It’s the million-dollar question to which everybody wants to know the answer – how do you become a social influencer? Immediately, it’s important to define the term ‘social influencer’. For example, the information in this guide isn’t going to put you in a battle with Kim Kardashian. However, it could help to build enough of an influence to make the process worthwhile, and this is useful for both individuals and businesses.
As a business, influence is essential. By becoming an influencer, you build authority and credibility in the industry. Suddenly, consumers respect your opinion and are more likely to read your content and buy your products and services. But what are the strategic concepts behind becoming a social influencer?
Choose a Niche
Firstly, you’ll find that every single influencer has a specialty, knowledge in a particular area. While businesses will choose their niche, individuals need to prioritize a couple of areas. If you try to cover everything, the content is too general, and people will get frustrated while waiting for their topic to come back around.
Plan Your Content
Rather than just creating content on a whim, plan everything in advance. While planning, consider the tone, voice, and personality that you’ll use in the content. Of course, you can react to industry news and make spontaneous content. Yet, you’ll want a foundation of planned content to fall back on – regular content keeps people returning.
Network with Others
Don’t forget, you’re not the only person on this journey. Guys like Sabri Suby of King Kong are absolutely crushing the game, and he also started from a desk in his bedroom. Network with others to potentially create content together, share audiences, and grow your influencer even further. When choosing, network with people who are active, in a similar niche, and create fantastic content.
Choose Your Channels
At this stage, it’s easy to choose the biggest channels, but this might not be best for your audience. While Facebook and Instagram sound obvious, you might find that Reddit or another channel is valuable for your strategy. Influencers can have profiles on all sorts of channels, so choose the right one for your approach. Often, Reddit is a great way to build credibility and send people in the direction of your more prominent channels.
Balance Short and Long Content
So far, you’ve seen an emphasis on social media. However, social influencers aren’t restricted to social media alone. How can you show your character in a limited number of characters? As well as using social media, we recommend having a channel where you produce long-form content too. For example, this could be a YouTube channel for videos or a blog.
With this balance, people who can’t get enough of your infectious personality can find more to sink their teeth into with videos or a blog.
Comment on Current Events
While balancing short and long content, you also need to balance evergreen and topical content. The former remains relevant over many months and years while the latter is all about commenting on industry trends and other news-related items. Often, people focus so much on evergreen content that they don’t generate any sense of urgency with topical content. In many cases, topical content is what generates traffic that will later explore the evergreen articles.
Other Top Tips
- Use all the different channels in the right way (don’t treat them as though they are the same)
- Always stick with the brand personality and voice (don’t chop and change because this will confuse people)
- Engage with people and respond to comments – build a connection with your community
- Publish fresh content consistently
- Analyze performance, use AI to get insights, and look for opportunities to improve
