When I started blogging again in 2016, the influencer wasn’t one many had heard of or would consider their profession. Youtube was still at its peak. And blogging, well it was starting to change into the space we now all know and love. But as I’ve spent more time online in the last few years and have seen so many aspiring influencers step onto the various platforms, I’ve felt an urge to start a series that hopefully provides a bit of transparency as well as the tools on how to do this successfully.
So welcome to the first installment of the business of being influential. I’m your host Savannah aka Savvy. And today I’m going to give you a peek behind the curtain of what I, as an established creator, see working and have learned long term. I’m going to share my goals as well as the $$$ of things. And while I have no intention of being the influencer’s influencer (you know the people who tell you how to do this job without actually doing it), I do want to create the space I so desperately needed when I started.
The Business Of Being Influential
The Stats
Now I can’t very well tell you that I am an influencer without giving you a look at the numbers. As of July 1st, here are the numbers for What Savvy Said.
Instagram – 13,431
The Blog – 10,613
Pinterest – 4,927
Tiktok – 172
Youtube – 346
Email List – 334
The Money
What I Earned
There are lots of ways to earn money as an influencer. These are the ways I earned money this month.
Affiliate Income
Pinterest Creator Fund
Instagram Reels Creator Fund
Ad Revenue
Gifted Product
Monthly Expenses
As my business has grown, I’ve found that investing in my business returns 10x fold. I’ve had lots of trial and error with this (let me know in the comments below if you’d like a blog on it). But these are the things I spent money on this month.
Fiverr (I love Fiverr for the odd project or to test things I don’t have the time to learn)
Website Management
Misc Social Media Bits (hashtagslayer, tubebuddy, buzzsprout)
Quickbooks
PO Box
And More
What Worked This Month
The Blog
I’ve seen quite a few people talking about Google stories in the blogging Facebook groups for a while now. There are a lot of management services available but I really wanted to find a lower-cost way to test this for WSS so I opted for a freelancer on Fiverr. I saw a significant increase in traffic for a short period with this so it’s definitely piqued my interest.
Tiktok
I’m slowly getting my sea legs here but I find that creating evergreen content with other daily pieces has been great so far. I have intentions to do a lot more testing and manifesting with this platform over the next month.
Youtube
I’ve had a love/hate relationship with Youtube over the years. Truthfully, there’s a major shift happening here right now. Those tuning into Youtube content tend to treat it more like tv. I’ve found that shorts have been a great way to grow our community while helping me to solidify the style niche that I’ve been transitioning into for the last few months.
I’m very much approaching Youtube from an intuitive place as I consider myself a storyteller over a content creator so I don’t think I can fully explain my tactics here. But I’ll keep you posted.
There was a month last week when I felt like I’d hit the Instagram wall everyone was talking about. Whether it was due to my own energetic frustrations or the universe inviting me to try something new with the platform, I found a major breakthrough that has been amazing.
There are two things that tend to perform best for me as well as other creators – reels & carousel posts. However, I saw a post I knew was fire do absolutely terrible the other day. So I decided to run an ad for it. I don’t do this often but I felt led to try it and it did SO WELL. It’s something I’ll potentially do again as I’ve found building the midsize style part of our community a bit challenging. But I’m quite happy with the results here.
Full disclosure, I have very little to do with Pinterest these days. Thank heavens. When Tiktok was coming out strong, Pinterest decided to change its entire game. As a blogger, it’s a great tool for me. And my Pinterest manager and her team are amazing at what they do. If you’re looking to get help, they offer different packages as well as lots of free content to help you do it better on your own.
If there’s anything most of us will tell you that is essential to running your business as a creator, it’s having an email list as well as a website. I have a few opt-ins that run on the blog but I have this on my list to focus on over the new few months. However, thanks to the google stories push, I did see quite an increase in people joining my email list this month.
July Goals
Mindset Mindset Mindset
I celebrated turning 32 before this post went live and a lot has clicked in place for me recently. Specifically, just how powerful mindset is when it comes to running your business. No one ever has a guarantee that it will work out. This has been amazing at helping me shake off some of the doubt energy I’ve felt in my life.
So along with some morning routine tweaks, I’m setting a goal to be more intentional with my affirmations daily. To claim the life that I want for myself. And to be gentle with myself in the process.
Start Out Sourcing Things
It’s a goal of mine to really level up everything for WSS while still maintaining a strong connection with our community. But in order to do all the things I want to do and sleep, I need help. There are a handful of things that I do that I don’t necessarily need to be the one doing. So one of my goals this month is to start utilizing a VA. Again, I’ll probably use Fiverr as a way to test this before opting to sign with a bigger service.
I’d also love to start exploring working with a video editor to give myself the time to focus on the larger stories I want to tell. But also to be able to add the details I want that I don’t necessarily have the brain space for when I’m trying to do all the things.
Focus On Building Tiktok
This is a very intuitive thing for me. Tiktok feels like a great space to really do what works for you while also combining what works for your niche. I’m not sure that I can give you my plan here but I’ll be sure to recap what worked next month. For now, I’m excited to continue playing in a new space.
Continue What’s Working For Youtube & Instagram
For Youtube, I tend to use a mix of SEO strategies as well as fun headlines for content. I haven’t been as great with outlining videos recently and there’s some formatting I want to play with in regards to style videos but I’m fairly happy with what I think will work next month.
For Instagram, well I have a rough idea of what works for me so we’re going to continue to do that. I’ve always been a fan of mixing raw, authentic energy with the aesthetically pleasing stuff. Remember we’re looking at the long game here. Growing massive overnight is great but if you don’t have the depth, you won’t sustain your community when the next trend hits.
More Sponsored Content
One of the advantages of having done this for 6 years is that I understand more now than ever how to make sponsored content work with what I want to create. I’m not the best at pitching. I am an excellent manifestor. My goal this month is to secure more sponsored partnerships as well as gifted stays and the products needed to create the best for the WSS community.
So there we have it friends, a raw look at all things influential in June of 2022. If you have questions or a blog post request, let me know in the comments below. And if you’re also a creator, I’d love to know what’s working for you this right now! Let us know in the comments below.
Be sure to come follow me in all the places: Instagram, Tiktok, Youtube, Pinterest. And sign up for our weekly newsletter so you don’t miss a thing. Until next time. Xoxo, Savvy
