From Student To An Influencer: A Guide to Writing Your Marketing Plan

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Technology has created many opportunities for monetizing your time and knowledge. Since Instagram was launched, the job of being an influencer has appeared on the market, and influencer marketing popularity is rising. If you possess the ability to influence others and the knowledge to pass on, then you are probably thinking of becoming one. 

But in a market saturated with influencers, how can you become one that stands out from the crowd and keeps its followers engaged? Well, this is easy. By writing your marketing plan and doing it right. You might have heard about marketing plans if you are a student in college in a marketing or business field. Or, if you have started an internship at a company. Usually, students think that only organizations and companies, and famous people might have a marketing plan. 

But the truth is, influencers have it too. And it helps them tremendously, as they can follow their objectives easily and accomplish them successfully. The online world is in constant change, and so is the world of marketing, which heavily relies on it. New strategies and tools appear, so this environment is adjusting permanently. 

But how do you get from a student to an influencer? How do you write your marketing plan? Here are some suggestions. 

How do you get from a student to an influencer?

#1 Defining and Writing Your Goals 

One of the first things you need to do is to define your goals. Of course, your main goal might be to attract your target audience and increase your follower base. But you can also have the goal of catching the attention of distinct brands that can support you, or that might want to collaborate with you. Knowing your goals will help you set and define the actions you need to take to reach them. Your goals will define your next steps, but will also guide your actions in the future. This is something any college student should do. Not only learn and study but set educational goals to achieve. And if you encounter challenges along the road, an essay helper can help you write your papers and study for exams. If you know your goals, you will then need to define what you need to do to accomplish them. 

Starting this influencer journey without having any goals will not take you anywhere. Lots of college students get enthusiastic about being an influencer, so they only sign up for an account on a social media platform, and they start posting. Understanding the importance of having a marketing plan that will coordinate all your actions is crucial. It is essential to know that setting goals and objectives will only help you take the right actions toward achieving them. 

Being an influencer seems easy: you only take photos and post them online along with a piece of content. But you can do much more than this. You can inspire and motivate people, but you need to know how to do it so that you succeed. The truth is, it is not easy to be an influencer. But it is such a rewarding thing to do. To see that you manage to increase your follower base and build a loyal community that is motivated by you. A community that is willing to go beyond the traditional and seek and discover themselves. 

#2 Defining the Audience 

This might be a challenging step you need to pay attention to when you write your marketing plan. You know your goals, so now you need to decide what your target audience is. This involves making a user persona, or more if you need to, you address to. 

You need to know about their demographics, but also their pain points and needs you plan to solve. People are looking for value and genuine interaction nowadays, and knowing exactly what your target audience needs is crucial. This way, you can tie your marketing goals to your target audience and define both of them as accurately as possible. 

#3 Knowing Your Budget 

There are many options for increasing your influencer’s awareness on social media platforms, as you can pay for ads promoting your posts. However, it would be wise to define your budget before you start any promotional campaign. You can invest how much money you want and can, but knowing your budget will help you set the ads so that you do not exceed it. 

There are many types of ads you can set. You can pay per click or impression, so the budget may differ depending on your choices. You also set the ads to reach your target audience, so you need to know their demographics and interests. Many influencers use these promoting tools to make their accounts known to their target audience and increase their popularity, which is normal. 

If you have tools that can help you reach the people who would be interested in what you have to say, why not use them? A lot of college students are tempted into doing this, but they miss setting a budget to limit their actions. This budget will help you decide what type of ad is best for you, and also to find innovative ways to accomplish your goals without exceeding your budget. The budget part is essential in a marketing plan, so make sure you do not skip it. 

#4 Social Media Platforms 

You have so many options for social media platforms where you can set up your account and become an influencer. However, each of them is distinct, and your marketing strategy depends on the platform you choose. Even though you might feel you want to be present in them all, this might not be an easy thing to do. 

It would be wise to start with one of them and then extend to the others too. The template of the post is distinct from platform to platform, so it would take you a lot of time and effort to customize it for every platform. This decision should be made depending on the profile of your target audience too. Where do they spend most of their online time? You want to reach them, so you need to be where they are. 

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#5 Analyzing Other Influencers 

One of the things you need to do when you want to write your marketing plan for becoming an influencer is to analyze what others do. This does not mean that you copy them, but knowing how other types of influencers have started their careers and how they have managed to gather so many followers, will help you know what actions you need to take. Influencers, as the name suggests, have the power to influence people. 

But for this, they need to keep their community loyal to them. So, this is another aspect you should take a look into. As there are many influencers you can follow online, the platforms might feel a little bit saturated. So, you need to make a difference, you need to stand out from the crowd and find ways to keep your followers engaged. Analyzing what other influencers do will give you details on many aspects of this career, things you can explore and detail in your marketing plan. 

#6 Always Update Your Marketing Plan 

The thing is, the online world is in constant change. New platforms appear, which leads to new marketing strategies. You can do many things to keep your followers engaged, and new ideas might strike you on the way. Even your goals might change along the way, so it is crucial to keep your marketing plan updated. Always take time to review your goals and your progress toward them. 

Keep an eye on what other influencers do, as this might inspire you to change your strategy or do new things that expand your audience. Being an influencer is nice as you get lots of collaborations and can also find like-minded people. But it also involves a great deal of effort and time, and you must pay attention to all the marketing changes. It might not feel easy at times, but it is so rewarding when you see yourself create a loyal community around you that is constantly expanding and appreciating your efforts.

#7 Measuring Progress

As an influencer, you have set your goals and objectives, but how do you know you have achieved them? How do you know your strategy is working? Well, you need to set some metrics you follow all the time so that you measure your progress accurately. 

This is essential as it will help you adjust your marketing strategy on the go if something is not working. The needs and pain points of your target audience might change along the way, and to keep it engaged, you need to speak to them. You need to answer their needs and meet them halfway so that they will continue to follow you. 

#8 Genuine Interactions 

Being genuine is one of the most important things in your marketing strategy and your job as an influencer. Social media nowadays boosts the image of perfection, where influencers always look awesome and great and talk only about success. Of course, this depends on your goals and objectives, but you must keep your community loyal to you. And one effective way to do this is to be genuine. People want genuine interactions, they want to feel understood, and they want to read or see things they can relate to. 

You may choose to focus on beauty, lifestyle, or traveling, but always keep in mind that everything you post online needs to actually speak to your audience. How can you do this? Well, there are a few things you can put into practice. You can show a lot of behind-the-scenes things or bloopers while filming the reels and videos for your account. You can post pictures and videos when you do not wear your best clothes or make-up. You can talk about the challenges of being an influencer, and you faced them, not only about your success story. 

This can help your community get closer to you and become more loyal as you show your real face. Many students think that to be an influencer of success, you must always look perfect. You must always talk about nice things. But the truth is you have to talk about failure too. And you should not be afraid you will not inspire people. These stories told from the heart, are more powerful, inspirational, and motivational than successful ones. 

No one is perfect, and promoting it will not make your community loyal. It will only create a false expectation for anyone to be, and for sure, you want to promote an accurate and true view. So, aim for genuine interactions and show the real you, it can be more inspirational. Reflect on this in your goals and objectives. 

Once you take all the above-mentioned steps, you can be a qualified influencer and get paid. Many brands are out there looking for influencers to help them expand their reach by running influencer marketing campaigns.

So, if you, as an influencer, are looking for the fastest way to explore and find brand campaigns and collaborate with brands easily, you can take advantage of an influencer marketplace like Ainfluencer.

Ainfluencer helps both brands and influencers connect and collaborate. Influencers can explore thousands of brand campaigns, make offers, negotiate their terms, close deals, etc., using Ainfluencer.

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Final Thoughts 

Are you a student who wants to become an influencer? You are probably thinking about what you should do to reach that stage. You will find a lot of pieces of advice and suggestions online, but one of the most essential things is to write your marketing plan. This helps you define your goals, but also research your audience and know what they are looking for and expecting from an influencer. This way, you can adjust your actions and choose the right social media platform to begin your influencer journey. 

Look into what other influencers are doing. You might find your inspiration there, but you can also get a glimpse into how to create loyal communities. As marketing and the internet is changing constantly, make sure you keep your marketing plan up to date, as you might find new strategies that are more suited for your goals and objectives. Always measure your progress and aim for genuine interactions, as this is what people are looking forward to in a world where perfection and fake interactions are normal. 

Cyrus Nambakhsh

Cyrus is a serial entrepreneur, product-led-growth expert, a product visionary who launched 7 startups. He has built scalable platforms to help businesses and entrepreneurs. Contact: Cyrus@ainfluencer.com