The Exact Steps To Become A Social Media Influencer

I'm going to you to give you the exact steps to become a social media influencer. 

So we hear about influencers all the time, but we wonder how do they have hundreds of thousands and millions of followers, and how do they even get there to begin with? What is the path to become an influencer?

The obvious benefits of becoming an influencer are that you can persuade people and you can create a following and an income from home. So that is why a lot of people like being an influencer, and they also want to impart whatever message or mission that they have - maybe something bigger than them, almost like a movement. And you can do that obviously when you have the ability to influence people.

Here are the steps. It's actually very simple. It involves work, of course, but the steps are pretty simple for becoming an influencer.

The first thing you have to do is find your niche. What is it that you like? What is it that you'd like to influence people on? Is it beauty? Is it fashion? Is it online marketing? Is it health? Is it wealth? Whatever the topic is that you have a passion for, an interest in, something that you're really, really good at, that is where you will start as an influencer. That will be your niche and what you focus on. So you definitely have to have a focus. It just can't be random. It has to be really honed in.

Second, you need to brand yourself. Once you figure out what your niche is, let's say it's beauty, you have to figure out how to brand yourself, to make yourself stand apart from other people. And I think a lot of people may initially skip this step and then they stumble upon branding later. It's always a good idea to have an idea behind your aspirations, goals, and motivations and what message you want to get out to the world and why.

Influencers create tons of content so you want to as well. It's all about content creation and flooding the market with your content. So typically you'll start off on one platform like Facebook or Instagram. And then, you'll start moving to other platforms once you have mastered one or two. That's how you flood the market. Your face and your content is everywhere. Eventually your content gets on YouTube and Twitter and all over the place as you syndicate it, and then people start seeing you so much so that they can't forget you.

But what is it about the content that's important? It's creating content of value. It's bringing value to other people's lives. Going back to the beauty example, if you are talking about skincare and makeup, how much value can you bring to other people's lives? How many videos can you create about all kinds of issues that have to do with beauty and makeup and things that other people aren't doing? How can you put your own twist on it or create ideas that are completely novel? When you're the first in any space you can obviously go viral and then that could really affect your influence and bring it to the next level.

You want to be creating tons of valuable content for free - so you're just giving and giving and giving - for an audience to be there to listen to what you're saying. It's really all about content, and that's really the number one priority. Content creation takes time. It takes energy, and it takes patience. But when you've created so much content, you have to remember that when you're on the Internet and it's forever out there. So you create it once. Then over time, you have hundreds or thousands of videos on YouTube, and people can be watching that 10 years later when you've created it once. And so when they see so much content constantly that's pure value, they look at you as an authority figure, as very credible, and as an expert. They want to come to you for all their particular needs in that area. So with beauty based content, they'll start watching your channel and think "oh, she knows all the beauty tips," and that's how you start to become an influencer.

The next step is you develop a community and it starts indirectly through all the content that you've provided. People will start engaging with you and following you because they're getting value from you. You're providing something that no one else has to them. Think about a friend in your life who's maybe a doctor or an attorney, and you didn't go to medical school or law school. That person's going to be very valuable to you if you ever have a medical or legal situation because you don't know anything of consequence in that area. Now it's true with beauty, you can go research something. It's not as complicated maybe as being a doctor or an attorney. But when someone's just spoon feeding you that information and you don't have to go look for it yourself and they're always providing you updates with the newest trends, they're a resource for you. So you just start following them, and that's how they begin to influence you.

And then there's persuading, but you're already doing this by delivering tons of content and developing a community. So with content and community and through time you're beginning to influence other people and persuade them. There's two things you can do with that persuasion.

One is you can sell products. 

I always recommend information products like digital books and digital courses which is my business model. And you can do this as an influencer in any industry. Again, going back to the beauty example, if you're a beauty influencer, you can create a digital course on how to do your makeup or style your wardrobe. Or you could create one-on-one coaching packages that revolve around your expertise. I always recommend digital courses because you can create a course on anything and that course lives on forever. You create it one time, and you can go back, modify it, make changes, and update it as you continue to learn and grow. But that course can pay you perpetually over and over again. Is it a lot of hard work upfront to create it? Of course, it's not easy to create it initially, but you do all that hard work once, and then you get paid dividends for it.

You can also sell physical products. Let's say again, you're that beauty influencer. You can develop your own makeup line. You can have your own hair extensions. But you could also have e-products which I just always recommend because you don't have to deal with fulfillment. It's electronic. It's all online. It's very easy. You can charge a premium price and people already see you as an expert. 

The second way - which I feel is equally important - is developing a movement. What do you stand for? What are you against? Is it cyberbullying? Are you really for the Me Too movement? Or whatever is pressing at the time? And any movement even that you can create of your own is important because when you have the ability to persuade people and influence them, it shouldn't only be to buy things from you. It should also be for them to have a better life. You can help improve their life by bringing awareness to causes by helping them see that they're not alone. Maybe it has to do with a struggle. Maybe you start a foundation that has to do with heart disease or something else that affects you or your family. And it brings a larger meaning to what you're doing online. Whenever you have the ability to influence people, you should always use it for good. We know a lot of people currently in our world who don't, but that is the whole point.

It's not about just me, me, me. Influencers actually can really benefit other people by sharing their personal stories and by letting other people know that they're not alone. If you're an influencer and you have this massive audience and you start telling about a time you were suicidal, those people who are already your followers, who look up to you, who are already influenced by you, will also listen to what you have to say on that topic. And maybe some of them have grappled with that same issue and you will be the one to save them. So there is definitely something noble in being a social media influencer. It's not all about money, but it depends how you use your platform. You can use it either way. So I always say use it for good obviously, and use it to help other people - not just to benefit yourself.

Those are the few easy steps. You want to find your niche. Really drill down and be very specific. You want to start by branding yourself with a personal brand and knowing what your goals and aspirations are. You want to flood the market with content and create so much content of value that you're helping other people and giving, giving, giving. You want to develop a community that basically indirectly happens through creating all the content as you have people following you, engaging with you, learning from you, and being very appreciative of everything you're giving to them. And you want to persuade which again is already happening as you develop a community and influencing people. Then you want to sell and/or create a movement from this. You want to use your influence to sell any products and to create a legacy to create meaning and change the world.

Want to figure out your brand, your voice, what you're trying to accomplish in the world, and what kind of legacy you want to leave? Check out my free Brand Like A Boss (Babe) guide.

What movement would you like to create?