by Hollie Siddique on 8th Apr 2020 Working from home has recently become the national norm and, luckily fo...
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- Develop an online presence and get paid to promote products to an audience
- Post about a topic you are passionate about and work flexibly from home
- This is a highly competitive market and you'll need to work hard and be persistent to succeed
Social media influencers develop a high profile on social media by posting content on one or more social networks and gaining large numbers of followers. They are then called influencers as they are able to influence their audiences in some way, and they are often paid by brands or organisations to recommend products to their followers.
Some social media influencers build up millions of followers on Youtube, Instagram, Twitter, Tik Tok, Facebook or other specialist social media, but there are others who can make a living with smaller numbers of followers in specialist areas. These are often called micro-influencers, and they are still able to attract paid sponsorship deals because their audiences are highly targeted.
Social media influencers can make money from sponsorship deals but may also make money from sites like Youtube based on the number of times their videos are watched.
DAY-TO-DAY DUTIES
- Plan and prepare the content you are going to post
- Create video or other content and post it
- Live stream to your audience
- Read or respond to audience feedback online
- Liaise with potential sponsors or agents who manage sponsorship deals
- Analyse online performance
DAY-TO-DAY ENVIRONMENT
You may spend a lot of your time on your own creating content, particularly during the early stages of your career, and this is a role where you may receive messages and comments from your audience 24/7 so you will need to be prepared for this level of commitment. As you build up your audience, you may be invited to do more press and public appearance work which may require travel.
You'll need
There are no special qualifications you need to become a social media influencer, but most successful influencers work very hard to develop their audience, so you'll need persistence, excellent communication skills, and a good eye for trends.
Most influencers focus on a particular topic or audience type - things like video games, beauty, fashion, food, exercise, and travel are all popular topics, but there are also opportunities to become an influencer in a niche or specialist area like a particular hobby or sport.
You'll need some equipment, like a computer and if you're recording video it can help to have a higher quality camera and microphone, but these aren't essential to get you started. You'll also need to learn how to use editing software - but there are lots of online tutorials and tools that can help you with all of this.
The most important things you'll need are practice and patience - success may not come overnight, but if you are truly passionate about the topic you're posting about, and dedicate yourself to it you'll give yourself the best chance of success.
CAREER PROSPECTS
Social media influencers can use their platform to move into other careers like TV and radio presenting, writing books, or starting their own businesses creating and selling products and services.
