How to Become an Influencer

Do you have aspirations of owning your own business, doing what you love every day and sharing your passions, products and knowledge with the world? If yes, then you may be interested in a career as an influencer. However, unlike becoming a teacher, a doctor, a lawyer or the thousands of other "regular" jobs you're familiar with, there has been no clear path to becoming an influencer. Until now.

In this guide we have scoured the web for valuable resources to help you build up your following, create incredible content, master social media and start working with brands and earning income. 

The guide has been divided into four sections. You can jump ahead to each section using the links below:

• Step 1: Creating Incredible Content
• Step 2: Building a Following
• Step 3: Mastering Social Media
• Step 4: Working with Brands

Step 1: Creating Incredible Content

Becoming an influencer requires that you, first of all, become influential. The simplest path to influence is to position yourself as an expert on a specific subject. We recommend that you start with a smaller niche that you are incredibly passionate about. The more specific the better, reason being that the competition on that topic will be lower if it is in a niche, rather than a broad topic. For example, it is easier to become an influencer on 1980's ice hockey video games, than it is to be an influencer on video games in general.

Resources

• How to create high quality Instagram content that grows your account (Later.com)
• How to make a killer YouTube video (uscreen.tv)
• Instagram best practices - 8 content tricks used by top brands (Photoslurp.com)
• 52 Effective Social Media Post Ideas and Examples to Fill Your Calendar (Coschedule.com)
• How to make a Tik Tok video that gets likes (Flexclip.com)

Step 2: Building a Following

In the movie Field of Dreams, Kevin Costner's character believes that "if you build it, they will come". That may work for imaginary baseball fileds, but it's not quite the case with social media. Once you've decided on the type of content you are going to create and started posting, it's now time to attract your followers. Building a following takes time and persistence and there are some helpful tips and best practices you can follow.

Resources:

• The Top 100 Instagram Influencers in the world (Pressboardmedia.com)
• How to get more followers on Instagram (Hootsuite.com)
• How to gain your first 1,000 Instagram followers (Hubspot.com)
• How to get more followers on YouTube (Hootsuite.com)
• How to get more followers on TikTok (Later.com)
• 15 tips to building a better social media presence (Sproutsocial.com)

Step 3: Mastering Social Media

Once you’ve created incredible content and established a loyal audience, you’re then ready to take your influencer business to the next level. As with anything, the better you are at using the tools of your trade, the better your results. A doctor knows exactly how to use a Stethoscope, a race car driver is at one with their vehicle, and an influencer needs to be a master of social media. While there are dozens of different platforms, you'll want to focus on one of the big 5, depending on your content and where your audience spends their time; Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter or TikTok.

Resources:

• Best social media platforms for influencers (Socialmediatoday.com)
• How to seriously master Instagram like a pro (Wishpond.com)
• How to use Tik Tok: A step by step guide (Hubspot.com)
• This is how the Tik Tok algorithm works (Later.com)
• How to use Twitter effectively and grow your brand (SproutSocial.com)
• How video views are measured on different platforms (Pressboardmedia.com)
• How to use YouTube Creator Studio (YouTube.com)
• Here's how Influencers are included in a PR strategy (Pressboardmedia.com)

Step 4: Working With Brands

Becoming an influencer may not start out paying the rent, but over time you'll start attracting brands and earning an income. This happens through sponsored posts and brand partnerships. Many influencers earn $100k a year or more through paid posts and product partnerships. As you begin working with brands, your social feed officially turns from a hobby into a business and you should treat it as one with planning and professionalism. Most brands you are working with have their own objectives, whether it’s raising awareness of a new product launch, selling a specific line of clothing or creating a movement behind their vision. You have a loyal following and brands are interested in partnering with you to connect with that audience in a more credible way than through a regular ad.

Resources:

• Creating a media kit to send to brands (Pressboardmedia.com)
• How Walmart and Interac used local influencers (Pressboardmedia.com)
• Why brands use influencers (HireInfluence.com)
• How much money can you make as an influencer? (Later.com)
• How much do influncers cost? (Webfx.com)
• This influencer campaign with Bleacher Report is a slam dunk for JCPenney (Pressboardmedia.com)
• How does an influencer markeitng agency work? (Mediakix.com)
• How to make money on Instagram (BusinessInsider.com)
• How brands create meaningful influencer marketing campaigns (Pressboardmedia.com)
• How influencers can connect with brands on Instagram (InfluencerMarketingHub.com)
• A lesson in influencer marketing from American Express (Pressboardmedia.com)
• How brands choose influencers for their campaigns (Pressboardmedia.com)

We hope that this step by step guide to becoming an influencer has opened your eyes to the possibilities that can come from creating content, building an audience, mastering social media and working with brands. Becoming an influencer gives you the opportunity to build your own business, do what you love and share your passions with the world. Pressboard will always be here to cheer you on, provide you with the resources and tools to make you the best influencer you can be.

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