In today’s society of social media and a mid-pandemic world of living online, an emergence of influencers has blossomed. Many people, though, don’t quite know what to think when the term ‘influencer’ is discussed, and many don’t know just how much work it takes to be successful in this up-and-coming career.
Common Misconceptions
The main misconceptions of influencers are that they don’t work hard enough for it to be considered a ‘real’ job, that posts are ‘fake’ and don’t show a true image of what that person looks like, and that influencers are vain. This is aimed more often at young women, and is not an accurate representation of the work, effort, and dedication that goes into making a career out of being an influencer. Another misconception surrounding influencers is that they’re all women. In the makeup world, gurus like Manny MUA and Gabriel Zamora have hundreds of thousands to millions of followers. There are also influencers in communities like gaming and fitness that have proven to be very successful.
Types of Influencers
We associate influencers with social media, marketing to a niche group like outfit inspiration pages or traveling tips pages. While this is true, there is a whole world of influencer marketing that is much more complex than what meets the eye. There are three main types of influencers according to the everyone social blog: celebrities, macro influencers, and micro influencers. We will also add in a fourth: nano influencers. Celebrity influencers are individuals like Rihanna, who launched FENTY beauty after being successful in the music industry for years. Macro influencers are those with 100,000 followers or more, and micro influencers have 10,000 to 100,000 followers. Nano influencers have from 1,000 to 10,000 followers. Although their spheres of influence are different, even the smallest pages can create more impact and engagement for brands than just finding their site online.
The Work
One aspect of influencing that is both intriguing and requires a lot of work is brand collaborations. Brand collaborations are when a company sends a product to an influencer in exchange for some type of post about the product. It’s a win-win situation because the influencer is compensated either monetarily or with free products, and the brand is introduced to the influencer’s audience which gains them potential customers.
Another aspect behind the scenes of an influencer is creating relatable content and putting it out frequently. To stay relevant, there is a balancing act of posting enough to engage your current audience and to gain new followers, and having your content fit into your aesthetic and niche that you’re posting for. For example, a lot of fashion pages use presets on their photos to create a grid that is aesthetically pleasing. If you want to read more on that check out our The New Age of Social Media blog. A trend happening right now is brighter and more colorful photos being posted during Spring and Summer, and moodier photos with a darker tint being posted during Fall and Winter. Often, pages following this trend over a long period of time tend to gain more followers.
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The influencing world is fast-growing and competitive, but it also allows for people to utilize their creativity in a working world. Our world is speeding towards becoming completely digital, and young people are continuing to monetize that to their advantage. Even if you aren’t interested in being an influencer, it’s important to consider how you can steer your career towards the digital world.
About Megan Valco
Megan Valco is an Account Assistant at Haute In Texas. Currently attending UTSA, she is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Digital Communications. Her hobbies include enjoying day trips to Fredericksburg and the beach, painting and finding new thrift stores to shop. After graduating, her aspirations have no limit as she plans to continue working in the PR and Marketing world, as well as, traveling and living across the U.S. and abroad.
