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

Yes, I know some social media influencers. I like to use Instagram and often watch it. There are many niche area for Instagram influencers. For example, interior, clothes and travel. Instagram is an app that the person shares pictures and let people see them, so every influencers are obsessive about how to take pictures to make the products they want to advertise look better. They not only take attractive pictures but also write skillful comments. For example, in the food post,"If you don't eat, you lose." and in the skincare post,"I don't want to tell anymore because it's too comfortable!" If I become a influencer, I would post about food or cosmetics.

I know a lot of social media influencers. There are many kinds of niche areas. For example, art, fashion, food, music and so on. I often use Twitter and Youtube. I see many famous people’s account. They usually post about their hobby and daily life. Sometimes, they advertise the goods at the request of the company. Some of them make a living from the advertising fees they receive from companies. They have great influence, so the advertised goods sell well. I’ve bought goods they advertise. If I become a social media influencer, I want to advertise many goods requests of companies and get a lot of advertising fees.

There are a lot of so-called social media influencers in my country and most of them chose a political area for their business. It's a hot topic in my country because we have many different conflicts inside and a war in add. So many of us pay huge attention to what the influencers post in social media. Sadly but true, that most of them came to be the traitors and all their posts, blogs, thoughts, etc turn out to be a fake or even propaganda. In this case, I try to be careful about choosing the influencer to follow and rely on mostly my own opinions and knowledge.

Yes, I do. I usually use Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. There are influencers introducing various things. For example, clothes, games, toys, cosmetics, and much more. And the ones I like the most are the people who post dogs. I love both dog photos and videos. If I became a social media influencer, I would like to post a healing video of a cute dog. I am on the side of being healed by such videos and photos, but I want to go to the side of healing someday. It’s a difficult to keep a pet, I’ll be patient with the dog’s post.

Yes, I know. For example, Instagramers. There are many people who introduce about trend of fashion on Instagram. I often see their post and check the trend items. I refer to their post before I buy new clothes. There is an other example. Some people introduce about how to diet.

Where will the ad company go in the future?

Yes I do. Mostly I use Instagram and Youtube as a social media in everyday life. Especially, my favorite influencer is the person who post a lot of picture of his or her cat on instagram. The person post only cat's pictures or story. So I'm not sure the people's gender. And I'm always healed by them. If I become a social influencer, I wanna post about my cat and heal someone like me.

I know that. Recently, social media influencers are increasing through Instagram and Twitter. I am also using Instagram. There are various influencers who introduce clothes, cafes, remakes of rooms, and so on. I'm also searching for a cafe on Instagram. I wondered why they could be influencers. I think that the best important things for Influencers is posting similar subject. This makes followers interested. In addition, I think that the photos we post are important. If I became a social influencer, I would post my daily fashion on Instagram. Because I like clothes. But in reality, I don't want to be an influencer because I'm embarrassed.

I know an influencer who is expert about "Ramen". He is a youtuber, and he eat ramen almost every day. He go around Japan for different ramen. I like his movies. The more I watch his movies, I feel like eating ramen so much. If I came to be an influencer, I want to be an expert about ramen as he do. I want to eat ramen every day tasting different type of ramen every time.

I often see that people called influencers on social media these days. Especially now that we have less to go out, their advertisements are most noticeable than advertisements in the city. In fact, I’ve seen their posts and bought stuff. I got stuck in a corporate trap. Probably there are many people who have become like me. I have a habit of buying too much online store. So from now on, I have to try to be careful not to get into that hand too much. I don’t want to be an influencer myself, but I think I’ll be a follower who will continue to be influenced.