Did you know that Kylie Jenner can earn as much as $1.2 million per post on Instagram?
And she is not the only one; other celebrities, including Cristiano Ronaldo and Ariana Grande, also find themselves in the money, making hundreds of thousands of dollars per post on social media.
These earnings may be shocking until you discover that by 2021, the global influencer industry was valued at $13.8 billion, double what it was in 2019.
These numbers indicate that being an influencer can be a lucrative proposition. Maybe you will not get paid a million dollars per post like the top celebrities, but there are undoubtedly ordinary people using social media to make it big. You, too, can jump on the bandwagon.
But where do I start if I want to be a part-time beauty influencer? If you are looking for the answer to this question, this article is for you.
What is an Influencer?
The term ‘influencer’ derives from the word ‘influence,’ which means the ability to sway or impact someone else’s character, conduct, or decisions.
The Nashville Film Institute defines an influencer as an individual who gets paid to use their social media accounts to influence others to make a purchase decision.
To reach the widest possible audience, people who become influencers often have a massive following on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or YouTube.
The American global employment website Indeed.com explains what influencers do. They “use their online presence, mostly on social media platforms and blogs, to partner with brands they use and create content that advertises products or services of those companies.”
The same source adds that through partnerships with businesses, influencers can build their own brands while helping the businesses to boost customer loyalty and increase sales.
Types of Influencers
Influencers can be categorized into various groups:
- Celebrities: Individuals already famous in other areas such as music or sport use their fame to promote brands or products.
- Industry leaders: Recognized experts in different areas tend to have a vast social media following, which companies leverage to present themselves as credible.
- Content creators: Individuals who have become popular online for producing content that users keep coming back for.
- Micro-influencers: These have between 2,000 and 50,000 followers and are liked by businesses that want to target a niche market.
From the insights above, we can now say that a part-time beauty influencer is an individual with a substantial online following, which they use to promote beauty products like hair extensions, lotions, perfumes, and makeup on a part-time basis.
Perks of Being a Part-Time Beauty Influencer
There are no prizes for guessing that many people want to be influencers because of the money.
Chavie Lieber writes for the American news and opinion website, Vox.com. She cites Joe Gagliese of the influencer agency Viral Nation who tells the story of how his company helps influencers earn money.
How much do typical influencers make annually? In his answer to this question, Gagliese says, “People with smaller followings [who are known as nanoinfluencers] can make between $30,000 and $60,000 a year.”
He adds, “The micro-influencers can make anywhere from $40,000 to $100,000. Celeb influencers make way, way more.”
Other influencer perks include free stuff and clothing, which they use to create content. For example, a famous hair influencer may expect to receive a free wig sample that can cost up to $700, and she can then keep the wig for her personal use or re-selling.
As an influencer, you could also be invited to exclusive events that you may otherwise not be eligible for. If you are good at networking, this could be a chance to create lucrative collaborations with other influencers.
How to Become a Beauty Influencer
When you consider the large following that most influencers have, it’s easy to look at your small following and just give up. However, if you imagine that a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step, you will soon realize that today’s most prominent influencers started with that one follower.
Just like anything that pays good money, being a beauty influencer will require consistency, hard work, and a spirit that’s not easily defeated.
Let’s look at some practical steps you can take today to make your dream of becoming a beauty influencer come true.
Select Your Niche
It’s likely you don’t have thousands of followers at present. Therefore, your range of influence is probably within a niche. This is why the first thing you should do is select your niche.
The New York Times best-selling author and digital marketing guru Neil Patel explains why it’s vital to start by selecting your niche. He writes, “Micro-influencers create powerful word of mouth to small groups.”
Patel adds, “They don’t have the followings of a Kardashian, but they’re much cheaper and can still reach enough people to make a difference in product sales.” Because you are cheaper as a beginner and part-time beauty influencer, businesses don’t need to have deep pockets to work with you.
There are several niches to choose from. Viral Nation identifies the popular niches on Instagram, including beauty, health and fitness, travel, and fashion.
Pick Your Platform
Once you have determined your niche based on your goals and interests, the next step is to decide the platform you will use.
Writing for Forbes.com, Danielle Wiley, Founder, and CEO of the San Francisco Bay-based influencer marketing agency, Sway Group, identifies the strengths of the different platforms.
Instagram: This is your platform if you want to be a beauty influencer because it is popular for makeup, fashion, food, and home décor content.
Blogging: This is an excellent platform for sharing longer, more detailed content. You may want this platform if you are an expert in sharing content about beauty.
Facebook: If you want to share content like heated political posts, articles, recipes, family gatherings, and memes, you should be on Facebook.
Pinterest: Go for this one if you focus on fashionable outfits, DIY projects, and recipes.
Twitter: This is an excellent all-around platform if you are already creating content on other platforms and want to amplify it.
YouTube: The video-sharing platform is your choice if you create videos. It is the playground for Gen Z (Born between 1995 and 2010).
LinkedIn: The platform is for business and employment-oriented content.
Create and Post Beauty Content
Now that you have set up your profile on the platform you selected, it’s time to start the actual work: creating content that will excite your followers and possibly go viral.
Daniel Scott wrote an article published by Entrepreneur.com where he advises that when you create content, forget about money because if it’s all you are obsessed about, “audiences will see right through any message you are delivering.”
Scott says that the secret to creating great content is to use your life story. When you creatively tell your life story, you will be authentic, and followers will love you for that.
Be Shocking!
Nothing sells better than a shocking revelation. A research article published by the ResearchGate networking site for scientists and researchers concludes, “… shocking content in an advertisement significantly increases attention, benefits memory, and positively influences behavior…”
However, shocking doesn’t mean being obscene. It means that you should post content that will leave the followers thinking that they have learned a new thing.
Engage Your Audience
Engagement is the name of the game because any brands that may want you to represent them will need you to engage your followers. When there is a lack of engagement on your profile, potential collaborators will wonder whether the followers you claim are actual human beings.
The social media management platform, Hootsuite, has some suggestions on how you can create strong social media engagement. The site says that the secret is not just to look popular but to create meaningful and authentic connections with your followers.
Hootsuite suggests some specific ways of creating engagement:
- Contests
- Asking questions
- Polls
- Encouraging your audience to ask you questions
- Test their knowledge
- Media upload contests
- Animated gifs
- Custom stickers or filters for Instagram Stories
Cooperate with Other Beauty Influencers
It’s vital to identify other influencers in the same space in which you operate and work with them. By doing so, you are taking advantage of the combined power of several profiles.
Recommending each other and asking your followers to follow each other can help boost your numbers and income.
Network with Brands
Now it’s time to get paid for your efforts by working with brands that want you to promote them to your followers.
Patel advises that you will need to make real connections if you want to become an authentic influencer. He says that to do this, you will need to be different from everyone else who wants to “sit at home on their couch and connect with influencers on social media.”
“But where do I start networking as an influencer?” You may ask. Patel has the answer. Find out where the influencers you want to collaborate with hang out. Once you know, go there and create genuine connections.
He adds, “Get off the couch, get out the house, and get to major events related to your niche. Or, even easier, attend online events, which are becoming more popular in the post-Covid world.”
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