The Ultimate Guide on Becoming a Social Media Influencer

There’s a new wave of powerful people. They’re old, young, and sometimes, not even human.

These are social media influencers. Social media influencers have enough power to sway people into buying products, making life changes, and so much more.

About 46% of consumers said they bought products promoted by people they follow online.

With that kind of influence, they can easily make a lot of money to promote products. The most influential people like Cristiano Ronaldo and Kylie Jenner can make seven figures for a social media post.

If you want to become a social media influencer yourself, you might have to work a little harder. You’re starting with an unknown brand.

You have to build your audience and gain a following. Then you need to turn that influence into money.

It might seem like a distant dream, but you can make it a reality.

Just read this ultimate guide to becoming a social media influencer. You’ll learn everything you need to know to build your business.

1. Check Your Mindset

It might seem like it’s easy to work to be a social media influencer. All you see are the images and stories about people making millions on social media.

You don’t see what goes on behind the scenes. The truth is that if you want to make money and become a social media influencer, you need to treat it like a business.

It’s your job.

It takes a lot of work and planning to make a social media account great. If you just want the end result to happen without the work, you’re not going to get very far.

Before you get started on your path to social media stardom, ask yourself why you want to be a social media influencer.

Don’t do it for easy money. The money’s there, but it doesn’t come easily.

Do it because you can make a difference in people’s lives. Then you’re making a difference while making money.

2. Select Your Niche

Your niche is your topic of conversation. It’s what you want your social media account to get known for. The best niches aren’t too general but they’re not so specific there’s not an audience.

Think about the fitness industry. You can have a fitness account, but you won’t connect with an audience because it’s too general.

Now, if you want to target women who love kettlebell training, that’s even better. Women with this interest will come across your profile and follow it because of shared interest.

3. Pick Your Social Media Platform

What social media platform do you want to use to build your audience? Use two guiding principles to choose your social media platform.

The first is to go where your audience is. If you want to target middle-aged women, you’re not going to find them on Snapchat. You’ll find them on Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook.

The second is to choose a platform that you already love to use. It takes a ton of work to post quality content regularly. You’re not going to post consistently if you don’t like doing the work. 

Do you need to be on multiple platforms to build your influence? You don’t have time to develop content for every platform.

Start with one platform and get really good at it. Build your following on one channel, then you can expand to a second network as you grow your influence.

4. Research the Competition and Audience

You do need to know a lot about your audience. You’re creating content for them. It has to matter to them.

Otherwise, they’re going to keep scrolling right past your content.

Think about your audience and how they relate to your niche. What are their problems as it relates to your niche?

Let’s say your account targets women who love to work out with kettlebells. Your audience likes to workout, but they’re really looking to be strong, age well, and look great. They want confidence and to feel attractive.

These are deeper issues that your content should address. It’s how people relate to your account. If you establish that emotional connection, you’ll build a following in no time.

Check out your competition, too. There are probably hundreds of other accounts that offer similar content.

Look at those accounts. Learn how often they post, the kind of content they post, and the engagement levels of each. You’ll see a pattern of content that your audience loves.

What do you offer your community that’s different from every other account? Understand that you have to offer people something unique to stand out in social media.

5. Create a Content Calendar

A content calendar helps you organize your ideas and take advantage of a social media platform’s features.

Instagram is primarily a place for posting photos with captions. Over the years, it rolled out Stories, Reels, and IGTV.

YouTube has Shorts in addition to its long-form content.

If you want to get your content seen, you need to use all of the features of the platform. Social media networks use algorithms to put content in front of users.

Your content calendar can revolve around different content ideas and themes. You can do a live Q&A every Thursday at 3 pm. Every Tuesday is another theme, such as a recipe or workout.

The content calendar sets the expectations for the audience. They’ll know what to expect and when to tune in.

6. Start Posting Quality Content

Now it’s time to post your content. Executing the content calendar is difficult because you have to develop a workflow that works with your schedule.

Some influencers batch their posts. They’ll create content for one full day each week. They’ll do short edits and schedule the posts in advance.

Tools like Later and Loomly let you post content on a variety of social media platforms. Some have features like the ability to schedule Stories.

Take advantage of these tools and choose the best one for your social media platform.

The captions on social media posts can be short or long. You can do short summer Instagram captions. You can share something personal about your journey that people can relate to.

Mix up your social media posts and see what your audience responds to.

7. Create Conversations

Social media got its name because you can interact with people all over the world in real-time. That social aspect brings people closer.

Social media influencers don’t become influencers because they simply post good content. They get to where they are because they interact with people.

There’s a social media strategy developed by Gary Vaynerchuk called the $1.80 strategy. The idea behind it is that you leave helpful and engaging comments on other accounts.

In other words, you leave your two cents about 90 times a day. This gets people to look at your account and follow it.

Experiment with it for a few weeks. You’ll see a difference in your following and influence.

8. Use the Right Hashtags

Hashtags are the secret sauce to getting your content seen by millions of Instagram users. Users look for content under different themes and find yours.

Hashtags also help Instagram’s algorithm figure out what your account is about. It can then recommend your account and content to people most likely to engage with it.

Research your niche and learn what the top hashtags are. Use a mix of broad hashtags that have a million other posts with hashtags with little activity.

9. Post Consistently

What’s the biggest difference between social media influencers and people who want to become social media influencers?

Social media influencers execute the plan.

They post consistently, which is what social media networks want. They want creators who are reliable and they’ll promote their content more often.

You don’t have to post 10 times a day, but you do need to have a schedule and stick with it. 

10. Monetize Your Influence

How would you like to capitalize on your newfound influence? This is where you convert your audience into cash.

There are a few ways to make money as a social media influencer. Your monetization model depends on what social network you use.

Instagrammers work with brands and charge per post. Most charge about $100 per 10,000 followers per post. They may launch their own product line as Kylie Jenner did.

You do need to be careful about product promotion, especially during difficult times. Kylie Jenner got called out for promoting products at an inappropriate time.

On YouTube, you can offer sponsorship space and use affiliate marketing to generate revenue. These are just a few ways you can make money as a social media influencer.

How to Become a Social Media Influencer

Now that you know how to become a social media influencer, it’s time to get to work.

Your posts don’t have to be perfect. You do need to have the right mindset, niche, and drive to be consistent.

For more social media marketing tips, check out the other articles on the blog.