By JOHANNA MEKA
Be authentic. If you want to matter in the booming social media business market, being true to yourself is emerging as the key message.
"Influencers" – people with more than 10,000 followers – are the cornerstone of a social media market increasingly interesting to advertisers.
And most companies are looking for one thing in an influencer, according to Instgram marketing app BrandSnob spokesman Tony Coiro.
“Brands want someone they can align themselves with their products naturally. Authenticity is so important in influencers and the style of who they are as a person is seen by brands,” he says.
But Mr Coiro says, at the same time, influencers know what they want out of product endorsements also.
“Influencers don’t want to work with a brand who doesn’t represent who they are … at the end of the day if you are into your brands and love your brands you are a brand snob and we mean this in the most positive way possible,” he says.
With more than 400 million active users on Instagram, agencies worldwide are adapting to the changing nature of the social media platform, and noticing the power it can have for brands.
The photo-sharing platform has advertisers spending over $600 million each year, with individuals promoting various products ranging from fashion outfits to health food supplements.
Those have strong audience engagement are seen as celebrities or influencers, people who are able to create a brand for themselves by sharing insights into their lives through photos and videos.
Model and business owner Laura Henshaw has adapted to branding herself on Instagram, and says her rise to “Insta” fame was quite natural after two years of using social media.
“My following started to grow through brands reposting my photos and recipes and then it organically grew from there,” Ms Henshaw says.
Ms Henshaw also says she owes part of her following to the simple fact of being real and honest.
“Followers choose to follow you and trust you and what you post. This is why I always make sure I am honest and never post about anything I don’t believe in,” she says.
“It has definitely helped get my businesses out there and improved the exposure,” she says.
With more than 80,000 followers, Ms Henshaw says she uses marketing agencies to help deal with her product endorsements.
“There are quite a few agencies out there now. I get a new email about one every week,” she says.
BrandSnob's aim is to make Instagram marketing easy for the platform’s users.
The innovative app sees influencers and brands signing up to the platform, and then connecting them with one another by simply swiping right to show they are interested.
BrandSnob co-founder David Duncan says their approach is a great alternative to traditional marketing and quite easy to use.
“Our premise for BrandSnob is to get the conversation started, get people connected and letting them do the rest,” Mr Duncan says.
With the number continuing to rise for brands signing on to the app, the time to become an influencer is now.
Being authentic by posting pictures and stories about your great life might sounds simple, but gaining a strong following is difficult. Influencers put constant work into their posts to make their sites unique and attractive to their followers.
This can involve hiring photographers on a day-to-day basis to travel around the country and in some cases, around the world, to capture the best shots, which Mr Duncan says is common.
“These influencers become brands in their own right so their Instagram page is their business and they will do what they have to do to grow it,” he says.
Regular posting and engagement with your followers was also seen by the BrandSnob team as fundamental to growth on Instagram.
A standout Australian example is Tammy Hembrow, who attracted more than 2.5 million followers while she shared her personal journey to health and fitness, posting her thoughts, photographs, recipes and exercise tips.
Like many successful social media business people, Hembrow uses the platform to promote personal business endeavours as well as making money from product endorsements.
The Gymshark athlete and young mum, based in Queensland, launched her booty exercise program through Instagram.
"I want to teach women how to train for their goals and how to use food as fuel so they can work towards being a stronger, healthier, happier version of themselves," she says on her site.
It's a message of positivity and strength that followers are flocking to.