Posting about your life on social media isn’t just a hobby anymore. For some, it’s a career.
The use of social media has grown exponentially over the past decade, with 3.6 billion users worldwide. With half the world logged in, users with a large following find they have more power than ever to affect, to change and to influence. These users have come to be known as “influencers.”
Many of us have probably heard that word flying around in the past couple of years. But what does it really mean? It turns out, there are a wide range of users that can be considered “influencers”—depending on how many followers you have, you might be one without even realizing it.
While ranges and definitions vary, users within the influencer umbrella are generally categorized according to the number of followers they have. There are “macro-influencers,” who usually have 250,000 to one million followers; “mid-tier influencers,” who have 25,000 to 250,000; and “micro-influencers,” with 3,000 to 25,000 followers.
While many social media users aim to gain as many followers as possible, a large following doesn’t necessarily mean a high level of engagement—that is, how much a user’s followers actively respond to their content. This means that, while micro-influencers might not have as large a following as the others, they often boast the highest engagement on average.
It makes sense—fewer comments and responses to sift through means that micro-influencers can directly communicate more often and more authentically with those who respond to their content, making followers feel more like friends. Surrounded by all these friends, micro-influencers are catching the attention of companies who see an innovative sales opportunity.
So, Who Are These Micro-Influencers?
In the past few decades, younger generations have become disillusioned with the traditional, nine-to-five office job. Many millennials and Generation Zers are rejecting the idea of spending thousands on college only to be thrown into an impossible job market. As the negative mental health effects of job-induced burnout become better understood, younger generations are coming up with new and inventive ways to make a living. With “influencing” readily available to anyone with a smartphone, more and more young people are turning to social media to make money on their own terms.
Andrea Snowy, a 21-year-old Barcelona native, started posting on TikTok in 2020 after her dream position in New York fell through because of COVID-19. “I always made videos with my friends and saved them for keepsakes,” she says. “One day, I made a video pranking my friend and all of a sudden it got all these views.” That was the moment she realized she could monetize one of her biggest passions.
“I started posting every other day,” she says. But it wasn’t easy. “For the next month and a half after that first video, none of my videos went viral. Eventually I started to get more views and followers, but it was arduous work. You have to keep posting.”
Andrea Snowy.
Be Consistent
Any influencer will tell you that consistency is key. “If you are not consistent, the algorithm stops favoring you,” says Jan Cutillas, 24, who has 1.2 million followers on TikTok. “This leads to lower visibility.”
Guillem Viladoms, 20, who started in 2017 and now has 1.5 million TikTok followers, says, “you lose followers if you don’t consistently post, that’s a given.” Keeping those followers around means keeping them interested. “You have to adapt your content as you grow,” says Viladoms. “If you always post exactly the same things, people can get tired of you.”
There is a lot that goes into creating content. Snowy says that when she started influencing, many lessons from her university became applicable. “The importance of market segmentation, a coherent content strategy, digital marketing tactics, SEO, demographics and psychographics, language selection and, of course, branding became much clearer to me.”
“It’s important to know the basic tips of lighting, positioning, picture and video quality,” adds Cutillas. While it might seem like a lot to learn, Cutillas maintains that, while those who consistently do it well have more success, anyone can try influencing. “Information on the internet is free,” he says.
This could provide another reason many young people are flocking to social media to become influencers: everything they need to know can be easily answered with a Google search. And, of course, there are the potential perks—free products, all-expenses-paid vacations, and even cold, hard cash.
Jan Cutillas.
The Benefits of Making It Big on Social Media
Yaiza, 25, saw an opportunity when, while working as a waitress in a Barcelona nightclub, her Instagram followers quickly began to rise. “At that moment, I started doing my first fashion collaborations. They sent me free clothes in exchange for a post."
“What brings in money is brand collaborations,” Cutillas explains. As an influencer begins to gain followers, they attract the attention of brands who see a massive opportunity. The high engagement rate of micro-influencers causes them to appear genuine, trustworthy and relatable—three factors brands count on to market to an increasingly social media-obsessed world. The idea is that brands send their products to an influencer, often accompanied with a paycheck, in exchange for a post about the products. This is effectively word-of-mouth marketing at an unprecedented scale.
It seems to be working so far. Figures show that the value of the influencer market grew from $6.5 billion in 2019 to $13.8 billion in 2021, more than doubling in just three years.
Advertising that Doesn’t Look Like Advertising
So what is the reason for this massive growth? According to Nielson’s latest Global Trust in Advertising report, 92% of consumers trust recommendations from others over branded content. Online consumer reviews are the second most trusted source of information, placing influencers in a prime spot to have their opinions heard—and monetized.
“People feel closer to influencers than they do to celebrities. They relate more, so it's easier to sell,” says Snowy. “I would take my friend’s recommendation over some hotshot celebrity who probably spends thousands on makeup.”
For the brands, choosing micro-influencers over more popular influencers and celebrities makes sense commercially, too. You could spend half your marketing budget on one major celebrity, or on ten or more micro-influencers. Opting for the influencers, and their engaged and trusting followers, would likely lead to a much higher return on investment and a wider reach.
And as for those perks? The amount brands pay micro-influencers varies widely and depends on a number of factors. But on average, experienced micro-influencers are paid a few hundred dollars and some freebies from the brand for posting several cross-channel pieces of content. Not a bad rate for something many of us do every day for free.
Guillem Viladoms.
But If an Influencer Starts Monetizing Their Content, Are They “Selling out”?
We can all think of musicians who had a few good songs and then, the second they became successful, their music changed completely. They sold their souls to the masses and stripped their sound of all authenticity. Success (particularly of the financial sort) tends to make people blind to the reasons they started in the first place, and can turn a unique project into a manufactured product, devoid of creativity or meaning.
Influencers face the same dilemma. Most users know that if they see their favorite influencer promoting a product, there is probably a paycheck involved. So how, then, are users supposed to know if an influencer is being honest or not?
“We all influence, in a more or less direct way, the people who surround us or follow us,” says Yaiza. She makes a fair point: everyone loves to share their opinions. I’m sure all of us can think of a time when we recommended a product to a friend or went on and on about how great an experience was. Influencers insist that what they’re doing is no different; they just get paid for it.
Developing Credibility
“I started for fun,” says Yaiza, “but suddenly I began to receive messages asking where my clothes were from, where I did my nails, what products I use for my hair. And it's something that I love sharing, that's why I keep showing what I do every day to the people who follow me.”
Despite how social media is often perceived as “fake,” many influencers maintain that they only promote products they would actually use and recommend. They say that authenticity is crucial—not only to keep your humanity, but to keep your followers.
“It’s important to stay true to yourself, which can be a hard process when you want to climb your social status,” says Cutillas.
Viladoms says that the worst thing you can do is lie to your audience. “Lies have a way of getting out, and that can completely sink your reputation.”
Yaiza.
What Does the Future of Influencing Look Like?
Influencers first hopped on social media for the same reasons as any other user: to create content and connect with others. But as the future unfolds, how will their role develop?
“I would love to keep creating content,” says Snowy. “The more I learn about this micro-influencer world, the more I enjoy it.”
Viladoms agrees. “It is a great life to be a part of, since you get to travel, have fun working with your friends, and kick off your career,” he says.
Still, influencing isn’t all sponsored beach trips and free clothes. In a world that places such a high value on aesthetics, it can be difficult to judge a person’s ethics.
“There are no followers without haters,” says Yaiza. “Unfortunately, there are very bad people who are going to try and take you down. That’s just the way it is.”
“People can be very fake, and many other users will only speak to you out of personal gain,” says Viladoms. “Brands can try to scam you and people will try to take advantage of you.”
Ups and Downs
Another downside to the job is a lack of stability. Many influencers feel that influencing isn’t quite as reliable as a permanent, full-time job. They prefer to view their social media as a means to an end.
“I do not see Instagram as a job,” says Yaiza. “I have my normal and current job, and with Instagram I save a lot of money thanks to collaborations.”
Snowy agrees. “If influencing allows me to do other things that I can’t do without some money cushion, that would be great. But I don’t think it's smart to solely rely on this.”
Influencing can, however, introduce young people to a variety of other digital skills that can be turned into profitable projects. For instance, Cutillas taught himself to use eCommerce and drop-shipping. He’ll open seasonal shops with products that his niche audience would want, such as LED masks for Halloween, market the products to his social media following, sell out, and close the shop when the season is over. He’s also learning about the world of cryptocurrencies, and likes to produce music.
While some influencers will eventually move on, it’s clear that influencing, both as a profession and a marketing strategy, is here to stay.
“I can’t imagine a 12-year-old getting home from school and just watching TV like we used to. Now, both kids and teenagers come home to their tablets or phones, and watch their favorite users on social media,” says Viladoms. “Influencers are the future.”
So, who influences you?
Pandora Domeyko.
Pandora Domeyko is a freelance photojournalist who left her home country of the United States in 2018 to create a new home in beautiful Barcelona. She loves to explore the city with her camera in tow and to experience its many diverse cultural scenes. She’s always on the lookout for interesting events and initiatives related to art, female empowerment and the environment. When she's not writing or taking photos, she's out getting lost in nature or traveling to a new corner of the world. You can see her work online at pandoradomeyko.com and you can follow her on Instagram at @pandoraexplores.