Social Media Influencer

Social Media is arguably the biggest industry in the world due to its power and influence. People use social media for work, to stay connected, and as a marketplace for product. Many teens/young adults nowadays look into social media influencing as a daily job. Anyone with a following on social media can be influencer. It doesn’t matter if you have 1,000 followers or 1 million followers. Anything you post can influence the people who follow you.

Social Media Influencer Duties

Social Media influencers do a lot more than they are credited for. It takes a lot of confidence in yourself to be an influencer. Depending on how big your following is, you can receive little to a lot of hate. Hate can really get to a person sometimes and mess with one’s mental health.

To be an influencer you must be hard-working, creative, outgoing, must be able to create interesting content. You also must understand your audience, have great communication skills, and you must be personally motivated to do your best.

You must treat your feed as if it were your own personal art gallery. Apps that tend to help influencers create aesthetically pleasing profiles are VSCO, FaceTune, Lightroom, photoshop. Most influencers edit all their posts with these apps.

Work Environments

Work environments for social media influencers can be anywhere with access to the internet. You could influence people from home, work, the gym, or even vacations. If you can connect to the internet then it doesn’t matter where you are.

Job Requirements and Skills Needed

Social media influencing doesn’t have your typical job requirements. This job requires a strong track record of retaining and growing popularity, a strong understanding of most social media platforms. Must be 18 or older with a high school diploma, must have great presentation skills, and influencers must be able to predict trends as well as acknowledge them. They must be creative with their posts, stories, fashion, and most importantly their words. The whole point of influencing is to influence and inspire you followers. Maybe your influencing people try new things, be themselves, be creative, and currently self-love is the new trend.

Salary/ Income

There is no set salary/income a social media influencer makes. When first starting you probably won’t be able to afford management which means you’ll have to take over every responsibility on your own. That starts at managing your time, making brand deals, finding jobs, negotiating your fee’s, and managing your own taxes. Influencer salaries can be hard to keep tabs on, there are no guidelines for how much an influencer should get paid. It comes down to how big your platform is, how many sponsorships you can get, and how much per post you receive.

How to Become a Social Media Influencer While Still in College

Many companies such as Adidas and Sperry specifically look for college students to represent their brands so they can really understand the inside lives of college students. Connecting with brands who are looking for college students to represent their brand is a good way to get your name out their and practice your influencing skills.

First things first, create your identity and establish your brand. You must present yourself to the world how you’d like to be seen but don’t pretend to be someone you are not. Your following helps establish your community and lets brands see if you have a good following for their product. You should follow friends, family, people who inspire you, and companies you’d like to work with.

Next create original content that interests your audience and grabs their attention. You want to make your followers feel connected to you by your posts and captions. You want to create posts that show who you are but also different and unique to what others post. Engage with your followers by going on live and answering comments. But remember quality over quantity.

Captions are just as important as the post! Create interesting and engaging captions. You could ask a question or maybe use an emoji that matches your outfit. Studies show shorter captions are more engaging than longer ones.

Lastly maximize your reach through hashtags. If your picture was taken in Philadelphia, you could use #philly. If you’re trying to show off an outfit you could use #ootd, #fashion, or #style. Use hashtags that relate toy your post or brand but never over-due it. 3-4 hashtags are simple and get right to the point.

Job Outlook

Advancing in this career can be hard sometimes especially because it is such a big industry to get into. The most important tip to help your platforms grow rapidly is to stay consistent. At first you may lose some followers but eventually you will draw in the right crowd. Stay consistent with your your stories, posts, and interactions on other peoples posts. Over time your platforms will grow but don’t expect them to grow overnight.