Influencer marketing is big business these days. An industry that was worth $1.7 billion in 2016 is expected to reach an incredible $13.8 billion by the end of 2021. And according to a recent survey, of all brands that have a dedicated content marketing budget, an impressive 75% of them intend to create a specific influencer marketing budget. TikTok has even created a $1 billion creator fund to help nurture influencer talent.
Like we said, it’s big business.
As you can imagine, with the industry growing at such an astonishing rate and so many ways to get paid as an influencer, there are droves of influencers-in-the-making who are looking for their slice of the pie.
But before they can take that slice of pie, there’s the not-so-insignificant matter of building a social media presence. After all, how can you influence an audience if you don’t have one?
So if becoming a social media influencer is on your radar, follow the tips below to get your influencer career off to the best possible start.
Pick your niche
First things first—you need to pick your niche. For most people this is a pretty easy choice as they simply focus on their passion, a particular skill, or an area that they have a lot of experience in.
But if you take it a step further and really focus on a particular aspect of your niche, you’re more likely to see engagement on your content. Remember though, the more hyper-focused the niche, the smaller your potential audience becomes. So if you want to build a huge following, you may need to keep things a little broader.
Choose your platforms
What works well on one platform may tank on another so you’ll need to do your homework here and see where other influencers in your niche are getting the most engagement for their content.
In years gone by, digital marketers recommended having accounts across multiple platforms. Then they told us to focus on one. But now, there’s no hard and fast rule and it’s really down to the influencer to make a decision based on audience engagement. Some influencers use different platforms for sharing different types of content while others share the same content across multiple channels.
Again, this is your call, but you will need to do some research.
Create content consistently
This is basic content marketing strategy 101. Once you start creating content, you must do so regularly and keep your content style consistent. We’re not saying that you can’t mix things up a bit, but you want to foster a sense of familiarity in your audience so they know what to expect from your content.
With this in mind, you need to create a content strategy and calendar. This will help you nail down the type of content you want to produce and keep you publishing on a regular basis. Just remember that if you want to build a significant following, you will need to publish fresh content frequently.
Engage with your audience
That means replying to comments and answering questions particularly if they are related to your content. This is because an influencer who engages with their audience is much more likely to build trust. And yes, you guessed it, trust is the secret to a successful influencer.
According to research 70% of teens now trust influencers more than traditional celebrities while 86% of women use social media for purchasing advice.
So engage that audience and build some trust.
Take criticism on the chin
The great thing about social media is that it gives you instant access to your biggest critics and trust us, once you build a following you will have a few. While we absolutely agree that you should block trolls who just say mean things for a reaction, there are others who will simply point out what they don’t like about your content or the errors you might be making.
Every now and then, take the opportunity to take this criticism onboard and use it to up your content creation game. If someone asks why you never cover a certain topic in your niche, do some homework and then create some relevant content.
Don’t sell your soul
This is quite possibly the most important piece of advice that we can give you—don’t sell or promote anything that you don’t actually trust or believe in.
Remember what we said earlier about building trust in your audience? Well, for the most part, when people decide to follow you it’s because they trust you. And with all that trust comes great responsibility.
Look, we know that at some point in your influencer career you may promote something that isn’t actually all that useful to you in your everyday life. But even if it’s something you don’t use, it can still be something that you believe in. For example, perhaps you’re not much of a cyclist, but you wore a pair of shorts on a 50k ride and they really were super comfortable.
All we’re saying is that you should avoid promoting anything that you wouldn’t or haven’t used yourself. Simple enough, right?
Sign up with a talent agency
Yes, believe it or not, influencers, much like models and actors, can benefit a great deal from working with a talent agency. This is because acting and modelling agencies in Australia are perfectly positioned to match influencers with brands from a wide range of industries.
For example, modelling and acting agencies in Melbourne (like Hunter Talent) will have a list of clients that they have previously worked with. This gives them the opportunity to promote an influencer to brands that they know will be interested in targeting the influencer’s audience. This means that the influencer (that’s you) can relax knowing that the brand they are working with is on the level.
Of course, there is a lot more to growing your social media and becoming an influencer than the tips listed above. That said, these tips will certainly set you on the right path and hopefully help you to make some of the right decisions in your new calling as an influencer.
Just remember, once you’ve built that following, get in touch with us here at Hunter Talent and let’s see if we can get you working with some of the top brands in Australia and beyond.
