Being an influencer is a career that has been highly sought after. Keep in mind, becoming an influencer is more complicated than it looks.
When looking at these influencers’ content, you’re probably not thinking about target audiences, niches, and market strategies.
You’re probably thinking, “Wow, I wish I could afford that vacation,” or “I like that purse she’s wearing.” That’s because they’ve implemented a digital marketing strategy, and it worked perfectly on you.
So how do you become an influencer rather than being influenced?
Well, the steps aren’t easy, but they’re not impossible, either. Keep reading to learn more about social media influencers!
What Is a Social Media Influencer?
A social media influencer is someone who has build trust on Instagram or other social platforms. Usually, this process is done by having a niche interest.
Many platforms can be used to build an audience. Usually, when an influencer has built enough credibility on one platform, they can move this following into multiple platforms.
The five most popular platforms in 2021 are:
- YouTube
- TikTok
- Twitch
Overall, the key to becoming an influencer is by hashtagging and finding your audience. You should also know the algorithm, consistently post, and make quality content!
Know the Basics and Fundamentals
A niche is a specific interest people have. For example, sometimes you’ll see an Instagram star whoonly posts about traveling. All of their posts are pictures of them on planes or exotic beaches. Therefore, their “niche” is traveling.
Many influencers have made particular niches from a broad interest. For example, traveling is a pretty broad niche but, a good sub-section could be backpacking or traveling on a budget!
These niches are also used for Youtube stars and TikTok stars. For example, Charlie Demilio is a famous Tik Tok star who makes fun dances from pop songs.
Therefore, her niche on Tik Tok is dancing. A famous Youtuber named Cody Ko uses funny videos from the internet or TV shows and then makes funny commentary. Therefore his niche is making reaction videos or comment videos.
Find Your Niche
Before you can grow your platform, you need to pick your intended niche. For example, if you begin to post content randomly, your page might appear messy and unprofessional. Not to mention, your follower’s timeline will be clogged with random posts, which is the main reason why people lose followers.
By having a concise plan for your page, your followers are more likely to engage and become interested in your content! If you’re not sure what kind of niche suits your personality, here’s a list of some of the most popular ones:
- Traveling
- Gaming
- Beauty and skin
- Fitness
- Family/Home
- Health/Fitness
- Food
- Lifestyle
- Fashion
- Pets
These niches are very popular in 2021. Foodie pages are taking over Instagram. Beauty and lifestyle are popular on YouTube. And gamingis taking over on Twitch!
Find a Subsection
All of these niches are seen on various platforms like Instagram and YouTube. However, as mentioned earlier, you could find a specific niche within these interests. Here are some great subsections of niches:
- Luxury traveling
- Fortnite gaming
- Makeup tutorials
- Weight training
- Pregnancy journeys
- Vegan living
- Restaraunt food reviews
- Living in LA
- High fashion/ styling tips
- Exotic animals
Now that you know about different niches, it’s time to build a digital marketing strategy! This may sound a little scary, but it’s mostly about knowing your audience, being transparent, and having engaging content!
Create a Digital Marketing Strategy
Once you’ve selected your niche, the following steps are all about implementing and repeating. First, start by knowing where your target audience spends most of their time.
For example, if your niche is fun makeup tutorials, your target audience is around 16 to 35. Of course, this age gap is very general, but most people looking to get into makeup choose Youtube as their preferred platform.
Therefore, you should spend the majority of your time consistently posting on YouTube. However, you can also use Instagram and other platforms to promote your videos!
Once you’ve found where your target audience spends time, you can start posting quality content. First, ensure that you have a consistent schedule for posting. For example, if you’re a Youtuber, try and post twice a week, around the same time!
By consistently posting,the algorithmis more likely to work in your favor! However, be aware that during the first year, your account may not grow fast. Even if you followed your marketing strategy, it could take 2-3 years for your account to grow.
Try GoingViral In 2021
First of all, there isn’t a set playbook for going viral online. However, there are steps you can take to make it more likely for you to become viral. For starters, Tik Tok is said to have the best algorithm compared to other social media outlets.
For example, small brands sell out their merchandise, unknown music is suddenly trending, and regular kids make brand deals after a few viral posts. Overall, Tik Tok is the fastest way to gain popularity. Not to mention, you can transfer your followers onto other platforms like Instagram and Youtube.
So the question still stands, how do you become viral in 2021? Well, the best way is to follow trends or start a new one. For example, Tik Tok is famous for having sounds that people use to make skits or funny videos.
You could try and take part in a trend that’s happening now and hope yours can stick out. However, you don’t necessarily have to follow trends to go viral. For example, you could start posting your content and add a fun song to your videos.
Use Hashtags
If you’re unsure what kind of content you should post on Tik Tok, follow the same niche you’ve picked for your main platform. For example, if you’re the main platform is Youtube makeup tutorials, try posting a fun 60-second tutorial with music ad transitions.
Using hashtags can also increase your chances of going viral. If you don’t know what hashtags you should be using, go on a famous creator’s page and see what they’re using. When in doubt, these Tik Tok hashtags are some of the most popular ones at the moment:
- #fypage
- #fyp
- #foryou
- #viral
- #foryoupage
These variations of words have been proven to work! You can also create a combination of these top five and then add in a specific hashtag. For example, for makeup niches, you could add in #makeup or #makeuptutorial.
Build Trust With Your Followers
Once you start gaining followers, the next step is to keep them! A great way to build on your platform without losing followers is by posting relevant and trustworthy content.
For example, if you’re a fitness influencer and you have a brand deal for a protein powder, ensure that the product your advertising is safe and works.
Many times, Instagram stars will promote faulty products to get fast money. However, this can be damaging to your brand, especially if you’re still a micro-influencer! All of your hard work could be terminated by one bad brand deal.
An excellent way to avoid this situation is by researching the brand. Also, if you’re not willing to test the product on yourself, you shouldn’t promote it for others to buy.
Therefore, if you’ve done research on the brand and seem legitimate, try out the product and make sure you like it. Don’t be afraid to say no to a brand deal. If you’re putting in the work, other brands will see this and want to work with you!
If you genuinely like the product and you’re going to accept the brand deal, read the fine print and agreement. New influencers are often excited about a brand deal that they don’t even notice what they agree too! Lastly, you should pay close attention to the deadline, duration, and any special clauses.
Know About Different Brand Deals
There are many types of brand deals, but today we will discuss the top three! To begin, product placement sponsorships are the most popular brand deals.
This brand deal works by putting the product on display and testing it. Many times this type of brand deal is done with makeup, hair, and skin products! The second type of brand deal is a giveaway or contest.
These kinds of brand deals will ask the audience to perform a small task to win something. For example, an influencer could ask their followers to write about their favorite travel memory, and the person with the best story wins a travel package from the brand.
Lastly, discount codes have become a popular way to do brand deals. Discount codes work by giving an influencer a unique code to gift to their followers. The influencer will talk about the brand and then place the code in the description box or somewhere in the caption!
All these brand deals have different pay rates and particular term agreements. As stated previously, make sure you read everything before agreeing or signing anything!
Becoming an Influencer
Overall, the life of an influencer can be very rewarding. However, you need to be committed to the work. Becoming an influencer isn’t just about posting fun pictures; you need to have a mission and be trustworthy!
If you liked this article, don’t forget to come back for more fantastic content!
