Before mainstream social media like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube became popular the term "social media" did not exist. However, there are now many who claim that they are working as "social media influencers".
Social media influencers are people who had made a name for themselves in various social media platforms. How successful they are can be easily measured by the number of followers/subscribers that they have.
Being a successful social media influencer can be very lucrative, for instance, the top YouTuber earned a whopping $26 million in 2019 and interestingly, he is just a 8 year old kid. Top Instagrammers can charge over $1 million per post if you want them to endorse your products/brands. However, most people will not be able to make enough from social media for a living. In fact, according to this study, 97% of YouTubers from the US are not earning enough to cross the poverty line.
As you probably understand now, in mainstream social media, the top earners take all while those who are just starting out, probably don't earn anything. This also leads me to why I think aspiring social media influencers should start with Hive.
Close-knitted Communities
In terms of monthly active users, Hive is nowhere near Facebook or Twitter. However, 17,000 users are still considerably big for a community. While Hive can be viewed as one big community on its own, there are also many smaller communities that Hivers can join. Project HOPE, HODL, Dolphin Assemble and my own DeFi Campus are some of those I am more actively participating in.
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Because these communities are small, you can easily build strong relationship with the members within. Beyond the smaller communities, there are also many curation projects on Hive to find good content creators which help new influencers attain more presence in the greater Hive community.
As compared to starting out on YouTube without any support, Hive therefore offers a way to "bootstrap" your social media influencer journey by starting with smaller communities then gradually progress to the greater Hive community.
Influence can kind of be "Bought"
It may be a little controversial and probably not a popular opinion, but on Hive, influence can kind of be "bought". What do I mean? If you are an investor who owns 100k Hive Power, you instantly gain influence in the community because your words are backed by Hive Power 😅. In no other platforms do we have this kind of system.
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Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that Hive is a place where people kowtow to the whales. However, I can say that if you have a decent HP, you instantly gain some respect within the community. Having an investment on Hive shows a certain level of commitment and that you have vested interest on this platform. If you think of this from another perspective, it is a form of personal "marketing". Invest a little in HIVE to build up your influence on this platform 😎.
Still, having huge HP doesn't mean one should go around bullying smaller users. Over time, the community will still judge this account based on how it interacts with the rest, the content he/she brings in and the contributions made to the community.
Again, none of the mainstream social media have this proof-of-stake concept which helps in building up your fan base if done right.
No Success on Hive Probably Means No Success Anywhere Else
Let's face the fact that our voices are mere drops of water in the vast oceans. If my drop of water can't be seen in a fish tank, why should I believe that it can mean anything in an ocean?
Because Hive is a small platform, it is ideal to test if you have what it takes to be a successful social media influencer. Hive has a small user base, but there are a number of active people. If one is unable to find a following here on Hive, I doubt he/she will have any luck in mainstream social media.
In addition, a bonus of starting out on Hive is that many Hivers are also active on other social media such as Twitter and YouTube. If you can build a following here, it also helps to grow your following on the other platforms.
Conclusion
I think for an aspiring social media influencer, Hive is the best place to start. You can instantly bootstrap your following by joining communities and at the same time earn a bit of cryptocurrency.
If you are someone who is willing to spend for a bit for "marketing", you can buy some HIVE and power them up to gain some influence on this platform. The beauty of this kind of "marketing" is that your "marketing" expense is converted to a form of asset which grows together with you on this platform.
Once you build a following here, you can then decide what is your next move. I think this is probably one of the best strategies for new social media influencers. What do you think?
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Dear @culgin
Interesting choice of topic. One of those posts, which surely are worth checking out and reading through.
I wonder if term 'influencer' existed already in the past? I hardly doubts so. Right?
I'm afraid you're very much wrong. That may be true 3-4 years ago, but not any more. I've been in social media industry (managing in the past several instagram and FB accounts of my clients) and my impression is that hardly anyone cares about amount of followers. Majority of users/clients are aware that real engagement only matters, since 90% of followers can be easily ... nothing but bots.
Here I also need to disagree. Not that I have anything against hive. However there are 3 main reasons why STEEM and HIVE are not good for new social media influencers:
Of course it's just my own opinion. However I see that even other community leaders are stuggling with monetizing their work.
Again, solid read. Upvote on the way :)
Yours, Piotr
Well, the term is certainly new, but the concept exists since humans started to live as a community I supposed? People have to influence each other to get things done. Be it through tangible or non-tangible means 😉
I agree to this. I am not into this space myself so I rely on your professional opinion 🙂
Agree that there is a learning curve but I see as a good and bad thing. Those who overcame the curve become more loyal to the platform. There is a saying, "The harder you work for something, the greater you'll feel when you achieve it". So with a steeper learning curve, you will feel emotional attachment once you master it. That is probably why you and I are still here.
I actually like the fact that there are no Ads and yet you have a chance to earn something. It is tough to compete with so many other social media platforms and the "Marketing 101" module I took in college taught me that you need to find niche in order to survive. So I thought a platform without Ads, is quite a good niche considering the other platforms are all with Ads. Again I am not a marketing professional and perhaps you are right about this as well.
Fully agree to this. That is why Project HOPE is so important. You have the power (Hive Power literally) to influence which post get more rewards. If there are more big accounts doing better curation, content discovery may become a bit better.
:)
Is there a saying "the harder you have to work, more likely you will give up"? :P
Let me google that for you 😛
https://lmgtfy.com/?q=the+harder+you+have+to+work%2C+more+likely+you+will+give+up
Strong points on the subject and I agree with all of them.
Hive is proving to be a great place within the social media proposal.
Thanks!
I totally agree with you. Hive is a place of building people. Though its true that if one have a decent HP, you instantly gain some respect within the community but we all should start from somwhere and interact with people. Nice one.
Thanks for reading and your kind comment! 👍
Your every points are appreciable and i strongly believe that Hive is the best place to start for social media influencer. Interacting with community is most important.
It is a social network after all, so we got to be social and interact with other. 👍
Hi @culgin
I agree Hive is a great platform to get started and learn. Plus the learning's from hive can be applied to other platforms.
Thanks for your comment!
At least the person can test the water on this platform.
Yea, Hive is a good place to try and fail. Fail and try again. Haha..
:)
Though new to this space, I strongly believe that it has the potential in out performing some of the so called social media presence and becoming a force to be reckoned with.
I truly hope so. Thanks for reading!
Excellent post, I agree hive is a good place and also rewarding for posting your content.
Thanks for reading!
Interesting idea ... hadn't thought about it this way because I've never bought or powered up Hive to advance but instead have been earning post by post it out since back on Steem. However, unlike on most other platforms, Hive does offer multiple returns on investment, and reputation is like "goodwill" in the offchain world of business.
Yes, that is right. I mean it is absolutely up to the individual whether he/she wants to "invest" or not. There are various ways one can be successful on this platform.
Woah these are some interesting facts that you shared here. That's true hive is a wonderful platform to start your social media journey with.
Thank you posting within PH @culgin
Thanks!
Hello dear @culgin, thanks for sharing.
Great advice, friend, I agree with you, it is very difficult to create a large base of followers on the main platforms if we cannot do it here.
These recommendations must be taken into account and we can probably have an exit elsewhere.
Thanks for your comment!
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