I get these questions asked all the time “How can I be an Influencer?” How can I be a blogger?”. Well to be completely honest it is not easy, It is one of the hardest things to be but the most fun. Question is how is that even possible having hard work and fun in one sentence?

Well, the results are the fun part and the hard work is the process. A lot of people say oh it’s easy being an influencer all you have to do is promote and you’ll be fine. I wish it was like that honestly.

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First thing first you need a little of everything yet a lot of everything to start blogging or even influencing. You need to know;

1. 1. What your name is going to be?
   2. What kind of influencer you want to be?
   3. Which social media platform would be your best assets?
   4. How much followers do you have?
   5. how do you plan on promoting brands?
   6. Who are your audience? – Are your audience buyers?

Never you think influencing is solely about getting a bunch of free things. It is not I learned that the hard way, when I just start blogging which lead me to influencing. I 100% thought I’m going to buy this and buy that to get notice by brands little did I know influencers were getting everything free. I thought I was just followers you were suppose to get from brands.

So your girl here started her research I googled and youtube everything. my sister calls me researcher lol because I was so intrigued like you are right now. Boy I was broke and loved high-end products, but I didn’t know how to contact a company directly so they could notice me. Youtubers and blogger say oh just email the companies be yourself tell them what you have to offer in exchange of free products.

Literally I could not draft of an email because I had nothing to offer my IG followers weren’t buyers I didn’t even hit 3k follower yet. My blog didn’t even had 10 views because I never like people knowing I have a blog lol silly me. I had Facebook friends I didn’t wanted them to know I can get free things lol. I was selfish and also ashamed because I couldn’t afford it and begging companies for it was not the approach in 2014.

I learned from my mistakes and I definitely want to help you avoid these! So this is how your going to get started

1.What is your influence name?

Choose a name that will be catchy people will always remember. Please nothing long with a bunch of numbers and symbols nobody is going to remember that at all. I know this because my blog was named 2nbeauty.blogspot.com Back in 2014 nobody liked using their name as a brand fast forward to 2016-2018. Your name is your brand, in 2016 my sister and I decided to do Youtube and we would shorten our name (eg. Niquesbeauty and Neenasbeauty) so Your Alias can be your influencer name too.

I’ll go for the birth name anytime because it is you. eg my Instagram (sh_nique I know it has a symbol yes but I was strip between making shanique my brand name or niquesbeauty)

2.  What kind of influencer you want to be?

This is where you put the pen to paper, sit down and think about it. Ask your friends and family what they think you like to do or talk about most. There is so many niche to go in for one

• • Makeup– Talk about Makeup everything cosmetics.
  • Hair– Best hair products, hairstyles, etc.
  • Lifestyle– Everything about DIY, eating healthy, skin care, etc.
  • Fashion– Latest trends, Outfit of today, different genre of fashion styles, etc
  • Food– Cook books, best restaurants, Meal of the day, etc
  • Travel– In state trips, vacation trips, restaurant visits, hotel stays, etc
  • Gamer– Latest games, your favorite games, etc
  • Reviewer – Latest deals and discounts of any and everything

That’s my Top 8 I’ve come across multiple times, even mommy influencers have become a huge thing in 2018 best believe. As you already know I started out with makeup then move to hair then it became lifestyle and now its fashion. I’m all over the place but yet in one place because little you know all these makeup, hair, lifestyle all comes under one main topic BEAUTY. Some persons solely go for makeup and skin care, Hair and skin care and plain out Beauty like me.

3. Which social media platform would be your best assets?

There are tons of platforms to promote on but the highest influencer marketing ones are as follows;

• • Instagram- We all know Instagram as become the leading platform they have over 200+ million persons on the platform to drive sales to promote to do all manner of evil lol. I earn alot from using Instagram.
  • Youtube- They have been the runner-up because with this platform you can make lengthy videos promoting a brand getting to provide more info than writing. Your earn here a lot too! 
  • Facebook – This platform helps a lot of persons market there brands and so on but as for me. I personally don’t use facebook because I have little to no audience who is interested in what I have to talk about beauty and fashion wise. Mostly I don’t care type people.
  • Twitter- This platform usually had 140 characters to express how one feel. Well that’s what I thought, you can use twitter has a business and drive sales how? by scheduling tweets for the best time your audience will be out.
  • Pinterest– Usually go on a wild pin spree just pinning and creating random boards but to my surprise you can create Pins that match with brands your tying to promote or the products they offer by creating a canvas with catchy words to drive people to the website.
  • A Blog/Website- This is the hardest platform to gain an audience but its the easiest platform to get you goodies. Right there and done your now considered a Blogger and Influencer or even a content creator. Just a fancy title to go by to fool brands per say.

Related Posts

• • How I Make Money on Instagram || November Income Report
  • Advice for New Bloggers
  • Instagram Income Report Janauary 2019

4. Your Following

Like I said earlier if you don’t have an audience what is the point? Companies need customers if you can’t get them any they will not use you its plain and simple!!

Ok a little harsh lets step back a moment most companies want you to have atleast 5000 followers on Instagram to work with you. On Youtube and Blogging the monthly views is what companies ask for every time your subscribers are just a bonus. Having Twitter, Facebook and pinterest you get a way with whatever they have to offer. Now Snap chat its a little different you must have at least 500 views a day to even get a $5 for a post with some companies.

4b. How to get followers on social media?

People on the Internet say oh you should post A1 content, You should do hashtags, You should tag everything you upload so people can know where you get it, You should never do follow for follow, Oh you should always leave a comment on persons post if you like it, Oh JUST BE YOU.

“In your mind your like bih for 1 I’m broke I don’t have it! I can’t take HD quality pictures if I don’t have a hype phone #iphone or a camera, baby girl I can’t afford photo shoots lol”.

Dont worry darling all you need is a friend who have a Hype phone or camera and you let them take pics of you honestly it doesn’t have to look like its GQ magazine your modeling for ok?

• • You can do hashtags I’m not against it but for me it only work for a few days they follow and then unfollow why? because I don’t post everyday to keep them I only post when I go out or when I’m paid to post by a brand. If I’m being honest I take pride in what I upload on Instagram that is my influencer platform. Everything has to be personal with a splash of work.
  • Do tags? This works good when I buy anything and upload it best believe I tag that company it maybe has small as a china store im tagging them. Now when people go through that company’s tags they’ll see you and wonder what your about then bomb you’ll be getting an email for collabs.
  • Dont do follow for following ew these people will never stay they don’t like you they just want to build follow count. You do too but if your only gaining followers, not commenters, not likers, not sharers, not buyers so what’s the point?
  • Its better you show love to your people like for me beauty lovers, hair lovers, and fashion icons. Their followers would wonder who you are and then start following you because you all like the same things. You learn from them they learn from you.

And yeah the BE YOU part is the best part upload frequent upload less it doesn’t matter. Please have a bio filled with info so people can reach you though just saying 🙂

Now the Question is How do I still get paid and get free goodies with little followers and views? Find out more when you order my Ebook on “How to get PAID & FREE products from brands!”

I had 4.8k Instagram followers and yet I’m receiving hundreds of dollars products from companies all over. I have a blog that was getting 1000-2500 views monthly and I’m getting paid. My twitter and Snapchat get me few dollars, Pinterest got me cents lol. I usually do YouTube but I stopped will be getting back to that soon #clasphands.

5. Who is your audience?

Are your audience buyers? will they support you every step of the way? Do you actually know what your audience like?

This is the part where you test the waters by letting your audience know where you stand. So you set up your bio with information you want your viewers to know about you and what can help them.

If we’re being honest people like solutions to problems they can’t fix and you have an idea of how to fix it they will want to get to know you. The more you can provide the more they trust you and become attached.

[click_to_tweet tweet=”Influencing Isn’t A “Get Rich Quick Side Hustle” @SH_NIQUE” quote=”Influencing Isn’t A “Get Rich Quick Side Hustle””]

To get to know your audience a little bit you do surveys ask them some questions to see how they react, do polls as well to help you narrow down what you both love.

Are you ready to work with brands?

If yes!

• • switch your personal account to a business
  • set up that bio
  • add your email
  • upload clean content deletes all your old pictures with ugly filters from 2013 nobody wants to see that guys!
  • Check your insights to see what works and what doesn’t as in which picture your audience reacts to the most you stick to that!
  • familiarize yourself with snap stories that help a lot

How I get to work with brands?

I talk about this a lot in my income reports I did and let’s just say working with brands has become the norm for me. The two platforms I use to work with brands are my Instagram and website. We all Instagram has become the leading Influencer platform with over 1 billion users come on there’s tons of money to go around. New brands are coming out everyday too so pick up yourself and choose that platform girl! or boy!

I was never confident to work with brands but to start me off to gain that confidence was Influencer Networks. I receive free goodies to introduce to my audience and the more I talk about the brands the more other brands see, and the more I get to work with brands similar to them. This like building a resume/portfolio of clients and brands.

I recommend when starting out talking about the products that you are currently using like that lotion you love, that sneakers you like, that hotel you travel to, that restaurant or store you attend. As I said the more you talk about brands the more you’ll get noticed. + please be honest don’t kiss ass because you want a product line and also don’t be super mean if you hate a product from a brand.

Collaborating with brands without the middle man?

The middle man is Influencer Networks so these guys are not the bad guys but they do cut you the lowest deals. Did you know most of these influencer companies get paid $500- $2000 for one campaign but you the little man get half or 25% of that these companies take their cuts and we get what is left.

If you are ready to put your big boy undies on and step out of your insecurities with reaching out to brands yourself you will make that $500 – $2000 sounds amazing, doesn’t it? In order to do this, you have to be ready and professional the influencer companies sell you like an A grade student just to get deals you have to do the same.

The next question is can you sell yourself the way they do or better?

If no! that’s fine amma tell you

Here’s how I sell myself to companies

1. 1. I look for their PR email (become a private investigator)
   2. I try to find the name of the Director of influencers
   3. I draft up my email with perfect subject line and email body
   4. In that email please don’t speak above n beyond of yourself
   5. Talk about the brand product you like or would love to try
   6. Tell them how they’ll benefit from working with you
   7. Provide stats of social platform (provide media kit)
   8. Close email with warmth and reachable contact
   9. FOLLOW UP reach out 7 days after the first email
   10. Stalk their Instagram (like few pics and comment)

Pitch freebies or Paid deals?

I prefer to pitch for a free line of products then build a relationship to start getting paid deals. Nothing is wrong with asking for money upfront I just consider it risky knowing it’s your first collaboration and you are reaching out. Keep it subtle. If the brand is reaching out to you then you have all right to ask for money.

Please don’t jump for every brand that reaches out or even comment on your Instagram post 50% are scams. No company that is willing to work with you just gives an affiliate code and no products to let you give out your opinion about it. You have to buy from them first just like a regular customer and when you waste your money on these clowns it wasn’t even worth it.

Have you guys ever go on a boutique and see their selling a dress for $80 and you can get that same dress from shein for $15 then this company gives you a discount code of 80% off just to ship out that same shein dress to you boom! quick sale from the naive.

For persons who don’t want use Instagram it’s just their personal space for family and friends that’s fine here’s how to start a blog

I use WordPress.org I am self-hosted but for you has a beginner you try free platforms like

• • Blogger
  • Wix
  • Weebly
  • Squarespace
  • wordpress.com
  • Medium

If you want to be seen by brands and be taken seriously get a domain and an efficient web hosting

I use SITEGROUND

It’s really fast and reliable, and you can literally start your blog for $3.95 per month.  They also have an incredible support team and make WordPress really easy.

Like I said earlier, another major mistake I made in the past was hosting it with a 1and 1. Didn’t have much from using them and in the end they wanted to give me a ranking coach that literally was to change my blog over.

Advantages of  Site Ground:

• Free Domain Name
• Free Daily Backup and Restore
• Free Let’s Encrypt SSL
• Solid State Drives
• Free CloudFlare CDN

So, are you ready to get started? Follow this quick tutorial and you can get your blog up and running in 10 minutes!

Before we begin, the best way to follow this tutorial is to also do it with me! So head over to Siteground.com right now and follow along!

1. CHOOSE YOUR PLAN

Siteground has three basic plans to choose from: StartUp, GrowBig and GoGeek.

I suggest new bloggers start with the StartUp or GrowBig. If you plan on sticking with one blog for a while, the StartUp plan is perfect for you. Right now I’m using GrowBig it works well for me.

And, if you use my special link, you can save up to 60% off the regular price!

2. CHOOSE YOUR FREE DOMAIN NAME

This is where you’ll want to place your chosen blog URL (the name people will type in the search bar to find your website).

It’s what people will remember you by and what sets you apart from others, so try to keep it short and simple – no hyphens, numbers or symbols and stick to .com if possible.

Also, make sure it’s a name that’s not taken by other blogs or social media sites.

When you get to this page, you can use your existing domain name or pick a new domain name.

My domain is not with Siteground as yet it is with 1and1 will be migrating in November 2019 to siteground fully.

3. CONFIRM YOUR PACKAGE AND PAY

Next, you’ll choose your package of 12, 24, 36 or 60 months.

If you want the best performance for your site and the most bang for your buck, they suggest going with the 36 month plan. It’s not the one I use at the moment; I went for the 12 months plan because that’s what I could afford at that time.

And, if you’re just looking to test out a brand nothing is wrong with going for short-term. Also nothing is wrong with going the whole 36 months you get to escape paying for hosting every year and that’s great.

DON’T FORGET

Uncheck any extra features that you don’t think you’ll need right away (most of these you can get through free plugins.)

The only option that I recommend you keep is the Domain Privacy Protection because it hides your personal information from unwanted visitors.

I checked the SG Site scanner because I need to make sure my site is getting the best care. THIS IS NOT A MUST!

Fill out your payment details, check the standard Privacy Policy and Terms of Service and click the green submit button.

That’s it!

Congratulations, you now have hosting for your blog – woohoo!

Now join my Facebook Group for Influencing support ♥

After creating your blog you write kick ass content. Find other bloggers in your niche and exchange views and comments with them.

I personally join facebook groups for this and focus on SEO alongside with pinterest.

A blog will never get old it might out of date with posts but I know a blogger neil patel he’s been blogging for a decade and now he’s the King of the blogshere making millions.

Two major ways to make money with blogging is Sponsored posts and Affiliate marketing.

Here my advice to you Just be you it will all work out! but with changing everything about your platform will it still be you? With all these changes will you still be you? I ask myself this all the time and it all boils down to you being causual vs professional. Influencing is a really contridicting thing if you ask me. Some audience expects you to be professional because influenceing is your job, some wants you to be causal because acting like a robot makes you seem less human.

My realest advice is to be strong!