Influencers In the Digital Age. Who Exactly Are They? and What You Really Need to Know!

Read if you’re one of them or Aspiring to be one. We’re talking about influencers here, not about “true influencers”. These people don’t really want to change the world or to make an impact, they just want to influencers.

The Internet is an amazing place filled with various personalities that hold unique perspectives on life and the world. Among these people, there’s a group known as influencers. It’s more like a set of individuals that classify themselves as so-called “influencers” to gain popularity and to make an impact. people tend to follow these individuals with many thought in mind. It’s not about Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Steve Jobs this topic’s about, they don’t really fall into this category. they’ve changed the world and made an impact. You may refer them as the “true influencers”. We’re talking about “influencers” here, not about “true influencers”. these people don’t really want to change the world or to make an impact, they just want to influence. They weren’t named influencers by the people who they have an impact on, they self-proclaim the title “Influencer” and work their way up to satisfy the requirements needed to maintain that certain title.
Who exactly are these people? what exactly they do? what are they capable of?. There’s a lot of questions that would come to your mind thinking about this. The first time I got to know about an influencer was through Instagram. And the first thing I thought after seeing these people were, “Are they real influencers?”. I’m 16 and may be too young to share this opinion with you, but I’ve seen it through many aspects, so I’ll do.

Everyone like seeing good stuff and thinking that the world is a much better place than what the media covers. Social media is the next generation newspaper or more like Newspaper 2.0 which is much more influential and distributed than the traditional one. These platforms make it possible for billions of people to access and find millions of content regarding various things. And influencers do make a great deal to work to make their own content reach these people. They possess a large no. of followers who are interested in their work and who would pay attention to what they do, their rise and decline both would happen under the impact of these people. There was this specific incident on Quora (it’s a question-and-answer site where questions are asked, answered, edited and organized by its community of users.)where a very popular user got banned due to a no. of plagiarism strikes. He was a well-known user throughout the platform due to his very “epic” answers that attracted a lot of readers to it. people liked them. even though he didn’t really call himself an influencer, he became one due to the content he posted which made him stand out from the crowd. he had influence over a large no. of people.

A lot of questions are being asked daily on this platform, and most of them are subject related matter which could help a lot of people with their work. these questions are being answered by experts or people who know something about it. Most answers provided by true subject experts don't get noticed, while answers provided by popular users which seem total Bullsh** get’s the most upvotes and views. But why? they have influence. Quora is much different from other platforms, it’s a whole other world filled with knowledge and humor. so, it’s users can’t really be called influencers. they don’t aim to produce content which makes them popular, they simply answer questions

Instagram is the next big thing. It’s not facebook or twitter we like, it’s Instagram which makes us hookup online, it’s something more than Facebook. This same platform is filled with so-called “influencers”, Instagram influencers to be specific. they are engaged in various areas online and produce content which is targeted specifically for a certain group of users that fall under certain criteria.

Some of them are highly respected and followed, they are the most powerful group of people on these types of platforms, while some struggle to build their audition or to produce quality content which would help them get to the peak of the mountain. In the peak, it’s all about money, they don’t really care about what they produce. if it’s of good quality and got some facts which are somehow related to the things they do, that’s it. these type of people aren’t influencers, they are clickbait creatures, whose only intention is to get that damn user click their shit to make them money. But not all influencers sell bullshit to their users, some do care about their content, they care about the message the users get, they care about what the users want and they create a ton of awesome content. So, if you ever think of being an influencer, think about what the users need, not about how you could get people click on your shit. The world’s a better place that way :)

Three months ago, I was fascinated by this certain phase and wanted to try being an Instagram influencer. So, I created a new account, made an awesome logo and started working on my content. I wanted to create a brand that would have a huge follower base and to be an influencer through that brand. I started reading how we could get more likes, followers, and engagements on Instagram which made me an expert Instagrammer in my own world of fantasy. There was a lot of people who had the title “Social Influencer” or something like that in their Bio (yeah, I had it in mine). after a couple of days, a lot of people started following me and I started getting a ton of DM’s. most of it was from other influencers trying to get me into different online business programs which sounded really interesting. Some even guaranteed $200 within 24 hours but required me to pay $12 in advance. it’s a great deal if you ask a 16yr guy ;). So yeah, I didn’t really get into any of those programs which were promoted by so-called “influencers”.

After the first month, I saw this other Instagram account which was started around the same time I started mine. It was a dude in his 20' with “Digital influencer” stated in his bio. “He gets a lot of like and comments, his user engagement rate should be sky-high”, I thought. His content was just amazing, so I scrolled through his feed and saw something weird. the only group of users he gets likes and comments are from other influencers who were doing the same thing as him. So I searched why this type of things happen and saw this article posted by a marketing guy saying this happens due to influencers not trying to interact with the targeted audition. but trying to be noted by interacting more with other brand accounts. it stated that doing this will not help a brand acquire a loyal follower base. I laughed thinking he would never succeed, but the mood didn’t last long. I messaged that guy saying what he was doing was wrong and he should focus more on getting real followers, not brand accounts to follow him. he replied and thanked me. we started discussing how we could get more followers and be known. After a couple of days, he started telling me why he thought of being an influencer. in his exact words, he was a 23-year-old guy who fucked up doing meth, cocaine and all those stuff in his mid 20' and living totally broke right now. the conversation went, he told me a lot of stuff and then asked how old I was, “16” I replied, I ended up getting some of the best pieces of advice from someone who’ve been in the rock bottom.!

It was that day i started questioning who exactly is an influencer?

Is it someone who’s trying to build something that would impact thousands of people? or is someone trying to make a lot of money?. I started my Instagram account thinking I’ll make an impact and be the biggest influencer of all them. (everyone starts thinking the same way) but after getting to know some other influencers on Instagram, my perspective of this idea completely changed. I deleted my Instagram account and withdrew from being a digital influencer, whatever it’s called. But I observed and interacted with a large no. of influencers on the internet to find out their strategies and how they stand out from the crowd. Let me make this clear, the motive of these so-called “influencers” doesn’t really matter. I’ll tell you how they got this title, how they work their way up the ladder to influence a large no. of people scattered around the globe. As I mentioned earlier, social media is the next generation newspaper, with an audience made-up of billions of active users who search for content that would satisfy their needs and expectations.

When observing various social platforms such as Instagram, Youtube, Vine where the term “influencer” is widely used, people with the most no. of followers were the earliest users. These guys are basically the face of those businesses, every new user followed them and their follower base grew sky high with the platform being more popular. That’s beginner’s luck. these people might never have thought of being influencers which could impact thousands of people. So, if you’re trying to be an influencer this way, good luck. but it’ll probably be a long time before another social platform come to the standard of Instagram or youtube. So start now, you’ll get an idea of how you could be a real influencer soon enough. Use social media platforms, publish your content and start working.

When you start your journey of becoming an influencer, always remember, “it’s all about what you output”. You need to be creative and informed about the content you publish. Quality content is the most important thing an influencer should always consider. Look for other influencers who are already in the game, look at how they do things and try to figure out their strategies. But never copy them.

Never copy. If you do, do it better. much better.

Stop reading books published by people who brag about their work, how much money they have, how they brought their new Lamborghinis and Ferraris, how hot their wifes are………you should never read this kind of books. It’s just a marketing tactic used by those “successful” people to make more money. Read about how you could achieve your goals, and find a mentor how could teach you the way up.
You should first learn that classifying yourself as an influencer is the first step to be an influencer. You’ll meet various types of people doing the same thing as you, there’s a clear competition. Hard Work beat talent. So, start now, ill guarantee you being a top influencer in the near future. Good Luck.

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