How to Become a Social Media Influencer

In addition to staying connected with family, friends, and peers, social media encourages professional opportunities that are unique to its platforms. For instance, becoming a social media influencer is rising in popularity as a feasible way to make a comfortable living and fuel creative passions.  

When striving to become an influencer on social media, you should be thinking about much more than the content you’re going to post. Most brands are looking for the relevant influencers who will represent their brand and increase their brand awareness. If you are posting about beauty content adding posts related to tech or sports will not be relevant to your audience and the brand owners will pass the opportunity to work with you. Your new partner will need to count influencer marketing ROI which will show all the important metrics and give them a full image of the influencer marketing campaign. There are advantages and disadvantages to look out for and best practices to implement that put you on a path to success. 

If you’re looking to dive into the world of influencers on social media, you’ve come to the right place. Here are some key considerations to make if you want to become an influencer on social media.

Your “Why” Matters More Than Anything 

Experts say that “Influencers with good audience engagement have an authentic origin story and a well-defined editorial focus. Their reason for being isn’t because they wanted to have influence. Instead, they need to share their passion with the world.” 

In other words, they have a reason much more profound than money and status that motivates them to be an influencer. Additionally, their unique story sets them apart from the many other influencers in their niche on social media. 

If you want to become an influencer on social media, you must have a strong “why.”

How will you help others? What’s your mission? What are you passionate about? What’s the story behind you wanting to tell your story to the world? 

Becoming an influencer on social media also requires you to treat it like a business. 

You Have to Treat it Like a Business 

Although you may initially see becoming an influencer as a hobby, you’ve ultimately got to turn your thoughts toward making that hobby a viable career and treating it like a business. 

You may not have a huge following or be making money initially, but if you keep at it, your influence will grow, and you’ll eventually have those things. So, it’s best to prepare yourself for this growth beforehand. 

First, create a business plan for your influencer brand. Next, choose short and long-term goals for your business. Then, map out how you’re going to take your social media pages from one follower to 100 and beyond. You can buy TikTok likes to get a following going quick and scale organically from there for example. 

Take things a step further and get your business license and open a business account. Then explore how to monetize your influencer efforts. 

As you treat your influencer journey like a business, you’ll realize quickly just how much research is involved. 

There’s a Whole Lot of Research Involved 

And it’s constant. There’s never a time where it’s appropriate to put research on hold entirely when you’re a social media influencer. This is because influencer marketing and social media are ever-changing. Therefore, you must stay up-to-date with everything for the best chance at success. 

Ensure you’re prepared to research continuously:

• Competitors
• Social media trends
• Target Audience
• Market
• Industry 
• Business practices 
• Influencer marketing trends 

Data analytics tools are the best way to collect, process, and leverage data. So, research suitable tools online and choose those that support your goals as a social media influencer. 

In addition to lots of research, you’ll also do lots of experimenting and foster high amounts of creativity when it’s time to create content, distribute, and market it.  

Experimentation and Creativity are Highly Encouraged 

Becoming an influencer on social media requires you to stand out from the millions of people on these platforms. The best way to do this is to experiment with different types of content and approaches to distributing and marketing it.  

For instance, you can use sound effects, music, vocals, and other catchy audio in your social media posts to garner more engagement from your audience and increase your brand awareness. You can also build your influencer social media platforms through live streaming and adding expert commentary to trending conversations. 

Lastly, you’ll want to seriously consider just how much your mental health and wellbeing will be affected as you grow as a social media influencer. 

Your Mental Health and Wellbeing Will Be Affected 

Using social media for personal reasons can hurt your self-esteem. Imagine how that harm multiplies when you become an influencer. 

Unfortunately, there are people out there that choose to use social media to hurt others. And when you have a following, it fuels their jealousy and negative feelings even more. 

Social media has also introduced us to “selfie culture.” We’re taking crazy amounts of pictures of ourselves and our surroundings and posting them for the world to see. We’re able to savor life experiences, feel empowered, and create connections with others through these photos. But they’re also causing some of us to disconnect from real life and care more about what others think of us than what we think of ourselves.  

So, you must be mentally and emotionally strong to endure challenges like these that come with being a social media influencer. You can prioritize your health and wellbeing by:

• Exercising regularly and eating a nutritious diet 
• Practicing mindfulness activities and meditation 
• Fostering a positive mindset 
• Working with a mental health professional 
• Practicing regular self-care 

Ultimately, if your mental health and wellbeing aren’t in a place to take on all that comes with being a social media influencer right now, that’s okay. Take some time to strengthen your mental, emotional, and physical health, then revisit the idea. 

Conclusion 

Becoming an influencer on social media requires an intentional strategy, loads of creativity, and a commitment to taking care of yourself in the process. 

Ensure you have a strong “why” that acts as the foundation for becoming an influencer and treating it like a business. Prepare yourself for all of the research involved. Choose social platforms you can thrive on and feel comfortable unleashing your creativity on. 

But most of all, prioritize caring for your mental health and well-being to ensure being an influencer is a positive thing in your life.