Build credibility, extend your reach, promote your brand, and grow sales by becoming an online influencer.
Countless people are doing it and the best part is that you can easily build authority and meet your financial goals if you do it right. Here are my tips for becoming a successful influencer and getting paid.
Create Your Brand
You first have to connect with your audience at a personal level. So, share content that they are interested in. The kind that attracts and retains their attention. Build your brand and share highly-engaging content. If there is something you are great at, focus on that.
For example, if you enjoy cooking and are great at it, build your brand around that. Share short-form and long-form videos of yourself in the kitchen. Upload high-quality images of your finest dishes and recipes.
Teach your audience how to prepare simple as well as complex meals. Keep them interested in what you are going to share next by adding a personal touch to your recordings. You can share secret recipes, show fun and easy ways to prepare complex dishes, and so on.
Take it a step further and provide valuable advice on healthy eating and healthy living. Talk about the effectiveness of dieting, how it helps with weight loss goals and best practices. Create a video series and cover the top 5 or 10 weight-loss diets or diet plans. This will keep your followers coming back and hitting the ‘Share’ button. Provide well-researched, truthful, and helpful information. Show that you are knowledgeable in your field and passionate about what you do. This will get you more followers, help you build trust, and ensure you meet your goals.
The key thing is to find something that you enjoy and share it with the world. Perhaps you like taking pics and have decent Photoshop skills. You can create your brand around that. Share personal experiences or pictures of what you love. For example, your pet, your city, nature, adventures, and so forth. Use Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, or whichever platform you prefer. Choose your platform based on the type of content you want to share. For example, if you are going to use a lot of images, pick Instagram. If you are going to use a lot of videos and want to show your audience how to do ABC, use YouTube.
Build Your Audience
Build an audience and grow your following by targeting the right people. Focus on the type of content you are creating and answer key questions; Who is your audience? How will you find them? And How are you going to keep them? You can choose your audience based on gender, age, marital status, profession, and so forth. Better yet, pick a niche that caters to a lot of people. For instance, if you want to share your cooking skills, you can target stay-at-home moms, professionals with busy schedules, and single dads who don’t have impressive cooking skills.
Make Money
Once you build your audience and make your mark, focus on the next important step; making money. Partner up with brands or other influencers and promote their products or businesses. Identify ones with a great reputation and approach them. Explain why you want to work with them and how it’s going to benefit both of you. For example, mention your online reputation, number of loyal followers, and so on. Share links to your social pages to prove your credibility and help them understand your brand better.
Advertise their products to your fans and get paid on commission. If you have a great number of followers and a good online reputation, a lot of companies will want to work with you.
If you get turned down during the early days, don’t give up. Keep at it. You will eventually find the right brands to work with and make money from being an influencer.