Influencer marketing has shown rapid growth. The Benchmark report estimated that it was a $1.7 billion market in 2016, and predicted that it would grow to $16.4 billion in 2022. These figures indicate the huge growth potential of influencer marketing and its rapidly increasing monetary value. It is good news for aspiring influencers: despite numerous influencer accounts on Instagram and other platforms, there is still room for their own activity. As consumers still trust influencer endorsements, influencer marketing will continue growing. The only challenge is successfully positioning yourself against competition. This could be achieved by following these steps (Part II):
Read How to Become an Influencer (Part I).
Step 6: Engage with your audience. Not only do you have to learn about your audience, you also need to actively engage with them. This will help you better respond to their needs and increase interest in your profile. Engaging with your audience will guide you what type of content they would like to see, which will help you adjust your content strategy. Interaction with followers also adds “a personal touch and sincerity to your brand”. Remember that even negative feedback you receive can be beneficial to your brand if you can learn from constructive criticism and make the right decisions based on it.
Step 7: Create a website. Social media are good for starting conversations. To initiate more in-depth conversations, you need a website where you can better explain your ideas and attract more interest in your profile. Your website is an extension of your social media profile. All the content you share on social media should guide your followers to visit your website for more content. Your website content should provide more value to your followers. The more interest you attract, the more engagement you are likely to get. This in turn will help strengthen your personal brand.
Step 8: Network and collaborate with others. To position yourself as an influencer, you need to focus on branding. To successfully build your brand, you need to network with other people in your industry. Another option is to write guest posts for other influencers. This will help expand your reach more quickly as you will also have access to those influencers’ networks. This type of collaboration could be seen from the perspective of coopetition: you need to find partners to boost the appeal of your personal brand while you are still competing with them for the attention of the same audience.
Step 9: Diversify your platforms. No influencer should solely depend on Instagram. Why so? The answer is simple: because it is a third-party platform, which means that you do not own your audience; you only have access to it. If for any reason, something happens to your account, you lose the community you have built over the years. It also means “a missed revenue opportunity”. If you grow your audience on another platform, you increase the chances of getting more brand collaborations and, consequently, more revenue. It is also important to build your e-mail list, because this is the only audience that does not depend on the existence of a platform.
Step 10: Consider your account as a business. Although creating and posting content on social media can be fun, you need to remember to stay professional if you want to make money out of it. You need to be aware when it is best to show your personality and when you should be professional. Your professional presence will help establish collaborations with brands. Non-professional conduct on social media can jeopardize your relationships with sponsors and future collaboration opportunities.
References: emeritus.org | Neil Patel, neilpatel.com | Neal Schaffer, nealschaffer.com | Christina Galbato, later.com | Tony Newton, scalefluence.com