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July 5, 2016 By Hannah @ Eat, Drink and Save Money

This post may contain affiliate links. I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post.
. 22 Comments

How to become a social media influencer

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Have you every wondered how to become a social media influencer? Influential people get free things all the time. Here’s the best news: you don’t have to be a celebrity or have a huge social media following to get free things in exchange for social media posts. That’s right, you may be more influential than you think! You can even get paid to be a social media influencer once you have a loyal following!

Follow these steps to learn how to become a social media influencer

 

Become a social media influencer with these tips

I don’t consider myself to be a hugely influential person, but I do get a lot of things for free in exchange for social media coverage. I also routinely get paid to tweet, Instagram, update my Facebook profile and post content on my blog. Sometimes I get free stuff just to share with my friends, no social media updates required!

Since I’ve had such great success with freebies and paid posts through social media marketing, I’ve decided to share some of my tips with you. There are a million and one ways to become influential on social media. Here is the process I used to help you figure out how to become a social media influencer.

How to become a social media influencer. It's easier than you think

ONE: Set up your social media accounts

This is a no brainer!

You can use your personal accounts or set up new ones. Most companies want to see you with a personal Facebook, a Facebook page, a Twitter account, Instagram, Pinterest, Google +, and YouTube. If you want to go the extra mile, set up a Periscope (update: not worth your time anymore), Snapchat, and Tumblr account too. Snapchat is quickly becoming popular for social media marketing.

I’ve found that Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are my biggest sources of income with social media marketing. I rarely do much sponsored or reviewed content on other channels. It’s still good to have them and be active on them anyway. You never know when a client will want you to work on all your channels and pay you more!

TWO: Start a blog

You don’t have to have a blog to be an influencer, however some companies won’t even consider you as an influencer unless you have a blog. Why not start one, right? Bluehost starts as low as $3.95 a month, click here to get started with Bluehost. Check out my tips for starting a blog here.

How to start a blog on a budget Facebook

THREE: Get followers

Even though many companies will work with you if you have a small following, it behooves (word of the day, amiright?) you to keep growing your following. The more followers you have the more likely you are to get the really big social media influencer jobs that actually pay.

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Follow these tips to grow your following and increase your influence:

Use MiloTree to grow your following: MiloTree is a great way to grow your following. It’s a pop up that reminds readers to follow you on social. Learn more about it here.

Grow your Twitter following (I swear by this one- it works for Instagram too).

Grow your Instagram following

Grow your Pinterest following

Grow your Facebook following

Grow your YouTube following

Grow your SnapChat following

FOUR: Sign up for word of mouth marketing companies

Word of mouth marketing companies are the best places to start if you have a small social media following. These companies give out free things in exchange for reviews. Get the list of my favorite WOMM companies here.

Moms Meet is another one that was great when I was starting out. I still work with all of these companies for free even though I routinely get paid by bigger companies.

FIVE: Increase your followers

Keep interacting with people in your niche and your social media following will organically grow. Never stop trying to grow your following.

SIX: Move from free marketing to paid marketing

You can find a huge list of ambassador programs here. If you don’t want to comb through the gigantic list, trust me and sign up for my favorite ones listed below that work well for mom and women influencers. In a fashion niche instead? Don’t worry, you can find plenty of ways to make money there too. Check out this post for more info.

Linqia

Massive Sway

Best Buy Blogger Program

Influence Central

Mom Select

Activate 

Social Spark

BlogHer

You can even share your favorite affiliate links yourself such as Ebates.

SEVEN: Be honest

Research has found that consumers trust only 33% of ads they see, while they trust 90% of what influencers post. This is because most influencers only post what they truly trust. Let’s keep this number high! Don’t try to be an influencer for every niche. Find yours and stick with it. Only work with brands that you would normally purchase yourself. This will help your audience trust you and in turn you’ll make more money.

EIGHT: Follow industry best practices

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) monitors endorsements. If you get something for free or are paid to promote it, you are supposed to make that clear to your social media followers. A simple #gotitfree or #review or #sponsored or #ad will suffice. To learn more about FTC guidelines and endorsements head here.

Generally speaking sponsored/ paid content is where you are being paid to say a certain thing. A review is where you got something for free and you are free to give your own opinion.

NINE: Contact companies yourself

Don’t wait for companies to contact you. Reach out to them directly and introduce yourself as a social media influencer. Make a media kit (learn how to make one here) and email them your information when you ask to work together.

I do this every time we travel and have gotten great deals on hotel rooms and even got free tickets to Disney and SeaWorld!

Instagram is a great place to look for companies that want to work together. Etsy shop and small business owners are constantly looking for brand representatives and brand ambassadors. Find them by search #brandrepsearch #brandambassador or #brandrep.

Budget blogging

Good luck!

Do you have anything else to add? Let me know if I’m missing anything!

Now that you know how to get started in social media marketing, learn how to get paid the big bucks! Read this post for a more in depth look at making money in social media.

It's possible to make money from your phone and computer. Head here to learn all the secrets on how to make money as a social media influencer

You’ll probably also love this post about how to get free things to review on your blog.
It's easy to get free stuff for your blog. This is how to get free stuff on your blog without becoming a review blogger

Like this post?

Don’t forget to follow me on social media (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter) to see more of what I’m up to in real life. If you like this post, you’ll love my social media accounts too! Want to know another way you can see more of what I love? Follow me on Pinterest.  I’d also love for you to pin this post to Pinterest if you liked it!

 

Want to make money online? Learn how to become a social media influencer with these influencing tips. #socialmedia #influencer

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Filed Under: Make Money Tagged With: make money online, social media, social media influencer

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jessica McDonald says

    July 5, 2016 at 10:03 am

    Thank you for sharing all this–I am just starting out, this was incredibly helpful for my blog!

    Reply
    • Hannah @ Eat, Drink and Save Money says

      July 5, 2016 at 9:41 pm

      So happy to hear!

      Reply
  2. Nicole | The Professional Mom Project says

    July 5, 2016 at 1:48 pm

    Such a helpful post for those of us just starting out. Thank you Hannah!

    Reply
    • Hannah @ Eat, Drink and Save Money says

      July 5, 2016 at 9:41 pm

      I am so happy that you found this to be helpful!

      Reply
  3. Jacky @ Joyful Savings says

    July 6, 2016 at 10:14 am

    This is an absolute great and useful post, as I am on my way to monetize my blog by becoming an Influencer. Thank you so much for sharing this information!

    ► Joyful Savings recently posted: Save Money, Save Time, and Recycle, All With This Easy Trick!

    Reply
    • Hannah @ Eat, Drink and Save Money says

      July 6, 2016 at 1:45 pm

      Yay! Monetizing a blog is a lot of work, but so worth it!

      Reply
  4. Lisa @ Fun Money Mom says

    July 6, 2016 at 11:06 am

    This is a great post! I never thought to look to Instagram to work with brands…I’ll have to start searching those hashtags!

    Reply
  5. Jill says

    July 6, 2016 at 12:14 pm

    This is amazing! I have it bookmarked to visit later when I have more time to go through each thing… Thanks!

    Reply
  6. Jamie @ Medium Sized Family says

    July 6, 2016 at 1:13 pm

    This is great information! I’ve done some sponsored posts, but not as many reviews. I’ll have to look into some of your suggestions here to expand my trickles of income.

    Reply
    • Hannah @ Eat, Drink and Save Money says

      July 6, 2016 at 1:43 pm

      Definitely! Alone they don’t pay too well, but when I put all of them together it adds up fast!

      Reply
  7. Michelle Leslie says

    July 7, 2016 at 3:48 am

    Thank you for the stunning tips Hannah. I wish the South African market place was more open to reviews and word of mouth marketing.

    Reply
    • Hannah @ Eat, Drink and Save Money says

      July 7, 2016 at 9:42 am

      I do too! My husband and I talk about moving abroad and making a living online. It seems to be a lot different outside of the US.

      Reply
  8. Shelley says

    July 8, 2016 at 2:28 am

    Really useful information, thank you so much for sharing this.

    Reply
  9. Amanda says

    July 8, 2016 at 7:23 am

    I am new to blogging as well and really appreciate you taking the time to share these awesome tips! Thanks!!

    Reply
    • Hannah @ Eat, Drink and Save Money says

      July 8, 2016 at 2:18 pm

      Best of luck! Let me know if these tips help!

      Reply
  10. Christina @ RaisingSavers.com says

    July 8, 2016 at 11:17 am

    Thanks for all the great tips on growing your online presence!

    Reply
  11. Katie says

    July 17, 2016 at 3:52 pm

    Hannah, you impress me so much – you speak so humbly of yourself but I think you know what’s going on for sure! Great tips – I really need to start on this – we need to remember our time is worth something!

    Reply
    • Hannah @ Eat, Drink and Save Money says

      July 17, 2016 at 5:22 pm

      Thanks Katie! I do love getting freebies and teaching others how to do it too!

      Reply
  12. Mother of 3 says

    July 17, 2016 at 8:23 pm

    Such great tips and ideas! Pinned.

    Reply
  13. Holly Bell says

    September 8, 2016 at 10:09 pm

    Wow… This was pretty cool article, influencing one other for thriving social media is brilliant idea for me. Hopefully, I finish my first social media site to one and I want good as yours Hannah, I really appreciated! I will really follow you!

    Reply
  14. Henry Rapp says

    October 9, 2016 at 11:59 pm

    Impressive this is the article that I been looking for. I love your tips of how to start blogging on a budget. Great..!

    Reply
  15. George Bergeron says

    November 14, 2016 at 3:25 am

    There are so many social media companies out there it is important to differentiate yourself from others by offering unique or more services. Thanks for sharing!

    Keep posting, Hannah. You are doing great advice!

    Reply

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While I love saving money, I also have expensive taste and a passion for the environment. I firmly believe that you can live frugally while enjoying the finer things in life such as travel and high end products. I like fine foods and quality ingredients, I also enjoy spending money on fancy local coffee and kombucha. It’s all about the experience! Join me as I balance a budget and preserve our Earth, while enjoying the finer things in life.

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