With social media’s growing popularity, lifestyle influencing has emerged as an appealing career path for many. Building a career where you share your passion for fashion, travel, food, fitness or more with an engaged online audience can be immensely rewarding. If you’re considering becoming a lifestyle influencer, here are some tips, such as optimising social media visual content, that will help you get started.
Find Your Niche
The first step is identifying your niche. The influencer world is highly saturated so having a focused niche is key. Reflect on your genuine interests, skills and personality to determine the best niche for you. Popular niches include fashion, beauty, travel, fitness, food, parenting and home decor. But you could also pick a more unique niche that you’re truly passionate about. Define your niche as specifically as possible to stand out.
Build Your Personal Brand
Creating a consistent personal brand is crucial. This includes developing branded social media handles, profiles and hashtags as well as a logo and colour palette. Your posts should all align with your brand aesthetic. Pick 1-3 social platforms to focus on where you can regularly provide value to your audience. Instagram, TikTok and YouTube are top platforms for influencers.
Some of the top lifestyle influencers in the UK include Jessica Wright of TOWIE fame, Zoe Sugg, Lily Pebbles, and Gemma Daniels. Further afield, people like Lauren Conrad, Aimee Song, Camille Styles, and Cailin Covington have built strong lifestyle brands.
Create High-Quality Content
Consistently producing engaging, high-quality content is vital to build your following. Post frequently across your social channels. Shoot high-resolution, well-lit photos and videos that share your lifestyle, experiences and insights. Share your personality and be authentic. Post content your audience would genuinely be interested in. Use relevant hashtags and locations. Engage with your audience by asking questions, running polls and contests.
Grow Your Following
Growing an engaged, targeted following takes time and commitment. Leverage hashtags related to your niche to get discovered. Follow influencers in your space and engage with their content. Collaborate with relevant brands through sponsorships or product reviews. Run giveaways and promotions to attract new followers. Provide value by sharing tips, behind-the-scenes and educational content. Respond to all comments. Analyse your metrics to see what content resonates most.
Monetise Your Influence
Once you’ve grown a following, you can start earning income. Popular ways for influencers to monetise include:
- Paid sponsorships and brand partnerships – Work with brands in your niche to promote their products/services. Negotiate rates based on your follower count and engagement. Disclose sponsored content.
- Affiliate marketing – Earn commission promoting brands through links and discount codes.
- Selling own products or services – Products like merch, ebooks or online courses. Services like consulting or coaching.
- Ad revenue from YouTube or blog.
Build Relationships
Building genuine relationships with your audience is key. Engage with your followers through social media, videos, blogs or meetups. Respond thoughtfully to comments and questions. Collaborate with micro-influencers in your niche to cross-promote. The goal is to build an invested community around your personal brand.
Invest in Professional Development
Strive to improve as an influencer by investing in yourself. Stay on top of the latest social media and marketing trends. Take relevant courses on content creation, photography, video editing etc. Consider hiring a social media manager, photographer or other support roles as your brand grows. Attend conferences or networking events related to your niche.
Maintain Work-Life Balance
Managing the demands of an influencer career along with your personal life can be challenging. Here are some strategies that can help lifestyle influencers maintain a better work-life balance:
- Set office hours – Treat it like a regular 9-5 job as much as possible by setting regular work hours and sticking to them. Avoid working late nights and weekends.
- Set physical boundaries – Define a dedicated workspace to separate your work and personal spaces. Step away when the workday ends.
- Schedule social media-free time – Avoid checking social media during non-work hours or when spending time with family/friends.
- Leverage apps to batch content – Use scheduling tools to batch content creation and posting in advanced to allow for breaks.
- Outsource what you can – Hire a virtual assistant, editor, photographer etc. to lift some of the workload.
- Maintain hobbies – Make time for hobbies, relationships and self-care activities not related to influencing.
- Don’t overcommit – Avoid saying yes to every brand partnership. Only commit to what you can reasonably manage.
- Let go of perfection – Don’t obsess over getting everything perfect. Your audience values authenticity.
Remember that influencer marketing takes significant time and work to be successful. But for those passionate about a niche who put in the effort consistently, it can become a highly rewarding career. Stay patient, authentic and engaged with your audience.
