Social media influencers have taken the world by a storm within the last 5 years or so. They’re the personification of the information age celebrities.
As people are spending more time on social media, the marketing of products and services have changed from traditional methods to the more contemporary one.
This includes social media. A place where businesses can find people spending the most time on the internet.
While products endorsements by celebrities worked in the past, the tide is slowly shifting towards social media influencers who are more relatable to the masses.
As more businesses are getting on the social media bandwagon, it suffices to say that social media influencers are likely to grow in numbers in the coming years.
So, who is a social media influencer?
A social media influencer in simple terms is a person who has created credibility in a specific industry and through that credibility has created an impressive following.
Marketers also define an influencer as someone who can affect the purchasing decisions of people, hence, influencer.
Today, we’re going to give you a 10 step guide on how you can start your journey to become a social media influencer today!
These 10 simple steps can help you get started but all the steps are worthless if you don’t follow the 10th step religiously.
So keep on reading!
What is an influencer?
An influencer is an individual who has the power to affect the purchasing decisions of others because of their authority, knowledge, position, or relationship with their audience.
They often have a large following on social media and typically create engaging content that resonates with their target audience.
Different types of influencers
Influencers have gained prominence in the marketing landscape due to their ability to connect with consumers on a personal level and influence their purchasing decisions.
Brands leverage influencer marketing to reach wider audiences, build brand awareness, and boost sales.
Influencers play a crucial role in creating authentic and engaging content that resonates with their followers, making them a valuable tool for modern marketing strategies.
Here's a comprehensive overview of the different types of influencers:
Influencer Classification Based on Follower Count
- Mega-Influencers: These individuals reign supreme in the influencer realm, boasting followings of millions or even tens of millions on a single social media platform. Their immense reach grants them substantial influence over consumer behavior.
- Macro-Influencers: With follower counts ranging from 100,000 to 1 million, macro-influencers wield considerable influence within their niche. They maintain a strong engagement rate with their audience, making them valuable partners for brands seeking wider exposure.
- Micro-Influencers: These individuals possess followings between 10,000 and 100,000, falling within the sweet spot between reach and engagement. Micro-influencers cultivate deeper connections with their followers, earning their trust and influencing their purchasing decisions.
- Nano-Influencers: With followings of 1,000 to 10,000, nano-influencers cater to highly specific niches and passions. They excel at reaching very specific target demographics, making them valuable for precise brand targeting.
Influencer Classification Based on Expertise and Content
- Industry Experts and Thought Leaders: These individuals possess exceptional knowledge and credibility within their respective fields, regardless of their social media following. Brands seek their insights, recommendations, and endorsements to establish authority and credibility.
- Bloggers and Content Creators: These influencers produce engaging content, such as tutorials, reviews, or lifestyle posts, on their blogs or social media channels. Their unique perspectives and storytelling abilities attract loyal followers.
- Content Specialists: These individuals specialize in creating specific types of content, such as photography, videography, or graphic design. Their expertise enhances the visual appeal of influencer campaigns.
- Storytellers and Entertainers: These influencers captivate their audience with their ability to craft engaging narratives and evoke emotions. Brands utilize their storytelling skills to amplify brand messages and create memorable experiences.
Influencer Classification Based on Niche and Interest:
- Fashion Influencers: These individuals guide fashion trends and inspire their followers with their style and sartorial choices. They often collaborate with fashion brands to promote new styles and trends.
- Beauty Influencers: These influencers share makeup and skincare tips, product reviews, and tutorials. They influence their followers' beauty routines and purchasing decisions.
- Lifestyle Influencers: These individuals share content related to their personal lives, hobbies, and interests, providing a glimpse into their unique lifestyles. They inspire their followers to adopt similar lifestyles and consume related products.
- Fitness and Wellness Influencers: These influencers promote healthy living by sharing workout routines, nutrition tips, and motivational content. They inspire their followers to adopt healthier habits and consume fitness-related products.
- Travel Influencers: These individuals share their travel experiences, destination recommendations, and tips for planning adventures. They inspire their followers to explore new destinations and utilize travel-related products.
- Food Influencers: These individuals showcase their culinary skills, restaurant reviews, and unique recipes. They influence their followers' dining habits and consumption of food-related products.
- Gaming Influencers: These individuals stream live gaming sessions, provide gaming tutorials, and share gaming news and reviews. They influence their followers' gaming choices and consumption of gaming-related products.
- Technology Influencers: These individuals provide reviews of tech gadgets, share tech news and insights, and discuss advancements in technology. They influence their followers' tech purchasing decisions and adoption of new technologies.
- Pet Influencers: These individuals showcase their pets' lives, share pet care tips, and promote pet-related products. They influence their followers' pet ownership experience and consumption of pet-related products.
How to become an influencer in your industry?
Find your niche
The first step in becoming a social media influencer is to find your niche. Every social media influencer specializes in a very specific industry or niche.
From PewDiePie, Shroud, AIB to models on Instagram, they all have some sort of niche that they fall under.
Staying in your niche will help you simplify your target audience and will bring in like-minded people, who are interested in the same niche as you.
Even though there are a lot of influencers who are into multiple industries, that only happens after they’ve exploded onto the scene with a specific niche first.
So, think about what you are passionate about or what industry you want to be known for.
Make sure whichever industry you choose, you know a lot about it or want to learn a lot about.
Once you have your niche, you can then see similar influencers in your niche to figure out the scope of an audience.
How popular the niche you’ve chosen is, this will help you create goals for yourself.
Pick your social media platform
Now that you’ve decided your niche, it’s time to pick your social media platform.
It can be anything from YouTube, Facebook, Instagram to Twitter, LinkedIn etc.
Your choice of platform will largely depend on the niche you have chosen for yourself.
For example, if you plan to be a photographer and start your page then a photo-based social media such as Instagram would be a better platform than LinkedIn.
Similarly, if you plan to make more video-based content then YouTube is more likely the platform you would want to choose.
Anyhow, the platform you pick is highly dependent on the niche you have chosen and where your target audience is… so make sure to do a little bit of research on your niche.
Develop your content strategy
Once you’ve picked your niche and platform, it’s time to develop your content strategy.
You can only become a social media influencer if you have fresh, authentic and relevant content to put out for the audience on the platform.
Inbound marketing is a method used by marketers to offer value to an audience.
By providing genuine information and value, you can create a loyal fan base who will help spread the word about your page/channel.
So, your content must be really good!
Decide on the format of your content, whether it’ll be videos, image posts or long form of blogs (depending on your niche).
Make sure that you balance your content with information and personalization.
People tend to follow influencers as they’re more transparent than celebrities and can relate to them.
So, do add some personal content related to your life and the role of your niche in your life.
Build and maintain a website
A website serves as your online hub, showcasing your expertise, content, and brand identity.
It provides a platform to showcase your work, attract followers, and establish yourself as an authority in your field.
Regularly update your website with fresh content, maintain a consistent design, and optimize it for search engines to enhance its visibility.
Have an opinion
Influencers are not just content creators; they are thought leaders and opinion shapers.
Develop a strong understanding of your industry and be willing to share your insights and perspectives.
Engage in meaningful discussions, express your opinions on relevant topics, and position yourself as a valuable resource for information and guidance.
Grow your network
As an upcoming social media influencer, you will be needing followers to consume your content and help you grow your page/channel.
One of the best ways to do so is by growing your network in the same industry.
Now, if you have a gaming channel on YouTube with only 1K subscribers, I am pretty sure, it’ll be pretty hard to convince Shroud or PewDiePie to give you a shout out.
But someone who is in the same boat as you might do it. Find out channels similar to yours with the same or greater following and reach out to them.
Email them some collaboration ideas, this will help you get the eyes of their fan base which can be beneficial for both of you. Mention this in your outreach process.
This will not only help you make friends doing what you’re doing but it will also help you feed off of each other’s following.
Engage with followers
This one seems like a no brainer but people still tend to forget it.
One of the most affecting ways to have a loyal fanbase is to engage with your followers.
Everyone likes to feel special or at the least not ignored. This is essential in forming a good social media image and at the same time a trick to increase your following.
Engage with your audience! Reply to their comments even if it’s criticism.
Go live on your platforms at least a month to answer their questions and have a dialogue with your followers.
Engaging with your followers will create a healthy community between you and your followers.
This will also retain your followers and make them feel a part of the community you’re trying to create!
Analyse your progress
In marketing, numbers talk!
You must utilise the analytical tools of the platform you’re on and keep a regular check on your channel/page’s progress.
Analytics will give you a clear idea of how your channel is doing and how people are interacting with your content.
If you see some things are not working, try to change those and see if the numbers are growing.
Analytical tools on social media platforms can help you a lot in understanding your audience behaviour and how they interact with your content.
These interactions can help you improve your content and get more engagements or followers.
Also, make sure you watch some tutorials or do a small course on the analytical tools of the platform you’re using.
This will give you a perspective in using these tools for the benefit of your channel.
Stay updated
The social media world is ever-changing and fast-paced!
To stay on top of your game, you must stay up to date with the latest trends and changes within your niche and also on the platform you’re on!
If you stay oblivious to the changes in trends and functionalities of your niche or platform, then you may start losing followers.
So, it’s important to know the current affairs within your niche and make sure to address these changes by creating content around it.
Also, if you see algorithm or product updates on the platform you’re using, make sure to optimize your channel, so that you remain on an upward graph.
Be consistent
As I mentioned in the introduction, this is the most important step in becoming a social media influencer… Be consistent!
Everything that we’ve discussed so far is pointless if you don’t stay consistent.
A lot of people do all the above steps and see slow or no progress and lose motivation. This makes them either lazy or inconsistent in posting content.
This in turn slows their progress down even further until they give up altogether.
So, it’s important to stay consistent and keep putting in the work.
Eventually, you will see progress. It may be slow at the beginning but as long as you’re progressing… don’t give up! And keep going!
In conclusion, if you stick by to the above steps and especially the last one, you will eventually build a decent base of followers.
Once you’ve reached a certain number of followers, you will start getting businesses sponsoring your content and you will also start making revenue via ads.
But before you get to monetary parts, you will have to put in a lot of work to get that initial fan base.
So, keep working!
All the best!