How to Become a Successful Influencer?
This is the very first question you need to ask yourself if you want to be successful as an influencer. Even before you buy a powerful camera or professional lighting, you need a plan. If some influencers have made it to celebrity status with no apparent strategy, it is often because they started in the early days of blogging or took part in a reality TV show.
In order to break through right now, with so many wanting to become influencers, you’re going to need to create a plan and think carefully about where you want to go and who you want to be on social media. Influence4You is happy to share some tips to help you succeed as an influencer.
Ask yourself the right questions before you get started
- Why do you want to become an influencer?
It is essential to know your underlying motivation. There’s no shame in saying that you dream of money or a luxury lifestyle, Chiara Ferragni or that you’d like to receive lots of free gifts. You may also be genuinely motivated by sharing knowledge, advice and by the prospect of interacting with a community. You may also wish to be famous. Alternatively, it could be a combination of all these reasons. In any case, the important thing is to know it in order to set goals and understand your desires.
- What is your niche and who is your target?
Are you an expert in a field? or are you passionate about a certain industry? For example, you may work in the beauty industry and want to create content to share tips and advice to a community. Regardless of the field you choose, keep in mind it’s best to pick a specific niche. This way the content you’ll create will offer real added value to your target audience. One of the keys to being a successful influencer is persistence.
If you don’t like what you post, you probably won’t be able to post content regularly for months or even years which is sometimes what it takes to become successful. You probably shouldn’t create cooking content if you only like to prepare good meals on Sundays. It’s regular, quality content that will get followers to engage with you and like you.
Let take make-up artist Ali Andrea as an example. She’s worked in the industry for over 13 years and is based in Paris. She launched her YouTube channel several years ago to do makeup tutorials. Her niche? Women, who want to look and feel beautiful without overdoing it. These are often older women who need help to look younger. She is very successful and trusted as an influencer thanks to her expertise. She has more than 1 million followers on social media. Her video on makeup mistakes to avoid has been viewed over 16 million times!
- What are your future competitors doing?
Once you have an idea of your niche, you should think about checking out what influencers in the sector are doing. Which posts are the most successful? Do they have a high engagement rate? What platforms do they use? This will give you a broader idea of what works. Feel free to message them, you might not get an answer but it’s worth a try, right?
- Which platform(s) should you use?
Depending on what you want to do, you’ll have to choose from a variety of available platforms. Is your content photo-based? Then Instagram is a great choice. Do you plan to create tutorials? Then consider YouTube. Don’t forget TikTok, which has a high engagement rate, particularly among younger viewers, or Twitch Amazon’s streaming platform, which allows you to broadcast live to a community. It’s best to start on a platform and then expand to others so you don’t spread yourself too thin.
- Are you open to criticism?
The more you share on social media, the more you risk being criticized. This is a part of being an influencer even if they very often speak out against it. Do you want to show everything about your life or do you want to keep certain parts to yourself to avoid being judged? You can decide to be yourself on social media or create a persona. In this case, it will allow you to feel more protected. “It is not me who is criticized, but my persona” can be a great way to avoid feeling hurt if you are unfortunate enough to have haters.
Putting it into practice
Did you manage to answer, even briefly, all the previous questions? Great! Now you just need to get to work and create a plan to help you be successful and become a famous influencer. Influence4You knows all the best practices. Here are a few tips:
- Identify what connects you to people and especially to your target audience. This will make it easier for you to grow a community around these interests.
- Learn! No one is born an influencer and you can’t get a degree in it, so don’t hesitate to learn by yourself. You can find many very informative tutorials on how to use social media so go check out YouTube, for example. Influence4You also has many articles that can help you including: How to Make Money on YouTube and Tiktok.
There’s no need to spend a fortune on training, there is quality content available for free on the net. One example is the young entrepreneur Jade Beason, who offers many very enriching videos on YouTube to help people learn all about content strategy and social media. This young woman is very successful and has more than 2 million views!
- Create and plan a content strategy. There’s no need to plan several months ahead but you can for example make a list of the topics you want to cover and schedule them for let’s say every week. This allows you to have an overall idea of your content. You can then adapt it if you get feedback from followers, and choose to include other topics. We recommend you plan your posts in advance with the help of apps and software.
- Offer real value. Authenticity is key. Don’t praise a product if you don’t sincerely think it’s good, and don’t share opinions if you’re not convinced of their value. If your audience thinks you’re lying, you’ll lose all their trust.
- Spend time on the social platform you are targeting. If you want to break through on Instagram, spend some time on the platform. Stay informed on the latest trends, look at what other influencers in the same niche as you are doing. Be reactive if a trend emerges. Consider getting in touch with other influencers.
- Interact with your audience! Respond to comments, even if they are negative. Make sure to reply to your messages if you receive any. Engage followers in your posts by asking open-ended questions or asking for their opinions.
There is a lot of work ahead before you become a successful influencer, but persistence is key. Do it with passion, self-belief and creativity. Get involved, spread positivity, and interact! Your efforts may very well pay off! If this is the case, and you need to be put in touch with brands for partnerships and campaigns, feel free to sign up to the Influence4You platform!
