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It’s hard to imagine my world now without blogging. Blogging for me has been my hobby and has now become a business and without it, I’d struggle to find a creative output as gratifying as writing is. This year will be the year that I go blogging full-time and I’m so excited to start this next chapter of my life. However, since becoming a blogger, many opportunities have come my way, where I’ve been referred to as an influencer and I have to admit, I hate that word.
I hate it because there’s almost a negative attitude towards it. People I’ve met over the past few years, where I’ve been introduced or labelled as an influencer, tend to question what I do and I almost feel like the world is devaluing just how much time and effort I put into this business. Because at the end of the day, my blog is a business. I’ve managed to create a steady stream of income under UpYourVlog, so much so, that I’m making enough money to go full-time. Like, fully support myself and be my own boss.
And that’s an incredible feeling because it’s taken me almost five years to get to this point. So when I introduce myself at these events or talk about my career, I’ll always say I’m a blogger because I feel like it carries more weight and respect than that of an influencer. Maybe it’s because of the previous bad impressions that some influencers have left on the general public. Being an influencer – I’m not going to lie – anyone can do. Not to say that’s it’s easy but that it’s a very accessible career to get into. You don’t need to have any qualifications and any skills you need in terms of editing photos and uploading content can be self-taught. As long as you work hard and have a passion for it, then you are very likely going to succeed.
Even though I dislike the word influencer, a lot of brands and PR companies that I’ve worked with and currently work with, tend to refer more to bloggers/vloggers and online social media stars as influencers because it ties them all together under one word. We all influence our audience. I would consider myself a micro-blogger because I’m not reaching a massive audience. My audience figures tend to reach around 4,000-4,500 per month. And although that seems like a lot, that’s nothing in comparison to some of the bigger bloggers out there. Being an influencer is a more universal and recognised career path because of big platforms like YouTube, Instagram and Twitter. Without these, Nancy at Behrman is just one PR company of many that I wouldn’t even know about if it wasn’t for the power of social media. It’s incredible that I can find work through Twitter and reaching out directly to these companies.
I don’t know whether my view of the word influencer will change. Perhaps if I grew into a bigger blogger, then maybe the rest of my social media platforms would become big enough to warrant me this title. However, the thought of getting bigger is scary because the amount of success I’ve had with just a small following has been huge.
What do you think of influencers? Do you have a certain attitude towards someone who refers to themselves as one? Let me know in the comments below.
*Disclaimer – This is a collaborative post. All words are my own.
