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What It Takes to Be an Influencer

Posted September 7, 2024

teen girl filming on tripod

Do you want to become the next big streamer on YouTube, TikTok or Twitch? You’re not alone! Being an influencer is the top dream job teenagers chose in a national survey. But being a social-media sensation isn’t as easy as you might think.

Skills for Influencers

Social media stars make being on camera look easy, but a lot goes into creating a name for yourself online.

  • Patience: Becoming good at something takes practice. Think of your favorite influencer, then go back and look at their early videos and compare them to their latest content. Chances are, you’ll see a big change. It takes time and effort to build experience and gain followers!
  • Gear: You probably already have a cellphone, but to make high-quality videos, you’ll also need good lighting, a tripod and possibly a green screen or other backdrop. Depending on the kind of videos you want to make, you might need special editing software, a drone, extra media storage, light reflectors and more.
  • Strategic Thinking: What’s the goal for your channel? You’ll need a plan to help achieve it. Ask yourself the following questions to develop a strategy. What topic do you want to focus on? Are other people already posting about it? How will you stand out? What kind of videos will you post? How often will you post? What’s your brand? What do you stand for? To carry out your plan, you’ll also need good time management and organization skills, according to experts.
  • Technology and Math: Apps make posting easy, but there are a lot of tricks to getting your video seen. You’ll need to optimize your channel and your videos so people can easily find your content. To track how well you’re doing, you’ll also want to look at metrics such as how many subscribers you have, how many views your videos get, your engagement rate and your click-through rate.
  • Interpersonal Skills: Even though some influencers work alone, you need to have good people skills. Be sure to project confidence when you’re on camera. It’s not easy to stare into a lens with lights around you and act natural! You’ll need to engage with your followers by responding to comments and DMs. Off camera, you may want to pitch collaborations or get sponsorship agreements to grow your brand.
  • Calm Under Pressure: To be a successful creator, you constantly need to be making fresh content, editing, looking for sponsorship deals and more — all that on top of schoolwork, family time, sports and clubs. Plus, people can be mean online with no good reason. If trolls are harassing you, you’ll need to have a thick skin and not take their comments personally.

Success Isn’t Guaranteed

There are lots of stories about influencers who make it big, but their success is usually the exception, not the rule. Here’s what stories don’t often tell you. About half of influencers made $15,000 or less in 2023. One social-media creator had over 400,000 followers and his videos got about 100,000 views each, but he made less than the median salary for a full-time worker in the U.S. Based on how much money some platforms pay influencers per video view, one company estimated that it would take about 1 million views for a creator to earn $5,000. But even that isn’t guaranteed, as one creator only earned $120 for a video with over 10 million views.

Each platform has different requirements to make money streaming, sometimes at different levels. Here are some basics.

  • YouTube: To qualify for the YouTube Partner Program, you need at least 1,000 subscribers, and people must have watched at least 4,000 hours of your videos in the past year.
  • TikTok: To qualify for TikTok’s rewards program, your account must have at least 10,000 followers and at least 100,000 views in the past month.
  • Snapchat: To qualify for Snapchat’s spotlight rewards, you must have at least 1,000 followers, and your snaps must have at least 10,000 unique views. You also must upload at least 10 snaps on five different days.

Keep in mind that any money you make as an influencer doesn’t include benefits such as health insurance or paid time off. So, even if you grow a following, you may not be able to make a living.

What’s Your Why?

Why are you interested in becoming an influencer? If your main goal is to make money, lots of other high-paying jobs are available right here in Kansas. If you want to be creative or help others, you might want to explore other jobs that use the same skills.

Keep an open mind and have fun as you research your options. Learning what you don’t like can be just as important as learning what you do like. Whether you end up in our feeds or not, we hope you find a fulfilling career!

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