How to become a successful social media influencer

It seems that everyone wants to become a social media influencer these days. That’s because it works. This type of marketing continues to grow as an effective way of advertising and engaging your audience to make a profit. By 2023, there will be an estimated 4 billion social media users with the influencer marketing industry worth more than $5 billion.

The good news is that almost anyone can become a social media influencer with the right strategy. That’s why more and more social media users want to become influencers. However, you have to be to work for an extended period of time for it to work.

Read on to discover the step-by-step process for becoming a social media influencer if you are interested in this growing industry.

Steps to become a social media influencer

It takes patience and determination to become an influencer. Even though there are a lot of influencers out there already, these tips will help you get started and achieve your dreams.

1. Select your niche

Choosing a niche is the first step. Without a focus, you’ll have a hard time building an audience of engaged people who are interested in your message. That’s why every successful marketing influencer on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook has a niche.

A defined area of focus helps set you apart from the competition and helps you reach the audience you focused on with your message. To help you select a niche area, ask yourself:

• What do I enjoy?
• What am I good at?
• What am I passionate about?

For example, if you love outdoor activities like hiking, then it makes sense for you to become a social media influencer who tells others about the best trails to explore or the best gear to use. These could help you attract an audience of like-minded people.

Make sure your choice reflects your personality so other people can trust you and what you recommend. People will recognize your passion and want to follow and listen because you care about what they care about. Shared passion and sincerity will always attract an audience and maintain engagement.

Regardless of the niche you select, make sure it’s something you truly enjoy. This is important because it will inspire you to keep going when the going gets tough because you enjoy what you do.

2. Select your platform

As a social media influencer, there are many different platforms or channels to pick from, including:

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Twitter
• Tik-Tok
• YouTube, and more

Before you begin, you need to establish a presence on the platforms you choose. You can use several social networks, but you need to choose a primary platform on which you are going to focus most of your time and content. You can still be active on other networks, but most of your efforts should be invested in this one social media channel.

There are many factors to consider when selecting the right social media network. First, search for successful influencers in your niche and see which social media platforms they primarily use the most.

Your primary channel will also be dependent on the area your choose to focus on. For some fitness influencers, YouTube may be best, but for home decor influencers, Instagram may be the best.

Likewise, Pinterest, Snapchat, Twitter, and the other major social media networks can be suited for different influencers depending on specifics like:

• Your target audience
• Your competitor’s channels
• Your content like images or videos

3. Define your audience

Along with choosing the right platform, your success also depends on finding the right community to support you. Without followers or fans, your brand will be less relevant. So, before you start posting on your chosen social media platform, you need to define what audience you will target.

You should focus on those people and communities who will boost your brand on social media. Your ideal audience will depend on the type of market you focus on. For instance, if you are a business influencer your audience is likely to be on sites like LinkedIn and Twitter. If there are business-related videos, you may find them on YouTube, as well. For food and beverage influencers, you will probably find your audience on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

Here are the steps to take to define your audience:

Audience Demographics

To find your ideal audience’s demographics, ask yourself:

• What’s their age?
• What’s their gender?
• Where do they live?
• What are they interested in?

Audience Challenges

To figure out what your target audience’s challenges are, ask:

• Do they have the same insights you have?
• If so, why wouldn’t they use the products you recommend?
• Or why aren’t they using it as much as you’d like them to?

Audience Motivators

To discover what motivates your audience ask yourself:

• What would encourage your target audience to engage with you?
• What would make them want to use your recommendations?

By considering all the above factors, you’ll be able to better understand your target audience and where they’re hanging out on social media.

4. Plan and develop your content

As a social media influencer, you need to create content that your audience love. People value commitment and consistency in social influencers, so you need to consistently produce useful content that is relevant. Once you know what type of content to post, you need to develop a calendar to help you consistently create content.

Here are some tips to help you develop a calendar for your social media influencer strategy:

• Create high-quality content for your audience.
• Plan your content based on your goals and the type of content you want to post.
• Choose a posting frequency on each social media platform.
• Select the best times to add content to get the most engagement.
• Choose the right social media tools to develop your calendar.
• Use a variety of content formats, topics, and types of posts.
• Schedule times to publish your content.

5. Strategically generate your traffic

The more traffic you can generate the bigger an influencer you will become on social media. As your audience grows, more people will follow you and you will be able to leverage the power of social proof to reach an even bigger audience. However, when you first get started, you’ll need to find ways to generate traffic.

Here are a few ways to get started generating interest on social media:

• Make it easy to share your content so your audience can share it with their networks
• Tag others and use relevant hashtags to increase your visibility
• Install proactive tools like chatbots on your social media channels
• Post your content when your audience is most active
• Consistently interact and provide value to your audience
• Invest in paid advertising to expand your reach
• Write compelling calls to action to motivate interested followers
• Engage with other influencers to boost your credibility
• Mention your social media accounts in emails and newsletters
• Add plenty of visuals like images, videos, and infographics to help content stand out

6. Collaborate with other influencers

Collaborating with other influencers allows you to gain fans from their communities. Influencers on social media can reach millions so working with them can help expose your content to a brand-new audience and drive more traffic to your channels. There are several ways you can work with them by paying them to promote your content.

However, engaging organically might be the most effective way to help build your audience. Simply ask them to share your post when you publish something they like. You can also feature influencers in your content by highlighting them and what they’re doing. Next, tag them when you share the post so they can share it with their network.

7. Engage your audience

This is very important because if you don’t engage with your audience they’re likely to lose interest. Your content is a vital part of your influencer marketing strategy. Without engagement, your content’s not worth much. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube want to see people engaging with your content.

Engaging your audience demonstrates that you are posting what your audience likes to see. This provides social proof that you have influence among your audience. As a result, social sites will make your content more visible to more people who are interested in the same subject. This helps increase your authority because the more engagement you get from your content the more people get to see your content, which helps you generate even more momentum and engagement.

Also, brands looking for influencers in their marketing campaigns want people who can sway their followers to follow their brands and consider purchasing their products. To have this type of impact as an influencer, your audience needs to feel like they know and understand you. In turn, you need to let them know that you appreciate them so always thank your audience for their support.

8. Make it easy for brands to contact you

Another important tip to help you grow as a social media influencer is to make it super easy for brands to find and contact you. As you displayed on the chart above, there’s money to be made, on social media if brands can find you. Different brands find influencers on social media using different methods.

Image source

always make it as easy as possible for them to contact you by making sure your contact information is clear and visible. Also, write a compelling bio so brands know that you are an influencer and that you are open to collaborations. If potential clients have to hunt for ways to contact you, it’s likely that they will give up and go in a different direction with another influencer.

9. Exceed expectations with brand partnerships

It’s always a good idea to exceed expectations to encourage more bookings from a brand. Brands love to work with influencers who deliver value. So, anytime you go above and beyond expectations with brand partnerships, it’s more likely they will want to work with you again.

Another reason to over-deliver for a brand, is they are compelled to want to do something for you in return. This tactic also works great when dealing with your audience.

Although sometimes, people may think you’re only providing valuable content because you expect something in return, when you’re genuine, over time, your audience will trust and appreciate that you really are just thinking of them. And when the time comes when you ask for something like their email address, they will more likely give it to you.

Recap on how to become a social media influencer

Becoming a social media influencer takes time and effort. However, by following the steps outlined in this article, you’ll be well on your way to building a massive audience of engaged fans and followers for life:

1. Select your niche
2. Select your platform
3. Define your audience
4. Develop a content calendar
5. Plan and develop your content
6. Collaborate with other influencers
7. Engage your audience
8. Make it easy for brands to contact you
9. Exceed expectations with brand partnerships

Please share your thoughts and tips in the comments below!