. Ask questions, share rattling comments (as long as they are not inappropriate), and invite your followers to share their feedback. On Influencer Marketing Hub, it’s argued that posts creating reactions have more chances to reach algorithms.
Harness the Power of User-Generated Content
Nothing forges a community like making your followers feel like they’re part of your brand—tell your audience to create whatever fits your niche and showcase the best submissions. This gives you plenty of new content, and it makes customers feel engaged and heard.
Collaborate Your Way to the Top
Maybe the game changer is collaborations. Team up with other influencers to promote each other (your fellow up-and-comers in your industry) for cross-promotion. ‘These collaborations can expose your brand to an entirely new audience,’ notes Agency Analytics.
Monetize Your Influence Like a Boss
So now, how do you turn that influence into income? Remember, influencing isn’t just about being famous; it’s about building a career where you can make money.
Master the Art of Brand Partnerships
Brand partnerships are the most lucrative when it comes to running an influencer business, but the way that you partner with brands can either solidify your relationship with your audience or break it beyond repair. It all comes down to choosing to stay true to yourself and your mission. While it might seem like you could promote anything for a lot of money, HireInfluence advises that you stay true to the values and content that your audience appreciates. Partnerships should be authentic.
Create Irresistible Products Your Audience Will Love
Why spend time promoting other brands when you can launch your own? Create products or services that’solve’ a pain point for your audience. These can take the form of e-books and courses, but you can also sell real products. But make it something that can genuinely improve your followers’ lives.
Diversify Your Income Streams for Long-Term Success
Have a Plan-B. ‘Most influencers make most of their money through affiliate marketing, sponsored opportunities, digital product sales and more rarely, speaking engagements and workshops,’ KingFluencers notes. ‘Influencer marketing is rowdy and so are the people in it, so having different revenue streams is the only way to feel more secure with an unknown future.’
Stay Ahead of the Game with Cutting-Edge Trends
Just as I later told our kids that I’d never yield to the temptation of a shiny modern phone, we were amazed that we’d ever enjoyed any modern brands at all. The influencer business is always changing. If you want to thrive over the long haul, keeping up with the cycle is key.
Embrace the Rise of Micro and Nano Influencers
While there will always be a place for mega-influencers in many campaigns, brands are just as—or even more—likely to work with micro- and nano-influencers now, given their higher engagement rates and niche audiences. As a result, you should not be discouraged from working with a brand simply because you do not have millions of followers. Instead, focus on quality and creating a smaller yet highly engaged community.
Leverage the Power of AI and Data Analytics
Want to further fine-tune your efforts? Investigate what AI has to offer. You can use AI-powered tools and analytics to help dig deeper into understanding your audience and creating more targeted content. Tools such as Later can track the best times to post for your audience, the types of content they respond to, and even include demographic data to help you better…
Adapt to the Changing Social Media Landscape
Different platforms and features are always arising over time. Stay flexible and adjust your strategy as the landscape evolves. You might need to pivot as new platforms such as BeReal rise in popularity or as new features are added to existing platforms.
Conclusion
It takes time, consideration, and adaptation to become that influencer that your audience wants to be friends with and to create content that exemplifies uniqueness rather than being just another “follow”. Create and provide value, be true to your brand, and people will continue to show up.
Now I wonder, are you ready to become the next big influencer in town? Every influencer you see started here, at zero. If you know what you need, have passion, and are willing to be persistent, then using the insights and tips we discussed can help you become the kind of influencer your audience will grow to cherish. Go get them, tiger! The next psychologist might just be among them!
FAQ
How long does it typically take to become a successful influencer? There’s no specific time frame for going from zero followers to influencerdom. It could be a few months or a few years. It depends on the field, the quality of content, consistency and audience interaction. The trick is to be generous with content creation and valuable human connections rather than concerning oneself with follower counting.
Am I expected to be on every social media channel to be an influencer? No, it’s a bad idea to stretch yourself too thin across all the platforms under the sun. Even if you’re capable of mastering more than one social network, engaging with your target clientele on one or two platforms is often better than spreading yourself too thin on ten different platforms. Quality is better than quantity. By all means, consider broadening your activity to other networks when you’re ready, maybe once you’ve conquered your first.
How important is it to collaborate with brands as an influencer? Brand collaborations can be lucrative and help accelerate your growth as an influencer, but they’re not the only path to success. The most important thing is to build a following filled with loyal, active fans or customers by providing a service of value through your content. With this kind of audience, brand collaborations can be an excellent form of monetisation. However, as is the case for other forms of content creation, it is important that everyone who participates in the collaboration is creating content that feels authentic to them and true to their brand and values, or risk failing to inspire customers and losing their trust and respect.