Social Media Part 1
Questions About Social Media Influencers
- How do people become social media influencers?
- What are the benefits of being a social media influencer?
- What are the drawbacks of being a social media influencer?
- How much money do social media influencers make?
- What are some popular social media platforms for influencers?
- How do influencers choose what products to promote?
- How do influencers maintain their authenticity while promoting products?
- How much time does being a social media influencer take?
- Do you think anyone can anyone become a social media influencer or do you need a certain amount of followers to be successful?
Social Media Influencer 101
A social media influencer is a digital creator with a large following on social media platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, or Twitter. Social media influencers typically create content to impact their followers’ actions, buying habits, or opinions. They also collaborate with businesses to promote their services or products.
Types of Influencers
There are many types of influencers in many industries. The first thing we will look at is the type of influencer based on the number of followers:
- Nano-influencers: 1,000-10,000 followers
- Micro-influencers: 10,000-100,000 followers
- Macro-influencers: 100,000-1,000,000 followers
- Mega-influencer/Celebrities: Over 1,000,000 followers
- Gaming
- Health and Fitness
- Blogging/Vlogging
- Photography
- Traveling
- DIYing
- Beauty
- Fashion
- Food and Cooking
- Animals
- Bloggers
- Podcasters
- Social Posts
- YouTubers
Pros and Cons of Being an Influencer
Pros
- Flexible Schedule- You can work whenever and from wherever you want when you are an influencer.
- Share Your Passion- Being an influencer means you get to decide what you want to share; typically, it is what people are knowledgeable about and passionate about.
- Build a Community- Social Media Influencers can build a community of like-minded people who share the same passion or want to learn more. These connections can be made on and offline.
- Can Make Money- Social Media Influencers can make money in several ways, including sponsored posts, affiliate marketing*, promoting their products, digital courses, Ebooks, or subscriptions, and brand partnerships.
Cons
- Always have to be “on”- People will dig through your past, and when they see you in person, they expect the person they see online.
- Critics- Everyone has critics or haters, and they are everywhere on the internet.
- Job Security- You may have brand partnerships from time to time, but there is often no insurance or long-term job security.
- Mental Health- Social Media Influencers have to take extra care of their mental health and avoid burnout.
- Always Working- Social Media Influencing can be a very time-consuming job; most influencers need to develop a routine to avoid working all of the time.
*Affiliate marketing is a program where affiliates earn a commission for promoting a business’s products or services using a unique tracking link or code.
How Much Do Influencers Make?
There isn’t a simple answer to this question; it depends on the factors we have previously discussed. The average Social Media Influencer pay is $57,262 a year, but remember, that is the average. There are plenty of people that make more and many more that make less.
Read through this Businessinsider.com article to learn more, or read this article from nealschaffer.com to learn more.
What did you learn about how influencers make money?
Recap
Let’s revisit some of the previous questions to see if we have a new answers:
- How do people become social media influencers?
- What are the benefits of being a social media influencer?
- What are the drawbacks of being a social media influencer?
- How much money do social media influencers make?
- What are some popular social media platforms for influencers?
- How do influencers choose what products to promote?
- How do influencers maintain their authenticity while promoting products?
- How much time does being a social media influencer take?
- Do you think anyone can anyone become a social media influencer or do you need a certain amount of followers to be successful?