How To Become a Social Media Influencer

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Thanks to the advent of technology, being a social media influencer has become one of the hottest careers in the 21st century. Do you know that the influencer market has a market size of over USD$13.8 billionin2021! As mentioned in this blog articleby Social Shepherd, up to 93% of marketers have used influencer marketing before. That means only a small percentage of marketers have yet to use this type of marketing. This gives a good idea of how significant influencers are in the world of marketing.

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In case you are wondering who is considered as a social media influencer, it basically refers to someone on social media who has the power to influence another person's buying decision because of the knowledge, experience, skill or simply just because of the charisma they possess. Bloggers, Vloggers, Celebrities are all considered as the most common examples of influencers. And not all influencers need to be the stereotypical good-looking, fit, fashionable person that has an outgoing personality. As long as you are popular and influential within your own niche, you can be considered an influencer as well!

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With a plethora of social media platforms for people to use today, people have a lot of opportunities to become a social media influencer as long as they set their mind to it. But while it is technically possible for anyone to become an influencer, bear in mind that there are tens of thousands of people vying for a piece of this massive industry, which means competition is tough and it’s not going to be easy for you if you are not prepared for it. However, with the right strategy, plan, tools and mindset, you should still be able to launch a successful influencer career if you want to. In this article, we will share 7 tips with you on how to become a social media influencer. We hope you can find some success along the way!

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1. Choose Your Niche

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To kick start your career as a social media influencer you need to select a niche. That is a topic you are comfortable and enthusiastic about creating content on. 

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The niche that you choose can make or break your success as an influencer. And leaving out this step will spell disaster for you. If you do not clearly define your niche, you will find yourself losing focus on who your competition is and end up competing with anyone and everyone for audience views. You will also end up confused and find yourself marketing to everyone, which will likely eventually result in you attracting no one to follow you. You will likely still gain some followers, but they will not be your passionate fans who are eager to watch or consume your content, simply because your content lacks focus, and they do not know what to expect from you in your future videos. 

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The more enthusiastic and passionate you are about a particular niche, the easier it will be for you to consistently create and publish content around that niche, and eventually become better and better at it. If you happen to also have some level of professional expertise in the niche that you pick, it will come in handy as well. For example, if you have a knack for makeup and are also working as a professional make-up artist or a marketer in the cosmetics industry, consider publishing content that will help the online community learn topics such as how to apply their makeup for different occasions or how to start a business in the cosmetic industry. Tap and leverage on your existing passions, interests, skills, and credentials. It will give you a good head-start for sure. 

If you have difficulties trying to identity your niche, try asking yourself questions such as:

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"What do I enjoy?"

"What do I love?", 

"What am I good at?"

"What am I passionate about?"

"What interests me?"

Whatever your choice is, make sure it reflects your personality and that it is something you genuinely enjoy. This way you will be able make real connections with your target audience, and in turn, you will gain their trust and their loyalty. 

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2. Choose Your Main Social Media Platform

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Today, there are so many different social media platforms available for you to get on. Some of the more popular social media platforms include Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. 

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As an upcoming social media influencer, you need to pick a main social media platform to build your profile and your following on. This is where you will consistently post the bulk of your content. You can still be active on other platforms but most of your efforts should be focused on your profile on your selected social media platform

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Employing a few questions will help you with the decision-making process. For example, you can ask yourself questions such as "What platforms do other influencers in my niche seem to use the most?" and "Who is the audience I want to target, and which social media platform are they usually on?". For you to start growing your following, it is important for you to know where your target audience are hanging out currently.

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If you are still unsure, consider starting with YouTube. YouTube is one of the best social media platforms for newbies to start from because it has a massive number of users. As of 2021, YouTube generates over 1 billion viewsevery day! YouTube also serves as a search engine as well, which means that most of their users are on the platform looking or searching for some sort of solution to their existing problems they are facing or questions they might have right now. This presents a great opportunity for you to showcase yourself, share your content and offer to present solutions to their problems or issues.

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Our advice is to start with and focus on one social media platform first. Do not overstretch yourself! It's challenging enough to need to consistently create content, let alone manage several social media accounts that require a lot of attention to keep an audience around and engaged.

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3. Define And Narrow Down Your Audience

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Besides defining your niche, your success as a social media influencer also depends on finding the right audience. Without an audience, your brand is practically worthless. You may have the content, but if there’s no one to consume and appreciate it, it has practically no value. As the saying goes “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”. 

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So as soon as you define your niche, define, and narrow down your target audience. You also want to focus on people that will fuel your brand's power. That means targeting an audience that shares the same interest and passion as you. Your target audience will depend on the type of niche you choose. For instance, if you choose a niche in tech, your target audience will also generally be a little more tech savvy, or are beginners with interest in tech.

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By knowing who to target, you will gain focus and clarity on curating relevant content that is able to connect with your audience the most! When your audience knows that you can deliver content that satisfies their needs and desires, you will gain their trust and loyalty, and that is how you will be able to build a strong following. Also, focus on gaining insights on demographics of your audience, such as age, gender, income level etc. Try to identify their interests, and find out what pushes and motivates them, as well as what scares them i.e., their pain points. Knowing this information will allow you to craft your content in a way that can connect with them, solve their pain points, and gain their interest and trust in you.

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Another one of the most used strategies by marketers and influencers is posting content when an audience is most active on the social media platform. It involves studying your audience's viewing patterns and understanding when they are mostly online, and then scheduling to post your content during these prime timings. This increases engagement and interaction. For example, if your target audience are working adults with a typical 9 to 5 job, you may want to post your content between 6pm to 11pm because that's when they will be off work and try to catch up on their favorite shows, swiping on social media etc. If you catch your audience online, they will most likely comment, like or share your content. Your content will also have a wider reach and viewership. 

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4. Generate Traffic

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Your channel, profile or page's growth highly depends on the traffic you generate. In order to achieve this you need to devise strategies to generate traffic.

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One of the most effective ways to generate traffic is to share your content on other platforms other than your main platform. Do note that we are not contradicting ourselves when we mentioned previously that you should only focus on one main social media platform. When we say to share your content on other social media platforms, you can either repost content which you had already published on the main platform, or post publicity content to ask people to head over to the main platform to watch the full content. 

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For instance, if your main platform is YouTube, you can share links to your YouTube videos on other social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter. Or you can create snippets or previews of your YouTube videos and share them on TikTok and Instagram as well. This way audiences from these platforms can get to know your brand and make their way to your YouTube channel. 

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Using social media advertising tools, such as paid advertising or paid shout-outs, to get your content shown to more people is also among the options you can use. However, we advise that you focus more on growing your audience organically as opposed to using paid reach, especially if you were just starting out. An organic growth shows that your audience is genuinely interested in your content, and they willingly engage with it. Many brands prefer to collaborate with influencers who have grown their profile organically as opposed to those that have paid reach options. Once you have reached certain financial stability because of stable following growth, then you can consider using paid advertising to boost your growth even further. 

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5. Engage With Your Audience

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Never make the mistake of just treating your audience as just statistics. Make the effort, reach out to them, and build a friendship and personal connection with them. Let them feel and experience your sincerity and authenticity and make them feel valued. Express your gratitude towards them because they have spent their precious time and energy watching your content. If you can build this connection with your audience, they will keep coming back to you naturally. 

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On the other hand, failure to do this may have some repercussions. Some of them may feel like they are being used and are not valued by you. They may feel like you do not really care about them, but only use them to boost your own followings and for your own benefits. 

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So, make sure to engage with your audience regularly and authentically. Be appreciative of your audience and make sure they feel appreciated! Reply all their comments whenever possible, and even consider giving them an exclusive shoutout to make them feel valued! If your audience feels happy engaging with you, they will put in a few good words about you and share about you writing their own social circles, thus expanding your following!

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Besides just engaging with your audience on your profile or page simply by liking, commenting, or answering your audience's questions, consider going beyond the social media platform and engaging with them via other channels such as emails, live streams or even face to face fan meetups! 

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6. Collaborate With Other Influencers and Brands

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The final step in your quest to establish and grow your social media influencer brand is to reach out and pitch collaboration opportunities with other influencers and brands.

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The best part about collaborating with other influencers is that it allows for cross pollination of each other’s audience, thereby creating a win-win situation for both parties! Collaborations, especially if you are doing one with someone who is more well-known than you, will help you to build a name for yourself and give your brand a boost.

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Also, you do not have to restrict yourself to looking for collaborations only on a particular social media platform. You can go beyond your main platform and collaborate with other influencers for brands who are more well-known on other social media platforms. That way, you gain opportunities to reach out to new pockets of potential audiences who are not so active on your main platform, but who are so on other social media platforms, hence allowing you to expand your following size!

Besides actively reaching out and pitching to others for collaboration opportunities, you can also simply state in your social media account that you are ready for collaborations. Some influencers also indirectly call for collaborations with other influencers and creators by tagging, mentioning, or talking about their product or services as part of their content. 

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But in any case, don't be afraid to drop a direct message and pitch to other influencers and brands on what you have to offer. The results from these collaboration pitches may not be immediate, but have faith and patience, once you get your first collaboration, things will get easier as collaborations tend to open new doors and attract future opportunities for you.

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Conclusion

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As mentioned, becoming a successful social media influencer is not exactly a walk in the park. As the saying goes, “you reap what you sow”. You need to put in lots of time and effort to gain your audience's trust and loyalty. Patience is key because growth takes time. But remember, always strive to exceed expectations, and deliver massive value. Be true, authentic, and sincere in your presentation and when you engage with others. Have faith and carry on, and you will become a successful social media influencer one day!

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