Do you want to become an influencer? If so, then one of the first and most important things you’re going to need to do is join as many social networks as possible.
An influencer’s bread and butter is social media engagement and interaction, so it stands to reason that the more platforms you’re available on, the more engagement you’re going to get (provided you can keep up with the hectic posting schedule, that is!).
There are a good few social media platforms out there that are worth joining up to, though, so it can be difficult to know which ones are worth your time and which ones you can safely ignore.
Here’s our guide to which social networks a budding influencer should join, and what the advantages are of being on each social media app.
The internet is absolutely jam-packed with takes suggesting that Twitter is dying, or has already died, or will be dying in the next few months. Everywhere you look, people are prophesying doom for Twitter.
Right now, however, Twitter still enjoys a pretty solid monthly active user count, and engagement on the app is still high, even if some people have left in search of pastures new.
As an influencer, it’s definitely worth your while to be on Twitter. This is because there’s still a significant in-built user base on the app, and posting on it is still likely to get you engagement, even if Twitter isn’t the behemoth it once was.
Since Elon Musk has taken over, many changes have happened, some of which have proven unpopular with some, and popular with others. However, we can only expect Musk to have a few ideas up his sleave in order to take Twitter to the next level – and he has the finances to do it. With big privacy issues with Meta (Facebook, Instagram and Threads), Twitter remains a better destination for those who care about privacy.
Signing up for Twitter is, of course, completely free, as is posting and reading others’ tweets. Elon Musk recently set a rate limit on the number of tweets you can read per day, however, so if you’re serious about Twitter, you may want to consider the paid verification plan.
TikTok
Many influencers and brands are just now beginning to discover the power of TikTok, which is surprising given that the app is several years old at this point.
However, despite TikTok’s age, it’s still building an audience, and it’s still massively popular in certain age groups (although other demographics are also beginning to discover the power of TikTok, meaning the old “only Gen Z uses it” stereotype doesn’t hold anymore).
Signing up to TikTok as an influencer is a no-brainer. The app prizes short-form video content, so it shouldn’t take too long to create videos and post them, even if you need to keep up a posting schedule that sees you creating content two or three times a day.
With many influencers using TikTok to branch out to their other profiles, using services like Linktree, the app can generate a lot of useful extra followers.
Bear in mind that TikTok prizes authenticity, so if your influencer profile doesn’t emphasise your real personality, then you might find that the TikTok audience turns away from you. It’s important to “stay real” when you’re on TikTok.
If you’re signing up for Threads, then you’ve already got an Instagram profile, because there’s no other way to join the newly-minted Twitter competitor. In any case, any serious influencer will almost certainly have an Instagram account.
Signing up to Instagram is another no-brainer; it’s a predominantly visual medium, although some folks do post pictures of their notes app whenever they’ve got something to say that can’t be said in a simple image or video.
If your influencer content revolves in any way around visual media (which, to a certain degree, it always should), then being on Instagram is essential. If it doesn’t, then you should adapt it so that it does, because the potential Instagram audience is too valuable to lose.
Brands will regularly approach influencers on Instagram for collaboration, and this is arguably the primary means by which brands and influencers team up. If you want to get this kind of work as an influencer (hint: you do), then Instagram should be one of your first ports of call, if it isn’t already.
Threads
And in the red corner…Mark Zuckerberg’s recently-released Threads is positioning itself as a competitor to Twitter, and the app has already attracted a huge number of signups, no doubt bolstered by the fact that you can (and, indeed, must) sign in using your Instagram credentials.
The jury is currently out on whether or not Threads has any lasting staying power, but for now, it’s a massively popular app, and as such, you should definitely sign up for it, especially if you already have an Instagram account.
Threads isn’t a particularly feature-rich app at the moment, and parent company Meta has acknowledged that there are a number of features missing, most of which the company plans to add at some point in the future.
For now, Threads might be bare-bones, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get in on the ground floor. It doesn’t hurt to sign up for Threads and start posting, and you never know where your next viral post might come from!
YouTube
To some, YouTube doesn’t count as a social media app, but hey – you can like videos and comment on them, and you can also reply to other users’ comments, so we’re going to include it on this list.
In recent years, YouTube has made many changes to its algorithm, some of which appear to have proven unpopular with the user base. As such, it can be hard to know exactly what kind of video will take off on YouTube.
There are many courses out there purporting to give you the “inside track” into how to make a video go viral on YouTube, but the fact is that going viral is ephemeral; nobody really knows how to do it with reliable accuracy.
Despite this, creating content on YouTube is still hugely worthwhile, because video content has consistently proven to be more engaging and more appreciated by audiences than simple text content. No matter what kind of video content you’re creating, YouTube is the perfect place to do it as an influencer.
