Why Create Content on YouTube?

First things first: Let’s talk about why creators and influencers should focus on YouTube as a distribution channel.

While TikTok’s popularity has soared in recent years, YouTube continues to be a reliable channel for distribution. It promises visibility and organic growth to creators repurposing content from different platforms.

What’s more: creating content on YouTube has many benefits, such as…

Multi-language Audio to Widen Reach

Multi-language audio is one of YouTube’s latest features to let creators add audio tracks in different languages. On top of auto-translated captions, this feature allows you to reach a global audience and deliver content in their native language. The result? Higher reach and increased watch time. Look at this feature in action on MrBeast’s YouTube channel:

Means to Build & Engage a Community of Followers

Unlike other social media platforms, YouTube has always placed more emphasis on community-building. With memberships, creators can monetize their community and engage better with their subscribers. Many creators are also posting original content to give members exclusive privileges. For example, Swagg’s membership offers subscribers a chance to play with the gamer:

Greater Visibility via YouTube SEO

Another great advantage of creating content on YouTube is the share of traffic you can win by optimizing your channel and videos. Having a YouTube SEO strategy can boost rankings in search results, which means more views and long-term traffic. By capturing traffic for several strategic keywords, you can gradually level up your performance with higher watch time, more subscribers, and greater engagement.

Increased Revenue as a Casual Creator with Shorts

Creators can replicate Jake Fellman’s success on YouTube by posting Shorts, which are a section dedicated to short-form video content on the app. This is an opportunity to distribute content from Instagram and TikTok to get more views and boost engagement. In fact, the number of channels uploaded to Shorts daily on YouTube grew by over 80% in 2022. Muaaz, a YouTube creator and strategist, predicts the potential of Shorts for creators:

Enjoy More Monetization Options to Maximize Earnings

YouTube has expanded its monetization capabilities for creators in many ways. Your earning potential goes beyond ads with additional avenues like subscriptions, shopping, and digital goods. Jin Yong-jin, a South Korean creator, multiplied his revenue by adding over 30,000 members to his channel in seven months.

One thing is clear: YouTube can help you level up your creator business by building a deeper connection with your audience and increasing your earning potential. Wondering how to get started on the platform? Next, we’ll share a fail-proof framework.

How to Start Your YouTube Channel: A Quick and Actionable Guide

There’s no shortage of advice on how to start a YouTube channel. But with so many varying tips and best practices for starting your channel, it can get overwhelming when you’re trying to filter the right advice and create your action plan.

We did the legwork for you to create this short and actionable guide on starting a YouTube channel with only the most essential steps. Let’s dive in.

1. Determine your niche and build a foundational strategy

The first piece of the puzzle is finding topics you’re passionate about and creating a strategy around them.

To succeed as a YouTube creator, you need to consistently publish niche content with unique insights and appeal. So, if you pick a niche randomly—or worse—don’t pick one at all, you’re setting yourself up for failure.

“When it comes to being a creator, the quality of your content is just as important as the quantity. Far too many people advise just to post six times a day, but that doesn’t mean anything if the quality of what you are doing isn’t up to par. Quality matters in terms of storytelling, editing choices, and even the length of a video.”

Chris Lawrence, YouTube Creator

Picking a niche requires research and self-analysis. You need to know the competition and visibility for any niche you choose. Here are five questions to consider when finalizing your niche:

• How much do you already know about [your niche]?
• What other creators are already producing content in [your niche]?
• How will you position yourself to differentiate your channel from others?
• Will you enjoy creating unique content and sourcing insights for [your niche]?
• What’s the traffic volume for some of the most and least popular keywords in [your niche]?

With this prep work, you can decide the best option for your channel. Try experimenting with multiple inter-related niches and then picking the best-performing one.

Once you’ve narrowed down your niche, focus on setting the groundwork for your channel. This means performing market and audience research to guide your content strategy in the next steps. This initial research will prepare you to create high-quality content targeted at your ideal viewers.

2. Outline goals and benchmarks for your channel

Creating a YouTube channel is a lot like going on a road trip. Without an itinerary of where you’re headed, you might get lost in the middle of the journey.

For YouTube creators, an itinerary includes a set of goals, milestones, and metrics that will help evaluate success. This roadmap helps creators plan content to help achieve those goals and prevents them from going off track and delaying their growth targets.

“My first 30 days, I posted a video every single day on YouTube. This was back in 2020, before Shorts. Each video was around two to eight minutes long. It was a ton of work, but ‘putting in the reps’ was wildly helpful to learn what worked. For YouTube particularly, I think if you base your topics on SEO keyword research, it’s a no-brainer to help you start ranking. Quality will come. Perfection is what kills 99% of new channels, in my opinion.”

Dara Denney, YouTube expert

Here are a few best practices to determine the goals, milestones, and metrics for your YouTube channel:

• Look at your direct competitors and map their growth to set basic benchmarks for yourself.
• Create a big-picture vision for your channel to define where you want your channel to be in a few years.
• Break down this big picture into realistic and time-bound goals—these can be a set of quarterly or yearly goals.
• Go deeper to establish smaller milestones and timelines for every goal to ensure you have a clear game plan for achieving these goals.
• Do a risk analysis and survey fellow creators to identify potential challenges you might face and create a mitigation plan.
• Select relevant metrics for every goal and set a review workflow to monitor your progress.

Remember: goal-setting isn’t a one-and-done process. You have to revisit your goals and milestones as you move forward and modify them to push harder instead of becoming comfortable.

3. Design an airtight content strategy and start creating

When you know your target audience and core topics, chalk out an in-depth content strategy to create meaningful content.

Listing your preferred topics for an entire week or month at once and batch-creating content can help you maintain a steady momentum and stick to your publishing schedule without breaking a sweat. That’s the mantra Matt Gray follows for publishing content across platforms, including YouTube.

Follow these actionable tips on creating your YouTube content strategy:

• Define your core content pillars and list the main goals for each video—educate, inspire, and entertain.

• Outline the guiding principles for your content based on what you want to achieve with your channel—build awareness, create a community, maximize revenue, and more.

• Decide and divide your topics into these categories:

• Create a distribution plan to maximize visibility for your content by sharing it on different channels in other formats.

Put simply, a content strategy prevents you from shooting in the dark. It encourages consistency and streamlines your content creation and distribution workflows.

“I try to leverage other platforms like my blog, email, and Instagram to share my new YouTube videos. I use my Community tab (although not consistently) to tease a new video and spark conversations. It’s also wise to try to answer each reply, as it helps build community.”

Elna Cain, YouTube Creator

4. Create, verify, and optimize your YouTube account

Now that you’ve created a fail-proof roadmap for your YouTube channel, it’s time to create an account and get the ball rolling.

Sign up on the platform or log into an existing account. Go to the menu on the right and hit the Create channel option. Follow the prompts to set up your account and then customize the layout. Add your branding to the channel with a profile photo, banner, about section, and more. You can also customize your channel’s URL when you collect 100+ subscribers.

Once these basic details are in order, focus on verifying your account. Note that account verification isn’t the same as the verification badge you receive on crossing 100k followers.

Verify your YouTube channel to prove the validity of your contact information to upload custom thumbnails, long videos, live streams, and more.

The final step is about optimizing your YouTube account for a search-friendly presence. While we’ll discuss the nuances of YouTube SEO in detail shortly, you can start with these tips:

• Create a channel trailer to give new visitors quick context about your content.
• Create custom thumbnails with overlay text and your branding to attract more viewers.

Wono, a YouTube strategist, stresses the importance of custom thumbnails and titles…

• Design topic-based playlists to club together videos on the same themes for a longer watch time.
• Choose the most popular keywords in your niche and add them to your channel description.

With that, you’ve finally started your journey as a YouTube content creator. But it’s not over yet.

5. Monitor performance to see what resonates with your audience

The final step in starting your YouTube channel is tracking your progress. Winning new subscribers and watching the numbers on your analytics dashboard grow feels great. But if you want to sustain and scale this growth, you have to consistently track performance and see what’s working and what’s not.

“Compelling video thumbnails oftenresult in more views. Create ones that are compelling (not clickbaity) but enough to catch someone’s eye while they’re scrolling and. I use Canva, so I also make sure that any words or font contrast well with the thumbnail to make it pop.”

Josh, Host of of The Wild West Extravaganza

As a best practice, choose metrics relevant to your goals and monitor this data to analyze your progress. Besides checking the numbers on the Youtube Creator Studio Analytics, you can:

• Add trackable links to your video descriptions.
• Split-test different video thumbnails to see what format performs best.
• Ask customers if they heard about you via YouTube.
• Keep an eye on referral traffic sources from other platforms.
• Use social listening tools to see who’s mentioning your YouTube channel.

Use this five-step framework to set up your brand-new YouTube channel and diversify your presence as a creator. If you’re already posting content on the platform but struggling to increase visibility, the next sections are for you.

How to Increase YouTube Views: 4 Best Practices 

Ask any YouTube creator why they stopped creating content on the app, and you’ll likely get the same answer: not getting enough views on their videos.

Creators can easily feel discouraged when they don’t attract enough viewers to their content. Imagine hours of hard work and creative effort resulting in hardly 500 views. So, we curated these hands-on tips to help you increase YouTube views and watch your channel thrive.

1. Optimize your content for YouTube SEO

SEO isn’t the silver bullet, but for YouTube, it’s the closest thing to one. Optimizing your content and channel for search can win you higher rankings in relevant searches and increase your visibility.

Here are a few tips to make your content more SEO-focused:

• Perform keyword research using tools like Ahrefs and Semrush to identify high-volume keywords with a good reach.
• Decide topics and content formats for your shortlisted keywords and incorporate each keyword in the video title, description, tags, file name, and thumbnail.
• Add transcriptions and captions to your video to help the algorithms understand your content easily.
• Create timestamps for the ease of watching your videos and engaging your viewers.
• Selectively add CTAs to encourage viewers to perform the next steps and maximize engagement.

Tap into the power of the world’s second-largest search engine to drive more traffic to your channel and add more subscribers.

2. Implement audience engagement tactics

Your engagement rate can make or break your YouTube channel’s success. It tells the algorithm whether subscribers enjoy your content or not.

Here’s our best advice to ensure you’re engaging your audience effectively and giving them content worth consuming:

• Hop on the viral trends bandwagon and put your personal spin on it to attract more viewers.

• Design catchy and appealing thumbnails supported by intriguing copy to get more eyeballs.

• Create short-form videos and repurpose original content into Shorts to maximize engagement.

• Regularly interact with your audience through live streams and incentivize engagement through giveaways.

• Use techniques like pattern interrupt—a change in the visual style and tone in a video to refocus viewers’ attention—in your content to avoid boring your viewers.

Remember: the more seamless the viewing experience, the higher engagement levels you can achieve.

3. Maximize watch time with topic-wise playlists

Watch time is a crucial ranking metric on YouTube. It measures the total time users spend on your channel. Rather than calculating the watch time for individual videos, it counts the collective time spent watching multiple videos from your channel.

If people stick around for a long time, it’s a positive indicator of high engagement levels on your channel. As a result, this can bump up your rankings and increase views.

Grouping videos on similar topics or themes is a surefire way to maximize watch time. This allows visitors to consume content and watch multiple videos seamlessly. For example, a finance content creator, Eric Andrews, has designed these topic-wise playlists to educate his audience on different subjects.

4. Create a distribution strategy to promote videos

One area where most YouTube creators drop the ball is distributing their videos properly. A solid distribution strategy can spread your content across multiple sites and reach diverse audiences, leading to even more views.

Design a steady pipeline to promote every new video on your channel. You can repurpose it into a carousel for Instagram and LinkedIn, a Twitter thread, an email, a blog, and so much more. Choose the most feasible options and then create different spokes to distribute your original video.

Here’s a great example from freelance writer and creator, Colleen Welsch. She runs a YouTube channel named The Freelance Writer’s Guide and promotes every video on her newsletter and also her Instagram feed.

How to Win More Subscribers for Your YouTube Channel

You’re getting great views on every video, the watch time is increasing steadily, and the engagement rate shows promise. Now, the bigger question is: how to scale these numbers and grow your channel?

The short answer: adding more subscribers

Getting more views is easy if you optimize your content and promote it well. But getting more subscribers is a long-term process to build enough credibility for yourself and win viewers’ interest. Here are four solid ways to do this for your channel:

Make your channel appealing to new visitors

What happens when a user lands on your channel for the first time? They’ll either get confused/bored and leave the page or explore different sections and watch your content. If you want the latter (duh!), then you have to design your channel to appeal to these first-time visitors.

One way to do this is by cleaning and organizing your channel. Do regular housekeeping to delete fluff content, re-write descriptions, and create more intriguing thumbnails.

Your channel trailer also plays a critical role here. It has to be compelling enough to hook your viewers and hold their attention till the end. Besides, it should give them convincing reasons to watch more videos and hit the subscribe button.

Invest time and money to improve content quality

Let’s face it, you might be losing your viewers to your competitors because their videos are of better quality. Improving quality doesn’t necessarily mean buying expensive equipment for your video setup. You can level up your content quality by:

• Sourcing unique and fresh ideas to educate/entertain your audience.

• Editing your videos for a more professional look and feel with tools like VEED and Filmora.

• Creating timestamps to break down the content into skippable sections.

• Talking to your target viewers about their preferred content and adjusting your video creation process to match these preferences.

Create irresistible calls-to-action (CTAs) to increase subscriptions

Adding CTAs is a fairly common tactic to add more subscribers. But not every creator uses this tactic properly. You can overwhelm viewers with too many CTAs, confuse them with unclear phrasing, or create zero impact with generic lines.

To hit the right spot with your CTAs, create multiple variations and run A/B tests. This will tell you the overall performance of each CTA and rank all the versions based on their impact.

For example, Max Müller adds a simple CTA in the description of his videos for viewers who want to learn more about the topic.

Promote your channel among relevant audiences

Distributing your content can increase views on individual videos. But promoting your channel is a great way to get more visitors to your account and convert them into subscribers.

Reach the right audience by promoting your channel in niche communities. You can also partner with fellow creators to tap into their network for promotion. Besides, don’t forget to use your own network to share glimpses from your YouTube channel.

Here’s how Kaleena Stroud, a copywriter, and creator, promoted her YouTube in a community of content marketers on Slack.

Measure & Scale your YouTube Channel with 7 Metrics

We’ve said this before, and we’ll say it again: tracking your progress is non-negotiable for success on any platform. But when it comes to YouTube, you might get confused by too many KPIs—which ones to track and how to analyze the numbers?

To eliminate this confusion, we created this list of seven essential YouTube metrics to measure your performance:

1. Watch time: The total time people spend on your channel watching multiple videos. The YouTube algorithm prioritizes channels with higher watch time in the search results. The Watch Time metric will show you the time for individual videos and also a ranking of all videos based on this value.
2. Engagement: Includes multiple metrics such as views, likes, comments, shares, subscribers, and more. It measures viewers’ interactions with each video and determines the content’s ranking accordingly. It also includes the average view duration to indicate whether viewers like the content.
3. Traffic Sources: Records the traffic coming from external channels. It tells you where users found your channel or video. This metric is crucial to shaping your content distribution strategy to double down on channels driving a large chunk of the total traffic.
4. Subscriber Growth: This metric tracks the increase or decrease in your subscribers. It also gives you more insight into your subscribers, covering parameters like location, age, gender, and more.
5. Click-Through Rate (CTR): Calculates the percentage of people clicking on your video. It’s a good metric to test the effectiveness of your thumbnails and titles. A higher CTR means more people resonated with the thumbnail/title and wanted to watch the video.
6. Audience Retention: Indicates how many people watch your video or drop off. The rate is available for every second of the video so that you can get granular insights into the retention and drop-off rates.
7. Playlist Engagement: Engagement rate for individual playlists. You can learn which topics or themes resonate more with your audience and differentiate the top-performing playlists from the rest. If your engagement rate for playlists is poor, change your approach to increase retention.

Get Ready to Build Your YouTube Empire

Done right, YouTube can unlock the gateway to a stronger community and more revenue for creators. But while most creators start on a strong note, they lose momentum, and their YouTube channel takes a backseat.

So, we created this start-to-finish guide to help creators like you launch their YouTube channel and sustain its growth in the long haul. Remember to be patient and put in consistent effort to see your channel thrive!

Once you’ve built an impressive channel, set up your Afluencer profile to secure brand partnerships and earn more.

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]]> https://afluencer.com/how-to-win-the-hearts-of-people-as-an-influencer/ Thu, 02 Sep 2021 14:40:00 +0000 https://afluencer.com/?p=13508 Being an influencer is not an easy task considering you always have to look for ways to engage with your audience. Moreover, in today’s world, this task can be tricky as one small mistake can make you lose your followers. Cancel culture has created a significant impact on our digital lives, especially in the lives […]

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]]> Being an influencer is not an easy task considering you always have to look for ways to engage with your audience. Moreover, in today’s world, this task can be tricky as one small mistake can make you lose your followers. Cancel culture has created a significant impact on our digital lives, especially in the lives of influencers.

This is why influencers always look for ways to positively engage with their followers. In this blog, we have made a comprehensive list of ways through which influencers can win the hearts of people.

Don’t Simply Criticize, Condemn and Berate Others

One of the main ways to win the hearts of people is by sharing positive things and ideas. If you create content that is negative, it will be difficult for people to see the good in you and like you. This is why it is better to create engaging content that can bring positive, meaningful, social change.

Moreover, while you should hold back unnecessary criticism, it is better to be generous with praise. If you like someone’s work, you should promote it and praise it on your platform. This will showcase how you want to build a positive digital community that believes in lifting people up.

Be Genuinely Interested in the Content Topic

There is a difference between creating content and creating high-quality content. You can only win the hearts and engage with people and steer conversations when you produce high-quality content. And that can only happen when you show genuine interest in that topic.

Make Sure you are Promoting Authentic Products

One of the many responsibilities of influencers is to promote products. This is because when it comes to making decisions, many people look up to their influencers for guidance. One way to win people’s hearts is by winning their trust. And to win people’s trust, influencers must make sure whatever products they are promoting are authentic so their followers do not get scammed.

Remain True to your Platform

It is important for the influencers to remain true to their platform and not engage in any activity that contradicts their values. This is of utmost importance when it comes to promoting products. We highly recommend you don’t start promoting a product that might go against the values you have long stood for. For instance, if your platform aims to create cancer awareness, promoting a cigarette brand would stir a plethora of criticism.

If you are a brand looking for top social media influencers who know how to win people’s hearts, you can check out our services. We have the best social media influencer programs that can help your brand to grow.

SIGN UP WITH THE AFLUENCER PLATFORM TODAY!

If you need more information, you can contact us at (916) 480-8425.

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]]> https://afluencer.com/mistakes-that-influencers-should-avoid/ Fri, 25 Jun 2021 13:28:00 +0000 https://afluencer.com/?p=12596 If you plan on achieving any kind of success as an influencer, you can’t just wing it. You need to be serious about it and always show a certain degree of professionalism. To help keep you from making the same mistakes as many failed influencers before you, here are 4 tips on what you should […]

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]]> If you plan on achieving any kind of success as an influencer, you can’t just wing it. You need to be serious about it and always show a certain degree of professionalism. To help keep you from making the same mistakes as many failed influencers before you, here are 4 tips on what you should avoid if you want to join the ranks of other successful influencers.

Avoid These 4 Mistakes Many Other Influencers Make

#1 Not Having A Goal

Many social media influencers fail to avoid the mistake of starting a blog or channel just out of boredom. They have absolutely no goals or ideas in mind.

To continue to attract attention or gain followers, you need to sit down and think about:

• what kind of an influencer you want to be
• what things you want to talk about
• the issues you want to focus on
• the kind of content you want to create

#2 Poor Quality Images

Another mistake influencers make that you should avoid is posting really bad-quality pictures. If your images aren’t sharp, and not of the right light or composition, you tend to lose the eye of your social media audience.

Work on clicking pictures with the right light. Invest in a good camera. And always keep your hands steady. Alternatively, a solution to shaky hands is to use a tripod.

#3 Boring Profile

One of the major reasons for a boring profile might be your wrong approach toward content.

Sometimes, you might be trying too hard or not trying enough to have a colorful, fun, and interesting profile.

So avoid having a boring profile that may end up being the mistake that results in your influencer’s downfall.

#4 Too Much or Too Less Personal Information

There’s always a thin line that must be maintained. Too much personal information about things that are out of context, or unnecessary can irritate your followers and can hamper your image.

Are you making any of these costly mistakes? If so, then we suggest you start to avoid them so you don’t end up in the influencers’ book of mistakes.

Infographic: Mistakes That Influencers Should Avoid

We have also created a sweet little infographic to help remind you of the influencer mistakes you should avoid. Feel free to share it on your own social media account for your followers to enjoy.

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]]> https://afluencer.com/10-smart-food-marketing-ideas-bloggers-can-do-for-your-brand/ Tue, 02 Mar 2021 12:00:00 +0000 https://afluencer.com/?p=11153 Food is one of the most talked-about topics on social media. Hence it doesn’t come as a surprise that more and more brands are looking for food bloggers to market their food products and services. At Afluencer, we house some of the best food bloggers, influencers, and content creators to help you reach a wider […]

The post 10 Smart Food Marketing Ideas Bloggers Can Do For Your Brand appeared first on AFLUENCER.

]]> Food is one of the most talked-about topics on social media. Hence it doesn’t come as a surprise that more and more brands are looking for food bloggers to market their food products and services.

At Afluencer, we house some of the best food bloggers, influencers, and content creators to help you reach a wider audience. While they’re full of campaign ideas, it might be a good idea to know exactly what you want.

We’ll discuss some useful ideas to help you have a successful marketing campaign (with the help of your food blogger friends).

Ask Bloggers to Prepare Meals that Highlight Your Product

There are two ways of doing it:

• Ask bloggers to create recipes that use your product as the main ingredient. For example, GoodFoods joined hands with a number of niche bloggers to highlight its dips, dressings, and drinks.
  
  By the end of the campaign, there were over 2,000 pieces of original content relating to GoodFoods products. They generated a total of 70,450 engagements with an impressive conversion rate – going as high as 44.5 percent.

• Prepare anything and promote your product in a subtle manner, like Gigi Hadid promoted Shan spices in a post.
  
  The star made a video without mentioning the product despite it lying in the corner. The post went viral and helped the company nearly double its revenue in the UK. We, however, are not sure if it was a paid campaign or not but it does show that subtle promotions work well.

Try to look for individuals who understand your product well. For example, if you offer steak then work with a food blogger who promotes meat-based dishes.

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INTERESTING RELATED READ:

→ Top Food Bloggers Guide: Drool-Worthy Content Creators
→ Top Food & Beverage Brands Looking for Influencers

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Partying While Marketing: Invite Bloggers to Hold Food Parties

People want to live like influencers. Most look up to them and want to party where they party. Hence inviting food blogging influencers to hold events at your place can be a great way to get people to notice your eatery.

This can be a great option for bars, clubs, and restaurants that want to attract the youth.

After all, it is common for people to search for restaurants where celebs eat. Places like Nic & Norman’s and Saints & Sinners have been able to find such immense success. Mainly due to the fact that they’re appreciated by some big names.

Have these popular influencers eat at your place and post their photos on your page to let more people know you’re popular among the ‘it’ crowd.

You can achieve similar results by having bloggers host birthday parties or other such events at your place.

Provide a great experience that makes them post pictures and videos from the event while tagging your place so that users have no trouble finding you.

Host Your Own Food Event and Invite Influencers

Not interested in paying influencers to hold an event? Then consider holding one of your own and inviting people with an influence.

It can be anything from your birthday party to the launch of a new branch. It can be a great way to improve social connections and also to increase your reach.

The idea is to let people know you exist by using the clout of food bloggers. And you don’t just have to bring food bloggers to your party, you can even invite lifestyle influencers or anyone with a decent following.

Make sure to put your best foot forward and deliver a VIP experience to your guests. The more pampered they feel, the more they’ll share.

Make Marketing Fun and Introduce Food Games

This might sound a little crazy but hiring food bloggers to take part in food games can be an exciting and rewarding way to market your restaurant.

A simple game of ‘Which Is The Best Burger?’ can help you sell more burgers. Have someone famous sit at a table with a choice of four burgers and invite the person to try each and pick the right one only to reveal it belongs to you.

The right editing can make these videos very interesting. Some other ideas include ‘What Am I Eating’ where you blindfold a person and have them try different things – anything on your menu – to guess the name or main ingredient.

Such videos usually generate a lot of shares and get people talking.

Create A Delicious Food Lookbook

People love to look at food. Videos and photos that highlight delicious meals get thousands of likes, shares, and comments.

You can hire the services of a food blogger to click pictures of your restaurant and food, and then create a lookbook.

The photos can be shared on your social media handles and used to decorate your menu or restaurant and entice visitors.

You can even work with influencers and encourage others to share photos of your food and tag your brand.

Make It A Family Experience

Restaurants looking to target a family audience can work with food bloggers who have children.

Maggie caused a stir in India when it joined hands with Indian star Madhuri Dixit, a mother to two, to present Maggie as a healthy alternative to traditional food.

The key lies in highlighting your menu and how it offers a variety of meals for people of all ages.

Don’t forget that 71 percent of buyers are more likely to make a purchase based on social media referrals. Also, 92 percent of buyers prefer influencers over an advertisement.

Get Audiences Excited At Chances to Win Great Prizes

Both giveaways and contests have a similar purpose: to generate engagement and get more people to talk about your product or service.

Food producers can come up with a variety of contests, i.e.: to click exciting photos, create new recipes, etc.

The idea is to get more people to try your product in hopes of winning something in return. It can be a gift hamper containing your product, a discount code, or more.

You can even offer cash prizes as contests with prizes in the range of $1,000 receive 5.8 percent more engagement.

Cadbury appears to be doing well here. The company is popular for coming up with unique campaigns to market its growing list of products.

Its How Do You Eat Yours campaign proved to be a major success and the company has time and again rehashed the same concept in different markets.

Food Giveaways and Discounts Have To Be in Your Marketing Strategy

Brands can work with influential food bloggers and offer discounts to customers who come through them.

Unlike competitions, giveaways usually don’t require users to do much. You can, however, make them like your page or share your post to get more people to know about your product.

The best thing about giveaways is that they benefit both bloggers and brands. Users like to follow bloggers who offer giveaways and as a result, brands get to benefit from the post.

The Real Behind-the-Scenes Food Experience

This involves taking food bloggers behind the camera and giving a tour of the kitchen to highlight your standards and tell people how serious you are about their health.

McDonald’s was once popular for giving similar tours to curious customers and students. Such partnerships can be used to show your skills, introduce your team, and also highlight how you work.

This trick can be great to clear doubts and myths people may have about your products.

Many Halal food sellers in the UK were recently in the news for working with Muslim influencers to highlight the Halal process to clear doubts and tell people about the benefits of Halal meat.

Make That Food Marketing Hashtag A Valuable Commodity

Hashtags rule the roost on platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and even TikTok.

Chipotle appears to have understood the power of hashtags and the company seems to be in the habit of coming up with branded tags.

The brand hit the bull’s eye when it turned fans into ‘royalty’ by introducing a unique TikTok challenge.

It populated the hashtag #ChipotleRoyalty and got popular influencers including Dobrik, with 24 million TikTok followers, to jump the bandwagon.

The campaign proved to be a massive success and resulted in millions of posts, thus helping the company to attract new buyers.

You can also come up with a similar hashtag to promote a new product, the unique experience you offer, etc.

Review Food and Restaurant Service

Lastly, use food bloggers to do what they do best – influence people by sharing their opinion.

Consider signing a long-term deal with bloggers to visit your place, try your dishes, and post content on their page on a regular basis.

Regular content can help populate social media, get more people to make posts, and make your place appear authentic. You can start a series like ‘7 Days 7 Desserts’ to highlight your dessert menu. Or perhaps ‘10 Ways to Eat a Burger’ and highlight different burgers you have to offer.

The secret lies in being creative and of course, creating content that sells.

Reviews can be in the form of a written blog, photos with a neat caption, or detailed videos that explain everything from service to seating arrangement, to taste.

There are dozens of ideas to get people talking about your product. Find a reliable food blogger and then start working on a campaign today.

Whether you’re a brand searching for creative food bloggers or a blogger looking for the right opportunity, we’ve got you covered.

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]]> https://afluencer.com/an-influencers-guide-to-creating-an-aesthetic-instagram-feed/ Tue, 19 Jan 2021 15:21:00 +0000 https://afluencer.com/?p=10576 All credible Instagram influencers have feeds that follow a certain pattern. They’re either too bright and flashy or a bit dark and moody. Some feeds are very monotoned, while others are very homogenously fashioned. The truth is that Instagram influencers put a lot of effort into curating aesthetically pleasing feeds. Here are some tips from […]

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]]> https://afluencer.com/how-to-optimize-your-afluencer-profile/ Sat, 24 Oct 2020 22:53:47 +0000 https://afluencer.com/?p=6784 Want to get selected for brand deals, collaborations, and features on Afluencer? Read on to learn best practices to optimize your Afluencer profile for maximum opportunities on the platform. Our directories give you exposure to thousands of people, so we encourage you to invest the time to take this seriously! Crafting your About section will […]

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]]> Want to get selected for brand deals, collaborations, and features on Afluencer? Read on to learn best practices to optimize your Afluencer profile for maximum opportunities on the platform. Our directories give you exposure to thousands of people, so we encourage you to invest the time to take this seriously!

Crafting your About section will signal your digital skills, expound on your passions, and share your motivations for creating online content. And bonus: the following tips can help you make a rocking biography that you can repurpose on your website and in featured articles (like one of our blog roundups!).

Just a few tweaks to your profile can make a world of a difference and help you stand out from the thousands of amazing influencers on the platform. Check out the examples we’ve included from some creators who have put a lot of thought and care into their profiles.

With no further ado, here are our top tips for jazzing up your Afluencer profile. Some of them are very quick and easy, some may take a little time, and all of them are very worth the effort for your personal brand:

Complete the About Section of Your Afluencer Profile

First and foremost, fill out the About section. A surprising number of creators leave this blank, which makes their profiles hard to find during keyword searches. And even when they are found it’s hard to know if they’re the right fit for a campaign or collaboration. Photos, follower counts, and insights don’t fully speak for themselves, so make sure you take the time to complete this important section to share more details about who you are and what you do.

Start Off Strong and Clear

The first line of the About section is most important because that’s displayed when browsing through the influencer list. Think of this as your profile’s introduction or headline, as you would with writing an Instagram bio. The first 190 characters you write are shown in search results, which limits you to approximately 35 words.

Don’t waste this precious space!

Instead of starting with filler phrases like “my name is Whitney” or “Hi, I’m Whitney!”, jump right into what you do. You can even use the vertical bar character (|), which is located over the backslash (\) key, to separate out keywords and phrases. Don’t worry – you can get friendlier in the sentences beyond this preview text!

Optimize Your Afluencer Profile with Relevant Keywords

In addition to tagging your interests (an option you’ll see underneath the About section), make sure that you put the same keywords in the body of your bio. Think of the words that pertain to ideal partnerships and what synonyms can be used (ie “mom” vs “mother” or “ketogenic” vs “low carb”).

If you’re not sure what keywords to include, browse through the Brands directory and find phrases that companies you want to work with are using. You can do the same thing by searching through the Collab programs. If all else fails, look at the categories your accounts are listed under on social media and refer to the hashtags you use the most (just leave out the #).

For example, if you want to partner with Adoratherapy, make sure you use keywords like wellness, beauty, mood, happiness, and/or self-care.

Connect and Mention Your Social Accounts

We encourage you to connect your Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts to your profile to display detailed stats. If you don’t add each of those accounts, you won’t show up when certain search filters are applied, which means a brand or potential collaborator may not discover you!

Additionally, it helps to mention these social media accounts in your About section too. You can also include the platforms that aren’t currently integrated into Afluencer, such as TikTok, YouTube, and Pinterest. That way if someone searches for creators using these platforms they can easily find you.

Crazy fact: when publishing this article, we had 3,000 influencers using the Afluencer app, and only less than 150 of them made a point to connect their Instagram accounts. This simple decision can literally filter you out of opportunities – don’t let that happen to you!

Simplify Your Language

Focus on common words that brands and influencers utilize to help them find you and determine if you’re the right match for a campaign or collaboration. Generally, potential partners aren’t too concerned with how sophisticated you come across in your bio.

You can use tools like Word Rake and The Up-Goer Five Text Editor to make sure you’re being straightforward. Find alternatives to buzzwords like “passionate”, “expert”, and “creative”; these words are so overused that they’ve become fairly meaningless.

Make Your Afluencer Profile As Detailed As Possible

Flush out your About section with as many pertinent details as you can. Treat this as if you were crafting a passionate Instagram caption or detailed blog post. Be clear and concise and show, don’t tell. Words don’t convince people that you’re worth working with so you need to demonstrate your qualities in the way you describe yourself and fill out your profile.

Consider taking a skills assessment to find the right way to describe yourself. Share case studies from previous collaborations. The About section helps demonstrate your passion and commitment to working with others. Who are you beyond the metrics of your audience size, platforms, age, gender, and location?

Make it Scannable

Format your About section with paragraph breaks, bold text for headers, and bullet points. ⚡ You could even toss in some emojis to add some flare and draw attention.

👉 That makes it easy to skim and find key information quickly. Plus, it’s nice on the eyes and looks polished.

Emphasize Your Value

When writing your bio, ask yourself, “what’s in it for them?” This will help you focus on how you can be of service to others and it puts you in the shoes of the reader.

For example, share more about what you specialize in, who your audience is, and what results you typically receive from campaigns. Bring to life why your skills matter and what difference they make to your community and the people you’ve collaborated with in the past.

What do you have to offer and why should the reader contact you for a partnership?

First Person vs Third Person

Curious whether to write your “About” section in first person (ie “I am”) or third person (ie “she is”)? The answer isn’t black and white.

Traditionally, professional biographies and about sections are written in the third person, while personal bios are in the first person. However, since creating online content often blurs the line between personal and professional life, this decision is really up to you.

Social media tends to be informal gathering places and the first person can feel friendlier than the third person. Job applications are often written in the first person, which is worth keeping in mind if you consider Afluencer a place to find work (which we hope you do!).

Ultimately, we recommend writing how you most feel comfortable and using a style that suits your online brand.

Personalize Your Afluencer Profile

Include details in your About section that highlights your uniqueness and showcase your personality. Ideally, add this in towards the end, as this part is less business-oriented.

Although, you can really grab someone’s attention with the right opening line.

Convey your sense of humor, share the results of a personality test you took, or reveal a little-known fact about yourself. Tell your story: why do you do what you do and what makes you tick? How long have you been creating content? Do you have a nickname?

Think of this part as the icing on the cake – if someone notices this section of your About then you could really stand out from the crowd and win them over.

Leave Out Redundancies

There’s little need to mention your age and gender in your About section unless they are relevant to your work. Instead, add these metrics in their designated sections of your Afluencer profile (you can fill out Birthday and Gender under your name) and they will display on the right sidebar.

Sometimes age group and gender are used to filter influencers during a search when they pertain to the selection process. If these factors feel crucial to you, add them in the second paragraph or towards the end of the About section to increase your chances of showing up in the search results.

Include a Photo in Your Profile

As you know with creating social media accounts, the right photo goes a long way. In the case of your Afluencer profile, your photo shows up in search results. So it’ll give browsers an impression of who you are, what you do, your style, and your level of professionalism.

Choose an image with a vibe that suits you and your goals on this platform. We recommend using a headshot or a well-lit, close-up photo of yourself instead of your brand’s logo. (Or an image of your dog or cat… unless it’s the main focus of your account).

In fact, when your face takes up around 60% of the photo it stands out more than a faraway picture of yourself.

Bonus tip: Did you know that you can also include a header image in your profile to spruce it up even more? This grabs attention, sets the context for your page, helps it stand out, and makes it more memorable.

Double-Check How Your Afluencer Profile Reads

Use a spelling and grammar checking tool (like Grammarly) to ensure that you’ve spelled words correctly. Otherwise, you may risk not showing up in certain searches.

For example, there’s a notable difference between writing “TikTok”, “Tik Tok”, and “Tick Tock”.

This also helps you communicate clearly and effectively, which allows you to lead with professionalism.

And last but not least…

Review It (Baby) One More Time

Preview your profile through the eyes of a brand, an influencer, and a member of the Afluencer team. Consider whether you’re helping these potential partners decide whether or not to collaborate with or feature you.

Is there anything you can add or subtract to make your About section clearer? Can you format it to be more scannable? Are there additional words you can include to make it easier for searchers to find you?

Then, show your profile to someone else for feedback to see if they catch any mistakes or can suggest tweaks. And when that’s all done, read your About section out loud to verify that it sounds and feels right to you.

Finally…

Don’t forget to click “Save” to update your amazing new profile!

We want you to shine on Afluencer because we believe in you. There are countless opportunities on this platform. And these tips will help you align with beneficial collaborations and partnerships for many years to come. We can’t wait to see what comes of this, so please keep us posted on your success stories!

P.S. if these tips feel like they’ll take too much time and effort, don’t abandon ship! Take advantage of our concierge service when you sign up with one of our paid plans. We will have one of our very own in-house creators whip up content for your Afluencer profile. And we promise you will not be disappointed!

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]]> https://afluencer.com/how-your-baby-can-become-an-influencer/ Wed, 29 Apr 2020 22:34:40 +0000 https://afluencer.com/?p=3852 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 […]

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]]> 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:

1. 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.
2. 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?
3. Travel and activities.  Things to do with babies.  Baby-friendly places.  As well as baby and parenting-related events.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. Fashion.  Fashion never gets old.  Even with babies.  Adorable outfits for days.  Need I say more?
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.

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