How to Become a Social Media Influencer

Being able to influence the decisions people make is very fulfilling, and you will always feel good about yourself if you succeed in this.

However being able to control people especially on what they should buy is a big challenge.

A significant number of individuals are looking out for an opportunity to make a living from social media marketing, making the field competitive.

As a social media influencer, your followers will buy products depending on the information you give them about a particular product.

Brands will contract you if your following on social media is massive and if you can be able to remain loyal to the brand that you are representing.

Through your influence, you should be able to employ creative techniques to ensure that a significant number of people become aware of the brand that you are pushing into the market.

If you are authentic, you will be able to convince more potential buyers to develop a keen interest in the products that you are selling and most probably buy the product.

The information that you give to the potential customer should be right because social media influencing solely depends on trust.

Becoming a successful influencer will not happen overnight.

What Really is a Social Media Influencer?

Just to bring you up to speed, a social media influencer is an individual who has the power to affect someone’s buying decision, based on their presence online, and how they interact with their followers.

They have this effect on people because of their life skills, knowledge of a certain industry, or experience in a particular niche.

Industry leaders, celebrities, and bloggers are considered good examples of social media influencers, who are able to successfully interact with their followers to promote services or products.

Most of the time the services or products that are endorsed by these people are going to be purchased by their followers, should they have a desire or need for it.

If someone is swearing by the benefits of a certain workout clothing line or makeup brand, members of that audience probably have a tendency to follow this recommendation and purchase the product as a result.

Having this kind of influence can be an incredibly powerful influencer marketing tool, especially for a small or new business.

Being a successful social media influencer, even if you are a micro-influencer, is a great way to earn income on the side, because you basically get to work whenever you feel like it, wherever you are.

You don’t have to be stuck to a specific schedule, because at the end of the day, you are your own boss.

But, what could be seen as a downside here is that you do need to consistently maintain your network.

How to Become an Influencer on Social

Obviously, the idea of becoming an influencer on social media is an attractive prospect for many because the majority of social media platforms are easy to use, which means that working as a social media influencer can be a cakewalk.

However, just keep in mind that you’re not the only person who wants to do this for their job.

Usually, the people that have been earning money as a social media influencer have been doing so for years, and were successful in their careers beforehand.

So, if you want to experience the same success, then we suggest that you take note of the following tips on how you can become an influencer online.

Discover Your Niche

The thing about influencer marketing is that the market is extremely diverse. You can find people who are experts and professionals in watches, automobiles, fashion, and many more.

They have spent the majority of their life mastering that specific niche, and they are using their knowledge to educate and enhance the experience of their online community.

If you want to achieve the same thing, and you want to earn money from it, then you will need to find your niche first, and build a following around your niche as a result.

When it comes to choosing your niche, it is essential that you choose the right one because this is going to make or break your chances of success.

What we mean by this is that you need to make sure that you are actually passionate or interested in the niche you have chosen, and you aren’t just choosing it because you think it is going to earn a lot of money.

If you love painting, or photography, or you love fashion, try to publish content that is directly related to this, and brings value to the audience that is going to be interested in it.

Don’t provide information about car maintenance if you have no idea about cars, and how they work.

The more passionate you are about your niche, the easier it is going to be to both create high-quality content and be consistent with your content as you publish it over the course of a few weeks, a few months, or even a few years.

Pick the Right Social Channel

If you want to be a successful social media influencer, you need to decide which social media channel you want to build your profile on.

Because there are many different ones to choose from these days, it is important that you pick the right one based on your interests, and your niche.

Again, that influencer platform that you choose can make or break your chances of becoming successful, finding your target audience, and developing a serious following around your interests.

To choose the right social media platform for your needs, you need to ask yourself who is your target audience?

What social media network is your competition making the most of?

What kind of content are you hoping to create over a long period of time?

What is the easiest kind of content for you to make?

And where do the recent social trends point to when it comes to social media networks that are trending right now?

It is difficult enough to come up with high-quality content, so don’t overdo it. Maybe you should play around for a little bit, and test out a couple of social media channels, so that you can land on the best one.

Come up with a Good Content Strategy

Creating a reputation as a successful social media influencer can be really challenging initially, but this doesn’t mean that it isn’t possible.

Apart from carefully choosing the right niche, you also need to develop a robust content strategy, and work out the kind of content that you are wanting to produce.

You need to choose the kind of content that is going to educate and entertain your target audience, while being creative and unique.

Most of the time, social media influencers will make the most of images, articles, and even videos when it comes to content strategy. The rule of thumb in general when it comes to this approach is the 5/3/2 principle.

This method means that for every 10 posts on your social media, five of them should be valuable content that has been created by another person, preferably somebody who falls within your niche, three should be informative content that you created on your own, and two of them should be posts about yourself.

This general approach is a great strategy that is going to balance out your target audiences’ need for content, while letting them know more about you, and what goes on behind the scenes.

Making sure that your personality can shine through your content is going to help you create a successful brand and establish an authority within your industry.

Of course, there are many other rules and approaches to this aspect of your social media growth out there, but just make sure that your content is always on topic, and incorporates the content of others, so that you can avoid being self-promotional at all times.

The most successful influencers out there are willing to consistently engage with others, which includes both influencers and followers.

Share Your Content Properly

It doesn’t matter how innovative or informative your content is, if nobody is seeing it, then everything you have put into it will have been a waste of time.

This is just one of the reasons why you need to know how and where to share your content properly.

Let’s take a look at a few tips to help you with this.

Try to Stick to a Theme: Every social media channel is used for a specific purpose. For example, Instagram is great for marketing a product or service through images, while Twitter is better for marketing a product or service through text. You can use different social media channels for different content, just make sure that you have the time to update all of these networks regularly. If you find that some of your social media networks are going stale because you simply can’t keep up with the demand of content, this is definitely going to affect your credibility as an influencer, and decrease the chances of having more successful marketing campaigns around your brand in the future.
Customize Your Message: Of course, you are going to be posting the same basic content through different social media networks, but it is best if you can take the time to customize each image or video. You want to make sure that your target audience feels like they are actually being valued when it comes to your content, and they aren’t just being assaulted with spam messages that at the end of the day, they don’t really care about. Targeting your audience without irritating or spamming them as going to be key to discovering the true value of influencer marketing, and the benefits that it has.
Make Sure Your Posts are Mobile-Friendly: If you want to become a successful social media influencer, you also need to make sure that you realize that not everybody is going to be using a computer when they’re checking out your content on the Internet. A lot of people are now using the Internet through their mobile phones, or their tablets. If you want to reach the majority of your target audience, then you need to make sure that your content is mobile-friendly.

Foster Your Community

Of course, growing your community is essential if you are going to be a successful influencer, because your followers are actually what is going to drive your potential and growth.

This is why you need to make sure that you use appropriate hashtags for your niche, partner with other influencers and brands, and engage consistently with people to grow your community.

Your engagement rate is also going to affect how often your posts are shared and spread around social media networks, so make sure that you are consistently engaging with your followers, as well as the followers of other influencers within your industry.

Whether you take the time to talk to a follower about some things that are going on behind the scenes, or you respond to a question related to your product, you must consistently engage with your audience.

At the end of the day, influencers are just ordinary people that have a platform, so engaging with their followers is what’s going to make a real difference.

Make Friends with Your Followers

The precise way that you choose to go about this approach is going to vary. This means that for some, engaging with their followers is going to occur only when they have posted content.

For others, it is going to happen over email, or direct message. Remember, your followers are going to continue coming back to your social media networks because they enjoy your content, your personality, and your creativity.

This is why you need to make sure that you continue to provide them with content, as well as a reason to keep taking the time to check out your brand.

The advantages of influencing on social media are often related to the freedom involved, as well as the money, but you can also cultivate longstanding friendships if you take the right approach.

Genuine connections are going to foster a more consistent engagement strategy, so failing to cover this aspect of your brand’s growth could result in your reputation being damaged.

How Can You Make Money as a Social Media Influencer?

When it comes to being a social media influencer, different people work in this role for different reasons.

For some people, it is all about convenience, while others are in it for the money, especially considering they can make a lot in a short amount of time.

Here are a few ways that a social media influencer can effortlessly make money just by being online.

Produce High-Quality Content for Brands

When it comes to social media marketing, content is king.

This means that back in the day when brands were only going to market their service or product to their target audience, today, they need to publish content that is going to help their target audience understand how much their lives are going to improve once they use that service or product.

If you think that you are passionate enough to write a variety of content for a specific industry, then you need to invest in high-quality content.

Once you are able to gain a strong online following, brands are going to want to reach out to you, so that you will create content that represents them.

Webinars

Webinars are similar to blogs and articles, and they are also a great way to make money as a social media influencer.

Instead of writing content, you can record a video, and discuss a specific topic. If you have got decades or years of experience in a particular industry, you can monetize the knowledge you have through webinars.

Your audience will trust your judgment, and be intrigued to know more by tuning in.

Consulting

Consulting is kind of like coaching, but for brands that have different objectives, that might require a bit more of your time.

Digital Product

Once you have obtained influencer status, you can monetize your community by promoting a specific product to them, whether it is a physical product, or a digital product.

Dropshipping

If you don’t have a product that you can affiliate with your name, then you can try drop shipping a product that is made elsewhere.

This is where you sell someone else’s product based on the influence that you have. Of course, the more influence you have, the easier it is going to be to get that product off the shelf.

You Are Going to Reap What You Sow

We all know at this point that working as a social media influencer is fun and convenient, but just remember that you are only going to do well in this career if you put a lot of time and effort into building your brand, and gaining authority in your chosen industry, as well as obtaining the trust of your audience.

Even if you’re just working in front of a desktop computer, you’re still need to be patient with the clients that you’ve got, so that you can work on exceeding their expectations, and practicing good time management.

FAQs

How Much Money Can I Make as a Social Media Influencer?

If you are a nano-influencer, which means that you’ve got less than 10,000 followers on a particular social media network, you can earn between 30k, and $60k a year.

If you are a micro-influencer, and you’ve got between 10,000 and 50,000 followers, you can earn between $40k and $100k a year.

However, if you’re a celebrity like Justin Bieber, you can earn millions of dollars just through your social networks alone.

How Do I Become a Social Media Influencer and Make Money?

The thing about influencer marketing is that it is a diverse and big market.

Therefore, if you want brands to notice you and become successful, you will need to carefully find a niche that you are passionate about, so that you can choose the social media network that you use, develop a robust content strategy, and distribute your content appropriately.

How Many Followers Do I Need to be a Social Media Influencer?

There are four main types of social media influencers based on follower count, but there is no specific role.

Mega influencers are those that have over a million followers, while macro influencers have between 50,000 and a million followers, micro-influencers have between 10,000 and 50,000 followers, and then nano-influencers, as we discussed above, have less than 10,000 followers.

How Do I Become a Social Media Influencer in 2021?

If you want to become a social media influencer in 2021, you will need to work on finding a target audience and encouraging them to follow you on the channel that you have chosen.

Follower count plays a big role when it comes to influencer marketing but as we have discussed, there are other factors to consider that are also essential if you want to be successful as a social media influencer.

These include the quality of your content, as well as how authentic you are when it comes to engaging with your audience.

Can I Become an Influencer?

Yes, the good news is that anyone can become a social media marketing influencer. However, being one takes a lot of time, creativity, and passion.

If you want to become an effective influencer, you must discover a niche that you love, and create content around it, so that you can share it with the world.

Also, the more genuine and authentic you are when it comes to being a social media influencer, the easier it is going to be to build value, trust, and reputation around your audience.

Final Thoughts

Becoming a social media influencer definitely isn’t a walk in the park, but the end goal can be.

Once you have obtained influence or status, and you’ve got enough people interacting with their content on a daily basis to earn a reputable income, then you are going to be able to manage your time better and find more time to relax and not think about social media so much.

However, it is a long road to get there, so strapping, and be prepared to put in some long hours in order to obtain your dream job. If you have a passion for it, it will be worth it.

It might also be worth getting a bit of help with everything, and utilizing automated software to take the edge off. Good luck!