Becoming An Influencer 101

Fleur Sombrero — Tue, 26 Oct 2021 17:32:37 +0000

-By: FLEUR SOMBRERO

I have been a content creator since I got pregnant and was required to be on bedrest in 2009. I started with blogging. I believe that when I started the Mommy Fleur blog and when I started to be recognized, I belonged to the first batch of the “Mommy Bloggers” in the country.

After a few years, I started my own Instagram account and Facebook page. I also dabbled in Youtube with my own Youtube channel however, my day time work as a Civil Engineer took up most of my time. Matrabaho kasi ang paggawa ng videos so I couldn’t post new contents frequently.

In all those years, I have seen content creators come and go. I have also seen non-celebrity social media personalities who up to now have maintained their effectiveness when it comes to how they impact their followers. Chuvaness, Tina Tagle, Jackie Go, Frances Sales, Jenni Epperson, Camille Co, Enciso sisters, and Anne Clutz are some of them. Paano kaya sila naging effective influencers and how were they able to maintain that status?

This is what I wanna share with you guys. Based on my experiences and the things I have learned all these years from different people, I want to share with you some tips on how to be an effective content creator and how to be an influencer.

First, what is actually a content creator and an influencer? Content creator is self-explanatory. She is someone who posts on a platform like in a blog, social media, Youtube etc. The explanation of what an influencer is, is a bit tricky.

For me, to put it simply, an influencer is someone who can influence you about certain decisions. She can influence you to try and buy certain products, food, restaurants, resorts or can influence you to try and do certain things like exercising, hiking, etc. I have watched Jonathan Yabut’s (Apprentice Asia Winner) talk in Brandbuzz about The Hierarchy of Digital Exposure. Here’s a quick summary.

In the Hierarchy of Digital Exposure, there are 5 stages where you can see how effective your post is. These are the stages from lowest to highest with a brief explanation for each:

Impression – people saw your post
Engagement – people liked / commented / retweeted
Lead – people visited the website of the product/service that you posted
Sales – people actually bought the product/services that you posted
Loyalty – people frequently buys what you post

So, how to grow followers and how to be an effective influencer? Here are my tips for you.

Find your niche.

A niche is like a specialization in your field. We have different kinds of influencers: travel, food, fitness, fashion, entertainment, lifestyle and parenting. Even the mommy influencers are broken down to more specialized ones: working moms, plant moms, stay-at-home moms, homeschooling moms, fit moms, and so many more. Check what interests you, where you fall and be good at it. It doesn’t need to be in just one. You can be in a combined niche like being a parenting influencer who is into fitness too. This will make you more unique and will make you stand out more.

You need to post attractive and quality photos in your social media.

Followers are visual. This is how you will initially get the attention of a crowd. Here are the things you should consider: lighting and background

You need to post attractive and quality photos in your social media.

Followers are visual. This is how you will initially get the attention of a crowd. Here are the things you should consider: lighting and background

You need to post attractive and quality photos in your social media. Followers are visual. This is how you will initially get the attention of a crowd. Here are the things you should consider: lighting and background
Be conscious of your background when taking photos. It can make or break a nice product photo. Roni of @GlamYen, one of the mommy influencers in Brandbuzz, is a good example of this.She transformed a corner of her house to a studio for pictorials. She just changes the cover of the sofa, plants, tables, chairs and decor to match what she’s endorsing. Take note also her lighting. Her photos are bright and crisp.

I bought that placemat for only Php 95 in Shopee. I also took advantage of the morning light for a nice effect.

See the wooden table? That’s not actually a wooden table. That’s a background paper that I got for Php 199 also in Shopee. It has a different design on the other side so the price is very sulit already. I angle the camera in a way that the plants can be seen together with a part of our house to make the photo a homey feel. Investing on nice pieces for your photos need not to be expensive. You can buy affordable decors online and you can even recycle what you have at home.

Study how to edit your photos.

I know we are not all professional photographers but with these apps out there, we can actually transform simple photos to fantastic ones. I have 3 go-to photo editor apps: Snapseed, Instasize and BeautyPlus. I invested in BeautyPlus because apart from it has almost all the editing functions that I need, I often post OOTDs and selfie shots. This app helps when I need to take photos and I don’t have my makeup on. Check this out:

You can use BeautyPlus to enhance your photos. Use it carefully nga lang because if you overdo it, baka hindi ka na makilala ng viewers mo sa personal.

It is advisable to be grammatically correct in your captions. Viewers take note of this. Most of them get turned off with bad grammar. You can use the Grammarly app to check your captions. Also, never copy paste from the product brief. Hindi siya mukhang natural.

Never pay for followers. Companies and PR firms know how to spot influencers with bought followers. You can actually see this with the number of engagements. It’s suspicious if you have 50,000 followers but only have less than 20 likes in your posts. It’s not authentic and it’s like cheating your future clients.

Schedule posts properly. A lot of my followers have told me that they like me because my blog and IG account do not always contain product endorsements. May kwento daw ang feed ko. Make your feed organic by making sure you space out your posts properly. If you are posting everyday, you can alternate your product placement post, entertainment post, life posts etc. Nakakaumay yung laging may endorsement post.

Be as authentic as possible. For example, I do not endorse products that I do not like or products that I do not use. If people see you posting a lot of products and always raving about all of them (especially if same na lotion yan or same detergent), you will lose your credibility. People like authentic influencers kaya patok si Chuvaness, Tina Tagle, Frances Sales and Judy Travis.

Know the best day and best time of the day to post. According to Jonathan Yabut, Apprentice Asia winner, it’s best to post 3 to 5 times a week. If you post less than 5 times a week, you lose a certain audience. Studies show that it’s best to post during Thursdays and Fridays. And if you are going to post, you should do it at 7am to 10am (the time usually people are on their way to work pre pandemic), lunchtime and from 8 to 10pm when people are about to sleep. Do not post in the afternoon because that is usually when people nap or finish up their work.

Engage your followers. Reply to them when they comment on your posts. Establish a “relationship” with them. Make them feel that you care about them.

Join blogging or mommy communities like Brandbuzz. You will be able to meet a lot of other content creators out there and learn from them. This can also widen your network. These people can also help you advertise your social media.

So there, I hope my tips could help you in establishing your brand. After being in this field for so many years, my last advice for you is to enjoy what you do. Do not get pressured to be famous immediately. It will take time, effort and hard work. If you are enjoying what you’re doing, you will get there eventually with organic followers.

Good luck, guys!

Fleur Sombrero – Brandbuzz

Becoming An Influencer 101