In The Frow. PewDiePie. Zoella. Tanya Burr. Huda Beauty. Lilly Singh.

They all have one thing in common – they are massive online influencers. Their Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube Channels, and Blogs are all highly prized selling points. Some have their own merchandise, selling directly to their audience, and most make a considerable amount of money for mentioning one or two items from specific brands. Their fortune lies in two places – their sheer number of followers and their likeability. Because these individuals are so relatable, they become easy to watch or read by almost all age groups. From makeup tutorials to first impressions and gaming run-throughs. Ever want to learn how to become a YouTube or blogging sensation. What makes them so successful and how did they do it?

Here are tips to start you on your way to influencer success, and remember – when you start you likely won’t be making the big bucks, but you will be working towards it.

Create the Goodies

Creating great content is where a bulk of your time will be spent. You are going to need to produce consistent, quality content and combine that with your social media strategy to target your audience(s). Remember, your blog, YouTube channel, and social media channels are going to become your business. Like any business, you are going to invest some money into it. Put great emphasis on your hardware and software as well. Have access to a decent camera and some editing software (although, you can film and take some fantastic photos on your mobile phone – so don’t buy what you can’t afford or justify just yet).

Consistency is key

Post on your main content channel, i.e., your blog, YouTube or podcast at the same time and day every week. Monday, Wednesday, Friday are great options, but over time you may change that to fit your audience. Sometimes you might find you just don’t have the time to post anything new, in which case you should let your audience know. Clarity is essential too. Eventually, people will be ravenous for your content and start signing up for newsletters, new content alerts and other forms of communication.

Promotion

No one is going to start shouting about your fantastic content unless you do. Once your content is created and edited precisely as you want it, start promoting it. A great thing to remember is that success in the early days is going to be 20% content creation and 80% promotion.

Work together

One of the best ways to grow your audience is to collaborate with others. You can reach out to brands that you like, or you can head straight to other influencers of any size to discuss working together. If you manage to work with a large brand or more significant influencers, remember that there is more in it for you than there is for them, so be relaxed about when things go live and work with their schedule – but drop hints to your followers that it’s coming. Don’t hold back when approaching people, be honest – you’re a growing influencer. Tell them what your niche is, and why you want to work together. Then, throw in a few ideas too.

Talk, talk, talk

When you start out, you may make promises to reply to every tweet and comment, as you grow this is quickly going to become very difficult. Imagine trying to reply to 50,000 comments on every video, plus your Twitter and Instagram. Each day set aside the same amount of time to respond to comments, slowly work through what you can. If you post something on Snapchat, Instagram Stories, YouTube or on your Podcast – ask people what they want to see, open up the lines of communications, give them what they want, alongside what you want to give them, and you’ll find the perfect balance.

Make notes

Sit down and think about some of the things that you love. It doesn’t matter what it is, it might be DIY or crystals, it might be niche games whatever it is, make sure you enjoy it, and it isn’t just a passing phase. If you have a passion, you are more likely to be able to get that across on camera, even if you are nervous. And, if you have any doubt about your ability to gather followers – there are channels where people simply unwrap plastic eggs for half an hour and have racked up millions and millions of views.

Be Unique

For every successful influencer out there, there are ten that gave up. Part of the appeal of most influencers is their personality. Everything from the jingle they use in their videos, to the style of edit of their Instagram photos. It is all unique to them. So, while they gleaned more than a few tips from more experienced influencers, what makes them work is – being their genuine selves, combined with their passion.

Be picky

It is almost impossible to manage to cover all channels at maximum speed successfully. You are going to have to pick and choose the ones that a) you find enjoyable and b) you can understand. Facebook can be a difficult place to start if you are more about the visuals, and Instagram wouldn’t work if you have some essays to share. So, pick a few to concentrate your message on and go for it.

Learn

You are going to want to learn as much as you can about social media strategy, funneling (from Sales Funnel HQ would be the best option), and social media scheduling. You might want to check out editorial calendars too, so that you can plan your content to work with what is going on, i.e., Christmas, Easter, Spring/Summer and so on. Your data is your money, learn to read the analytics, know who is reading your content, where they are reading it, what device they are reading it on, and which content is most popular – and can you recreate it?

There is money to be made, so if this is your lane of interest, and you genuinely want to learn how to become a YouTube or blogging sensation… go for it!

*Collaborative post