Making a career as an online influencer requires perseverance

Question:

After graduating from college at the beginning of the pandemic, I tried different jobs but never found one I loved. I’ve worked for an advertising agency, been a project coordinator for a nonprofit with a mission I cared about, sold cars for my uncle’s dealership, and freelanced as a photographer. None of these jobs kept me interested.

I’m in between jobs right now, and a couple of my friends suggested I cash in on what’s happening with artificial intelligence. Although I’ve seen AI positions advertised, nothing about them appeals to me. On Friday, I came across an Udemy course on how to become an influencer. Working freelance as an influencer seems ideal. I’m addicted to social media, and that’s a perfect background for an influencer. I’d never considered influencing as a career choice or how people got into the field, but that’s what this Udemy course promises.

The only problem is I’m told that it’s not possible to make money as a newbie influencer, so I guess I’m looking for career advice.

Answer:

If you want a career, find something you love and go for it. In 1978, I set an old door on two concrete blocks in my living room and opened a consulting company. When I sold my business 39 years later, I had a staff of seven and 4,400 clients spread across the country. More importantly, I’d worked in a career I loved.

In recent years, the influencer phenomenon has exploded. People turn to YouTube, X, Nextdoor, Reddit and other platforms for advice and recommendations. Recent research suggests that 75% of people use social media for advice, and 69% of consumers trust influencer recommendations. Fifty million people earn money from regularly posting videos and photos.

That said, newbie influencers have to work hard if they want a living income. Forty-eight percent of influencers earn less than $15,000 a year.

If you decide to become an influencer, it may take you months to develop and gain visibility for your brand before you make money from sponsorship arrangements, brand partnerships, ad revenue and affiliate links. You’ll need to constantly produce engaging posts. You’ll spend your days filming, scripting and editing Instagram reels and TikTok and YouTube videos. You’ll need to hone your skills at performing in front of a camera. You’ll work hard to define your value by providing specialized knowledge and “edu-tainment.”

You’ll need to search out and negotiate sponsorships. Although you won’t report to one supervisor, you’ll have many bosses, as every advertiser and public relations agency that invests in you will expect you to produce deliverables on deadline. When working for yourself, you won’t have a regular salary, health care benefits, paid time off or other benefits. You won’t be able to afford “off days,” because once you lose followers, they don’t return. You’ll discover responding to direct messages and comments to be a full-time job. Even when you’re exhausted at the end of a long day, you’ll have to send out invoices.

That said, you have much going for you if you decide to become an influencer. You love social media and have photography, advertising and sales skills. Your project coordination skills may come in handy as you’ll need to build your brand by planning and executing content across multiple social channels.

You’ll need to build a professional website that advertisers and followers can visit to learn about you. You’ll also want to get started on one, two or three social media channels, each of which require different skills. YouTube influencers promote products with video tutorials. TikTok influencers cater to GenZ. Instagram influencers leverage imagery. You’ll want to set up your posts so your followers can like, comment on and reshare them. You’ll want to create an influencer profile on Influence.co and Intellifluence.com for visibility with influencers.

Can you make money doing this? A recent LinkedIn survey of 5,920 influencers reported these influencers averaged $323.19 monthly. The more successful influencers in the group, who had at least a million followers, earned an average of $6,109.83 per month.

If the above information encourages rather than discourages you, I’d suggest you assess which influencer training course might offer you the best springboard. You’ll find 26 of the best free and paid courses listed here.