Being an influencer means being a multitasker. You need to refine unique skills that help you create content that stands out from the crowd, grow a community that trusts in your ideas, and always be thinking about your next move or post.
For influencers, your brand is also your business – and you need to constantly be developing a personal brand that feels authentic to you, yet still relevant to the trends of the season. Once you create this personal brand, it will be the guiding force that leads you to the brands you collaborate with.
But before you become a valuable asset to your dream brands, you’ll need some skills firmly in place to make sure you can take on new partnerships and collaboration opportunities with ease.
So that raises the question: what skills should you be developing as an influencer? Here are just a few key dynamic capabilities to get you started.
Photo And Video Editing Skills
It’s all too easy to take images and videos on your phone and then keep them in the ‘future project’ pile because you know you’ll burn too much time editing them. But there’s often lots of potential going to waste in the media that’s left unused. Instead, having access to advanced yet easy digital tools can do a lot of the work for you.
Use Photoshop online for simple and professional editing at your fingertips. With a simple upload of your photo or video and pressing a few buttons on the platform, you’ll be able to generate high-quality content quickly. By playing around with tools like these, you’ll quickly learn the skills to use them effectively and manage to edit your content in a matter of minutes. You can use Photoshop to create cool animations to add to your videos for a special touch, too.
Think Like a Writer
All the best and most accessible content you see feels casual and unscripted without being rambling. Ironically, that is best achieved with a well-rounded script. Having all your ideas well put-together and tightly spaced helps you connect with your audience.
Think of creating your content like a writer would. Start with a phrase that builds curiosity or grabs attention, add a hook and then deliver some punky, meaningful material that leaves your audience’s emotions pulled and thoughts provoked.
Beware of using AI tools too; they can leave your content feeling generic and unoriginal. Finding your own voice is key to becoming a recognisable creator. This can be a daunting task at the onset, but once you have an idea of how you like to present yourself, it’s easy to replicate the formula with tweaks.
Tell A Story
To create a personal brand, you have to engage your audience with good stories. This is the key to provoking emotion, helping your audience connect to you on a deeper level and becoming someone they remember.
To tell stories, start with your own life. Look back at childhood or friendship for inspiration to find relatable anecdotes that can pull crowds easily. Beyond personal anecdotes, starting a series, showing a transformation or talking about something you’re working on are great ways to start communicating with a dedicated follower base.
Next, it’s not just the content of the story, but the way you present it that matters. Use your voice and body language as the instruments to back up your story with powerful delivery – emphasise key parts of the plot, use your hands to help you communicate what you’re saying and let your body feel the emotion in the story. It can help to use props, edits and text to contextualise your stories.
Remember, to make your content accessible with closed captions, and use the text tool to emphasise certain words and phrases, along with sound effects to make your content personalised.
Manage Your Time
You can’t become an influencer overnight, so you may need to keep your well-paying day job for a little while before you can make the shift. However, this can often mean more stress and work on your plate, and likely more hours in a day than before, so time management is a key skill to hone to become a successful influencer.
Setting goals and making plans accordingly can boost your functionality and keep you active in both work and influencing. Work-life balance is a must, and if you want to take this big step, it’s easy to forget that it’s a kind of work too, so be mindful of your mental space.
Alongside this, you’ll want to leave a particular amount of hours in the day for posting, engaging and shooting, ideally at a time of the day where you feel relaxed, inspired and creative – so make sure you allocate enough time to each step, so you don’t feel overwhelmed by tasks.
Make Your Content Fun, But Your Comms Professional
Sometimes, just a DM or email can be all you need to secure the perfect brand deal. But how you represent yourself in your communications is important for professional relationships, as well as timing. You’ll want to highlight your best skills, outline how you can benefit the brand and then provide stats of your posts and profile.
On the branding and marketing side of things, using the right language, being authentic and learning to negotiate are important skills to grow as an influencer. It can also help build long-term collaborative relationships that can be beneficial in your personal brand messaging. In a world of “hi, can we collab?”, instead be a “Hello team, I think I have what it takes to be your next collaborator.”
Key Points
In truth, starting your career as an influencer involves putting in work every day without necessarily getting the rewards right away. And whilst results may come slowly, remember that consistency is key to growing.
Make sure you’re constantly growing your image and video editing skills, you’re trying to tell a story through your content, you manage your time well and learn to communicate professionally with collaborators.
And remember – whilst it’s easy to get lost in trends for instant virality, finding the time to hone your authentic voice and staying true to that voice is what will help you stand apart.
