Do you spend most of your free time in college browsing through social media? Do you enjoy engaging with friends and educating your followers on social media? Do you want to make big money while studying in college? If you answered ‘yes’ to all these questions then you should consider becoming a social media influencer.
Influencer marketing is worth over $15 billion currently. You can become a social media influencer with huge endorsements from brands that are looking to promote their products to customers that are probably within your fan base.
The good news is that you don’t need any special education or higher education qualifications to become a social media influencer. You just need to be passionate about what you do and engage with your audience actively. And you can even seek Ph.D. dissertation help as you work on becoming a social media influencer.
Plus you can do it as a side hustle and venture into it full-time when you start to get awesome results.
Ready to make big money out of your social media followers? Let’s get started.
Why do Brands Love to Work With Campus Influencers?
Brands prefer to work with college students since they are the early adopters and evangelists of any brand. Since they are usually active on social media they can be a great resource for spreading the word about your brand.
That said, here are a few reasons why brands love to partner with campus social media influencers:
- College students represent a community of active social media users.
- Students can easily relate to their peers than they can to brands.
- Campus students engage actively with their peers by replying to comments and messages.
- College students are more affordable and easy to partner with, thus local brands can target them.
That said, let’s get into the guide:
How to Become a Social Media Influencer While In College
Note that there is no one-size-fits-all formula for becoming a social media influencer as a college student. However, these are the tricks to help you get started on the right foot:
Understand the Basics of Social Media
The first step to becoming a social media influencer while studying in college is to understand how various social media platforms work. Note that, even though you can become a Facebook influencer or Instagram influencer different platforms work differently and have different guidelines.
So start by familiarizing yourself with how each platform works, especially the top three- Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Choose a Category to Focus on
When starting as a social media influencer, the last mistake you want to make is to be a multi-niche influencer. In other words, trying to dominate every business category.
As a rule, you should choose a specific area that you’re most passionate about- select a specific niche. As you choose your niche, ensure it’s something you’re interested in and can constantly educate your followers about. In fact, if you can choose a topic you have some ample knowledge about, it could be easy to establish yourself as an influencer.
The best niches for campus social media influencers are travel, fashion, tech, riding, etc. It’s also important to avoid jumping from one niche to another or trying out every niche out there. Pick a subject that you’re passionate about and stick to it for a while before you hop into another one.
Create Your Social Media Accounts
Once you understand how social media platforms work and decided what category to focus on, the next step is to create and optimize your social media profiles. Choose at least two social media platforms and avoid creating accounts on multiple networks.
If you don’t have an active account on your chosen platforms, create one (business account) or optimize your existing one to attract brands looking to partner with influencers.
Spruce up your bio. When brands visit your social media profile they will want to learn more about you by reading your bio. Tell an engaging story about yourself while providing all your pertinent information to make your profile credible and trustworthy.
Include a beautiful, visible, and clear profile picture and cover photo.
Study Your Audience
There are over 4.6 billion social media users out there. However, not all are your target audience. You need to find a specific group of a cluster that’s interested in the information you share on your social media accounts. In other words, you should find out people who are interested in what you post constantly.
Study the followers you already have (if you already have an active account) to understand what they like/don’t like demographics, and other helpful insights.
You can also use the embedded analytics features in your social media platform to understand your audience.
Create Content Tailored to Your Audience
Once you have studied your audience, the next step is to create content they will love. Since people come to social media to find seek advice and suggestions, start creating amazing content they can relate to.
For instance, if your target audience likes traveling, you could share the best travel destinations and hotels or share restaurants where you can get delicious food when vacationing.
To attract the attention of relevant brands, tag them in your posts. This will increase your online visibility to both brands and people interested in what these brands offer.
Create an effective content strategy and share a mixture of content types. For instance, you can share photos, short videos, GIFs, etc.
Share Content Consistently
Once you have studied your audience and created a content strategy, start posting content regularly on your social media profiles. Most social media networks show profiles that are updated with fresh content on users’ feeds. Choose a frequency you are comfortable with and focus on quality content. Your frequency of publishing content won’t add any value if you post poor-quality content.
Experiment with the best time to post on every social media platform. You can use this Sprout Social study to know what time to post on different platforms.
Ask Your Friends to Like and Share Your Content
As a college student- and when starting as a social media influencer, you might not have enough budget to use paid promotions. To make your posts reach more people, encourage your friends to like, engage, and share what you post with their friends. The more your posts are shared, the more organic traffic you will attract to your profile- and who knows, some of the people who are checking your profile could be brand owners looking to collaborate with people with a huge following.
Engage With Your Audience Actively
When your posts start to attract many people, you will most likely get comments and shares. Don’t leave any comments to go unreplied. Answer all questions asked and clarify any issue that comes up. You can also ask your audience questions to ignite a conversation about something both of you are interested in.
Let the Public Know That You’re Open to Collaborations
No matter whether you do all the above, if you don’t announce that you’re open to collaborations, brands will not know what you’re up to. Well, of course, some brands will approach you even before you announce that you’re open to collaborating.
You can include a brief announcement in your bio that shows that you’re an influencer looking to partner with brands. Don’t forget to include your contact information so that interested brands can get in touch with you.
You can also reach out to brands to let them know you are interested in partnering with them.
Closing Remarks
Becoming a social media influencer while studying in college is a great thing. It can be a great way of paying off your loans and you can also venture into it full-time once you graduate from college.
The good news is that it isn’t a tough task once you follow the tips shared in this article. Of importance is to understand that success doesn’t come overnight. Nevertheless, when you practice these tips without giving up, you will soon start seeing great results.
Good luck!
James is the head of marketing at Tamoco
