Becoming an influencer can be a highly desirable and lucrative career option. So it’s no surprise that this is something many people are interested in doing.
While many people would like to think that influencers simply get paid for taking photos with free products, there’s actually much more to it than that. If you truly want to become an influencer, it requires commitment, hard work, and a solid understanding of the industry and your niche.
In this article, you’ll learn how to become an influencer. With the 11 tips we’ve shared below, you can go from fledgling social media enthusiast to top-notch influencer in no time!
Table of Contents
1. Pick your niche
Choosing a niche is the first important step to becoming an influencer.
You should try to choose a niche that you’re passionate about and focus all of your content around it. Common niches include food and drink, fitness, and travel, but there are many different areas to explore.
For example, you may want to choose a “micro-niche.” It’s even more specific than food or travel, such as clay modeling or fly fishing.
Once you’ve chosen your niche, it’s important the content you create fits into it. Your followers will lose interest if you’re a travel influencer who suddenly posts photos of your cat.
Focusing on one topic will help to attract followers that are interested and engaged with a specific type of content. Your aim should be to establish yourself as an authority figure in the niche that you’ve chosen and build trust with your followers.
2. Choose your social media channels
Although many people try to split their efforts between multiple social media platforms, it’s a much better idea to focus on one specific platform as you get started.
But how do you know which channel to choose?
Select the channel that you think would work best for your content. For example, if you’re a photographer, a platform like Instagram would be much better suited to your content than Twitter.
Similarly, you can use demographic data and statistics about each platform to select which channel would be right for you. For instance, 62% of TikTok users in the US are aged 10-29 years old. So if you’re thinking of creating content that would appeal to the younger generation, TikTok could be the platform for you.
If you choose the right channel to focus on, you’ll have a much higher chance of success!
While we recommend that you focus the majority of your efforts on only one platform, it’s still a good idea to have multiple social media accounts across different channels. You don’t have to nurture each account on each channel as your main job, but having them still sends good social signals and helps to build trust in you.
3. Know your audience
When you start to gain followers, it’s a good idea to get some more insight into who your audience is. This makes it easy for you to tailor your content to them.
There are a few different ways you can do this.
First, ensure that you keep a close eye on all comments and interactions. You’ll have a good idea of who’s engaging with your content, and what they like and dislike.
Second, look at your audience demographics. If you’re using Instagram, upgrading to a Professional account will allow you to get an inside look at who’s interacting with your content. For instance, you’ll get insights on where your followers are located. You can then use that information to post content that will best resonate with them.
Lastly, don’t overlook your content’s performance. You might notice you have some posts that performed really well and some that didn’t. This is a really good indicator of what your audience wants to see.
If none of your posts are performing well, don’t be afraid to change things up in order to create content that is more suited to your target audience!
4. Optimize your profile and bio
Your profile details and bio are the gatekeepers of your social media presence.
They’re the first thing people see when they land on your profile. So they need to be well optimized for gaining followers.
You should tell visitors who you are and what you post about in an engaging, catchy, and informative way. Don’t forget to encourage people to follow you!
5. Create high-quality and relevant content
Have you ever heard the saying: “content is king”?
Well, this couldn’t be more true when it comes to being a successful influencer. If there’s one thing you absolutely must get right, it’s your content!
Don’t worry too much about content quantity. Content quality is the real key. So be sure that all the posts you make are high-quality – and that means images and text.
Your posts, stories, or videos should be clear, eye-catching, and well shot. Your text should look professional, meaning they have good spelling and grammar.
And of course, your content should always be relevant to your niche.
This means if you’re working with brands, take time to ensure that they’re suitable and relevant to your audience. The aim is to remain authentic, credible, and trustworthy. Partnering with brands and pushing products that aren’t relevant to an audience can look like a money grab.
6. Use relevant hashtags
Hashtags are the key to getting your content seen by the right people, so you need to get them right.
This is especially true when you’re trying to grow your following. You should aim to get your content seen by people that aren’t following you yet. The right hashtag strategy can help you do just that.
Many influencers overload their content with hashtags, but it’s much more effective to limit your number of hashtags and focus on ones that are relevant to your content. It’s a good idea to combine popular hashtags with niche hashtags to boost impressions and engagement.
This way, if you get lost in an ocean of posts using #travel, a more niche hashtag may help to get your post seen.
7. Post regularly and consistently
Consistency is extremely important for influencers. You want to keep your current followers engaged and attract new followers. This requires consistent activity.
How often you post will depend on which social media channel you’re focusing on. For platforms like Twitter, you’ll need to be posting multiple times a day to become a successful influencer.
On platforms like Instagram, it’s a good idea to post a variety of content, in addition to regular posts, like Reels and Stories. Learn more about Instagram Reels.
In order to get the best engagement on your content, you should time your posts based on where most of your audience is located. For example, if most of your followers are based in the UK, then uploading posts at the time they’re most active is a good idea.
Not only will this boost engagement, but it’ll also set a regular schedule so your followers know when to expect new content.
8. Use tools to stay organized
As your followers grow and your posting schedule increases, staying organized can become a struggle.
You’ll need to juggle all the responsibilities of creating your content, posting it consistently, writing your captions, and more. Thankfully there are tons of tools you can use to help you keep your content on point.
For post scheduling, tools like Later will allow you to schedule all your posts in advance so that they get published on a set date and time. Canva is great for helping your design graphics for blogs and Instagram Stories. Grammarly can help make sure all of your captions are error-free. And don’t forget to download Lightroom mobile, so you can filter photos on the go!
The right tool stack can help you stay on top of organization and elevate your profile from part-time poster to full-time influencer.
9. Engage with your followers
The aim of being an influencer is to get your followers engaged with your content, and one of the best ways to do that is to engage with them. Try your best to respond to comments when you can. Get involved in conversations and interact with your followers as much as possible.
For example, if you’re using Instagram, you can add polls and Q and A’s to start dialogues with your followers. This all helps to boost engagement on your post and build your community.
10. Collaborate with other influencers
Collaborating with other well-known influencers is a great way to gain new followers and build your network.
By doing this, you’ll get access to a whole new audience which can help you to grow. It’s also a fun way to improve your content and share ideas with more established or successful influencers.
11. Be professional when working with brands
To become a successful influencer, you’ll need to partner with brands in order to make some form of income. When you start getting collaboration opportunities, make sure that you treat them professionally and provide real value.
When collaborating with brands, you should try your best to build good relationships that will lead to you gaining a good reputation within the industry. This will get you more sponsorship opportunities in the future.
First, you’ll want to create a winning influencer media kit that tells interested brands everything they need to know about you on a professional level.
Once you’ve agreed to collaborate with a brand, conduct yourself professionally throughout the partnership. Here are some pointers for how to do that:
- Be transparent and keep brands informed about any delays or problems
- Stay in close contact with the brand and respond to messages in a timely manner
- Be proactive and share the results of your work
- Be flexible and understanding if problems arise
- Take care when reading the campaign brief and ask any questions well in advance of any deadlines
Final thoughts
So there you have it, 11 tips that can help you learn how to become an influencer. Follow them to succeed in growing your following and influencer income.
If you need more tips on how to become an influencer, from monetizing your Instagram content to getting noticed on YouTube, our blog has it all. Feel free to take a look around!
