Coos and cuteness – could your baby become an influencer?
Baby influencers have been around longer than you think. Way before social media actually.
Remember the twin sensations Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen? Well, back in 1987 these adorable babies were signed on the TV series Full House at 6 months old. With an influence built from infancy, the pair later launched their own fashion brand. And today, the Olsen twins now have a combined net worth of over $400 million according to ELLE.
Practically born into fame and influence, these babies had their fortune pretty much set up for them – all thanks to their parents.
So here you are, a parent (or a future parent) contemplating the idea of building a social media influence around your baby and ultimately what could be their future empire.
So let’s explore the exciting possibilities, your responsibilities as the parent, and how you can find collab opportunities on Afluencer.
Pre Influencer: Before You Put Your Baby Online
Posting a cute pic or video of your little one sure sounds easy enough to ring in an audience. Until you run into trouble.
So before we get carried away with the idea of your baby having millions of followers, let’s take a look at some serious considerations you should make before you do anything just yet.
Your Responsibility As The Parent
You are fully responsible for your baby. Social media sensationalism should never overtake your primary responsibility in this situation: which is to parent your baby. Your baby’s well-being and safety are always the top priority before anything else.
Never let building an influence around your baby take away from the early childhood that they have the right to have, and the childhood that they can only live once. Neither should it subtract from the happiness in your family.
What should you do?
Let good parenting morals guide the way.
Laws You Should Be Aware Of
Speaking of rights, you should accustom yourself to the law that applies to your child in this scenario.
The following is an outline of some laws to be aware of. We recommend that you seek professional legal advice about correct compliance with relevant laws in your country.
1. Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act
The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) regulates the online collection of personal information of children under 13 years. Social media platforms and websites are required to comply with COPPA. This act also enforces specific restrictions on the marketing of children under 13.
Since you plan on posting your baby’s content online and collaborating with brands, it’s important to be aware of how COPPA is applicable and what privacy policies and parental consent procedures need to be followed.
2. Child Labor Laws
Every country has its own child labor law that controls the minimum legal age to work but also enforces restrictions on the number of hours that a child may work with parental consent. Child Labor Laws protect the best interests of children to ensure their work activities are not harmful to their mental, physical, social, and moral wellbeing, and do not compromise their right to education.
How does this apply to your baby influencer? Well, the Child Labor Law will kick in if your baby starts “working” on things like campaign photoshoots, media performances, appearances, bookings, etc.
The Child Labor Law regulates what’s permitted as well as required control measures.
3. The Coogan Law / California Child Actor’s Bill
So you get collabs flying for your baby and the money is rolling in. And before you know it, your baby has become the breadwinner of the family. How about that!
Fast-forward 18 years and guess who’s suing you in court? Your very own child. Why? Because you exploited them and spent all their earnings.
True story.
It happened to child actor Jackie Coogan that sued his mother because he was left with practically zero of his childhood earnings by the time he reached adulthood. And then, The Coogan Law came into effect.
This law requires at least 15% of a minor’s earnings to be put away in a blocked trust account.
While this law was initially created with child actors in mind, it was later revised to include entertainment contracts for “actor, actress, dancer, musician, comedian, singer, or other performer or entertainer, or as a writer, director, producer, production executive, choreographer, composer, conductor, or designer”.
Social media brand collab duties certainly fall under some of those categories. So as the parent of the baby influencer, be wise about managing their earnings – not just to comply with the law, but also to safeguard their future financially.
After all the complexities of the law are considered, we can be assured that these regulations exist to protect children and their best interests. They also command a level of respect and care when handling matters of children so as not to exploit them.
Your Child’s Reputation
While your child’s image is at the forefront, it’s really you as the parent and your decisions that ultimately affect their reputation – positively or negatively.
Posting the wrong picture or video, or having a big brand deal fail can be detrimental to your child’s reputation. And always remember that you will be leaving a digital footprint. None of which your baby has a say in. But all of which you created on your own.
Your baby will be a grown-up one day, with their own ambitions. Will your actions in their baby influencer career take away from their future?
Parents, this is how real it can get. Always be mindful of the power you have to make or break their future. So, proceed with care and have their future reputation in mind.
Prepare for The Future of Your Baby Influencer
Speaking of the future, I think many parents need to hear this before they float away with all their cute baby post ideas.
Your baby will not be a baby forever. In fact, your baby becomes a toddler at 12 months old. Poof, just like that. And before you know it, you have a preschooler, then a child, and then a teenager.
The baby stage is short-lived. So as you build a social media audience around your baby now, it helps to have the next stages in mind.
Could your baby grow into the next big child toy reviewer like $26-million YouTuber Ryan Kaji?
Are you prepared for continuity as your baby grows?
And on the flip side, are you prepared to let go of everything should your child show disinterest in the whole social media influencer thing as they grow? Will you be ok with letting go of the millions of followers and collab opportunities because your 4-year-old says no?
Parents, this can happen. Here’s where you need to be their parent first and not get caught up in all the fame and money.
Your baby first. Always.
The Dark Side
Because we’re keeping it real, the dark side of posting minor content on social media needs to be addressed.
Anything from child identity theft to inappropriate use of your baby’s pictures and videos does exist on the internet – which can catch you off guard and can be a traumatic experience to face as a parent.
Pretending that it doesn’t exist won’t make it go away. But being aware of it can guide your online actions.
As soon as you decide to go public with your baby’s content, you can’t control how others may use and consume it beyond the privacy policy of the platform that you post on. But what you can control, is the content that you publish on the internet in the first place.
This brings us to the next point.
What Not to Post
Do your part as a parent and be responsible for what you publish on the internet. Anything you post could compromise your baby’s privacy and safety.
So here are some guiding points on what you shouldn’t post.
Identity information. Steer away from sharing personal details of your baby online. Full names, locations, and school information should be kept strictly private and offline. In fact, it may even be a good idea to create a pseudonym for your baby instead of using their actual name. Besides protecting their identity, a pseudonym may also create a layer of protection for their reputation too.
Naked, bathtime, potty, and body exposing pictures or videos. This should go without saying, but we need to say it loud and clear because some parents are guilty of carelessly posting this kind of stuff. A big NO. Do you need a reminder about the dark side of the internet? Parents, be responsible.
Unsafe content. Fame and hunger for more followers may find people doing things just for the attention, without regard for safety and morals. Be very mindful of the fact that not only are you compromising your child’s safety, but you could be compromising your followers too. Remember that you have an audience of followers that listen and take action on what you do and say. It takes a small careless slipup that could lead to a horrific incident.
You may have heard about the TikTok jump trip challenge created for laughs but went horribly wrong and resulted in deaths.
This is an example of just how things can go wrong when you post unsafe content.
Lead with care and set a safe example for all the baby content you post. Safety for your baby and safety for your audience and their babies too. Always.
Embarrassing content. Posting a video of your baby having a meltdown may be amusing to the internet, but one day your child may not find it amusing at all. They may feel humiliated and may even fall victim to bullying because they got famous for a degrading video you posted of them.
Always be considerate about your child’s feelings before you post anything online.
Baby Influencer Content Ideas
With all the important things said, I think we can now dive into the fun stuff.
Content.
Turning your baby into an influencer is more than just about earning opportunities. It’s an opportunity to inspire and uplift other families. It’s your chance to share value in the baby universe through your experiences.
Need some content inspo?
Here are some baby content niche ideas you could run with:
- Documenting. If you’re unsure about where to start, simply documenting your baby’s development journey is an easy start. Share milestones, challenges, and hacks.
- Humor. There’s a universe of baby and parenting memes. Could your baby be the face of lots of laughs on the internet? This would make a great team effort of baby’s pics and parents’ creative humor talents, don’t you think?
- Travel and activities. Things to do with babies. Baby-friendly places. As well as baby and parenting-related events.
- Nutrition/food. This content pillar can really get interesting and entertaining. Besides giving reviews, how about videos of your baby trying new food products for the first time? The hilarious frowns and the adorable lit-up faces are priceless.
- Natural/organic lifestyle. This is a big niche on its own and you could be the source of inspiration and support to other parents motivated to live a baby-friendly organic lifestyle.
- Health. Are you a health professional or a health enthusiast that could share your baby’s health? Baby fitness and exercise? Or maybe your baby has a particular health ailment and you could share your experience with the world to help others that may be in the same boat.
- Fashion. Fashion never gets old. Even with babies. Adorable outfits for days. Need I say more?
- Play. This one will be super fun for your baby because anytime is playtime. From toys to games, your social media feed could be a super fun playground.
- Education. Baby books and learning programs are such valuable content pieces to share with other parents. Hey, even baby learning apps would be brilliant to share with followers.
- Home & family lifestyle. Baby safety, baby decor, sibling dynamics, mental health, and family wellness make for practical content topics that could appeal to many families.
As you can see here, there are many exciting directions you could take with your baby’s content.
Be guided by what works best for your baby and your existing family lifestyle. One thing may not work all the time.
Don’t put a strain on your baby trying to force particular content. Allow the flexibility for change. Keep it easy, calm, and fun.
Get Baby Brand Collaboration Opportunities
Now that your baby content is flying, I’m sure you’re thrilled for your little one’s first debut brand collab.
Where do you start? Afluencer is where you start. Afluencer has a growing network of brands looking to collaborate with baby and family influencer profiles.
Sign up to get the latest baby brand collaboration opportunities like these Lovable Baby Brands Looking for Influencers and Top Children’s Clothing Brands Looking for Influencers.
Your Baby, The Next Rising Social Media Influencer Star
What’s especially unique about baby influencers is that they are as organic and genuine as they get. You can’t script their smile. You can’t script their enthusiasm about a toy or an activity. And you certainly can’t fake their dislike of something.
A baby will just be a baby. Baby content carries an authenticity that isn’t as common in other influencer groups. Which presents an interesting opportunity for the possible niches you could venture into that could inspire some awesome brand collaborations.
After considering all the laws and taking careful precautionary measures, creating and sharing amazing content of your baby is an opportunity to be a positive influence on topics that you’re passionate about.
Inspire parents that share similar interests, share value with your social media community, build earnings for your little one, and most importantly have a fun experience with your baby.