How to Become an Influencer: 10 Steps to Becoming Influencer

Rumors about influencers’ income are one of the ‎most ‎discussed themes nowadays, so no wonder that ‎the profession has become attractive and trendy today. ‎

It is believed, however, that the influencers’ market is ‎already overcrowded with content creators of all ranks, ‎hence ‎the question arises: how to become popular in the ‎new ‎environment? How to build relationships ‎with ‎advertisers? Why do companies choose the ‎same ‎influencers? To all these questions we’ll try to ‎answer ‎in this article.‎

Statistics

According to a Harris Poll and Lego survey, conducted in the US, UK, and China, 29% of children between the ages of 8-12 dream to become YouTube influencers. ‎Based on another study by ‎Morning Consult, 54% of ‎Americans ‎between the ages of 13 and 38 would ‎become bloggers ‎if given the opportunity.‎

Who is the influencer? ‎

For some, a blogger/ influencer is a person with an ‎account of 100 thousand and more subscribers, for ‎others – an acquaintance, colleague, or friend with an ‎audience of 1.5-2 thousand, who actively posts in social ‎networks.‎ It’s interesting that ten years ago, only stars and celebrities were considered influencers. For example, until 2015, L’Oreal Paris worked mainly with actresses and models, and only in ‎‎2015, a blogger Christina Bazan became the face of the ‎brand. Sure, it was considered a bold and important step. Now, social media ‎influencers like Knox Frost, who became the face of ‎WHO in the fight against coronavirus, or Imma for ‎IKEA Japan, are becoming brand ambassadors.‎

How it started

First influencers started as lifestyle bloggers: people ‎just shared their lifestyle. Later, expert influencers start to appear, ‎promoting themselves as a specialist in a certain field. As a result, today professional influencers talk about highly specialized ‎themes (fitness, beauty, nutrition, psychology, and so ‎on).

How to become a successful influencer?‎

If you are determined to take up blogging as a full-time job, get ready for a thorny path, because to become an ‎influencer with a loyal audience, you need to cover ‎many aspects.‎

‎1.‎ Find your niche ‎

Build and maintain your brand. In particular, identify yourself. Who are you: travel blogger, dog lover, ‎fashion personality, lifestyle or food blogger, body-positive, or movie fan? Pick a couple of things, ‎characteristics that set you apart from others. Some kind ‎of personal shtick. For instance, there are a lot of dog lovers, but ‎you have to find something to stand out. Perhaps you ‎are a zoo psychologist or you are traveling with a dog in ‎a car to non-trivial places.‎ Just try to find your charm.

‎2.‎ The visual design of the profile

As the saying states “You won’t get a second chance to make a first impression”. The visual of your blog is very important. This includes your profile photo and information on your profile header or disclosure about your blog. So, make it clear who you are and what your blog is about. For this, use your photo as a profile photo, because this is the first thing that followers see. Moreover, we advise not to change the avatar ‎too often. This helps to be recognizable for followers, ‎so they can easily see whose content is being posted.

‎3.‎ Make your followers trust you

One of the fundamental principles vital in the way of becoming an influencer is that your followers should ‎trust you. Be honest, open, and sincere on your profile. Be communicable with your audience. It takes a lot of work to build trust with your audience. Get ready to devote a lot of time and energy to your social media ‎account, carefully select content and posts. Gather a ‎high-quality, even small, but loyal audience, always ‎ready to follow you and your ideas.

‎4.‎ Post content regularly

Get serious about creating and posting content regularly, and appearing on your ‎content. People prefer to see a real person in their ‎profiles, not just pretty photos/videos of great sunsets or yummy food. And even if you have, as it seems to ‎you, the most ordinary life without adventures, travel, ‎career achievements, remember that you can always ‎find your audience and become popular if you show ‎your personality and find your peculiarity.‎ For this create a content plan, keep extra content in stock in ‎case no inspiration or fresh ideas. Pinterest, or videos from other bloggers, and if you need help, use the ‎content posting planners. This will free up time and ‎make the feed more organized.‎

‎5.‎ Be creative

Be creative and look at the world outside the box, because there is no place for bores on any social media platform. Today people love original and interesting characters and content. ‎Free yourself from stereotypes, and don’t imitate popular ‎influencers, just find your format.‎

‎6.‎ Be tech-savvy

Have a technical base. To become an influencer and captivate users with good ‎visual content, you need to invest in a camera or a brand new smartphone. Buy a smartphone with a good camera, light and photo ‎equipment. In the first stages, it is better to follow the ‎courses on mobile videography/ photography to learn ‎the secrets of mobile videography or the basic ‎principles of competent composition and other nuances.‎

‎7.‎ Choose ads carefully

Congrats! Your profile gets advertisers’ attention and ‎the first offers. Now what? The first thing you should remember is do not betray yourself and your audience with inappropriate ads. ‎Collaborate only with those profiles/companies that fit ‎the image you’re your audience will like. For example, ‎if you are a childfree person with two cats and ‎extraordinary taste, hardly baby games advertising will ‎be adequately received by your fan club.‎

‎8.‎ Ads vs Non-ad content

Keep the balance between ads and non-ad content. Even ‎if partner brands are great for your audience, don’t ‎forget that too many ads can bother people and make ‎them leave your blog.

‎9.‎ Good business reputation

It is important not only to communicate with the ‎audience but also to be a do-person. When you start a ‎business relationship, it is important to fulfill all ‎agreements: comply with deadlines, do not delete posts ‎a week after publication, do not speak badly about the ‎brand, and do not cooperate with obvious competitors ‎shortly.‎ Companies pay attention to the following things: ‎

• Does the influencer disrupt deadlines;‎

• Is the influencer active in discussions and ‎brainstorming;‎

• Is the influencer ready to include the ‎communication that the brand wants in the ‎advertisement? ‎

These are three main factors that shape the attitude of the market towards each influencer. If you have a good ‎relationship with the brand’s managers and the ‎communication is effective, then the brand will most ‎likely turn to the influencer again. And the good word of ‎mouth will spread across the market about the author ‎because managers can change companies and make ‎recommendations.‎

10. Be a marketer

If you want to be an influencer, be a marketer first. You ‎need to understand your audience psychology, the algorithms of social networks, get what targeted advertising is, and navigate various special tools.

Summing up

Being an influencer means having an impact on people who follow you. Anybody can be an influencer, any person whose opinion is important for other people, whom they want to be like.

During a pandemic, influencers and their content ‎become even more important than ever. People are ‎more likely to trust influencers and opinion-makers ‎than ordinary ads. Being or becoming an influencer ‎first of all means being creative, organized, and always ‎on top of the field you speak about. Find your niche, ‎deepen your knowledge and skills, create a unique ‎bond of trust with your audience. These will guarantee ‎you a loyal fan base, always keen to listen to your ‎opinion and recommendations.‎