Social media engagement has exploded in the last five years. It’s worth paying attention to this trend. If you’re not one, then you’re a failure.
Most of us are chasing this elusive title without having any clue what it is or why we should even bother to chase it. If you have any inkling why reaching this particular goal is important to you, then it’s time to start chasing that dream.
I’ve built a large online audience from scratch since 2014. People call me an influencer.
Do you like the label? That’s good because it means you’ll love this story. I’m an avid reader of the New York Times and read the book reviews. After reading some of them, it hit me – how could a book with this title even make it to the stores? But that’s what happened.
If I have to trade meaning for the pursuit of followers, then I’m going to die, my friends.
Let’s start with followers.
You may be following your followers on Twitter because you think they’re cool, or maybe you think they have good taste in fashion. I could care less if I liked you today or tomorrow. There are as many meaningful or meaningless things I can follow.
When it comes to social media, I’ve been in group chats where people talk about social media algorithms and the number of followers they have compared to others. If you’re not careful, meaning can turn into popularity. It’s about the number of likes or the amount of views that your videos have.
No matter who you follow, it doesn’t mean anything. Just as important, followers don’t equal money. An Instagram follower is not for life. An Instagram follower can be lost to your social media platform, or even the world itself. In real life, your self-worth has nothing to do with followers.
I’m not better than you.
The word ‘influencer’ suggests that I’m better than you; that I’ve had more cold showers than you; that I’ve woken up earlier than you every day; that I’ve had better green smoothies than you;
I have a confession: We’re all human, and there’s no so-called influencer that’s better than us. We’re all different, and we come from different backgrounds. Whether you can write a better blog post or you can write a better song is up to you, but that’s the way it should be.
No, you can’t “do” you and still do me. There’s only one of me. You do you and I’ll do me. It’s not important that you’re living your life based on my (or anyone else’s) standards. What’s most important is that you are happy and that you are living the way you want to.
What are your goals in life? Can I help you achieve your goals? What did you do to make your success possible? No. Do I have a different skill set or have more experience that you do? That’s what I thought. Influencers are the ones who have the most influence, regardless of their age. If they don’t know it, they need to learn it.
You may not know it, but you’re being used as a pawn by some of these influencers. They don’t know you personally. Being in conflict with yourself is a surefire way to be unhappy.
You don’t have to have an audience watching you.
Yes, you do. No one else is watching your every move. You don’t have to document everything you do and try and have a story behind every little thing in your calendar. It’s not necessary to tell stories to become a successful person. There’s no obligation, but if you want to try it out then do so.
We’ve been tricked into believing that we need to be everywhere on social media and make as many people as possible watch us to have an impact. You don’t. One of the coolest people I’ve ever seen helped a young man overcome his drug addiction by spending one year of one-on-one time with him.
He didn’t influence millions of people; he just influenced and completely transformed one life.Izvođač: New Blood Born in New York City, New Blood is a pop punk band based in Brooklyn, New York.
There are millions of people all over the world who need your help. It’s up to you to help them. When I first started online marketing I would often go out of my way to count how many people saw my site at a certain time, or how many people were in a certain location.
I’ve been using Twitter since 2009, and while there are people who have millions of followers, I don’t think it’s a number that really matters. What matters is whether your tweets reach your followers.
I was unaffected by every increase in audience size. You’ll experience the same thing if you play this influencer game. You are doing cool things even if no one else is watching, even if you never hear about them. There are lots of things people don’t know about the world or the world we live in.
Eyeballs don’t guarantee success or meaning for your life. Your achievements have value based on the value you give them.
No matter what industry or market segment you’re in, unless you define what success is for you and put it into action based on your own standards, your business will continue to be fueled by what someone else’s standard is.
Most of it is by accident.
I know what you want to tell me about the secret influencer book, but first I want to tell you about a different book that’s worth checking out. Most influencers built their audiences out of luck. If you’re just starting out, this might be what you should focus on first.
This isn’t a “how to” book. It’s about figuring out what type of content you should be producing and how to build an audience from scratch. Blogs are a great place to build a following and earn some residual income, and I’m happy to say I made most of my blogging mistakes before the internet changed all that.
Blogging helped me to express myself, to tell stories, to grow and to be more creative. It’s easy to listen to others. What took you so long to try to do it? I honestly never thought any of my work was good enough for others to even look at, let alone contact me.
What you see as reality is often manufactured.
When you’re old, you realize that what most people think is reality is made up. When people in the influencer world try to copy them, it doesn’t work. Most of your favorite influencers you’re trying to emulate are not who you think they are.
What celebrities are really doing on their ‘private’ Instagram accounts is not as glamorous or interesting as it may seem, most of them are following strangers and posting selfies for other people to
They’re probably shooting more than 150 times per picture. They might even say something about their life before the show, but those are the “random” moments. If your content is being written by people other than yourself, it is a sign of low-quality content.
Influencers are just as real as you or I. They are people like anyone else. And they can be created. Be careful, it could really happen.
Impact real people.
You should be aiming for follower counts and influencer status, not your current follower count or your Instagram influencer status. This is the holy grail, impacting real human beings and having real-world connections.
It’s the free lunch that comes from doing something for others and not for yourself. It’s better to make one person happy than gain one hundred more followers. The importance of impact has been forgotten in the whole influencer distraction — it’s impact doesn’t rely on size.
Having a blog post of mine saved a young person from committing suicide, and having a conversation with a friend of mine about it on Facebook was better than all the followers I got in the entire year.
I felt the passion I was born with. Trade in followers and titles for impact.
Addiction to analytics.
This isn’t just another warning about your phone or social media. You’re smart enough to understand that and know what you need to do. The real issue with being an influencer is that you become addicted to your analytics.
This new smart social platform gives you more data that help you track how close you are to becoming more of an influencer. The dashboards are beautifully designed and they flash bright red just at the time you think about looking at them.
“The numbers get bigger no matter how bad you are at playing the influencer game because that is the game”
It’s easy to give advice.
If you want to be an influencer, there are no qualifications. So technically, everyone reading this article has just made themselves qualified to be one. Congratulations, as an influencer, you give advice.
Sometimes it’s good advice and sometimes it’s bad advice. Everyone, including you, can write a blog. There’s no limit to the number of followers you can have, and once you get going, That’s why being an influencer isn’t the holy grail, either. You’re right about that! Your advice can stink too.
Do it for the right reason, please.
People often make fundraising campaigns for the wrong reasons. If you want to raise money for a good cause or solve a really challenging problem like cancer, then I applaud you.\ If you want to create long-term relationships, then focus on providing value first and foremost.
They don’t lead anywhere on their own, so if you want to be successful online, you must make sure that you do what it takes to fulfill your goals for the right reason. This was definitely a mistake. I got so focused on how much money I could make, that I started selling more than I should. This has always been a danger when running a business.
The main mistake I was making was trying to find out how to make money off the site. In that moment, I wanted more things, and I thought being an influencer would get me there. There’s nothing worse than being in a bad mood or feeling sick or just not in the best mood.
I think there is nothing wrong with making money online, but when that’s your only focus, it may not be a healthy one.
So what title should we seek?
No title.
The man or woman with no title is just as brave as your favorite influencer.
Who you are is what you do; what people think about you is irrelevant. You’re right that none of the titles fit, but like you, we are individuals with unique views on life. No one cookie-cutter title can describe someone like you because we’re all unique, incredible, human beings that defied the odds to be born in the first place.
You are an influencer — you are the reason someone else felt better about themselves and want to try a new product. You’re only worthy if you are doing something meaningful with your time on earth. No one wants to follow or like someone who’s just looking for likes and follows.
You’re in control.