A ‘Behind The Scenes’ of How an Instagram Influencer Actually Works.. By an ‘Influencer’.

Yep, I promised you this and I’ll deliver it to you, because I actually think this article is incredibly important and well overdue.

The so-called ‘Influencer’ landscape (I really don’t like the word, TBH!) is only growing bigger and bigger as the years go by, however, what you may not know from an outsiders perspective, is the fact that it’s also becoming harder and harder to work within this field because of the many changes that Instagram continue to roll out.

Especially after Instagram was bought by Facebook, the platform has really changed. The reach you have (how many people see your posts on their timeline) continues to go down across the border, because Instagram (FB run & owned) wants you to invest your dollars into advertising for yourself on your platform. It makes sense; everything is a business these days, and just like Facebook transitioned into becoming, not only a social media platform, but also a medium for a more targeted advertising platform – they are now trying to do the same thing with Instagram.. Sadly, yes.

Now, I am here to bust all the myths and tell you all the truths about how we Influencers ACTUALLY work. Now, a fair amount of my friends do work as an influencer or blogger, and I’ve done this for about 6 years now, so I do know how most people work across the border – this goes for influencers AND brands as I have a background & 12 years experience in Digital Marketing & Social Media.

Are you ready? Let’s clear up all the questions you have about being an ‘influencer’..

1. How did I get here?

Well, for me, it sort of just happened. After my cancer diagnosis, I truly wanted to change my life in a healthy way. I wanted to be better at taking care of myself – both mentally and physically – so I gave my life an ‘overhaul’, if you can say so.

As I was returning to everyday life, after my diagnosis and treatment, I found it really hard to be a 24-year old that had no interest in partying or living a ‘normal’ youth-like lifestyle anymore. And, also, I couldn’t physically do so. So I turned my attention inwards. I focused on me. What I loved; training, cooking, learning. And I just started my own blog, photographing my food creations and uploading them to there including the recipes. Then I started an Instagram in late 2013 and shared on there too.

That was it.. It started growing from there on in. I didn’t have any plans as to growing into being an ‘influencer’. Back then, that wasn’t even a word and the print publication industry was still thriving. Now, it’s probably the other way around.

I think, because it was never my aim to do what I’m doing today, and I purely did it out of a passion whilst I was working full-time jobs, I’ve been lucky to build up a very nurturing, kind and loving community of followers who I adore and love to speak with adn to every single day.

I’ve bene doing this for 6 years now, but it’s been far from easy, I’ll tell you that.

2. How do I make a living of it?

Well, let me remind you about the above again; I’ve done this for 6 years now. The first 3 years or so, I didn’t get anything for it. I’d be lucky to sometimes be gifted some product or ‘lend’ some. Yep, that’s right. All those people you see on Instagram that flashes all their high-end purchases? Please remember that they don’t always own all of these themselves or have even purchased them. A lot of the time, PR agencies will send influencers items to wear or ‘model’ for events, photographs etc. but expect it back afterwards, which I’m not a big fan of, unless it’s for the below.

For example; if I have an event on, sometimes I’ll ‘borrow’ a dress (or something else) from a PR agency because I don’t want to go out and spend money on a new dress that I won’t wear again, and you end up helping a brand with exposure because people will see you in it – it’s simply a thing of helping each other out. And there’s no money involved, although sometimes a brand can and will pay you to wear a pieces of clothes to an event – I’ve never been asked to do this. (more about this later)

So back to the money part of it, because I know that’s what you all really want to know about..

Because I’ve been doing it for such a long time now, I’ve built lots of great and strong relationships with businesses, brands and PR agencies across Australia. But that’s a big part of it. Being able to build genuine relationships I think is what makes you stand out. I do pride myself on my relationships, because I think there need to be a mutual respects across the border when you work with someone.

A brand might approach me to see if I’d be interested in working together with them.. But just hold up: I know you’re all thinking “how easy is that!”. Well, not exactly. Lots of brands approach you and always want to ‘collaborate’ – this term is more known as; ‘Create content for me for free & brand our products to your audience and we’ll pay you in products’..

Sometimes that’s awesome, but most of the time; it won’t pay my rent or my bills, you know? And, I’m sorry to burst your bubble if you think I’m exempt from those, but I’m not! (Lol, I wish!).

From my point of view, and I can only speak for myself; My integrity is everything to me. When a brand approaches me to work with them we have a long and lengthy conversation about the vision, mission, ideas, what they want out of it, how I want to approach it and how long I want to trial it before I speak about it.. IF I will speak about it. I’ve tried products and services before that I turned down, because, again, my integrity is everything and I will not EVER speak or present you with a product or service that I don’t believe in or think deserve the exposure. Remember this; this is what will set you apart from others if you want to work within this field. 

Then we agree on a budget and payment for the agreed amount of work.

Something that I’d love for brands to understand and for you who follows me is how much work actually goes into those few images and stories you see; sometimes it’ could be days of work.

You have to understand – whether you’re a brand or a person – this is what’s being paid for when you ‘hire’ an influencer for a campaign:

1. Time; the time it takes to setup a shoot and create the content. The editing. The photography. The cutting. The location scouting. The surroundings. It all takes hours on end. If you’d do this for someone, didn’t you want to be paid?
2. Photographers: yep, we pay for photographers to help us out too. We don’t get them for free. Sometimes I’m lucky to have Pash helping me with a photo but he’s not interested in spending his time taking photos of me, which is completely reasonable. A photographer can charge somewhat up to (and above) $2000/day if you get a professional. However, I do have some friends who are photographers and will give me a discounted rate of $250 for 2 hours. I then do the editing myself (hours on end).
3. Expenses: there are loads of those. No one wants to just see you sitting in front of a white wall. So, we need to drive to places which costs petrol, tolls and the time. We might need to buy props. Or we need to spend a whole day eating out because we’re out shooting all day long which doesn’t get paid for. As an FYI; brands often do pay you until 30-90 days AFTER the content is live on your platform, so you need to be able to have a cashflow which barely ANYONE has and it sucks. I am totally against this and I think brands need to reconsider this severely.
4. My platforms: Just like I’ve spent time, blood, sweat and tears building up my audience, brands need to understand that they pay for the platforms too. It’s somewhat of the same as if they were to buy a half-page spread in Vogue. You pay for the circulation, reach and engagement.
5. Content: Again to the above, when booking an influencer for a campaign, it’s a little like booking an agency to create content back in the days. We come up with the ideas, the flow, the storytelling, the briefs and the execution. This takes a long time too. Again, hours.
6. Invoicing and management: Once content is created, you spend lots of time liaising with the brand of agencies across phone and email on approval of the content. Sometimes they want things to change and so you need to do so, which again will incur another cost and extra hours added. Most people also do their own invoicing and management of accounts etc. which is far from fun but obviously has to be done. Invoicing and CHASING invoices is something I hate the most. It’s sad that brands sometimes disrespect you and don’t adhere to payment policies. For example, once I wasn’t paid for 6 months from a brand and I had to chase them and chase them for payment. Do you think it’s far if you were to go to work for a whole week and not be paid? Just putting it into perspective :)
7. Agent Management: some people have agent because they get sooo many enquiries through and don’t like speaking about money. If you have an agent they normally take 20% of your cut and add an extra 15% on top as an agency fee. I’ve had that as well, but am now agent-less and am doing everything myself which is another huge fish to swallow. I’m very grateful to be getting so many enquiries daily, but I also would like to spend more of my time balancing out giving you free content that I do for the love of it and you.

As you may be able to see, there’s lots of facets to creating campaigns and content for brands, and it’s a lot of hard work. It’s not for the faint-hearted and you have to develop a bit of a thick skin in order to work in the industry, at least that’s what I think :)

But, this industry has also helped show me what’s really important in life. Even though I do this for a living, it will never take away my core values and knowing what’s truly the most important things in life. At the end of the day; nothing beats coming home to my dog Archie, my boyfriend Pash and just running around in daggy pyjamas. Because that’s real life.

3. How will I know what I’ll earn weekly or monthly?

Short answer; I don’t. Ever.. Unless you have ambassador-contracts.I have two of those. With Abundant Natural Health and Ole Henriksen. Otherwise it’s pretty much totally unknown what you’ll earn that month.

To give you an idea of how I ‘got this’; I’ve used Ole Henriksen products since I was 13 years old. Even before I knew Ole personally (I met him for the first time in 2014), I would buy his products monthly out of my own wage. Because I’ve always talked openly and honestly about how I’ve used his products, I think the brand noticed this and saw that it was a good fit. Brands will always want people who authentically use their products – it’s too easy to see through it otherwise these days.

And so this year I’ve signed on as an ambassador for the brand; this means I know what I’ll be paid every month from them when I invoice them. This is where you all need to understand that I get paid for doing this, but I’d hope you know me well enough by now to understand that I’d still use and speak about the products even if I didn’t.

With Abundant Natural Health – they reached out to me last year because Liz who works there had heard about me through friends and we both live in Bondi. After I met both Liz and Shannan (founder) I started trialling and testing out the products. This year, the asked me to be their ambassador because I adore, and wholeheartedly believe in their products and the huge impact they’ve had on my gut-healing journey. Again, with this I know what I’ll get in monthly as I’ve signed on for 12 months with them for now.

But other than that? You don’t know. Ever.. Never! 

This industry is a gamble, and if you want to do it full time, you’ve gotta understand and be okay with that some months you’ll be swamped with work and other months you may not get anything through at all. So you need to make your ‘salary’ last.

I’m sure some people get paid the big bucks, no doubt about it, but I’m deemed as a ‘Medium Tiered’ Influencer and to give you an idea; I earn about 1/2 of what I used to when I held my full-time role as Head of Ecommerce for Unilever. I’m definitely NOT doing this for the money side of it, that’s for sure :) I’m doing it for the love and freedom of it. For the connections with people. For the creative outlet.

4. Do I get paid to attend events?

Nope. Not for me. I’ve been paid to attend 2 events in my entire ‘career’, but that’s because it’s been tied in with creating content and a campaign with the brand and they needed me to attend the event as part of it.

Some people will definitely be paid to attend events, but I’m not one of those (hah).

I solemnly attend events because:

1. I have a genuine interested in the brand or event.
2. It’s relationship building and networking
3. I get to catch-up with my friends who are also influencers
4. I broaden my horizon and learn something new
5. I get new inspiration.

Those are my top 5 reasons as to why I go. If you end up getting work out of it in the long run, that’s of course an added bonus. But it’s certainly not the norm. Also, keep in mind that when we do go to events we take a few hours of our own time to do so, we pay for parking or taxi’s, petrol etc. So events are full-on expenses for us. On average, I’d be spending about $50 going to events + if I’d have to think about the time (avg. 4 hours per event). I had 5 events this week; that’s an expense of $250 in petrol, parking, tolls etc. Just to give you an idea.

5. All the brands I tag on Instagram Stories, are they sponsored or paid for?

Again, nope. I’d say 5% of what I tag on my Instagram Stories are actually paid campaign’s that’s been ‘booked in’ with Instagram Grid Content. The remainder – 95% – is just organic.

This means when I do all my ‘unboxing’ and tag brands, it’s not paid for. I simply want to say thank you to the brands or agencies for considering me, and also show you guys because I think you’ll find it interesting/helpful/beneficial to your lifestyle or health.

6. How much of my content is paid?

I’d say my ratio is about 30% paid work and 70% organic content I simply create for the love of it, and because I want to give back to you all for following me, along with sharing my knowledge in the areas that interest me or that is present in my life.

I want to again, reiterate, that even though I do get paid to do some work, I’d never compromise on my integrity or beliefs, this means that when you do see my sponsored content, please don’t just swipe over it and think negatively about it. Please engage with it, because it’s just as honest and truthful as any other content I create.

I’d love for you to please consider and understand, that in order for me to create that 70% FREE CONTENT I need to be able to pay my bills and live by creating the remainder for money. And not just because of it, because I also love to be creative and help bring brands visions to life.

I know what some of you are thinking now;

“But then why don’t you just take a full-time job and just do free content?!”

Well, because of two things: 1. I love working with brands, and even if I was rich and didn’t have to, I’d still work with the brands I absolutely adore, because it’s fun and it helps their hard work.

and 2. because of aaaaalll the behind the scenes communications you don’t see that I need to and want to dedicate my time to.

To give you an idea; on average I get anything between 75 – 150 direct messagers PER DAY with questions about health/lifestyle/advice/direction/struggles etc. etc. I also get about 25 emails from people everyday where I offer my support those in need who struggle mentally and physically. All of that combined takes a few hours everyday to get back to. I have phone-calls with some women because I believe in helping each other and I will always be a listening ear if you are struggling!

But, please understand that with the above, and if I want to continue to do that, and YOU want me to be there for your questions etc. I am not able to hold down a top-leadership role as I did prior, whilst still doing this.

Which will take me to the next points..

7. Is working as an influencer easy?

Easy? No! Are you free? Yes, if you’re full-time you set your own schedule – HOWEVER….

To give you an idea; I get up every morning around 6am. I start working around 7am. I don’t close my laptop and phone until I go to bed at 10pm.. I work 7 days a week, almost 365 days a year. When I’m travelling I’m working. When it’s public holidays, I’m working. When you clock off, I’m working. I AM ALWAYS ONLINE.. This isn’t always a good thing, and I do need to learn to be able to say no to somethings, and let it be okay with getting back to some of your queries the next day.

But, I know you think, from the outside that the Instagram life looks glam and easy – it’s not, honeys. It’s hard work every single day. It’s a lot of ‘hustling’ and not in the dishonest way, but it’s about being at the forefront of someone’s mind whenever new campaigns come out if you want to be able to support yourself. It’s thinking ahead. It’s creating great content all the time. It’s engaging with your following.

Also, as I mentioned further up; this landscape is changing. And that’s why I’m also asking for your help if you do want me to continue to share these things and free content; you then have to engage and be open to my sponsored posts :) Because it comes with it.

8. Do we get everything for free?

This is a big misconception; just because we tag brand in stories or instagram posts, it doesn’t necessarily mean that we get stuff given for free. Sometimes it does, but not all the time. I think it’s also up to YOU to follow people whom you think is honest and genuine.

That said; yes some of us do get sent some stuff for free; but in all honesty – do we need it? No. Is it a necessity in life? No. Nothing really is. Do I like to try new products? Yes, definitely.

But, I wish that brands would tell you or ask you when they send you stuff first. Because I can then tell them whether it would be my vibe or not – it would be much more sustainable with packaging and un-used products if I don’t like it. This is definitely something I wish brands would think more about.

9. What’s a collaboration?

I touched on this further up, but a collab is normally where services or products are exchanged for exposure. This means that the brand doesn’t pay the influencer, but ‘pays’ them in services or products instead.

For example we needed  washing machine for our new apartment, and last year I bought a Beko fridge for my own money which I really love, so I thought I’d reach out to the brand itself to ask if they’d potentially want to work together on some content in return for me trying out their washing machine and if I like it, I’d create some imagery.

Luckily I liked it, because sometimes it can definitely be awkward when you go back and have to tell brands that their products are just not for you. Eeek. And so I received a washing machine in return for creating imagery for them, which I’m very grateful for.

10. Is this forever?

No, friends. it’s definitely not forever. Neither do I want it to be. I’m also getting older – I’m turning 30 in October and I’ve done this since I was 23. It’s fun, but I know it won’t always last. It’s a lot of hard work and it takes it toll on my health. It’s a very go-go-go industry and my aim is to build something FROM this platform.

My wish is to build my community, a group of likeminded beings who want to focus on their health, good times in life, products than can help them, self expansion and connections. As you may know, I’ve also recently started studying with IIN and I’m starting my own Gut-Health Workshops – taking my community offline – to connect in real life.

I hope neither of this comes across ‘too harsh’, I simply want to lay the facts on the table. I am very grateful for what I do, but I also know that I’ve worked very hard to be where I’m at and nothing has come easily to me.

At the end of the day; my life may look and seem glamorous, but it’s far from it. Trust me when I say that I go through the exact same things, struggles and sufferings as yourself, I am not exempt to these. I suffer heartbreaks and family tragedies, too. I have bad days where I hate what I do, question the future, question myself, question whether people want to listen to me. It doesn’t just go away because you’re on Instagram.

Coming home to my own little modest apartment, with Pash my boyfriend, Archie my dog and skyping my family back home, seeing my friends when I can, creating real and honest communities from Instagram, THAT is truly what matters the most to me, and when I am the happiest in life.

Thank you for listening to me, and please do comment below if there’s anything you’d like me to update on here.