How To Become An Influencer

Influencers often get a bad rap. They’re thought of as self-centered, materialistic, and “unemployed.” However, that is far from the truth! Being an influencer is a REAL career and it’s not about showing off—it’s about offering a resource, delivering a message, or providing information. Maybe you have a cool job or hobby people want to learn more about. Maybe you had a tragic life experience that led you to inspire others. Or, maybe you’re just really good at finding cute outfits on Amazon. Whatever you’re into, there’s an audience for that. 

Companies see that influencers have a unique ability to capture niche communities, which is why influencer marketing has become the primary way brands find customers. Influencer marketing is now a $21 billion industry and almost every company plans to increase their budget in the years to come. This is because influencer marketing campaigns are so effective! People trust the word of an influencer like you way more than they trust the word of a big brand. So, influencers help companies build trust and credibility with their customers.

So…why is this good for you??? Honey, you’re hireable! Being an influencer can create a ton of monetizing opportunities from brand sponsorships to ad space to affiliate marketing. If you get a decent following, you can start getting paid by companies to market their products and services. It’s a win-win. You get the career of your dreams and revenue skyrockets for these brands. 

We bet you’re asking, “But, how do you become an influencer?” In the early days of social media and YouTube, you could become an overnight success with a good video. Now, becoming an influencer takes some work. So, we’re sharing some practical tips to make being an influencer your full-time job. Here they are:

How To Become An Influencer

What is An Influencer?

An influencer is someone online (usually on social media) who has influence. You, as an influencer, have a voice that an audience will hear. And, as long as you have a positive message, this is a wonderful thing! Influencers provide solutions to those with problems, support to those who are isolated, substance to those who are bored, and spark to the uninspired. As an influencer, you hold so much power to brighten people’s days!

People love influencers (even though they’re the butt of a lot of jokes). This is because, at the end of the day, influencers feel more approachable than most celebrities and big brands. They are names you feel like you can trust! This is why people often go to influencers for services and product recommendations. They know you’re legit and authentic! 

But, before you can start inspiring your wide audience and making money, you need to find that audience! How many followers do you really need??? Well, there are a few different influencer categories: 

Different Types of Influencers

Nano Influencer

A nano influencer is someone with less than 1,000 followers. Almost anyone with a social media account falls into this category! Because, no matter who you are, you probably have some sort of small audience, even if they’re family and friends. At this stage, you’re probably not marketable to brands, so don’t expect brand sponsorships or acceptance to affiliate programs quite yet. But that’s okay, you’re close! 

Micro-Influencer

A micro-influencer has 1,000 – 10,000 followers. Here’s when your influence starts to hold value! 1k – 10k may seem like a BIG gap, but remember there are businesses of all sizes out there! Some will benefit from micro-influencers with 1k followers and some need closer to 10k. It just depends on their niche and budget. In fact, in recent years, micro-influencers have been brand favorites to work with! They have a loyal following and at a great price over bigger influencers. 

Mid-Tier Influencer

Mid-tier influencers have between 10,000 – 100,000 followers. This a great goal for influencers and bloggers out there who got their “fame” through the internet. A lot of macro and mega influencers also dabble in other things like TV or sports. However, there are exceptions to that rule! Plenty of bloggers make it past 100k into that macro and even MEGA influencer realm! (Check out Lauryn Bosstick of The Skinny Confidential. #GOALS!)

Macro Influencer

A macro influencer has 100,000 – 1,000,000 followers. These guys make thousands and sometimes millions per post depending on their audience. Often these “influencers” are more celebrities than anything, meaning their influence doesn’t have as much value as a traditional influencer who worked their way up from the bottom. If you’re a blogger exceeding 100,000 that’s a real feat and your voice is crazy valuable to fans and companies! 

Mega Influencer

Here’s where influencers with over 1,000,000 followers hang out. In this space, you have mostly big celebrities (singers, actors, athletes, etc.) and just a few AMAZING social media stars that truly have found a way to expand their influence and reach millions online. These influencers don’t have to do many brand collabs or affiliate marketing campaigns to make enough money to live large like the other celebrities! 

How To Be An Influencer

Step One: Discover your niche.

The best way to find an audience is to niche down. Finding a loyal following is much easier after you’re done finding your niche. To figure out what your angle is going to be, consider all aspects of your life. Do you love fashion? Are you a mom? Do you travel? Is your job unique? Is crafting your whole life? Take your one-of-a-kind perspective, experience, or skill and focus your account on that lifestyle! 

Step Two: Create a brand kit. 

Next, you need to develop your brand. You need a blog name, color scheme, font set, logo, and more! Think about the tone and vibe of your personal brand and curate a media kit that collages all the pieces together for reference. This will be super helpful to establish a consistent aesthetic. 

Step Three: Establish yourself on social channels.

Now that you know how you want to present your brand, make all your social media profiles! Start with just one or two social media channels, so it’s not too much to manage. The social media platforms you use should be motivated based on where your targeted audience is. If you’re a fashion influencer, Instagram is a must! Or if you want to know how to become a beauty influencer, try building your brand on TikTok. The point is, you’ve got to find your people!

Step Four: Launch a search engine-optimized blog.

If you expect to grow just by posting content to Instagram or other social channels, it’s going to be a long road ahead. Social media growth takes a lot of effort and building a loyal, engaged following can be difficult. The best way to build your brand is through an optimized blog. When you post SEO-friendly blog posts, your website will attract a ton of new organic visitors! You can learn more about the benefits of SEO and social media for influencers on the blog. 

Step Five: Create great content.

It’s time to upload your amazing content! Post all types of content, including social media uploads, blog articles, and more. Just follow your brand kit, engage your readers, and be yourself. Adapt your content strategy based on what your audience is telling you and you’ll catch your stride in no time! 

Bonus Tip: Creating good, authentic content isn’t just exclusive to blogs and/or social media. Podcasts are also great avenues for creating content! Check out our post covering some of the best podcasts for influencers. You’ll be able to get tips and tricks on how to be an influencer AND awesome examples on how to leverage podcasting into your journey to becoming one!

Step Six: Start affiliate marketing.

When your brand is monetized, you can finally go full-time as an influencer! Then, the real magic happens. The best way to profit from your blog early on is with affiliate marketing. It’s a pretty simple concept. You join an affiliate network, post links to your favorite products, and make a commission every time a reader makes a purchase. This works with pretty much any niche since there are tons of affiliate programs out there! 

Step Seven: Partner with brands.

Brand sponsorships are another great way to make money from your influencer career! It’s similar to affiliate marketing, but you work with companies directly. Instead of asking you to just post a link, the brand will actually commission a blog post or social media upload! These are super lucrative for everyone involved. Check out our post on how to get sponsored posts for your blog for more information!

Step Eight: Network with other influencers your size.

If you’re hoping to rise the ranks to that mega-influencer level, you need a large audience! To get that big follower base, try networking with other influencers, bloggers, and vloggers! Finding the right influencers to partner with is simple, make sure your values align, you’re in the same niche, and they have about the same number of followers as you. 

When you agree to collab, try guest posting, newsletter mentions, and other ways to get in front of their audience. When you show yourself to their readers, they’ll decide to gobble up your content too. 

Step Nine: Engage with followers. 

Keeping a steady flow of new readers coming in is essential, but retaining old readers is just as important. Create a strong community on social media by engaging with your follower’s DMs and comments. It’s the best way to develop loyal life-long readers. 

Step Ten: Focus on smart growth strategies. 

We already know that SEO is the best strategy for brand growth, but to know what specifically is working on your blog/website, keep a watchful eye on your Google Analytics. This will give you key insights into your engagement rates, session duration, page views, and more! Google Analytics will help you adapt your strategy for the biggest gains. 

Becoming an influencer is possible with SEO and the right content strategy! 

So…are you ready to make these influencer dreams come true??? With digital marketing on the rise, there’s no better time than right now to launch your brand. Companies and readers alike are hunting for content like yours, so get to making it. To get started, follow this step-by-step guide and browse the rest of the InfluencerSEO blog. We’re experts in the influencer field and you know we don’t gatekeep! We want all of you to make it big. Oh, and don’t forget to check out these influencer podcasts with even more tips and tricks. Let’s do this!