How to get started as an influencer

So, you want to be an influencer? I don’t blame you - I wanted to be one too and here I am. I understand the feeling of seeing people on Instagram, YouTube, or other social platforms getting paid to share their thoughts, opinions, and lives on social media - and I remember always asking myself… how? How are they doing this? I learned the long way around so that you don’t have to - so today I want to provide you with some clear, initial steps on getting started as an influencer.

Discover your ideal audience, pillars, and niche

I have said it millions of times before and will keep on saying it - before you ever can officially become an influencer, you need to have at least some sort of intentional direction. Even if you are in a lifestyle niche and want to be a vlogger or something similar, you still need to determine to who you are directing your content.

I do things a bit differently than most of the folks you might watch or listen to regarding social media - instead of picking a niche, I always recommend first picking your ideal audience. Who are the people you want to be a part of your community? Once you know who you are creating the content for - you can figure out what other topics they might be interested in as well. Doing it this way will help you go beyond the basic content pillars that relate too heavily to a generic niche, instead, you will be creating content that relates to the person you’re targeting versus a niche.

Develop a strategy and system (and stick to it)

Before really diving into creating content or being an “influencer” - it’s important to develop a strategy and system. Your content strategy is your framework or the structure you put in place that will then guide what you put on your content calendar. Usually, it’s a repetitive structure that includes the formats that you know to speak to your audience, and that work towards your goal as a brand. The perfect content strategy needs to exist at the intersection of these three areas; what works toward your goals, what you like to make, and what you have time for currently. If you lean too hard into one direction or the other, it won’t be a sustainable approach. So make sure that you balance all three of your priorities, and that will be your perfect strategy.

A content creation system is a habit or a routine that you can return to in order to stay consistent with your content creation. You have to create a system that will realistically work for you long-term - so that you can be consistent and avoid burnout. This could be batching monthly or weekly, or maybe even posting a few days a week on the fly. But it has to be a planned system that you know will work for you based on your current obligations and availability.

Develop a content calendar

You have your audience, pillars, and niche - and you also developed a content strategy and system. Now you need to put all of that into a content calendar. A content calendar is essentially a list of content ideas or concepts that are organized chronologically in a calendar or a spreadsheet. These are the specific, fully formed ideas of exactly what you’re going to post on a given day. There are four main steps you can take when trying to come up with ideas to put into your content calendar:

Check for audience feedback: I will take a look at comments on YouTube, TikTok, or Instagram - checking if there are any themes I can find, any frequently asked questions, or suggestions for topics I could cover.

Reviewing your analytics: Stats can are super helpful because they show you what you’re doing that has already been successful. All social media platforms have an options to view analytics or insights.

Finding trends: You can find a few trending Reels, YouTube videos, etc., and based on that, let them inspire some fresh content ideas that fit well with that trend.

Get comfortable with short-form content

Posting Reels or TikToks isn’t the only way to “make it” as an influencer but in general - if you are wanting to grow on social media and eventually secure brand partnerships, you might want to start working towards getting comfortable with short-form content. Short-form videos are easy to digest, engaging, and discoverable. Because of these things, Reels and TikToks can be a great way to grow your brand by educating, inspiring, or entertaining your audience, showcasing you or your business’s personality and values, and highlighting what sets you apart from the rest.

Focus on building your community

Yes, growing your brand and seeing your insights on the up might give you that dopamine hit you have been craving - but more importantly, is building your community. Even if you have a large audience, that doesn’t mean they trust your advice because you have been haven’t spent the time building it. No matter what stage you’re at in your content creation journey, building relationships within your community needs to be your number one priority.

You can do this by responding to all of your comments and DMS. It’s important to show your audience that you are there for them and think of them as more than just a number on your follower list. As you grow, it might get more challenging to respond to everyone, but that’s why stories are so important.

Posting on your Stories is a way to speak directly to your audience. It’s about building relationships with the folks who are already following you and trust me, this is where your followers will feel the most connected to you. Stories give you the opportunity to share more about yourself as a person, outside of just the branded version of yourself you might share on your feed. This also will help you when you grow and are unable to respond to everyone, you can tell your audience how much you appreciate all of your DMs or responses and will do your best to get to as many as possible - that way, if someone doesn’t get a response, they know you were there and trying.

You can also encourage your audience to speak to each other. If checked off the first step and have an “ideal audience” in mind, most likely - the people following you are very similar, like-minded people and probably would get along with each other. Encourage your community to bond with each other, not just you.

At the end of the day, the end user - your follower or your subscriber, are the most important piece of your content creation puzzle.

Build your portfolio and pitch to brands

Now if your goal is to be a full-time influencer, I am guessing your want to make money doing it - so it’s important to build your portfolio and pitch to brands. Here’s the secret, your portfolio is just your social media platform. If you are on YouTube, it’s your videos. If you're on Instagram, it’s your feed. This is why it’s so important to have brand consistency - because a brand is going to look at your platform and want to see the quality. But your portfolio goes beyond just looks - it’s also about your engagement and analytics, so make sure you're focusing your time on creating high-quality, high-value content - so it has the best opportunity to grow. Once you feel pretty confident in your brand portfolio, it’s time to reach out to brands (if they haven’t started reaching out to you first).

I recommend reaching out to smaller brands when you’re in the growing stage, as it will give you a better chance of securing the partnership. I also recommend developing a media kit that lists all of your important stats, your demographics, your rates, and some details about your brand. This is essentially the resume you’re sending along with your portfolio, so make sure it represents you well.

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If you are specifically trying to become an Instagram Influencer, I highly recommend checking out my signature course, The Instagram Road Map. It’s your complete guide to the journey from uncertain and overwhelmed to confident and excited about Instagram. I will have it linked in the show notes if you want to learn more!