How To Be a Good Influence(r)
Instagram influencers have been on the rise in recent years, so much so that it’s become its own profession. According to the annual Influencer Marketing Benchmark Report of 2020, there has been at least a 50% increase in the market size of the influencer industry since just 2016. If this profession continues to grow more and more popular, it’s important to lay some ground rules on how professionals should behave on their platforms. Here’s a few quick tips on how to be a good influence(r):
First and foremost, KEEP IT REAL.
It’s no secret that social media can easily have a negative impact, especially when it comes to self esteem issues. According to HuffPost, 60% of people using social media reported that it has impacted their self-esteem in a negative way. Yikes! This is the exact reason why it’s so imperative for social media influencers to keep it real on their platforms. Doing things like not photoshopping images of your body, being honest with how you’re actually doing, and not just making your feed a highlight reel of only your best moments is a great start to being authentic with your social media followers, and not creating false expectations for how you or your life should look like. No one’s life is perfect- don’t fool anyone into making them think yours is.
Maintain a positive virtual environment.
Hate language on social media is real. And it sucks. In order to keep your platform a positive environment, make sure to only comment kind things on others’ posts, delete any negative or hateful comments on your posts, and do not reply to hate posts with equal anger. Instead, keep it classy and delete the comments with haste.
Apologize when you make mistakes.
Just like I said in the “keep it real” section- nobody is perfect. Odds are if you spend years as an influencer on social media, you’re going to make a mistake here and there. When you do so, apologize rather than getting defensive and trying to defend yourself. Fans and followers are likely to be a lot more foregiving of mistakes when you own up to them. Do so and move on!
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