No matter the industry, the same rules to successfully apply. Everybody wants to be successful but not everybody is willing to put in the work. It’s no different when it comes to being a successful online influencer (you know, like one of those people getting paid on Instagram). Googling “How to make money on Instagram” is really just the start of your journey. We all see the kinds of great things online influencers get to do. From the products to the travel to the money (that’s what we’re all looking for, right?).
While it might seem like some online influencers boom out of obscurity overnight, there’s really no such thing as sustainable overnight success. Whether you’re looking to build a business or become a business yourself, there are certain things that you need to do in order to dig yourself out of the hole of obscurity. We have six secrets that will help you get on the path to improving your online influence.
Choose a Niche
A lot of people are good at a lot of things. It’s not uncommon to want to have a YouTube channel or Instagram page where you simply talk about your everyday life. Yes, vlogging is very common. There are a lot of people who have tremendous influence by vlogging every day. However, each has chosen a niche and finds a way to incorporate each video into that niche. You need to find a way to distinguish yourself from other people who are going about their everyday lives. You can be a fashion influencer, but you need to set yourself apart from the crowd. Once you’ve found a way to make yourself stand out, you’ve taken the first step on the path to success.
Build a Network Within Your Niche
Once you choose a niche that fits what you’re looking for, you need to reach out to other people within that niche. The online space is like an ocean. You can try to make it on your own for a little while, but eventually, you’ll get swallowed up and most of the public won’t have known you ever existed. This might require you to get out of your comfort zone to some degree.
There’s nothing wrong with learning from others in your niche to see what made them successful. Borrow ideas, spin content, and work together. You can piggyback the success of others in order to start building influence. Yes, the internet is a big enough place to swallow you whole, but it’s also a big enough place to share space.
Listen to Your Target Audience
It’s important to know who your target audience is. After you’ve successfully identified your demographic, keep your ears to the ground and your eyes to the skies to learn what kinds of things they’re looking for. If you want to appeal to a group of 18- to 25-year-old females, content that breaks down old episodes of Matlock isn’t going to do well. Your audience and supporters become a big part of why you’re able to do the things you do as an influencer and you need to be able to provide them with what they’re looking for. You have to be appealing to have influence.
Build a Community
In order to be an influencer, you have to have people to influence. This means building up your social media following, establish a Facebook group, and gather emails for a mailing list. Not only does this create a built-in audience for your content, but your supporters will also spread the word about what you do. Encourage your community to share posts on social media. Highlighting products that you know they’re going to love also helps to encourage word-of-mouth marketing.
Build a Content Library
This might be the hardest part of becoming an influencer. While it doesn’t always need to be top-notch production (at first), you need to make sure that you’re making top-notch content and a lot of it. Digging yourself out of the primordial ooze that is the internet takes a lot of effort. The best way to do that is by making a lot of content and getting it out to the public. This means making videos, taking photos, and writing blog posts that you can disseminate to your audience.
Are you ready for an industry secret? You can get help from outside companies on this front if you don’t have a team yet. Get help with blog posts by joining influencer marketing platforms or outsource video production with a freelance marketplace like Fiverr. This frees up more time for you to come up with content ideas and interact with your audience.
Be Yourself
The most important part of creating content online is to be yourself. Your audience will see right through you if you’re not being genuine and that’s incredibly unappealing. It’s important to gain the trust of your audience so that when the time comes to sell products with affiliate marketing or sponsorships, they already believe what you’re telling them. This means presenting your true self in the content that you produce and only back products that you truly believe in.
Being an influencer isn’t easy, but you can do it. Put in the effort, get out of your comfort zone, and have fun with it.