What in god's name is a social media influencer?

A social media influencer is someone who has established a significant following on one or more social media platforms, and has the ability to influence the opinions, behaviours, and purchasing decisions of their followers. They may use their platform to share their thoughts, opinions, and experiences, and often collaborate with brands to promote products or services to their audience. Social media influencers come from a variety of backgrounds and may specialise in different topics or niches, such as fashion, beauty, fitness, travel, food, or technology.

What does it actually mean to be an influencer?

Today a lot of people hope to establish themselves as Instagram influencers. To those with an outsider's perspective, it likely appears to be very simple: all you have to do is post photos and videos on Instagram, get paid for it, or get free things from various merchants. What most individuals don't realise is how much work content creators put into developing their accounts; it takes time, effort, and significant consideration just like any other business.

To understand the basics, let’s look at how social media creators, specifically Instagram influencers, are categorised. Content creators and influencers are usually divided into five groups based on the number of their followers:

Nano Influencers: 0K – 10K followers
Micro Influencers: 10K-100K followers
Mid Influencers: 100K – 500K followers
Macro Influencers: 500K – 1M followers
Mega Influencers: 1M+ followers

Influencers with macro and mega audiences are excellent choices for initiatives where broad public awareness is important. On the other hand, Nano and Micro influencers are a terrific option for brands trying to get into highly niche communities because they have considerably smaller, but often more engaged, audiences.

Influencers bring their distinct and genuine voices to their work, which is the key difference between them and other celebrities. By doing this, they gain the respect and loyalty of their followers.

How to get on with it then?

The reality is that there is no simple solution to the subject of how to become a successful influencer. But there are certain efforts you can make and take steps in the right direction to become successful on social media.

The Niche: Figure out what do you want to be known for

Discovering what kind of content you want to create and what you're good at, and then establishing your target audience based on it is the first step that will serve as the foundation of your influencer career.

The niche may be related to cuisine, fashion, motherhood, DIY, or other topics. It would also be a good idea to specialise, which means that if you want to create fashion-related content, you should focus on a specific look, such as street fashion, vintage clothing, or second-hand clothing. By doing that, you'll be able to connect with people who are really interested in the exact theme of your posts.

It would be ideal if you could identify something that hasn't received much attention yet. It may be challenging to stand out from the crowd if you choose to start with an area where competition is already fierce. In order to avoid copying or imitating others, try to be completely authentic.

The Profile: Set up your account in a way that reflects you and your content perfectly

The next step is creating your Instagram profile. Here are a few things that you should consider:

Profile Picture: When someone sees your comment on Instagram, it's your profile photo that prompts them to click on your username, so make sure it's attractive or memorable!

A detailed bio: You can emphasise your content's focus and your location in the bio or "about me" section. You could also include something funny or interesting that shows off your personality.

Include a keyword in the name: It's recommended to place a keyword related to your niche in your username. In this way, there is a higher probability that your account will appear in the search results when users use that keyword on Instagram.

A cool feed: If you already have some posts on your profile, make sure they all fit the niche you choose and seem appealing as a whole. Do they accurately reflect the impression of you that you want others to have? Does it appear that you worked hard on your photos? The appeal of someone's feed is frequently a deciding factor in whether or not they will receive a follow.

Contact info: For Instagram, it's important to set up a creator account, which provides you with certain essential tools like growth insights and adds buttons that immediately take people to contact you. Your contact information should be included in the bio because it will make it simpler for people to get in touch with you at any time, including brands. This information should include your email address, website, and other social media accounts.

Social Media for a reason: Engage as much as possible

You must put in the effort and initiate conversations if you want people to find your content and interact with you and your followers.

Engaging with your current followers is just as essential as liking and commenting on other people's Instagram photos. If they take the time to interact with your content, you should make the effort to interact with them in return. For example, include questions in your captions and stories, like and respond to their comments, and make sure you respond to DMs.

Consider your followers as your clients and figure out what they want to see, hear, or learn about. Try to mix things up a little.

Quality & Consistency: The two pillars to success on social media

Beginner influencers usually undervalue the importance of consistency. Planning out your upcoming posts will help you to post often and avoid leaving your audience "hanging." A simple hack is making a schedule for yourself. For instance, if you're a fitness influencer on Instagram, you might post something motivating on Mondays, describe some exercises on Wednesdays, show some healthy recipes on Saturdays, etc. Keeping your material fresh and coming up with concepts for interesting pieces at the same time is helpful. The most successful influencers have rigid content schedules, especially those who are rising.

In the end, it's important to keep in mind that being a social media influencer isn't about getting free things from brands or sharing content whenever the mood strikes, it's like any other full-time job. Building a business, having a plan of action and vision, planning far in advance, and setting goals - all of it is needed to become successful.

MAD Influence and Creators United is an influencer marketing agency and platform that helps brands in collaborating with influencers and create content that resonates with their audience on a personal level.

Social Media 101: How to become a social media influencer in 2023