What is a influencer? We could say that she is a person who stands out in a social network or other communication channel, and expresses opinions on a specific topic, which exert a great influence on many people who know her. It is incredible -through the different social networks- to see how some people send their messages to many people, managing, depending on the case, to help, educate, inspire and/or accompany.
Being an influencer it’s a lot of work. A very long marathon that must be sustained over time, beyond inspiration and beyond desire. I greatly admire the work of the influencers and content creators I know, because I see the interest, love and knowledge they provide at every step. Being an influencer is a full time job, and extremely demanding since it implies being “monitored” by thousands of people at every step.
This full-time job has a peculiarity: who pays the influencer for their work? And how do the influencers monetize their work? And this is where my passion comes in. I help each influencer that is providing value, to find ordered sources of monetization that are sustainable, meaningful and in relation to their potential or needs.
Let me tell you a metaphor: a doctor studies medicine. A person who wants to drive a car needs a driver’s license. A lawyer, he has a diploma. But where do you study how to manage a influencers.
With all my training and years of business experience, I help influencers diagram, understand and sustain their work as a profitable business model. They -in my case the influencer clients are almost all women- have the audience. But you have to order and give value to these audiences. And wonder how to generate offers that allow them to monetize, and while generating an income for all their work.
There are two usual monetization models for influencers: the B2C model, where the influencer creates services and products for their audience, sometimes as infoproducts (live or pre-recorded training, or in ebook format), or as physical products related to their influence. (for example the astral agenda of “The Astros Say”the LaBiohacker book).
The second model, I call it B2B, and it is when the influencer as a businesswoman connects with other companies and they hire her to bring their product or service offers to the influencer’s audience, for example, a clothing brand that hire the influencer to wear her clothes.
Creating, managing and implementing all these agreements requires a business structure with operations that offer, negotiate, invoice, execute the project and collect. And then an economic analysis of the results of these efforts, to assess whether this company can with its initiatives pay the salary that the influencer deserves, wants or needs.
And this is where I work as a business mentor. Understanding the business model, understanding the acquisition cost of each client in contrast to its life cycle value, analyzing profitability and seeing its origin, creating regional expansion plans. It is a job that has to do with grounding an economic and financial model.
*By Fabiana Mejalelaty, business consultant. Author of “Life Design. Creation of your own enterprise” (Editorial Temas).
You may also like
by Fabiana Mejalelaty*
