Social media influencers

Read a blogpost about the impact of social media influencers in the business world to practise and improve your reading skills.

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Preparation

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Reading text

It is estimated that about 40 per cent of the world’s population use social media, and many of these billions of social media users look up to influencers to help them decide what to buy and what trends to follow.

So what is an influencer and how do we become one?

An influencer is a person who can influence the decisions of their followers because of their relationship with their audience and their knowledge and expertise in a particular area, e.g. fashion, travel or technology.

Influencers often have a large following of people who pay close attention to their views. They have the power to persuade people to buy things, and influencers are now seen by many companies as a direct way to customers’ hearts. Brands are now asking powerful influencers to market their products. With some influencers charging up to $25,000 for one social media post, it is no surprise that more and more people are keen to become influencers too. If you are one of them, then here are five tips on how to do it.

1. Choose your niche

What is the area that you know most about? What do you feel most excited talking about? Find the specific area that you’re most interested in and develop it.

2. Choose your medium and write an interesting bio

Most influencers these days are bloggers and micro-bloggers. Decide which medium – such as your own online blog, Instagram or Snapchat – is the best way to connect with your followers and chat about your niche area. When you have done that, write an attention-grabbing bio that describes you and your speciality area in an interesting and unique way. Make sure that people who read your bio will want to follow you.

3. Post regularly and consistently

Many influencers post daily on their social media accounts. The more you post, the more likely people will follow you. Also, ensure that your posts are consistent and possibly follow a theme.

4. Tell an interesting story

Whether it is a photo or a comment that you are posting, use it to tell a story that will catch the attention of your followers and help them connect with you.

5. Make sure people can easily find your content

Publicise your posts on a variety of social media, use hashtags and catchy titles and make sure that they can be easily found. There is no point writing the most exciting blogposts or posting the most attractive photographs if no one is going to see them.

Most importantly, if you want to become a social media influencer, you need to have patience. Keep posting and your following will gradually increase. Good luck!

Task 1

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Task 2

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Discussion

Do you know of any social media influencers? What are their niche areas?

If you became a social media influencer, what medium would you use and what would you post about?

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Language level

B1 Intermediate

I know a lot of social media influencers. Their niche areas are language, makeup, fashion, travel, health etc. I always use Instagram, most influencers are posting their own topic and also their daily life. As mentioned in the article, when I look up somethings I want to know, I use some hashtags to find out. If I became a social media influencer, I would use Instagram or YouTube and post about recommended movies and maybe my daily life. But I think it is difficult to continue them. so I need keep making an effort.

Although I don't know much about influencers, I've ever heard of there are some high school students earning huge rewards using social media, e.g. Instagram or Twitter. I reckon that it has been coming to a new era.

I don't know any social media influencers, but I know many politicians and journalists who have a lot of followers. For example, in Afghanistan, some parliament members, presidential advisors, artists, singers, and athletes have more than ten thousands of followers on Facebook or Twitter. But relevant to this title, they don't usually encourage people to buy something from exact companies or maybe I don't know about such things. In fact, if I become an influencer in social media, I prefer Facebook. This is because I think Facebook users are increasing at the time. On the other hand, using Facebook is more easy than the other social medias. Moreover, some people who cannot use Instagram and so on, they can easily use Facebook. For the last part of question, I prefer to write in the field of criminal law and human rights. I have M.A. in criminal law and and also I teach human rights. I love studying and writing on these subjects. Regards, Tayyebi

a lot of celebrities are kind of an influencer right now,but there are some people posts stuff about a star or a celebrity that dont use sns apps,so the fans of them will go follow the account that post stuff about someone got the pictures of this celebs,or when and where this celebs are going to be on tv.

I subscribed to a ton of influencers on Youtube, some of them perform the niche area is a lifestyle, education, health and expertise finance. If one day I become a social media influencer I will also use Youtube as my main channel to show my lifestyle, that is what I interest to do it.

Yes I know many influencers. They have their own niche. The one that I most like is gadget's influencers becuase they can make me to more understand about gadget and also help me when I wanna buy gadget. If I become influencer, I would like to become content creator in education.

I know a lot of influencers, their niche are fashion, cooking ..

I know there are many influencers in social media, I specially follow and like a lot one guy whose niche area is about cooking and also I follow a priest who posts religious content of course. If I became an influencer I think I'd prefer the written media and I'd post reflections about the daily life.

Social media influenza? Most importantly, if you want to become a social media influenza, you need to have patience. Keep posting and your following will gradually increase. Good luck!