Great news! You can be an influencer while keeping your primary job. We are going to go over some tips on how to become an influencer while simultaneously managing your primary job.
Influencer marketing is only ever growing, from its $1.7 billion market size in 2016 to $21.1 billion in 2023. With influencers making lucrative income and becoming more popular than most TV celebrities, it’s no surprise many want to tread the same path. Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as it sounds.
Some influencers who are just starting their careers don’t earn sufficient income to make ends meet, so they opt to keep their day jobs. There’s no shame in getting the best of both jobs and becoming a side hustle influencer, as many viewers can relate.
While the idea of managing two professional roles and earning double income is enticing, it can be stressful, overwhelming, and challenging. So, how can these influencers manage their regular jobs and do online influencing successfully?
We looked into this and came up with how to become an influencer and keep your job, plus several notable working influencers.
What are influencers with regular jobs?
Many influencers we see on social media are full-time influencers who earn most of their income from brand partnerships, collaborations, sponsorships, ads, and more. But other influencers also retain their regular jobs and are sometimes called part-time or side-hustle influencers.
This type of influencer balances a regular job with their tasks as influencers, creating content, managing their social media presence, and working with brands during non-working hours. Side-hustle influencers are becoming more rampant as people explore opportunities to generate income online while maintaining their primary jobs.
Side-hustle influencers pursue this path for different reasons. It may be a passion for a niche, the potential to generate additional income, or the desire to share a particular experience or expertise.
How to become an influencer and still keep your job?
Learning how to become an influencer while managing a 9-5 job requires multiple things, including time management, careful planning, and a lot of dedication.
If you want to learn how to become an influencer while keeping your primary employment, you need to consider the following steps:
Identify your niche.
You must decide on your niche when deciding on becoming an influencer. Choose a niche that you are genuinely interested in and knowledgeable about. Your passion for your chosen niche and topics will reflect in your content and make it more authentic. It pays to consider your unique perspective or expertise within that niche.
To make things less stressful, you may choose the industry of your full-time job. So, if you are in the finance industry, your niche may be financial literacy, or if you are a professional fashion designer, you may become a fashion influencer.
You may enter multiple related niches, such as beauty and fashion, health and lifestyle, science and technology, travel and photography, and the like. You may test the waters if you are struggling to identify the right niche for you.
Choose the best platform.
You have a wide range of platforms to choose from today. Learning how to become an Amazon influencer or educating yourself on how to become an influencer on Instagram requires you to look into the said platforms and their users.
In choosing the right platform for you, you must understand the users’ behavior and demographics for every platform. Doing so allows you to identify which platform is best for your content. It is noteworthy that each social media platform has different kinds of users. So, if your content aims to reach younger and more engaged viewers, TikTok might be the platform for you.
Every social media platform possesses distinct strengths and audiences, so tailor your approach and content accordingly.
Publish quality content.
Knowing how to create and publish high-quality content is a requisite in learning how to become an influencer. Aside from your personality as an influencer, your content makes or breaks you. So, you must invest time and effort in learning how to create visually pleasing and engaging content.
This step may involve improving your videography and photography skills on top of your video and photo editing skills. Try experimenting with various content formats to identify what resonates best with your audience.
The kind of content you produce may decide how your followers react to and engage with you, so pour much thought into it.
Post content consistently.
Consistency is one of the keys to improving your social media presence and maintaining and increasing your audience. Learning how to become an influencer requires you to learn how to create a content calendar plan.
Creating a content calendar allows you to plan and schedule your posts in advance, avoiding the risk of falling behind. Establishing a consistent posting schedule enables you to stay organized and ensure steady content for your viewers.
As you post consistently, check your statistics and pay attention to your viewers’ peak hours. So, if you are on Instagram and TikTok, check when your target audience is most engaged and schedule your posts during those times. Doing so ensures that your target audience are seeing your content.
You may use a content scheduler or a social media management tool to stay on top of your tasks and not worry about your content’s posting schedule. One of the best tools we know is Social Champ. Read more about it in our Social Champ review.
Engage with your audience.
Learning how to become an influencer while maintaining your full-time job requires you to acquire people skills. How you engage with the people in your workplace must be how you engage with your audience, or even better.
You can engage with your audience by actively responding to their comments on your posts and messages, to name a few. Maintaining a relationship with your audience through active engagement enables you to build a rooted online community, resulting in greater visibility on your chosen platform.
Manage your time efficiently.
Becoming an influencer while working full-time can dump so much on your plate, leading to potential burnout, mediocrity, and frustration. To avoid frustrations and become an effective influencer and full-time worker, manage your time by prioritizing your tasks and setting specific time blocks for every work-related and influencer-related task.
One of the most pivotal aspects of learning how to become an influencer while keeping your main job is learning how to organize your schedule and manage your time efficiently. To become an effective manager of your time, you must set specific time blocks for content creation, engagement, and posting on top of your regular job schedule.
Tools like social media management software can help automate your posts, making managing your time and juggling your tasks easier. You can find one of the best social media management tools in this Social Aider review.
Maximize your days off and vacant hours.
Executing dual roles can make your days and weeks fully loaded. In learning how to become an influencer with a job, you must avoid wasting time by maximizing your days off or weekends and vacant hours from work. Maximize your free time outside of your primary job for influencer activities.
You may use your free time to create and plan content and engage with your followers. Doing this may often mean sacrificing your leisure time to build your name as an influencer.
Invest in tools and resources.
One great way of knowing how to become an influencer is by discovering the best tools and resources and investing in them. Becoming an influencer is a business, so you must invest a few bucks and lots of time and effort into the process.
You may explore tools and software to enhance your content creation process and automate social media management tasks. Photo and video editing apps, social media management tools, and analytics platforms all help streamline your tasks and give you insights into your performance.
Investing in these tools will avoid putting all your labor and efforts in vain.
Set clear boundaries.
As often mentioned, juggling two roles and jobs can be challenging. It can be tempting for you to accomplish influencer tasks during your day job schedule and vice versa. So, you must establish clear boundaries between your 9-5 job and influencer tasks to avoid burnout and frustration.
You can do this by setting a specific team for each role and avoiding letting one task or aspect disrupt your set schedules. Most of all, don’t forget to breathe and make time for yourself.
In learning how to become an influencer while keeping your day job, you must learn how to take care of yourself and give yourself downtime to accomplish your tasks and be more effective.
The adage, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” still stands true today.
Exude transparency.
You must learn to be transparent and genuine if you want to know how to become an influencer. You don’t have to be like Hannah Montana, who lives two secret lives. Your followers will appreciate you better and support you more if you are transparent and authentic.
Communicate openly to your colleagues at work and your online audience about your job and influencer-related tasks and activities. As an influencer, it pays to share behind-the-scene clips of your daily life to humanize your brand.
Transparency and authenticity foster trust with your followers and colleagues.
Collaborate with the right brands and influencers.
Remember that when you opt to be a side-hustle influencer and choose to keep your job, how you act and who you partner with may directly affect your brand as an influencer and your standing in your workplace.
So, when considering brand partners, choose those who align with your values and resonate with your audience.
Avoid collaborating with brands and influencers with bad reputations, which may affect your influencer career and your 9-5 job. In addition, ensure that the brand, products, and services you promote are genuinely of interest and expertise and relevant to your niche.
Discovering how to become an influencer while keeping your day job involves knowing the right people to collaborate and work with.
Practice consistency.
Consistency isn’t just applicable to your posting schedules but to your overall approach as an influencer. To become successful, stay consistent with your brand identity, messaging, and content tone. Your followers will want to engage with you if you are true and consistent with the branding and voice you established as an influencer.
Aside from transparency, consistency establishes trust and enables your followers to know what to expect from you.
Who are influencers with day jobs?
Many influencers found that side hustling as an influencer on top of their main jobs works best for them. They don’t have to take the drastic decision of quitting their jobs and still enjoy the life of being an influencer.
Here are some of today’s influencers with full-time jobs you can check out and follow to learn how to become an Instagram influencer or an influencer on other platforms.
- Dr. Mike Varshavski – @doctor.mike
- Christina Mychas – @Christinamychas
- Blake Gifford – @signedblake
- Mike Mandell – @lawbymike
- Blake Lynch – @nurse.blake
Becoming an influencer while being a full-time worker is possible
Learning how to become an influencer and make money while doing your full-time job is possible. Always remember that building a successful dual career requires patience, persistence, and adaptability. The first few months or years can be a struggle, but your career will reach great heights once you follow the tips and steps in this article.
Want to learn more about influencers? Check out our “Book Influencers: Transforming the Literary Landscape” article.
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