Last Updated 8 months by Emily Standley-Allard
Are you ready to take your social media presence to the next level and get paid what you’re worth? If so, this post is for you! If you are new to brand collaborations and sponsorships, it can feel confusing to know where to begin. However, with the steps below you can go from a hobbyist to a professional Social Media influencer online. Let’s take a look in more depth some takeaways strategies and how to get hired as a social media influencer in 2021.
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You already know what it takes to be an influencer.
If not then start off with this post:
How to Be a Top Social Media Influencer in 2021
However, you may be at the stage in the game whereby social media influencing is not yet a full-time career and you are still trying to navigate the ways to turn it into one.
You want to find out how to be the sort of influencer that gets hired by brands for doing what you are already doing.
You may have dreams of finally ending your 9-to-6 job and replacing this salary with generous paid endorsements instead.
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First off, you need to understand what a professional influencer does.
This is someone that shapes the purchasing decisions of consumers.
An influencer’s opinion is going to be trusted more than a brand’s commercial message.
People are more likely to purchase items based on the recommendations from people they follow and admire.
If you have noticed that this is something your followers are already doing organically, this is a massive indicator that now is the time for paid partnerships.
Another indicator that you are ready to go professional is if you have been active for a considerable amount of time.
It is advisable to have at least six months of frequent social media activity under your belt.
Statistics matter as well.
Engagement rate and follower count, i.e. your reach, are two of the key stats that businesses are going to search for when narrowing down the pool of influencers out there today.
Contrary to what others may think you do not need to have tens of thousands of followers to get started.
Once you have around 1,000 followers, you can start looking into micro-influencer and nano-influencer campaigns.
Why Micro-influencers have more targeted audiences.
Micro-influencers have more targeted follower bases than influencers with follower numbers in the hundreds of thousands and millions.
Think about it: If a clothing brand partnered with a celebrity with millions of followers on Instagram, the celebrity could reach their huge pool, but a large portion of them might not be interested in fashion.
Instead, if the clothing brand connected with 100 fashion bloggers with 1,000 followers apiece, it would be able to connect to a smaller but far more targeted and engaged audience.
Markerly CEO and co-founder Sarah Ware told Digiday that partnering with the Kardashian and Jenner sisters to promote a weight-loss tea on Instagram led to a significant number of conversions.
However, Ware also noted that working with 30-40 micro-influencers achieved a higher conversion rate than when the celebrities were promoting the tea.
In fact, 82% of customers surveyed by Experticity said they would be very likely to follow a recommendation from a micro-influencer.
High level brands that pay larger sums of money to influencers for marketing do tend to deem a micro-influencer someone who has between 10,000 and 50,000 followers.
Therefore, it is always a good idea to try and get as many followers as possible.
However, this is not your only priority, and you should never try to cheat the system to get followers.
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Engagement rate is also extremely critical.
In general, you want an engagement rate that is above average.
According to Hootsuite, the average engagement rate on Instagram is 2.1 percent.
Micro-influencers will need to have an even higher percentage.
Building and maintaining a strong brand as an influencer
Now is also an important time in terms of assessing your personal brand and ways to distinguish yourself from other influencers.
Here are some tips:
- Hone your niche and concentrate on a social media platform that is relative and appropriate for the sort of content you will be posting and the audience you are trying to reach.
- Instagram is the preferred choice for most influencers at this time.
- Make sure your bio is compelling and clear. It should entice people to want to know more about you.
- Engage with your audience and post on a regular basis.
- Get information your audience can readily use so that you can be sure you provide good value.
- Use hashtags and make sure they are relevant.
- Post content that is true to your brand and that you are proud of.
- Connect with other like-minded influencers by guest posting, re-tweeting, commenting on their content, and tagging them.
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You will want to know how much you should charge for your service.
While it can seem strange putting a price on our services, it is important to give some serious consideration to how much your services are worth.
You can do some research online to see what other people are earning for the same sort of service that you provide.
If you belong to an influencer agency you may put in bids for certain jobs you want to take one.
Remember, you can always negotiate prices with each business you build a relationship with.
However, researching before-hand will ensure you do not jump into discussions at a disadvantage.
Influencer pricing typically varies greatly and takes into account:
- The number of followers and fans the influencer has
- The amount of engagement their posts receive
- The relevance of the advertisement with their brand and following
- The number of posts
- The type of post (image, video, audio, etc.)
- The amount of effort provided from the influencer
- Where the ad will be promoted (will it just be on the influencer’s account? Will it be cross-posted or used for other accounts?)
So, is there an actual set rate that influencers charge?
It varies greatly, but most influencers will set their own rates unless they use a platform like Tapinfluence or AspireIQ formerly Revfluence – that sets rates for them.
Top Strategies for Instagram Influencers in 2021
There is no denying that Instagram is a social media platform that is booming at the moment. In 2020, it grew by 40 percent, and this is a trend that seems to be continuing. This presents influencers with an excellent platform for making their mark. However, it also means that competition is getting more competitive by the minute.
At present, there are more than 558,000 influencers on Instagram with more than 15,000,000 followers. Therefore, if you want to stand out from the crowd and get your message across, you are going to need to have some solid strategies in place. Below, we are going to take a look at some of the things you can do in further detail.
Influencer Strategies to Employ
- Get a creator account – The first step is to get a creator account. There are three different types of accounts on Instagram for people to use. A creator account is one, and the others are business and personal accounts. Making a creator account is recommended because you will find it easier to assess data, meaning you can monitor messages with ease and refine your strategy through determining what content is most effective. Setting up a creator account is simple to do. Simply go to your Account options and then choose a category that reflects what you do.
- Build your profile effectively – The next step you need to take once you have designed a creator account is to build your profile. Your account profile is your calling card. It needs to sell you and your brand. It needs to tempt people to explore all of the valuable content that you have to offer. You do not have a lot of space but there are a number of different things that you can do in order to make the most of this space. This includes incorporating contact links into your profile. Aside from this, it is advisable to include your URL. Make this your Facebook page or another social media platform that you are active on. Another option is to include your blog. Aside from this, you should enhance your bio too. You are only going to get 150 characters so make the most of this.
- Register with an influencer marketplace – You are going to need to be as visible as possible if you want to start working with companies on brand deals. Registering with an influencer marketplace is an effective way of doing this. These platforms are used by marketers to search for opt-in content creators who are suitable for the campaigns they have running.
- Use hashtags and use them properly – In addition to the advice that has already been provided, it is important to use hashtags if you want to be successful on Instagram. However, using hashtags is one thing. You then need to make sure that you use them effectively. This means using relevant hashtags. Do not merely use them for the sake of using them! You also need to make sure your hashtags are specific. If you go for anything generic, you are going to be in competition with too many other posts and so you will struggle to get your voice heard. In addition to this, you should keep on trend. Seasonal hashtags work well. Finally, make sure your hashtags are knowledgeable. Do research online to see what works and what does not work for your niche.
- Make Instagram your own – Last but not least, one of the most critical things you need to do in order to be effective is make Instagram your own. As mentioned in the introduction, competition is very fierce and so it is imperative that you do everything to make your voice heard and stand out from the crowd. There are two things you need to keep in mind when making Instagram your own.
- The first is your niche. What makes you stand out from the influencers you are competing against? What is your personality? What subjects do you cover?
- The second thing you need to keep in mind is your audience. This is tied directly to your subject matter. You will find it a lot easier to create targeted and tailored content when you have defined your target audience and specialized niche.
I hope these tips have helped!
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Conclusion
Hopefully, you now have a better understanding of what is entailed when it comes to getting hired as an influencer in 2021.
We hope that the information that has been presented above will help you to grow your presence online and get paid well for the services that you provide.
There is no denying that this is an exciting industry to be involved in at the moment.
For my popular complete course which teaches you all the tricks of the trade and step-by-step how to’s be a successful paid influencer, check this out!
Ultimate Guide to Being a Paid Social Media Influencer
