#CosmoHustle2018 Career Workshop Had An Excellent Panel of Guests, Delicious Bubbly and Thought provoking Content
The #CosmoHustle2018 Career Workshop: Influencer Edition, focused on how to make money using social media.
The workshop included fabulous speakers, daring outfits and delicious bubbly from Boschendal Wines. Not to mention an enlightening make up tutorial from MINA and a fabulous goodie bag to take home!
The diverse speaker line up included:
– Three of South Africa’s top influencers:
– Brand Manager of a notable brand (Boschendal Wines)
– Digital Law Expert Emma Sadlier
I wish I took better notes than I did. As Aisha Baker said, ‘just record everything’ (and I clearly did not).
[bctt tweet=”#CosmoHustle2018 Career Workshop Influencer edition shed light on the influencer career path in South Africa. Here are my 15 take aways from the workshop.” username=”cherralle_”]
Related Post: The Side Hustle – 6 Things You Need To Get Your Game On
I found the day incredibly valuable. There are two angles I looked at it:
1) One if you are a blogger/ influencer who wants to monetize their blog / social media
2) You are not a blogger/ influencer, but you want to gain knowledge of how you can use social media for your work, business and personal brand.
Here are my top 15 key take-aways. Ten are relevant to a blogger/ influencer. Five take-aways pertain to an individual who wants to you use social media to build their business or personal brand. The latter part is based on the presentation delivered by Emma Sadlier.
Cosmo Hustle 2018 Influencer Edition: Key Take-Aways for Bloggers/ Influencers
1. Be patient, building your voice takes time
Building your unique voice and brand takes time.
When you start building your voice and your brand on your blog or your social media platforms, it will take time to evolve into your niche. What makes YOU Stand out, takes time to develop.
Therefore, it is okay to change as you evolve. You do not need to stick to what you thought you were going to be, two years ago.
However, don’t be all over the place.
2. Be patient (yes again). Investment is required
In the beginning, you will be expected to invest money in yourself.
Such as a website, products you want to display, doing work for free or product exchange. This is a standard part of developing your track record and relationships.
All three social media influencers followed this route at the start of their journeys.
3. Engage with your community
Engagement is a key metric. Again, Sbahle, Aisha, and Kefelwe all shared that it is essential to engage with their followers. As big as their followings are they make an effort (although it does get overwhelming due to the size of their followings).
If you are not receiving engagement from your followers, you need to look at what you are putting in. You do not have 100K plus followers, so engage.
4. Engage with brands you love
Engage with brands you love. Tweet or DM them. In many cases, being a fan of a brand can pave the way for future collaboration.
5. Brands stalk bloggers and influencers. Engagement (yes likes and comments) count.
Likes and comments on your Instagram posts count. A brand manager or PR will stalk you on social media to get to know you.
- In short, is your audience engaged?
- How many likes and comments do you get per post relative to your following size?
- Are your values and image aligned to the brand?
- Are you engaged in a relationship with any competitor brands?
- Brand ‘junkie’ and working with a different brand every week?
To sum up, these are a few considerations before an influencer is selected by a brand.
6. Brand + The Right Influencer = Magic!
1+ 1 = 3. A brand has a limited budget and requires a return on investment.
A brand plus the right influencer collaborating creates a ‘butterfly effect’.
In essence, the collaboration brings the brand and its consumers more than what the brand could have delivered on its own.
An influencer makes a brand come alive and creates a connection with an audience.
Proven ability or potential to deliver the ‘magic’ is what a brand is looking for when considering partnering with an influencer. A relevant and engaged following is required.
7. Be authentic
Authenticity emerged as a common theme throughout every single presentation.
Be you, do you.
Log off. Go engage and talk to people. Watch people. Be inspired by people ‘outside of social media’ and be you.
8. Stand out, don’t do what everyone else is doing
When a key trend emerges, always put your unique spin on it. Or go the other way. Whatever works for you.
Haters are going to hate when they see you do this. Keep it moving.
9. Reach out to brands but be prepared for rejection
Don’t be afraid to reach out to a brand manager and pitching an idea. Or requesting to be put on their media list. Charge your rates, but be open to negotiation. Building a relationship with a brand manager.
If you are going to do some work for free, make it count. You can negotiate that based on results any future work is paid.
10. Be consistent
Create consistency so that your followers know what to expect. If you post once or twice a day, or once every other day, stick to it.
Pay attention to which posts (blog and social) gain traction, and do more of those posts.
Cosmo Hustle 2018: Key Take Outs for Building Your Personal Online brand
1. Prospective employers will stalk you on online
I wrote previously about the role of social media in hiring decisions, on the Girl Boss Haven blog. Ensure that you maintain an authentic and positive online persona.
Remember, you do not want to be ‘ghost town’ as well, you want to have a presence. I spoke about the importance of an online profile in this post pertaining to 10 job hunting secrets.
2. Think before you tweet
If you do not put it on a Billboard, do not put it on social media (or on WhatsApp apparently – see point 5 too). Bottom line, do not be an awful human being in any context. Chances are, someone is recording it or taking a screenshot!
[bctt tweet=”Bottom line, do not be an awful human being in any context. Chances are, someone is recording it or taking a screenshot! #cosmohustle2018 #socialmedialaw” username=”cherralle_”]
Related Post: 10 Job Hunting Tips You May Not Have Heard About Until Now
3. Protect your online profile
If you share, forward or retweet something that is derogatory or discriminatory in any way – it is just as well you wrote it. You take accountability for sharing this message.
4. Be careful about what you say about your employer
Never address any matters relating to your employer on a public platform. Unfortunately, this can lead to dire consequences for an employee and an employer brand. There are too any examples, just google it.
5. Whatsapp groups count as a public platform
I was surprised about this as well. Always think before you press send. To be clear, saying the wrong thing in a WhatsApp Group can land you in hot water too.
Furthermore, not leaving an inappropriate WhatsApp group or voicing your disapproval for certain remarks can also land you in hot water.
I recommend checking out the Digital Law Company’s website and following Emma Sadlier on twitter to stay in the loop on social media law.
In Closing
Overall, the #CosmoHustle2018 Workshop certainly elevated the discussion about influencer marketing.
Influencer marketing is not on the high priority list of marketing spend. However, based on what the panel shared , it is moving up the ladder.
I look forward to the next CosmoHustle Workshop!
Featured Image credit: Vibescout
Post Images Credit: scoopnest
Wow this is so awesome!! Thanks so much for sharing this. Having patience is definitely something I need to work on and constantly remind myself of.
An important lesson that it takes patience, consistency and “self investment”. What these ladies went through shows it is possible 🙌🏼
Thank you Mama for sharing. This was very informative.
Thank you londy 🙂
I love these great lessons. One thing I know is social media can build you and destroy you at the same time depending on how you use it.It is vital to know what and what not to share on social media because indeed there are employers out there watching.
Indeed- it is such a critical aspect and needs to be treated with care. The ‘billboard Test’ – don’t put it out if you don’t want want it on a billboard