Job of an online influencer: A round-the-clock gig

• Ashutosh Harbola, CEO and Co-founder, Buzzoka writes how becoming is an influencer is not just all glamor. It involves a lot of multi-tasking and working around-the-clock.
• He further shares how influencers can strengthen their content strategy and stand out in the clutter.

To an everyday observer, the life of an online influencer may seem glamorous and great. Confined to a regular 9 to 5 job, when regular office-goers scroll through their social feed to find influencers sharing content, running campaigns or collaborating with well-known brands, it all seems like a perfect lifestyle to them. But what lies beyond the glitz and glam is a story that isn’t told often.

Being an online influencer isn’t driven by the timings of a work schedule. There isn’t any set time to check-in and check-out. Instead in this profession it’s a round-the-clock routine. Influencers always need to be active and on their toes on the lookout for the next piece of engaging content. Once they have built a base of followers who trust the influencer and their perspective, the task to retain them is an even tougher one.

In today’s social age when there’s so much content to consume across so many platforms, how does a particular influencer stand out? This must be a question haunting every online influencer. This thought in turn also makes them strive to understand their potential follower base and craft relevant content for them. While we as followers may just see the follows, likes and shares, it took the influencer hours and years of strategic planning and constant experimentation to arrive at that level of popularity.

Other than the constant challenge of coming up with the appropriate content strategy, a social influencer dabbles with multiple tasks. One also has to understand that the role of an influencer dictates that they take a call on more than one roles. Design, content, copywriting, business development, billing - many a times influencers end up filling those shoes and many more. While donning so many hats surely does make the influencer a jack of all trades but it may also lead to work related fatigue. And in an industry which thrives on presentability and always being your best on camera, one has to keep that at bay.

Also, not to forget that influencers need and always appreciate clients who understand their perspective and potential. But finding the right client is not always the smoothest of processes. It involves the external factors of finding and working with brands with the right reputation. And also, internal factors like brands with the apt promotion budget, ones that make payments on time and trust creators and their work.

An influencer is tasked with the responsibility of influencing a consumer’s decisions. And when the modern consumer has so many options served on their plate, that’s definitely not an easy profession to pick. Behind the lights, camera, glamour, polished appearances and online follower base lies tons of hard work, dedication, research, successful implementation of key insights and sometimes failures too.

So, the next time you stumble upon a social influencer on your online feed, do consider and observe on what makes their content and campaigns a little different from the others. Because that’s what got them to the limelight and they deserve every bit of it.