A Influencer in social media is a person who has built a reputation for their knowledge and expertise on a particular field of interest (travel, style, food, etc.) They regularly post about their field on their preferred social media channels and generate large followings of loyal and engaged people who pay close attention to their actions.
Brands love social media influencers because they can create trends and encourage their followers to buy products they promote. Many brands have used this tactic of recruiting influencers to exponentially increase their sales and brand awareness. The time is now to become an influencer while social media is rapidly growing every single day.
Types of Influencers
Most influencers fit into the following categories, with the last category by far is the most attainable and most important today:
Celebrities
Industry experts
Thought leaders
Bloggers and content creators
Micro-Influencers
The majority of social influencer marketing today occurs in social media primarily on Instagram, predominantly with micro influencers, and blogging. Micro influencers are often the most informed in their niches. They have a engaged community of followers who rely on and trust the content they bring out. They are believable and credible, because they are usually everyday people sharing their passion, their personal recommendations, their everyday life and their likes and dislikes. This is why Micro influencers are very important because they can relate to the every day person which is why brands use them to promote their products.
Industry experts and thought leaders such as journalists can also be considered influencers and hold an important position for brands. Then there are celebrities, they were the original influencers of our era. This type of influencer is unfortunately not in reach for many people and brands need to fork up a big price in order to use a celebrity as a influencer.
Influencers and Bloggers in social media have the most authentic and active relationships with their fans. Brands are now recognizing and encouraging this to their growth plans. Find out which Social Platform is better suited for you here.
What Type Of Influencer Will You Be?
To become an Instagram influencer, the first thing you need to do is find a niche that suits your personality. This needs to be something you’re passionate about. Something in which you have a good deal of knowledge and interest. Don't pick something you know very little about, people will take notice.
Pick a niche that you’re genuinely passionate about. Maybe you love to travel and talk about it? Or maybe you love food, and have a great deal of interest in different types of cuisines? Maybe you’re into fashion and are always aware of the latest styles and trends?
Your Instagram posts should reflect your image you are trying to portray to your audience. Take high quality photos that engage your audience and allows for new ones to be interested. Worst thing you can do is post about random events that do not correlate to your image as a influencer.
Your niche might even be a combination of different things, as long as they’re not random. Here’s an example of an Instagram influencer whose niche is mostly soccer, but definitely incorporates lifestyle and style itself...you might recognize him.
Create a Catching Bio
Once you have decided on your field of interest your page will consist of, you need to start working on the details of social media account for example your Instagram account. The first thing that you need to focus on is creating a bio that immediately catches people’s attention when they are brought to your profile. It should talk about your story in a way that engages anyone, most importantly your potential audience of your niche.
Keep in mind, it’s one of the first things that a brand or a potential followers sees on your account. So if you want to become an Instagram influencer, make it noteworthy and memorable. It only takes two to three seconds for that viewing prospect to find out if they like your page or not.
Influencers think strategically and enter the minds of their audience. An important tip we tell our clients is in the name field, include example “travel blogger,” so that your profile shows up for such searches. And in your bio, include what your passionate about, hobbies, and short story of you. This might be hard with the limited space cap but is very well doable.
Make a Habit of Posting Consistently
Posting content consistently is another crucial prerequisite to become a Social Media influencer. Most influencers on Instagram post daily or every other day. However, some of them post a few times in a day or even a few times in a week. It depends on your goal as a influencer, just make sure to not bombard your following with posts that do not intrigue them. This will lead to unfollowing and ridicule due to your account becoming "annoying" or "all they do is promote." Make sure you have a healthy balance of approaches when bringing out your content.
Get More Engagement and Likes on Your Social Media Account Here.
Studies have revealed that an increase in your content posting frequency can boost engagement rates. However, when you decide what your posting schedule needs to be, make sure that you choose wisely. Hiring a Social Media Manager will aid in this process and can dramatically boost your overall performance. A schedule is crucial, so it needs to be something you can stick to.
Having a Social Media Manager allows you to create your content in advance and set the dates and times for posting. So you don’t need to do it yourself, leave the work to them and allow their expertise to guide you to becoming a prominent Influencer.
Making a Business Account
Besides having a catchy bio, making your account a business page is very vital to your success as a influencer. Having your page set to business allows for you to view key insights for the development of your social media account. Here is how to make your business account on Instagram
The most important benefit is that with a business account, you get access to insights. You’ll be able to see not only your follower demographics but also which posts are getting better engagement. You will also be able to see the days and times which give you the best engagement. This is great information to tap into!
Follower demographics are very useful when it comes to pitching to brands for collaboration. Because numbers do not lie, showing brands what numbers you pull and what areas will be a key factor in you getting products are currency to promote their product.
The other advantage you get with a business account is the ability to run ads. You can promote one of your posts if you want, in order to get some additional engagement but for a cost. Social Media ads are definitely one of the cheaper avenues of trying to promote a product or service and can be utilized by many classes of Influencers not matter the budget range. Just make sure you are spending it correctly by targeting the right people... which is a whole other topic. If you need help, we can do that for you.
Using Story Posts
Instagram Stories and IGTV are receiving the biggest hype right now on Instagram. More and more users are joining this bandwagon. In fact, more than 200 million Instagram users are using them every day. This makes them an outstanding tool to grow more followers and gain better visibility. Even utilizing IGTV, which works a bit like YouTube, will be a huge factor in your audience engaging with you. It helps establish a relationship because you can interact with them via those channels.
Even people who aren’t your followers, can discover you from Stories or IGTV. By adding hashtags or location to Stories, you can be discovered by more people. A important tip for experienced influencers is that if you have 10,000+ followers, you can include an link using a “swipe up” option on Stories. After you reached this level you know you have a huge advantage over many influencers out there.
You can even tag others on your Stories and give a shout out to other accounts. This is not only a great way of building relationships with fellow influencers, it can increase your follower count without spending a penny.
Knowing this information and putting these tips into practice will kick start or grow your influencer account. The road to being a influencer is one that requires patience, persistence and dedication in order to sit with the best. Do not be one of those people that buys all their followers and has little to no engagement, this will show and brands will be aware of this. Work hard and your goals will be met, we assure you that.