INTRODUCTION
The influencer market all around the world has begun its upward transition in the last five years. During the 90s, celebrity endorsements were the way to go in India, as Bollywood movie stars and top sportspersons mostly influenced people. But the dawn of the century and the emergence of the internet brought about a change in this attitude. As people found influencers who looked like them, dressed like them and spoke like them, the build-up of trust was immediate as people related to them as one of their own. Today, the influencer market has become so popular and reliable that only 4% of people trust celebrity-endorsed products to be better. This has opened up a haven of opportunities in the influencer market.
STARTING YOUR CAREER AS AN INFLUENCER
Influencers are ordinary people who have earned a following due to their expertise and transparent attitude. Unlike most celebrities who actively endorse products on their social media accounts, influencers have achieved their fame due to the reality they present to their followers.
Find your area of expertise finding
- a particular niche and growing on it is the first step to becoming an influence.
- Rather than trying to force content on people, an influencer should focus on making people understand what product is the best for them.
- An influencer’s priority should be to stay true to his/her niche and then move forward.
Clear your thinking approach
- There are two types of approaches: the analogy approach and the first principles thinking approach.
- Analogy approach is all about deciding your future actions based on the past. Many people try to emulate others and try to re-create the success they’ve had.
- An influencer should always follow the first principles thinking approach, i.e., studying physical fundamental requirements of work and then moving forward with it.
- An influencer should be the one influencing others with his/her ideas, not being influenced or coerced by other people’s success.
Find a suitable social media channel
- Social media is full of different channels with millions of people following one or the other.
- Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, Quora etc. are some of the social media channels which are relevant and accessible at the same time.
- Being an influencer on either of these sites requires knowledge of the content that is promoted on each of these platforms.
- For example, Instagram consists of fashion models and beauty products. Quora promotes general knowledge-based content and Facebook acts as a blend of different kinds of material around the world.
Find your audience
- Creating a perfect persona of your ideal target audience is crucial.
- Instagram and Pinterest are excellent choices if an influencer is hoping to reach out to the millennials.
- On the other hand, if the target audience consists mainly of business executives, LinkedIn is one of the best options.
Create and distribute content
- Any content is good when people actually see it and follow the idea behind it.
- It’s essential to carefully plan out the publishing and distributing your content on social media.
- The perfect time to post content on social media depends on which social media channel you choose to follow.
CONCLUSION
Unlike office jobs, an influencer’s main post is to satisfy the audience they are in charge off. At the end of the day, any influencer depends on the right mix of timing, popularity and hard work to become better and to keep improving all the same.
