"Influencing"

[Anonymous]

You get a lot of attention, free stuff, and money for essentially talking about mundane things and posing/dancing in front of a camera.

[Anonymous]

It’s an accessible, low cost way to become self employed. Most people will fail, but if you make it big (even as a micro influencer or other medium audience influencer with good engagement) it’s a great secondary or even primary source of income.

That said, I think it’s more work than people realize. I briefly tried to start a lifestyle blog (cringe) back in the day when bloggers were taking off and gave up quickly because turning your life into “content” is tedious and taking 50 gazillion photos to get the right “look” takes the fun out of things. Also I didn’t want to put any identifiable photos or my name on the internet so maybe I’m not the right personality for it. Look at GOMI or the thread on Jen Hatmaker (not saying the comments are wrong). But geeze, who wants to be picked apart by strangers and then have to keep shilling stuff as your career. I imagine this is why a lot of influencers burn out.

Also, I think the appeal for mom bloggers is that they can still be SAHMs but have a side hustle! It’s enticing. You get to post things about motherhood, (hopefully) get validation for all the mundane shit that no one really appreciates like coming up with a fun craft or packing a creative lunch, interaction (granted online) with other adults, and a little side income of your own. It doesn’t help that the current influencers make it look so fun and breezey. Look at me! I get to make money just posting all these pretty photos of me and my kids.

But again, I think making your life into content and putting it out there for the world to criticize is a major draw back. And some of these kids are going to grow up with major issues from being exploited so mom could SAH and have a “personal brand” online.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Influencing is the fast growing small business segment in the U.S.

They are simply small business entrepreneurs. Think of them as salesmen/women. The ROI can very good for a major brand relative to developing a mass market advertising campaign with a ad firm.

The professional influencers you see spend a lot of time/money storyboarding their content, using professional crew/equipment, editing the content, picking out clothes, etc.

Someone I know who was moderately successful with influencing (around 80K followers) said that 1 minute of content was probably about 10-15 hours of her own labor. For the really big influencers, it's a lot more man hours - there's usually a small team planning & executing on content.

When you see someone influencing on IG or TT to sell a product, just envision multiple teleconference meetings between that person and the brand. It's not glamorous. It's just another corporate job.

Yup. It’s just corporate advertising disguised as word of mouth sharing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Influencing is the fast growing small business segment in the U.S.

They are simply small business entrepreneurs. Think of them as salesmen/women. The ROI can very good for a major brand relative to developing a mass market advertising campaign with a ad firm.

The professional influencers you see spend a lot of time/money storyboarding their content, using professional crew/equipment, editing the content, picking out clothes, etc.

Someone I know who was moderately successful with influencing (around 80K followers) said that 1 minute of content was probably about 10-15 hours of her own labor. For the really big influencers, it's a lot more man hours - there's usually a small team planning & executing on content.

When you see someone influencing on IG or TT to sell a product, just envision multiple teleconference meetings between that person and the brand. It's not glamorous. It's just another corporate job.

I don’t doubt that it’s a lot of work!
But that’s the thing…wouldn’t it be easier to get a job in sales?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Influencing is the fast growing small business segment in the U.S.

They are simply small business entrepreneurs. Think of them as salesmen/women. The ROI can very good for a major brand relative to developing a mass market advertising campaign with a ad firm.

The professional influencers you see spend a lot of time/money storyboarding their content, using professional crew/equipment, editing the content, picking out clothes, etc.

Someone I know who was moderately successful with influencing (around 80K followers) said that 1 minute of content was probably about 10-15 hours of her own labor. For the really big influencers, it's a lot more man hours - there's usually a small team planning & executing on content.

When you see someone influencing on IG or TT to sell a product, just envision multiple teleconference meetings between that person and the brand. It's not glamorous. It's just another corporate job.

I don’t doubt that it’s a lot of work!
But that’s the thing…wouldn’t it be easier to get a job in sales?

But in sales you aren’t your own boss. And it’s not like influencing starts out this way. Most people dip their toe in recommending a few products, building up some subscribers, and then creating a DM for collabs contact link. Eventually it grows into the big corporate thing (for a small subset of people).

It’s easier to make a few posts and see if you get traction than to go apply for and interview for a sales job (possibly selling stuff like IT products that you don’t personally give a crap about). Maybe they’d rather review household goods?

Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a job I’d want. But I get why people fall into influencing.

And FWIW I have seen Instagram and TikTok recommend people to follow based on my contacts list and found a few people I know IRL attempting to build a following with their fitness page or book review account etc. But to date u don’t know anyone who has taken off big. I think it’s probably about as good a chance as moving to Hollywood was back in the day but with less commitment. The market is SO saturated and plenty of people fantasize about leaving their day jobs.

[Anonymous]

Everyone wants to BE somebody. No one tells them how dangerous it is to flaunt your life on the internet.
Most possess baby narcissist behavior and do stupid things for attention.
Just look at their pictures. FAKE. LIFE.

I personally knew two influencers. Both are dead now. The thing you dream about usually doesn't happen so join reality and live your life right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everyone wants to BE somebody. No one tells them how dangerous it is to flaunt your life on the internet.
Most possess baby narcissist behavior and do stupid things for attention.
Just look at their pictures. FAKE. LIFE.

I personally knew two influencers. Both are dead now. The thing you dream about usually doesn't happen so join reality and live your life right.

Murdered?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Influencing is the fast growing small business segment in the U.S.

They are simply small business entrepreneurs. Think of them as salesmen/women. The ROI can very good for a major brand relative to developing a mass market advertising campaign with a ad firm.

The professional influencers you see spend a lot of time/money storyboarding their content, using professional crew/equipment, editing the content, picking out clothes, etc.

Someone I know who was moderately successful with influencing (around 80K followers) said that 1 minute of content was probably about 10-15 hours of her own labor. For the really big influencers, it's a lot more man hours - there's usually a small team planning & executing on content.

When you see someone influencing on IG or TT to sell a product, just envision multiple teleconference meetings between that person and the brand. It's not glamorous. It's just another corporate job.

I don’t doubt that it’s a lot of work!
But that’s the thing…wouldn’t it be easier to get a job in sales?

But in sales you aren’t your own boss. And it’s not like influencing starts out this way. Most people dip their toe in recommending a few products, building up some subscribers, and then creating a DM for collabs contact link. Eventually it grows into the big corporate thing (for a small subset of people).

It’s easier to make a few posts and see if you get traction than to go apply for and interview for a sales job (possibly selling stuff like IT products that you don’t personally give a crap about). Maybe they’d rather review household goods?

Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a job I’d want. But I get why people fall into influencing.

And FWIW I have seen Instagram and TikTok recommend people to follow based on my contacts list and found a few people I know IRL attempting to build a following with their fitness page or book review account etc. But to date u don’t know anyone who has taken off big. I think it’s probably about as good a chance as moving to Hollywood was back in the day but with less commitment. The market is SO saturated and plenty of people fantasize about leaving their day jobs.

I just find it all fascinating.
I have an IG account for my dog, which started because everyone was asking me to send them pictures. I only follow other pet accounts.
But I've noticed that several of the dog owners are trying to become influencers, like they're suddenly randomly showing themselves packing for a trip or doing their hair, seeking "colabs", updating their bio to something like "Millennial, beauty-obsessed dog mom". I know a few of them in person and they all have day jobs. I guess they're just trying things out and seeing what sticks, but it seems like a lot of work for a potential side hustle.

[Anonymous]

Read the Jen Hatmaker thread for a good summary of influencers.