Many people want to live the life of a social media influencer. After all, influencers are glamorous people, right? Their lifestyles are both desirable and relatable, and they pretty much get to post on social media for a living, which sounds like an easy ride. If this is the mentality you’ve got when you’re thinking about social media influencers, then you may be mistaken.
Social media influencer work is actually very tough and exacting; it can take a toll on both physical and mental health, and straddling the line between working hard and burning out is hard. However, if you manage to find a niche that works for you, being a social media influencer can also be hugely rewarding. Here’s how you can start on the path to becoming an influencer.
Don’t quit your day job
The first thing you need to do when you’re trying to become an influencer is to recognize that it isn’t going to happen overnight. Don’t dramatically march up to your boss’s desk and throw your resignation at them; instead, keep your day job as you build up a following, as this will give you a steady stream of income while you establish yourself in the social media world.
Of course, there’s every chance that you simply can’t stay at your current job, and if that’s the case, then make sure you have contingency plans when quitting. Allocate some of your “rainy day” savings for survival while you’re searching for something new, or find yourself a very bad credit loans direct lender who’ll help you to get some cash while you look for a job.
Sign up for everything
As a social media influencer, there really is no such thing as too much exposure. That means you should be signing up to every single social media platform you can think of. Right now, after Elon Musk took over Twitter, many people are prophesying doom for the platform, suggesting that other apps like Mastodon or Hive could take over where Twitter left off.
As an influencer, these kinds of events are golden opportunities for you. Make sure to sign up to those platforms as early as you can, so that you can establish a presence while the app is still small enough that building a presence isn’t hard. As soon as you notice a new social media platform generating any small amount of buzz, you should be right there as an influencer.
Start thinking of influencer work as a job
If you’ve got some kind of image in your head that involves idly tweeting or uploading a picture to Instagram and then relaxing as the likes and comments roll in, then it’s time to disabuse yourself of that notion, unfortunately. Influencer work is a job, and if you’re serious about becoming an influencer, you’re going to need to start treating it like a job as soon as possible.
So, what does that entail? Well, first and foremost, you need to set a regular schedule for creating and uploading posts. If you’re not working to a schedule, then you won’t stay on people’s feeds and at the forefront of their minds. You also need to make sure you’re posting at the right times of day, identifying when people are online most frequently and timing your posts to take advantage of that.
Identify your niche
Everyone who posts on social media has a niche. Some people might not know it yet, and others likely won’t be posting with their niche in mind, but every single post, whether it be on Instagram, TikTok, or Twitter, has an audience that will appreciate it. Social media influencer work is all about finding that niche for yourself and then posting content that fits the niche.
That’s not to say you should never branch out and try something new, of course. Sometimes, the biggest successes as an influencer come when you step outside your comfort zone and experiment a little. However, for the most part, knowing where your skills lie and focusing on that area for your posting strategy is a good idea, because playing to your strengths is how you’ll build a following.
Emphasize your personality
We’re not talking about the traits that successful social media influencers tend to display (although they are worth bearing in mind as well) with this point. Rather, we mean that in order to become a successful influencer, you should be leveraging all of the unique elements of your personality; the things that make you who you are should also be the things that inform your posts on social media.
This goes for everything from posting content all the way through to interacting with users, which you should try to do whenever you get comments. Your personality is also what will inform the kinds of brands you tend to work with. As an influencer, brands will likely be your chief source of income, so picking the right brands with which to collaborate is a crucial skill.
Stand for something
You probably won’t hear a lot of people talking about this when it comes to social media influencers, but it’s very important, especially in today’s modern era, to stand for something. Don’t alienate your principles in order to get what you want; people will be able to identify that you’ve done that and will likely walk away from you in favor of someone who hasn’t.
You might, for instance, want to stand for people being able to post selfies without make-up or airbrushing; body positivity and self-acceptance are huge on social media right now. Alternatively, you may want to stand up for LGBTQ+ rights, racial justice, or any other element of social change in society. This is a good way to boost your profile, but it’s also important in terms of having a real, positive impact on the world.
