How to Become an Influencer in 2024

If you’re wondering how to become an influencer, I’m here to show you how. We’re going to break down the strategy, so let’s begin.
Are you trying to become a social media influencer? Are you looking for a way to gain more influence on social media?
Well, you’ve found the right article! In today’s fast-paced world, it’s getting harder and harder to remain relevant online.
If you want to be a social media influencer, you must be active on social media sites like TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.

To do so, you must first understand the fundamentals of social media marketing and influencer marketing.
There are many influencers that just start out not knowing that they'll become one, someday.
In this article, I'd like to lead with a product or service.
Why?
If you're on this site to build a business, instead of just winning a popularity contest, then keep reading.
Products, services, and sales will help you make money online.
If you don't have a product or service to promote, keep reading and visualize having one to eventually promote.

Who Am I?

While I'm not a huge influencer, some people have called me a micro-influencer. I have over 10,000 followers on Facebook and on Twitter. I'm still learning the ropes and building out my TikTok account as well.

I never had the desire to become an influencer. I just wanted to share some tips. However, I've learned a lot about social media and I'm here to share my findings with you.
Let's dive into the first step...

Identify Your Market

Who are the people who need the product or service that you're offering?
What’s their pain point?
The key to getting this right is to really focus on audiences problems, and only their problems.
Start off by asking yourself these questions:

• What problem(s) does this product solve?
• Would I buy this product?
• Can I imagine myself using it and being happy with it?

If you've answered all of these questions, you're off to a good start!

Find Your Niche

A target market can be huge. Now it's time to niche it down. Think about this as a sub-niche of a larger niche.
The problem is that there are a lot of people selling products today, and most of them don't have a clear idea of who their ideal customer is. That's because most of them are trying to appeal to everyone. To find your niche, you have to focus on something specific about the product or service that you sell.
Earlier, I discussed problem questions first. I'm hoping that those questions helped you define your niche.
If the solutions that you are focused on help almost anybody out there, you haven't niched down yet.
It's possible that you can have a product that suits most people, but it's extremely tough to focus on a a mass market where you're trying to solve everyone's problems.
That's why it's so crucial to niche down. Once you build up your influencer status, you can jump into other products or services with a wider appeal.

Build Your Brand

Another key principle in online marketing is brand building. People want to see the same things over and over again.
They don’t necessarily want to hear the same message every time, but they definitely want to see the same thing.
Brand building is simply getting people to recognize your brand as a result of seeing your brand repeatedly.
The easiest way to do this is through consistent, frequent communication that revolves around your niche market.

Create a Story

Storytelling, one of the most effective forms of communication known to mankind, is a critical component of sales.
Stories allow us to make connections between ourselves and others. Stories are extremely powerful because they allow us to see our world in a new light. They allow us to gain empathy for others. They allow us to connect the dots and see a bigger picture of who we are and how we relate to others.
So why don't we do a better job of telling stories and using them to help sell? One reason is that, despite their effectiveness, we often neglect to tell our stories.
Another is that many of us are afraid of how our story might be received. We are afraid that it might be rejected or that someone might misconstrue what we described.
Even if your story won't appeal to some people, this world is so large that you'll connect with some. That's what's important.

Find the Right Social Media Channel

When looking for a social media channel, be sure that it aligns with your goals for the campaign.
Social media marketing is a great way to promote your business and connect with potential clients. But there are different kinds of social media channels and the best one for your campaign depends on your goals.
If you are new to social media, you should start with general channels. These channels are free and offer an easy way to build a brand and market your products. This could be as simple as posting publicly on your newsfeed.
Once you feel more comfortable using these channels, you can move on to targeted ones, which require more resources but deliver better results. Sometimes, these come in forms of a group or something like a forum.
The most popular social media channels are TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
You can use these to share photos and videos of your products, as well as some of your personal experiences. These channels allow you to connect with your customers and engage with them in a more personal way.

Set Up Your Profile

In order for people to recognize you in their social media feeds, you need to set up a profile that represents your brand, shows off your skills, and provides links to your website and other posts or pages that you're interested in.
If you are looking to gain more followers, you should make a good impression on people.
It's very easy to create an impressive-looking profile / bio page. You can use an attractive background with your pictures in it. You can use a photo of yourself to build trust with your viewers.
I personally use ClickDesigns, but you can use other popular apps like Canva.

Be Active, Not Just Reactive

A big part of social selling is being proactive and not just reactive.
There are several ways to be proactive. One way is to respond to people within the social media platform itself. But the key here is to not only react, but to proactively engage in some sort of relationship which I'll dive into next.

Engage With Your Audience

Some people focus on likes. I focus on engagement.
When you build a highly engaging audience, your followers and likes will grow over time.
Engaging with your audience requires more insight into your target markets psychology.
Without getting too techinical, let me explain it in a simpler way: it’s the ability to make others feel involved.
The problem, however, is that people generally only feel engaged when they’re actively involved in something. But when they’re not actively involved, they tend to disengage and stop paying attention.
It’s all about the balance. How much involvement do we want? How much do we want to put out there? And how much time in the day do you have to manage all of this. The choice is yours.

Be Yourself

In today's market, the rules of the game are changing.
Consumers expect businesses to be unique, authentic, transparent and transparently authentic.
When done right, consumers will find you more trustworthy, and you'll become the go-to choice in your niche. This isn't to say that you should start acting like a celebrity, but rather you should act like yourself.
To be yourself, you need to be true to yourself.
Be genuine.

Don't Forget To Comment

Another important element is commenting.
Comments are a great way to engage the reader because they add depth to the post and help the reader to connect emotionally with the story.
They provide a bridge between the post and the real world.
In other words, if you don’t include comments in your post or on your audiences posts, you’ll be left wondering why people aren’t engaging with your content.
People love commenting because it makes them feel like they’re a part of the conversation. Help people become part of your conversation.

Make Friends

Most of us, especially those who are just starting out, are a little shy and nervous about meeting new people. But we can make friends online as easily as in real life.
For example, on Meetup, people sign up for groups based on interests, hobbies, and occupations. I recommend joining a social media group for people in your industry, but also join some random ones if you don’t feel comfortable.
You can leverage this engagement and then connect with people online through social media channels.
While social media is extremely effective, many of the people that I have deep relationships with are from offline interactions. I might have started the relationship online, but then I started meeting people at Meetups and industry conferences.
If that's not an option, meet people online and join conversations using audio and video. These are super rapport builders.

If you're super shy and need a confidence booster, I recommend checking out a Toastmasters group in your area. They're all over the world.

Share Information

Social sharing is an easy way to help spread ideas through word-of-mouth virtually.
It’s a great way to build connections and gain exposure, and it can get you some extra traffic to your social media posts and website.
If you read a post about something that interests you, you can share it. By doing this, you can share valuable information with your audience. This also helps if people start to thing that you're promoting too much of yourself.

Be Generous

When you’re creating content for social media, it’s crucial to understand how to provide value. When you’re writing a piece, you should start by thinking about your audience, and asking yourself who is interested in what you have to say and what problems you can solve. Give people a reason to read and share your content.

Be Responsible

Being responsible means that you will always be trustworthy and reliable. It's easy to understand why trust is important to consumers.
As an influencer, you can build your authority. The more authority you have, the more power you'll have to influence other peoples decisions.
Use that power wisely and build an awesome reputation for the long haul.