7 Ways To Become An Influencer On Social Media

Becoming an influencer has become the major trend these days, whether you’re a fashion blogger, a home-based chef or a photographer; blogging on social media seems to be the best option these days to boost your career. With the growth of social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, the world of digital marketing has taken quite the turn- instead of spending tons of money on media advertisement, individuals can create their own brand image online using convenient tools and small investment. Anyone can boost their business or career using personal branding to build an online persona that is both attractive and influential.

What is personal branding? 

An individual’s online presence creates a brand in itself with its own image and influential abilities. All the data you’ve put out there on the internet creates an online persona; such as your personal details, your search history and even shopping behaviours etc. You can take control of your personal brand and ensure that people or your customers see what you want them to see. You can use this tool to establish yourself as the expert in your field and attract traffic towards your business.

Step 1: Figuring out your brand image

Before you start creating the brand, you need to figure out your own professional goals and the kind of audience you’re trying to attract towards your work. For example if you’re a professional photographer you would need to create your brand in such a way that it attracts fashion brands and models that would be willing to hire your services. Therefore, the first step will be to create a mood board of what you want to create and who do you want to appear as on social media.

Step 2: Creating the persona

Now that you have a clear understanding of what your brand should look like, it is time to create your own personal image. Common social mediums are Instagram business accounts, Facebook pages, Twitter and online blogs/websites etc. can all be employed as marketing platforms for your career or business. Most of these networks have specific filters and promotional campaigns for people looking to market their brands. You can employ these to create a specific image for yourself that benefits you. The content you post, share, re-blog etc. every interaction you have online will build your brand image.

Step 3: Audience approval

In order to expand your audience you need to actively interact with your followers and maintain a positive environment. There will be some criticism and negative comments but instead of replying with aggression you can manage to make them understand your opinion without a fight. Weekly or monthly interactive activities will also help your page become more lively and will automatically engage your audience.

Step 4: A little touch of professionalism

In order to establish your brand on a professional platform, you need to create your persona on LinkedIn and Pinterest too which are often overlooked. LinkedIn specifically is the best for professional engagement and moreover you should set up email accounts specifically for business interactions. Also keep in mind that all your social media platforms should be consistent.

Step 5: Following a strategy

Creating a strategy is crucial for your personal branding, you need to understand the social media algorithms and how they’re relevant in terms of your own audience; this includes how many times you should be posting per day, at what time, the kind of content that gets more likes/reach etc.  You can treat it just as if you were creating a brand strategy for a business.

Step 6: Make it more visual

Whether it’s Instagram, Facebook or your website, try and focus on visualising your content rather than prolonged paragraphs. Statistically, if any content is paired with relevant images people retain 65% of the information 3 days later whereas when there is no visual aid they are likely to remember only 10% of the information.

Step 7: Focus on yourself

The major difference between marketing a business and marketing yourself is that instead of your services the focus of your branding should be you. People want to know about you and your personality. Your brand image should be reflective of that but in moderation of course. Not many people are inclined to like a narcissist, but relatable content is always welcome!

Bonus: Be yourself

Try to create your own original content instead of copying other people’s ideas. It is okay to take inspiration but people will be more willing to follow you if you create something out of the box, bring your own creativity to the table. Don’t be afraid and be bold!