I want you to start calling yourself an influencer entrepreneur because if you have an audience and you’re using that audience to monetize then that’s exactly what you are. You are lan Influencer Entrepreneur.
IE 65: What Is an Influencer Entrepreneur?
In the past couple of weeks, we’ve been talking all things productivity and overwhelm and I have tried to provide you with some practical steps to beat those feelings of not knowing what to do next and move on to feeling in charge of your day and having something to show for all your hard work. If you missed those episodes, you can find them here and here.
Today, I want to pivot just a little bit and talk about what exactly an influencer entrepreneur is. I obviously feel very strongly about this topic since I named my own podcast after it!
An influencer entrepreneur is someone who takes a brand and a business and puts it together.
Developing Your Brand as an Influencer Entrepreneur
Let’s break that down a little bit. If you follow me at all, you know I am always talking about brands and working with different companies. But when I say “brand” in this context, I am speaking more about what you are about. I know you likely have an idea of what is meant by branding. It’s how your site looks, your social media presence, etc. It’s making sure that everything you share is cohesive.
But I am also talking about developing a personal brand for who you are and what you stand for.
I firmly believe that you need to put yourself into your online business. You aren’t some nameless, faceless entity. You have a story and you should be sharing that story. When you tell your story, your readers make a connection with you. And when they connect with you, they begin to feel like they know you.
Once they know you, they can make a decision to either like you or dislike you. If somebody decides they don’t like you, be glad! If somebody isn’t interested in what you have to say or your message, that’s a good thing. You need to reach your target market, and the people who are repelled by you are not that market.
What If I Don’t Have a Story?
Yes, I have people tell me this. And my response?
Everybody has a story.
If you go to the grocery store to grab a specific item and while there, you run into an old friend from high school, that’s a story! When I was a teacher in inner-city New York, my students always wanted to know about my life “after school.” They were amazed that Mrs. Melrose had a family and went grocery shopping and had kids. That was my story and my students wanted to know about it. It helped them make a personal connection with me.
People online have the same problem as my students had; they see the images you put online…those perfect, beautiful images that you choose so carefully…and they can’t make a connection to that. But when you tell your story and they see that your house gets messy and your kids talk back and it rains on the day when you were trying to do recipe photos…they realize that you are a real person and they can connect with that.
Becoming an Influencer Entrepreneur
Telling your story is how you bring a personal touch to the suggestions you make and the content you share.
When you are creating a recipe and you share a story about losing one of your measuring cups and how you replaced them with a new set, your audience wants to know, “Wait, what brand are those measuring cups again?”
As you infuse your content with your own unique story, your audience begins to trust you because they can identify with you. They’ve been meaning to replace their measuring cups but keep forgetting, so you’ve made it easy for them by giving them not only a specific one to buy, but a link to click.
Bringing the Business Aspect into Play as an Influencer Entrepreneur
Once you have your story folded into your content, it’s time to start thinking like a business. Having your brand is the beginning piece, but without the business piece, you’ve just got a hobby.
Let’s start by asking some hard questions-
- How much are you spending to keep your online space going?
- Does the content you share bring you a profit? Or does it just cost you something?
- Are the things you spend money on moving you forward?
For example, if you invest in a new email marketing system, ask yourself, “Is this going to move my business forward? Will this increase my email subscribers which will in turn increase my page views, which will then allow me to work with more sponsored posts?”
If your efforts and your expenses aren’t giving you any return, you are going to have to become more business focused. Combining the brand that you are with the business you are creating is what leads to you becoming an influencer entrepreneur.
Action Steps:
- If you liked this episode of Influencer Entrepreneurs, please subscribe and leave a fabulous review!
- Mark your calendar for the weekly free trainings every Tuesday at 11am EST over on Jenny’s Facebook page.
- Join the conversation on Instagram by using the hashtag #WWJMD and tagging Jenny when you’re listening to the podcast. She’ll send you a personal message whenever you tag her.
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