The term ‘influencers’ is a common phrase in today’s world. Young people as old as twelve earn the right to be called influencers, but influencers of what exactly? Well, it depends on who is asking. As a young adult I know that in order to influence something, one must have a certain level of appeal or charm that other people find attractive or relatable in order for them to influence the choices others make. It is both a question of following and belief.
If Chinua Achebe, a Nigerian novelist told me today that I was a good writer I would probably never do anything else in my life other than writing because I believe he is a great writer.However, with the rise of social media where the whole world can track the following of individuals, belief in the people we love is out of favor. We tend to be drawn to the people with a huge social media following no matter their age. These social media stars get recognized not only by individuals but also by big brands like Nike, Cocacola and Gucci. This enables these companies to feed off of the following of these individuals in order to make sales, thus making the social media stars influencers. But how does one become an influencer? I came up with my own tips on how to become your own boss through social medi
Download Tiktok. If you want to be a social media ‘influencer’ there is no better way than Tiktok which is one of the more popular social apps available today. With over a billion users, it is quite easy to get a following if you have good and consistent content. The fact that everyone is always looking at their phones and with nothing to do during these lockdowns and stay at home situations, you stand a high chance of becoming an influencer.
Have a social media presence. Be very easy to reach within the social media world. Have a Twitter, Facebook, Youtube account that’s fairly active. It will help if you get traction on one app but also accessible on other apps. This will help the brands that will make you an influencer find you easily and also employ you due to your active presence.
Keep it simple. The only reason people get a following seemingly out of the blue is because their content is relatable in a simple way. Khabe Lame the second most followed person on Tiktok with over 100 million followers, does not even talk in his videos. As of now he earns upwards of 50,000 dollars for every video he makes, and his videos are just seconds long. Mr. beast the Youtube star, although very rich and well paid by the internet, he tries to keep his videos simple even though we all know they are not.
Be funny or scary. There is nothing that grabs the attention of human beings like fear or happiness. Videos of a comic nature stand a higher chance of getting you a following but scary videos are also fairly very attractive. So if you are not going to be funny, do scary videos or anything else in between.
Ideally, there are a thousand ways to be anything you want to be in life but ultimately, you cannot use a thousand bridges to cross one river. You have to know what works for you because you know yourself better than anyone else, but the tips above can help you find a job as an influencer today.
