From Passion to Paycheck: How to become a social influencer
Date: November 24, 2016
Name: From Passion to Paycheck: How to become a social influencer
Presenters: Caley Dimmock, Ally Pintucci, Sarah Namrood, and Kate Zessel
Successful entrepreneurs can become influencers by utilizing the power of social media. Moreover, they discover their business opportunities through their digital skills. Red Academy invites a social media panel to discuss how they build their passion into careers. In this presentation, all panelists will share their experience on how they build their side business and how they establish opportunities through side hustle. In addition, entrepreneurs will learn how to create their branding through social media.
The social media panel includes Caley Dimmock, the Brand and Marketing Manager of Daily Hive, Alley Pintucci, the Social Connector, Sarah Namrood, the owner of HairbyNamrood Salon, and Kate Zessel, the local Whistler artist.
All entrepreneurs find their niche in different ways. Pintucci discovers her niche market through her personal Instagram. By doing what she loved, she found the path of storytelling. When Zessel was injured one day, she saw a rare business opportunity. For Dimmock, she realized how passion and business could merge together with marketing. When she established the niche, she created her own space. Namrood had her niche from the start. However, her parents were the obstacles of her path. She managed to save up for hair school and eventually took the initiative to follow her dream. Through social media, all panelists discover they can take on business.
“I can always get another job, so I have to try this”
Branding is like art. Dimmock learned branding through her previous acting job. The entertainment business influenced her perception. Pintucci believes her Instagram is her channel. She restricts what she can post on her account. She turns her social media to personal branding. By knowing the channel, entrepreneurs will figure out what social media works for them. They need to discover the flow and get all channels together. Through branding, she can now take control of what and how her message communicates through her network. Namrood learned branding from someone else’s social media. Instead of re-invent the wheel, Namrood takes what is working and duplicate it. Zessel has her personal and professional pages. She mentions reputation is everything. Dimmock mentions it is important to watch out what has been posted. Dimmock always have 3 questions in mind.
- What can I do well?
- What can I maintain?
- What is my passion?
Dimmock believes entrepreneurs must be authentic and thought out in social media. They need to be convey themselves to discover the magic pairing. Namrood suggests entrepreneurs to plan out a professional layout. A good layout can engage more followers. Pintucci believes there must be a theme in social media. Entrepreneurs must consistently be analyzing and testing their posts. First impression is important, so entrepreneurs should rearrange their contents the best way possible. Pintucci will schedule her posts to engage audience, which means she builds content 3 days in advance. Zessel uses different approach. She creates the content on the spot. Instead of posting words, she utilizes images.
As a social connector, Pintucci spends a half day working and a half day personal branding. It is up to entrepreneurs to be a hustler. Moreover, Pintucci believes entrepreneurs must have dedication to make things work. Authentic is important for Pintucci. If the post is not authentic towards her brand, she will not post. In fact, she chooses the strategy and aligns what she wants.
“I do not wait, I go after”
Zessel had 3 jobs, now she has none. Zessel advises to entrepreneurs that they should not start it if they decide not to hustle. Zessel focuses on her content through personal branding. Her followers send her their story and usually the connection and engagement start. There is no end time for her work because she enjoys it.
“Do not do it unless you really going to hustle”
Dimmock shares that many people reach out to her for business opportunities; however, she will not accept unless it is relevant with her brand. It comes down to one factor: brand fit. When entrepreneurs go with their brand fit, they will discover what they really love. There must be mutually beneficial and everything is about right exposure. Therefore, entrepreneurs need to keep in mind what are their end goals because time is valuable. Pintucci mentions as branding improves, someone will recognize. Pintucci will work with people who have these 3 elements.
- Authenticity
- What does it look like
- Compensation
Many people do not know how much it takes to make it happen. Therefore, Pintucci will turn down opportunities that she will not get paid for. Namrood mentions hair style is different. She normally pays people to post. Many influencers can get paid a lot, so it is easy to get judge. The key is to align with the right company. Zessel is an ambassador of what she believes in. She will work with people in design. She gets to pick which suits her in her life style. Sometimes entrepreneurs can do it as a favor, but it must be authentic.
Dimmock shares a good way to test and it is to ask the question “what is the compensation?”. Money can be priority, and this method can screen out all the irrelevant. Pintucci will prepare a secret page with statistics. She can use that page to pass over to people with price. She can adjust the price to what suits them the most. Zessel will ask the cost on it. Entrepreneurs should not discount themselves.
Through social media, Dimmock turns consulting into her revenue stream. Pintucci creates a community on love. She builds and redefines her box; moreover, she can shape her box. Her main revenue stream has become collaboration campaign from sponsor posts. Namrood discovers people love to learn. She builds up her brand so people know who she is. She builds other leaders by teaching them through private courses. Therefore, she builds her online school. Zessel believes people want personalization; therefore, her main revenue stream is through commission.
Zessel recommends entrepreneurs to be themselves and be genuine on what they are doing. People will connect and people want to see others strive. Namrood recommends entrepreneurs to let go insecurity. Pintucci recommends entrepreneurs figure out what they want, get a plan, elevate it, and stick with it.
“Chase your curiosity”
Dimmock recommends entrepreneurs not to underestimate the connection on social media. They should not be scared to reach out. They need to get involved and create relationship.
Questions and Answers
Dimmock recommends entreprenerus to use Facebook insight page to analyze when they can post. Pintucci states the best time is between 7:30 pm to 10 pm. Entrepreneurs must be aware that Instagram always push out new algorithm.
Social media creates big influence on Dimmock’s career. Her business relies on social media. Entrepreneurs should not post things they do not want people to see because when it is out there, it will never get deleted. Instagram is not the best social media platform, and it depends on the audience they want to reach out to. Zessel uses Instagram for work and Facebook for personal. Nevertheless, Namrood uses Snapchat.
Social media can be addicted. The best way is to post and leave it. Entrepreneurs should focus more on engagement. For Zessel, it is in-person experience. Entrepreneurs can get attached by social media and sometimes it can lead to depression because it can limit who they are.
When Pintucci is shooting her shots, she knows the vision in advance. She works on her planning and figure out the story that she wants to tell. Using Facebook ads can be expensive, but it requires a minimum investment to reach out the right people. Pintucci do not recommend entrepreneurs to buy followers.
“Focus on your feature, not on short cut”
Entrepreneurs make time to engage with followers. It is all about priority. However, they need to remember social media is not their whole life. The more effective way is to engage right after posting. When it comes down to original content versus repost, Dimmock suggests entrepreneurs to create a page for original and another page for repost. People are thankful for repost, but it is important to ask permission first.
