Humans, by nature, are inter-social and inter-dependent beings. And because of that, there are tendencies for people to influence or be influenced. The famous quote that says; “show me your friend, and I will tell you who you are,” only goes to buttress the fact we all have an inert ability to directly or indirectly influence one another.
Before the invention of the internet, people basically communicated via face to face medium or through writing—which usually involved the tedious process of writing letters and waiting, hoping that the receiver got the letter and will reply soon.
But now, the reverse is the case. The internet, social media, digital coverage, social propellers like socialproof.xyz, and the global virtual space, have all brought about communication being something that happens in an instant.
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And with communication being fast and expedient, influence is also naturally on the rise, because we all know that the exchange of information precedes influence—whether for good or bad.
But for this article, our focus will be on fundamental ways to become a micro-influencer on social media.
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Be engaging
The first hurdle one will usually face as an influencer is how to capture their audience’s attention. Imagine that you have a product to sell, and you know exactly who you should sell that product to. But you can’t approach the person because of the fact that you don’t have any relationship with the potential buyer.
This translates to the fact that you have to find a way to grab this person’s attention before you can even attempt to sell them anything. The same thing goes for the influencer. You have first to capture your potential audience before you can influence them. And the most straightforward way of doing this is by being engaging.
Pick a niche
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The mistake most influencers make when starting out is to try and take on several topics or areas. Borrowing wisdom from the common saying; “jack of all trades and master of none.” only goes to show that it is difficult to be a master in too many areas or fields.
There is a reason it is called Micro-influencer. It is advisable for a person—or persons who are just starting out, to pick out a niche in which they have ample knowledge about, or better still a niche in which they love, because even if you don’t know much about the area you want to dominate, your love for that specialty will eventually drive you to gain more insight in the field in question.
Authenticity
Humans and sometimes animals alike can be highly perceptive to the point where they can tell if someone is being genuine or not. So as a micro-influencer, you want to try as much as possible not to be fake.
The moment you try to represent yourself as something that you are not. There is always a tendency of burning out, or worse still—your followers seeing through the fog—that is realizing that you are a complete fake, which will cause you to lose the trust of your followers.
Communication
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If you have ever had the privilege of seeing a dance drama or attended an opera, you will find that sometimes without the use of words they able to convey the message or theme of the whole show, which by itself is fascinating.
In essence, communication transcends beyond words. It is not enough that you mumble some words and hope that your message has been received clearly. Your position in front of the camera, your dressing, your style of passing your message, the structure of your message, your unique writing skills, and your tone of voice, are all but a few things that affect the efficacy of your message.
Take public speaking courses
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Don’t make the assumption that as a micro-influencer you are not standing face to face with your audience, so, therefore, there isn’t a need for you to perfect your public speaking skills. Nothing can be further from the truth…..!
Fundamentally, you are still speaking with people, and as such you as a micro-influencer should endeavor to sharpen your social speaking abilities, be it behind a camera or written words. Perhaps you might be clogged with a lot of activities and don’t have the time to attend a traditional classroom training then you can always opt for online training platforms like Udemy or Coursera.
Consistency
There is nothing that dissuades the followers of a micro-influencer like a lack of consistency. Your followers need to know that you have a structure, pattern, and timing to all your publications. In fact, depending on how good an influencer you are, your followers will usually be waiting for your releases, and when you start failing to maintain that timing, they easily become disappointed and dissuaded.
Stay updated
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As a micro-influencer, you need to stay abreast of most, if not all trending issues regarding your niche—I mean if you keep putting out outdated content then you are soon likely to lose respect and following.
So as much as possible try to keep upgrading your knowledge base, after all, you can’t give what you don’t have.
Content
To crown it all, I’m sure you have probably heard the saying that content is king. The only way to get people to keep following you is always to give them quality rather than quantity.
We live in a world over-saturated with too much information, and as such people are sick of valueless information, it is therefore of immense importance that as a micro-influencer, you publish rich and valuable content.
