How to Become an Influencer

It seems like everyone is trying to become an influencer these days.

(I hope you read that in Kim K’s voice.)

But really, becoming an influencer is the dream career for a lot of creatives. And from the outside looking in, it almost feels unattainable to achieve. But I’ve got some good news for you:

It IS achievable, whether you want to grow just as an influencer or using your influencing skills to support your creative endeavors or business.

Follow these 6 easy, up-to-date steps to learn how to become an influencer in 2023 because it’s not too late to join the influencer community. (And be sure to check out my latest podcast episode with Peyton Johnson, former PR superstar turned full-time influencer on how she started! Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.)

What is an influencer?

First things first, let’s dissect what an influencer is. Influencers influence other people to purchase a product or service by posting on social media. Influencers rose to fame around the 2010s and have now become a common job title for creators. A lot has changed since the beginning days of bloggers and vloggers since the emergence of new platforms like TikTok. Today, there are multiple types based on follower count:

• Mega influencers/celebrities: 1M+ followers

• Macro-influencers: 100K – 1M followers

• Micro-influencers: 10K – 100K followers

• Nano-influencers: 1K – 10k followers

How to Become an Influencer

Let’s get into the nitty gritty! Follow these 6 steps to learn how to become an influencer yourself:

1. Choose a niche

Now when I say choose a niche, I mean choose a topic (or topics) you want to focus on for your influencing, like fashion, food or wellness. This lets your followers and brand partners know that they align with you and your content. Choosing a niche doesn’t always have to mean you stick with it forever or you can’t have multiple, but to start off I recommend picking one niche to begin with.

2. Optimize your social platforms

This step helps followers and brands find you! Use keywords in your bio and posts to help you get noticed. Follow hashtag strategy to gain new audiences. And always make sure to follow social best practices for each platform. (Because we all know what lands on TikTok, may not land on Instagram.)

3. Understand your audience

Once you’ve started gaining momentum on your platforms, check in to see who’s giving you a follow. Take note on their location, gender, age range and make sure to note when they are online each day. That way, you can plan posts and stories to make sure they’re noticed by your loyal fans.

4. Post consistent, quality content

Following this step is key if you want to become an influencer because content is why you choose to follow some influencers (and unfollow others). Quality content should provide value to your audience in some way (entertaining, educating, etc.). Your content should be able to help them by providing tips on your niche, answering a question or entertaining them with relatable or funny content. While quality is always better than quantity, you should be consistently showing up as well. I don’t mean you have to post 5x a day by any means, but finding a schedule that works best with you and your audience…and sticking to it.

5. Work with brands

Once you’ve established yourself, you can work with brands! Now it’s totally up to personal preference of which brands you work with, but the most successful influencers are picky with the brands they collaborate with and choose ones based off what their audiences needs or wants. Knowing your audience is key to this step because if it doesn’t serve them in some way, why would they buy it?

6. Stay up to date with trends

Trends aren’t everything but they help you maintain relevance and you can attract new audiences if you’re the first one to hop on a trend. Always prioritize quality over trends, but trends can be a fun content idea to throw into the mix.

How do influencers make money?

Ah yes, the question everyone is always dying to know: how do they actually make money?! The answer is more straightforward than you think. Here are 7 ways you typically find influencers making money:

1. Sponsored posts

   These are social posts (and sometimes blog posts) that a brand sponsors you to create. They provide a product or a service to you and you create a post that highlights their offerings to share with your audience.

2. Brand ambassador

   Working as a brand ambassador can look a lot different depending on the brand you are working with. But at it’s core, being a brand ambassador is representing and advertising a company. Usually these gigs are best for those just starting out with their online presence and want to get their name out to brands.

3. Affiliate marketing

   Think: Amazon Affiliate Program. Basically, you work with an affiliate partner to sell products and earn commission off of selling those products. If you’ve seen people directing you to their Amazon storefront, that is affiliate marketing!

4. Selling products

   Once influencers get themselves established, many create their own product lines! This could be done in partnership with a brand, like a makeup line. Or entirely on their own, like a fashion line.

5. Selling courses

   This money maker is one I have seen take the world by storm, especially on TikTok. Many creators are making courses on everything—from their niche or even how to become an influencer.

6. Speaking engagements

   Whether it be large-scale like a TEDTalk or smaller like a speaking engagement at a local college or university, providing value to an audience this way is a great way to earn some extra money (and make new connections!).

7. Ad revenue

   Ad placements in your content, whether it be embedded in a Youtube video or featured on your website, are another way to make money. These can be funded through the brands directly or by 3rd party ad sites.