Step #1: Choose your Niche
- The first step in becoming an influencer is choosing a niche. The niche you choose should be broad enough that you can build a sizeable following. If the niche is too narrow, not enough people will be interested in the content you produce.
- When choosing your niche, ask yourself these questions:
- What am I good at?
- What do I like to do?
- What problems can I help others solve?
- What value can I deliver to my audience?
- What can I offer that no one else does?
- What are my unique skills?
- Your goal is to find a niche that’s broad enough that many people will care but narrow enough so that you can stand out. It may be helpful to do some research before finalizing the niche you want to operate in.
Step #2: Define your Audience
- Knowing your audience allows you to create content that is valuable to them and will add value to them. If you don’t have clarity on your audience, you may create irrelevant content, which will hamper you from attracting followers.
- To help you define your audience, think through these questions:
- What is their age range?
- What are their hopes and dreams?
- What do they fear?
- What motivates them?
- What do they want out of life?
- What are their biggest struggles?
- Who do they look up to?
- Who do they dislike?
- Whose opinions influence them?
- Where do they go for information?
- Facebook Audience Insights can also be useful when it comes to an understanding your audience. Another way to get insights into your audience is to join relevant online groups (like Facebook groups) and pay attention to what people in the groups discuss.
Step #3: Pick your Platform
- You may think that you should try to be present in as many places as possible, but you’ll end up getting spread too thin. Choose one or two primary platforms where you will focus the majority of your attention. The platform you choose should be in line with the type of content you produce.
- If you aren’t sure which platform to choose, think about your audience. Where do they spend most of their time? Also, what platform do other influencers in your niche use?
- In addition to choosing a primary platform, choose a supporting platform where you will share smaller pieces of content. As much as possible, use your supporting platform to drive others back to your primary platform.
Step #4: Spice Up your Social Media Profiles
- When someone visits your profiles, you want to give them a great first impression so that they’ll want to follow you. Here are some simple ways to make your profiles pop:
- Add a great profile picture
- Add a cover photo
- Switch over to a business account
- Craft a compelling bio
- Untag yourself from inappropriate posts
- Pin your best content
- Depending on the platforms you choose, there are some other ways you can spice up your profiles. For example, YouTube allows you to add an introductory video to your channel. Take advantage of these additional options.
Step #5: Map Out your Content
- Mapping out your content will help you know what to publish and when to publish it. It will also come in handy if you find yourself creatively blocked at any point.
- As you think through your content, consider your audience. Your goal is to deliver content that is valuable to your audience and allows you to show off your personality.
- Content is valuable to your audience if it:
- Helps them solve a problem
- Gives them valuable knowledge
- Evokes emotion in them
- Entertains them
- Makes their life better in some way
- All sorts of content can meet these requirements. Don’t think that you need to create all this yourself. The best influencers also share valuable content created by others.
- If you’re having trouble coming up with ideas, there are several strategies you can use.
- Type a relevant phrase into Google and then look at the related searches at the bottom of the page.
- Answer the Public is another helpful tool for finding content ideas.
- Type a keyword into Quora, and it will show you related questions that actual people have posted on the site.
Step #6: Publish your Content
- If you want your content to be seen by as many people as possible, it’s important to post consistently. When it comes to social media, most of the platforms tend to prefer active accounts.
- If you’re like most people, the thought of having to log in and post multiple times per week is probably a bit overwhelming. This is where social media scheduling tools can be beneficial. They allow you to schedule your posts in advance and then automatically publish them for you.
- Optimize each of your posts for the channel on which it is being published. Ensure that it looks great on the platform where it’s published. Also, optimize your posts for mobile devices.
- Depending on the platform you’re using, you also may want to optimize your posts with hashtags. Hashtags allow your viewers to find posts related to specific subjects that they’re interested in.
Step #7: Engage with your Audience
- Engaging means interacting with your followers. Influencers who engage get traction faster than those who don’t. In fact, if you’re not willing to engage your audience regularly, you’ll most likely struggle to succeed as an influencer.
- Engagement allows you to build relationships with those in your audience. When you reply to comments, answer questions, and provide helpful resources, it causes your audience to trust you more.
- Additionally, almost every social media platform boosts posts that have more engagement. When they see a post with lots of comments and likes, it’s a signal that the content is valuable and that more people should see it.
- What’s more, comments on your posts give you more insight into how your audience thinks. You can hear what they want in their own words. You’ll understand more about what drives them and learn how you can better serve them.
Step #8: Analyze your Results
- One of the biggest keys to succeeding as an influencer is regularly analyzing your results. You’ll want to know what sorts of content resonate most with your audience and get the most interaction. And, if you want to work with brands, you must be able to provide them with concrete data.
- Almost every platform offers analytics of some kind that you can use to evaluate your progress. As you evaluate your results, pay close attention to content that performs really well, as well as the comments left by your audience. This information shows you what matters most to your followers.
- If a blog post, video, podcast episode, or social media post performs really well, consider doubling down on that type of content. As you focus on producing more of the content that performs best, you’ll pick up momentum, and your audience will grow faster.
Step #9: Collaborate with Brands
- The final step in being an influencer is collaborating with brands in exchange for products or money. How do you connect with these brands?
- You can wait for brands to reach out to you. If you get big enough, you’ll eventually be noticed by brands who are interested in working with you.
- If you want to take a more proactive approach, consider reaching out to relevant companies in your niche. When you do this, be very clear about the value you offer to them.
- A third option is to use an influencer platform. These platforms serve as marketplaces, bringing together influencers and companies interested in collaborating.
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