Become an influencer Read online

  Obviously, there is no empirically proven wrong or right approach here, but I realised then that I am very aware of the fact that my average follower (from their comments on posts and replies) tends to travel – or, at the very least, considers travelling to somewhere like the United Kingdom as reasonably possible at some point in their life. Travel is not entirely out of their reach or unimaginable, and they often leave me recommendations related to the destination or, at least, to the exercise of exploring new horizons.

  I think my follower would see straight through me if I tried to maintain some sort of aspirational standard. I always assume that my follower knows that I don’t have it all figured out and that no one’s life is quite as amazing as it may seem. Of course, this isn’t a universal approach, but I think the point here is that whether you lean towards aspirational or authentic (at all costs), it is worth your while to go through the exercise of defining it for yourself. If your ethos is crystal clear, you can ensure that a consistent approach is maintained throughout – one that speaks to the integrity you want to build to ensure longevity.

  Mike Sharman believes that “a few experiences have shown that we don’t want to be duped into following people who are selling us a lifestyle. I think aspiration has matured more into an authentic space.”

  Katinka Oosthuizen says her advice to her 16-year-old self (the age at which she started vlogging) would be:

  Post more content! I was so scared to post. I wanted to do a lot of stuff but I was always worried about what kids would say at school. I only realised after school that I never would’ve fitted in anyway, no matter how hard I tried. I think I held back a lot and did what I could with the confidence I had then. I wish I had taken more risks and had less stage fright then. I went through such an insecure period after someone once commented that I had gained weight, when I actually hadn’t. I obviously realise now why people at school never understood me, but I wish I had known then that there was no point in being worried about what people would say at school.

  TikTok star Wian van den Berg is by far the most productive influencer I spoke to and he believes that this approach applies universally.

  I think the mistake everyone, regardless of their platform, makes is to try to be too perfect. It’s impossible. No one can be 100% perfect all the time. I think that’s the mistake everyone makes, thinking that they’d rather not post something because it won’t be perfect enough. They don’t want to take the risk. They don’t want to make a video in their room because they think it needs to be shot at the beach or at the mall. They don’t want to do something when they’ve just come home from work.

  I know that something needs to be good to go viral, but it’s just as important for it to actually exist. When people ask what matters more between quality and quantity, I always answer that they are both important. You can post six videos in the next ten minutes, easily. Anyone can. But these videos obviously then risk being not worth much, to anyone. However, you also can’t allow perfectionism to paralyse you, to hold you back. Everyone is busy; we all have hectic schedules. But if you really look at your day, you’ll find you have time. It’s like any business, it requires time.

  He says that some of the easiest clips he’s made have yielded the best results.

  Sometimes the silly pranks I do with my mom, when I don’t have the time to do my typical videos, do much better than my magic videos. Think of it as documenting, rather than creating. Try to work it into your life in a way that is easy. When you’re watching TV, watch TV and make a post about it. When you walk into work, walk into work and turn it into a bit of content.

  Nadia Jaftha’s journey as an influencer took off after she started out as a fashion blogger and then began sharing the pranks she played on her mom, Nawal, which went viral. She concedes that this is still what her audience comes back for, even though she has gone on very glamorous trips and has shared loads of really gorgeous bikini shots in between.

  I think my brand is more about relatability than aspirational content. I never want to feel like I’m too far out of reach. I want people to look at me and say, “She did it, so why can’t I do it?” You can be both aspirational and relatable, but it’s all about balance – that’s what I try to do. I definitely think I speak to the girl who is insecure and the girl who is confident. I never want anybody to feel excluded from my content, so I try to balance it out. I’ll post funny videos with my mom, videos with my friends, outfit pictures, lifestyle pictures and business pictures.

  Maps Maponyane started his career doing modelling in a gap year in 2009, but has earned his reputation in the entertainment and even advertising world in the decade since then, thanks to his fine understanding of branding and his insight into what people want. Maps is the kind of person other people talk about. People who run brands love bringing him in as an influencer or host on their events because he always delivers. Other influencers will tell you that they approach him for advice and sound counsel. Advertising industry professionals look to him as a great authentic voice in the market, a tastemaker and a curator. He speaks with great grace about the responsibility he feels as an influencer:

  It’s super important to be real about what your life is really like; to be normal and authentic. There’s too much of us sharing that “living my best life” idea, because each of those posts slowly adds to the mental anguish someone might experience from looking at your supposedly superior “best life” – until that follower starts asking, “Am I just not living life?” or “Why am I even here? My life isn”t worth living ...’ It literally is that slow gradual spiral that comes with each and every post ... I never want to be part of that problem. I find half of social media so boring that I want to figure out how to have fun with it. I never want to feel like I have to do anything. When I work with brands, I want to be able to speak with my own voice, but have it so seamless that it is real.

  Someone who is unashamedly creating gorgeous and aspirational content – at least in the main feed of her Instagram profile – is former Miss South Africa Liesl Laurie. “I think it’s a personal thing, that’s who I am as a person. I’m a little bit of both, don’t forget I’m still ‘hood’.” Liesl grew up in Eldorado Park but didn’t let her start in life determine the scope of it.

  I’ve always been that girl. My gran will tell you that. I like to position myself as that girl who can be a bit of both (aspirational and relatable) because it’s easy for me; it’s who I’ve always been.

  I think if you’re just starting out, you could totally look towards someone like Nadia Jaftha, who was very authentic at one stage and then she became very Instaglam at one point and now she’s back at the relatable fun, family content. Sharing her grandfather and her mom alongside shots of her bringing the great fashion looks and full make-up ...

  But don’t try and be Nadia – if you’re not funny it won’t work. If you’re great at make-up like Mbali Nkosi, for example, and you only post make-up looks, then that’s what your followers will be there for. She doesn’t need to be Nadia, because it’s not her thing.

  So, how do you achieve this, practically? I read an interesting study on the “strategies that ... influencers employ in performing an authentic persona”, which was published by researchers at the University of Rotterdam in February 2020. In Selling Brands while Staying “Authentic”: The Professionalization of Instagram Influencers, the first generally employed tactic Delia Dumitrica and Loes van Driel outline is that Instagram influencers often address the audience in the caption, usually in the form of some sort of question to generate an authentic tone.

  “Another strategy, which serves to develop a connection with the audience, is the sharing of snippets from the influencer’s backstage, everyday life to create a persona that the audience can relate to.” A homesick travel blogger is often more relatable or feels more accessible than an uninterrupted stream of envy-inducing destinations, for example.

  And, finally, th
ey mention Instagram Stories as a supplementary platform where many influencers share more behind-the-scenes context than their main feed typically includes. This is a way to balance what influencers in the study perceive to be essential ingredients for any influencer: both aspiration and authenticity. Not aspiration or authenticity, as Ridhima and I defined ourselves over dinner one night in Birmingham.

  “By adding details from their everyday lives, influencers give the audience the impression that they know the person behind the feed.”

  I would go further and add that if you’re sharing honest and compelling insights with your followers, the followers’ feeling that they are getting to know the influencer in the process will actually be true; it won’t be an impression. If it’s performative, the influencer – sooner or later – will risk slipping up and being found out. Building on integrity is far safer, more sustainable and more fun.

  In fact, the same happens when we have strategy sessions in the radio and television industry. We have real and honest conversations around everyone’s on-air persona, what our roles are in relation to the team, and which parts of our personal lives we’ll share on air. Everything is not necessarily fair game, mainly because it is not necessarily useful to the listener or viewer. Focus on content, stories and conversations that are relatable enough for your follower to connect with. In radio, we strategically develop and position our stories, so that our content will transcend the distance (both literally and figuratively) between us and the listener, and the same is true for an influencer.

  4

  CONTENT, CONTENT, CONTENT

  What is your USP?

  There is one simple departure point if you are trying to figure out how to stand out in an increasingly competitive and crowded influencer market. Your content needs to consistently reinforce your “unique selling point”, also known as a “unique selling proposition” or simply your “USP”. This is not something influencers came up with or even something we can credit traditional media with; it’s basically a concept as old as commerce itself and it is equally useful across all entrepreneurial pursuits.

  The Cambridge Dictionary defines USP as “a feature of a product that makes it different from and better than other similar products”. Of course, you might not view being an influencer as a product, but when you are running a social media account to generate an income, I think this could be considered a production process and the product is your content.

  Your USP is the area of overlap.

  Maybe it would help if I illustrate this USP idea with an example or two. Before Apple made market-leading cell phones, they broke open the music industry with their MP3 player, the iPod. iPods were not the cheapest mobile music devices available at the time, but they were so innovative that they set a new standard and reinvented the market to a certain extent. Suddenly you could carry thousands of songs around with you on a small mobile device, while a CD Walkman could play only as much as could fit on a CD.

  The same could be said for Apple’s subsequent foray into the cell phone market. Their major competitor in this market, Samsung, might not have been pipping Apple to the post in design terms from day one, but they are certainly perceived to be more affordable for similar technology (particularly of late). This is, essentially, Samsung’s USP.

  Charles Revson, founder of the make-up giant Revlon, always used to say that he sold hope, not make-up. He gave women a wide variety of beauty products at reasonable prices, distributed globally.

  When you want to figure out what your USP might be, I would suggest looking for two or three things that you do, you offer, you are, you cover or you touch on. Look for things that no one else offers your followers in quite the same combination or way. Remember that the feeling you leave your followers with is also relevant. Do you inspire people? Do they feel like they have gained a friend, a source of laughter or, perhaps, self-deprecating fun?

  Perhaps you review the latest technical gadgets, but you put your own dry, humorous spin on it and you are always looking for gear that you can actually afford while shopping with South African rands – as opposed to American voices in this niche segment, who might be able to buy a broader range of products because of their location and their strong currency. Your aim might be to leave your followers feeling like they’re winning – that they enjoy a competitive advantage when they take your advice.

  The 1990s hit movie Speed was famously pitched as “Die Hard, on a bus”. Similarly, I developed and pitched a cooking show, Buite Die Lyne, to a TV channel in 2016 as “Roer, but with rugby players”. Roer was a well-known kykNET cooking show where you got to know a different musician or actor in every episode by seeing them cook a meal for a loved one, in their own kitchen. Of course, the true value for the average viewer is seeing someone they admire interacting with their loved one – a mom or a sibling, a best friend, a partner or a mentor. I simply added a rugby spin to this format, offered it to a competing channel (Via) and voila! We made 26 episodes of Buite Die Lyne, fully commissioned.

  It is important to note that the point of that show was never to create the impression that the rugby players who were featured were able to cook like Jamie Oliver. They were obviously very successful in a specific field, but they often made very simple (and, therefore, quite useful) recipes, while sharing very endearing and vulnerable moments with the viewer about their lives outside of rugby. We covered the loss of loved ones, the disappointments they had faced, the odds they had to overcome and how they all have people at home who worry about them (despite how invincible they may seem). Essentially, it was about how even very successful young superstars also battle to balance the demands of their personal lives and the professional pursuit of glory. The aim was always to leave the (predominantly female) viewer feeling as though she could somehow relate to a burly rugby player who takes massive hits every day. The USP was actually: “Roer, but with rugby players” PLUS empathy.

  Another useful example of USP is Chrissy Teigen, a gorgeous model and the wife of John Legend. While these two aspects alone would probably have garnered her a large number of followers, what sets her apart from other models who are married to successful, famous men (and remember, there are many of these) is her feisty sense of humour, her love of cooking and the fact that she is the kind of mom who claps back at her haters. Many followers really relate and respond to the latter aspects: we actually root for her in spite of her exceptional, aspirational lifestyle.

  Yes, my dear husband clearly won in the wife lottery!

  My own USP could perhaps be outlined along the lines of “cat lady who pays for cat (and other) food by being a sports presenter”. If a girl from a small town like myself, who didn’t grow up speaking English or being considered a relevant voice in sport, could make it to the sidelines of two World Cup events in one year, then anyone can. That’s what I want to leave my followers with, after every single post. I want my audience to feel included, particularly if they don’t fit into widely accepted stereotypes, because I also don’t.

  Based on my social media presence, you’ll quickly be able to tell that I am (a) a woman, (b) often pitch-side at amazing sporting events, and (c) also a total nerd (who loves cats, gardening and sewing). Now there are plenty of other women who also work in sport, who lead lives that involve plenty of travel and speaking to household names – but are they also obsessed with their (four) rescue cats? And do they also take you along, behind the scenes, when they have a beer on the couch, to poke fun and marvel at the highs and lows of sport?

  My deep love of having a beer, gardening and watching sport on the sofa is, traditionally speaking, seemingly incompatible with also regularly getting dressed up to host live broadcasts, award shows and events for big companies. Yet, I’m both the blonde woman in heels and the sports fan in sweatpants. I purposefully share the more real side of my life because I want my followers to feel as though they are always invited to hang out with me. I’m not on social media for
your envy; I am there to open the door for you to also take a peek inside. Inside where? Wherever I am let in!

  These are true interests that give me touch points with people who share my passions or who simply find the unusual combination entertaining enough to keep following – even if they are not actually a cat person or a sports fan. Perhaps some stick around because they relate to working in a male-dominated environment or find my access to big sporting events fascinating and insightful.

  I recently stumbled upon a great example of how different feeds, all functioning within the same niche area, in the same geographic location, can present very different and beautifully unique characters without competing or crowding each other out. Robyn Donaldson’s @almost_everything_off_ebay Instagram account has the following stories saved as part of her “Instabands” highlight.

  All of these are available on @almost_everything_off_ebay’s Instagram Stories highlight titled “Instabands”.

  Not only does this show really good differences in the selling points of these influencers, but it’s also a creative and practical way of networking on social media. This is just one example of how you can use your space and your voice in a way that showcases great lateral thinking. You gather content that stimulates your follower and interests you, and it can also effortlessly strengthen your relationships with other voices operating in the same space.

  An often underrated way to really grow in a certain niche area is to actively collaborate and partner with other influencers in that field of interest. You can even put cash together and run a competition across your two or three profiles to give away a coveted voucher. If your audience is too small to secure a collaboration with a brand you might have on your vision board as a prospective partner, band together with allies who share the same conundrum. Attend events together and help each other gather content.