How to Stand Out As An Influencer

May 25, 2021

Welcome to the future of influencer marketing.

  • Having a career as a social media influencer isn’t as far-fetched as one might think.

  • Figure out what kind of content you want to make on social media.

  • Build relationships with both your followers and others in the influencer community.

  • Consistent, frequency and value are important factors for your content creation.

The idea of using social media as a marketing tool hasn’t been a foreign concept for a long time, but having a job solely relying on social media itself has become more of a reality than some of us might think.

According to a recent study, more kids nowadays are looking at jobs like becoming a social media influencer and YouTuber as actual viable career prospects, which isn’t surprising, considering how much time we spend online and seeing people creating content for millions of users globally.

And social media hype is only growing — along with the rise of influencer marketing, where social media users with a dedicated following usually have endorsements or product mentions in their content as a way to make a living. This, along with sharing one’s content online, might make you consider attempting a social media influencer lifestyle.

Why become an influencer?

Above all else, most social media influencers become one because they want to build and make the content they wish to see themselves!

It’s creatively fun, and you will have the opportunity to meet like-minded people as well. Aside from that, it’s also an opportunity to gain a thriving career through social media. As you become more recognised, you’ll also have the chance to work with brands, advertisers and learn how to stand out in this fiercely competitive field.

Now that you have some good reasons to start, let’s learn how to become an influencer.

 

What’s your niche?

A cluttered media page is one that would potentially turn away any interested eyes in a single glance because of the lack of focus. Most influencers have one or two main topics that their content revolves around, so you should have one as well!

Start by figuring out what is your interest. What’s your hobby? What do you already post a lot about? This will roughly define your brand! For example, if your passion is food, naturally you’d gear towards food-related content topics such as recipes, tutorials or reviews. This is the same for any other niche you might choose to help you start out as an influencer.

 

An online community

A huge part of being on social media is the engagement aspect — both online in your posts’ comments and behind the scenes.

Start from acknowledging your followers, whether through liking and replying their comments, and then giving them more opportunities to interact with you! This could be in the form of Q&A live sessions, having different social media channels, or even a blog or streaming platform to keep your online community constantly updated with your content!

 

Hop, adopt and create

When you’re on social media, it’s practically impossible to escape the trends.

Trends have a lifespan of mere weeks, sometimes even just days before they begin to fizzle out, so if you’re planning to hop on any of them, make sure you’re one step ahead and be one of the early adopters! In addition, instead of just adopting trends, why not try your hand at creating one?

 

Make friends

One of the best ways to thrive in the influencer marketing sphere is to make connections with other influencers! After all, no one should be an island in a virtual social space. Collaborations with fellow influencers are a great way to expand your audience reach and explore other content ideas, without straying too far from your usual niche.

 

Listen to your audience

While audience reach should not be the most important factor of being an influencer, it’s still a significant part of your work!

Your audience will be able to provide insights for how you should shape your content. If they respond better to specific types of content, then perhaps you can consider making more of that and learn how to make it profitable as well! It also conveys to your audience that their suggestions and comments are important to you.

 

Add value to your content

Your content shouldn’t exist just because you ‘need to create content’! Having that mindset can easily take out the fun of content creation for both you and your audience.

Instead, remember that your content should provide value to people who will be seeing it — is it educational? Entertaining? Will your followers benefit from this piece? These are questions to consider regardless what kind of content you are pushing out as an influencer.

 

Consistency and frequency

One last thing to keep in mind is how much you should be showing up in your followers’ feed.

Assuming most users follow numerous accounts, sometimes up to the hundreds, chances are if you’re not posting very frequently, your content isn’t going to be seen by most of your followers, thanks to social media algorithms that prioritise high engagement, recent posts and consistent updates.

Make sure you have a regular set schedule for posting your content!

Let’s start!

There are a lot of reasons why you should seriously consider creating a profession out of social media, especially if you already enjoy creating content in the first place.

If you’re looking to start, here are some resources to help you build your social media profile, content and brand!