The most important step to getting started as an influencer is to pick a platform or two and begin posting consistently. While some creators eventually land on a specific content niche, such as fitness, beauty, fashion, or education, others post about many topics.
How many followers you need to be an influencer
Most brands take an influencer’s audience size into account when considering them for a paid collaboration. As a result, influencers are categorized based on their follower count.
Influencers who have more than 100,000 followers are the next tier, followed by mega-influencers who have multiple millions.
Meanwhile, YouTube star MrBeast, who has over 280 million subscribers, brought in $223 million in revenue in 2023 through various businesses, including his YouTube channels, sponsorships, and chocolate and snack brand Feastables.
How influencers get paid
After amassing an engaged audience, influencers can start making money directly through their respective app’s monetization programs, by creating sponsored content for brands, or through affiliate marketing, among other revenue streams.
Pay can range from a few thousand dollars for an Instagram sponsorship to six figures a year for a full-time creator, such as photographer and videographer Tej Patel, who made $100,000 in 2022 through his photo and video work, sponsorships, and the TikTok Creator Fund, which has since been discontinued.
How to contact brands and get paid for sponsorships
Email is how influencers usually first contact brands about working together. Most influencers who reach out to companies attach a media kit to display the value they would bring to a potential partnership. The document highlights information such as engagement analytics, audience makeups, and previous brand deals.
How influencers find jobs and get advice from other creators
Workplace communication platform Slack has surged in popularity in the past few years, so much so that those in the industry have started using the app to vent about their frustrations, land job opportunities, and connect with other creators, brands, and talent managers in the industry, with one labeling it a “gold mine” for opportunities.
How to get a manager or publicist as an influencer
Once an influencer becomes more popular online and amasses a large following, they can choose to hire a talent manager and publicist to grow their brands even more. Talent managers can help creators with anything from starting a new company to negotiating higher rates for campaigns to generating content ideas.