“I highly advise anyone who has an interest in life online to get this book, sit down, and take notes because you’re going to want to hear what Brittany has to say.” –Iskra Lawrence, Aerie Model and Instagram star (@iskra) If you’ve ever scrolled through your Instagram feed and thought, I wear clothes, eat avocado toast and like sunsets, why can’t someone pay me to live my best life? this book is … pay me to live my best life? this book is for you . . .
Every one of your favorite influencers started with zero followers and had to make a lot of mistakes to get where they are today—earning more money each year than their parents made in the last decade. But to become a top creator, you need to understand the strategies behind the Insta-ready lifestyle . . .
As nightlife blogger, then social media strategist, and now Senior Director of Influencer Strategy and Talent Partnerships at Hearst Magazines Digital Media, Brittany Hennessy has seen the role of influencers evolve and expand into something that few could have imagined when social media first emerged. She has unrivaled insight into where the branded content industry was, where it is, and where it’s going. In this book she’ll reveal how to:
Build an audience and keep them engaged
Package your brand and pitch your favorite companies
Monetize your influence and figure out how much to charge
Plus tips on:
Landing an agent
Getting on the radar of your favorite sites
Praising a brand without alienating their competitors
Whether you’re just starting out or you’re ready for bigger campaigns, Hennessy guides you through core influencer principles. From creating content worth double tapping and using hashtags to get discovered, to understanding FTC
more
I wanted to read and analyze this book from the perspective of bloggers and vloggers who are enhancing their businesses through social media rather than trying to become “influencers” by the book’s definition. I have to say that it did very well in the structure and how the information was organized. Any writer, blogger, freelancer, or businesswoman can pick up this book, read about 50% of it, and get the information she needs to grow her audience and perform better on social media. If that person chooses to attempt to get contracts as an influencer later, the rest of this book is there to guide them through the process.
I would recommend this book, not only to those wanting to be influencers, but to any and everyone who has to utilize social media to reach an audience and grow it to garner new readers, clients, and customers.
I would only deduct a small percentage for the fact that it focuses so heavily on those wannabe YouTube beauty queens and Instagram models that it fails to speak to the larger group of influencers: Those that don’t do it for the likes or the contracts, but because it brings new business and followers for their own products while they may be making a little on the side as affiliates.
Brittany Hennessy
First of all, this is geared more towards beauty, fashion and lifestyle influencers (who are usually women, of course, so don’t know why people are being idiots about the audience of this book. If you have intelligence, you can STILL get something out of this book if you’re a man or a different type of influencer).
This book isn’t how to get a huge following. It’s sound business decisions once you decide to monetize your following. Some of it is common sense of course, but still needs to be said.
A must-have for anyone wanting to become a full-time Influencer or even a full-time blogger or vlogger, as it definitely can be applied to any sort of brand partnerships you are offered online!
If you’re looking to be an influencer on social media or the web, get this book.
If the teen in your life (or even you) dreams of being the next big YouTube or Instagram sensation, then you need this book. It takes readers through the nitty-gritty of what it takes to be an influencer, and the basics of how to run your own influencer business.
And influencing is a business.
Influencing isn’t just taking a pretty photo and posting it on Instagram. It’s also learning skills like design, photography, writing, social media, websites, modelling, and public speaking (because many of the successful influencers. The bigger influencers are mostly posting pictures of themselves, so it’s also hiring the photographer to take those shots, and perhaps even the makeup artist and hairdresser so you look like Wow! not woah.
The focus of Influencer was on fashion, lifestyle, and travel influencers—the glamour end of the game. But many of the principles still hold true for smaller-scale book bloggers. For example:
– Blog on WordPress.
– Be on social media, if only so people can tag or mention you.
– Secure your username on every platform so no one can steal it.
– Be honest.
– Have a balance between organic content and advertisements.
– Ask a question to build engagement (yes, I’m still working on this one).
– Plan and prepare your content in advance.
(If you’ve followed me for any length of time, you’ll know I’ve been recommending all these things to writers since forever.) Hennessy also says:
If you are in this business for the right reasons, creating create content, and engaging with your audience, the followers will come. This isn’t a sprint; it’s a marathon. Never forget that.
(Also remember that sprinters spend just as many hours a day training as marathon runners!).
The one weakness of Influencer was the chapter on building an audience—how to get people to follow you and engage. She makes some good points (don’t buy followers. Or Likes. Ever. Use hashtags. Follow hashtags.) But the chapter is light on detail.
The chapters on contracts and agents hit home the fact that being an influencer is a lot more than living an Instagram-ready life. It takes business savvy, hard work, and a determination to succeed. It takes knowing your “why”—why do you want to do this?
All in all, becoming a successful influencer sounds a lot like becoming a successful author.
A lot of hard work with no guarantees, so you need to learn to find joy and success in the process.
Recommended for anyone who wants to get into influencing on a small or larger scale, or anyone who is curious as to how and why anyone can justify paying some blogger thousands of dollars for posting a few photos on Instagram.
Thanks to Kensington Books and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.