Why all social media influencers should be entrepreneurs

The potential for more influencers turned entrepreneurs

Mar 30, 2021

When we hear the word entrepreneur, what comes to mind is this or this or this.
And not this or this.

We typically think of people who built their worth on brilliant ideas in the wake of the internet ~ apps, cars, marketplaces, spaceships, computers, etc.

Social media influencers have the opportunity to approach success and entrepreneurship from another angle.

Influencers on social media with millions of followers already have key things lined up that make winning easy (easier).

They have an audience of a million+ engaged people who not only trust them but are fanatical about them. What Emma Chamberlain is buying or wearing, her millions of fans want to buy or wear that thing, too.

See influencer affiliate marketing.

Brands are set to spend up to $15 billion on influencer marketing by 2022, per Insider Intelligence estimates, based on Mediakix data.

Taking it a step further...

Influencers, especially YouTubers will stick to what they’re good at. And what they know ~ which is filming, editing, uploading. They’ll keep creating good content at the hands of their platforms that built them up.

Platforms have begun changing algorithms and monetization methods and this is directly affecting YouTube creators the most.
It’s complicated. ⬇

How much money YouTube pays creators for a single video depends on a number of factors, but the number of views it gets is a big one. Ads are filtered by Google, and how much money a creator earns depends on the video's watch time, length, video type, and viewer demographics — among other factors. According to 5 creators,100,000 views will get them between $500 to $2,500.

A million+ views will obviously get more. Is this a sustainable career path if you are held captive by a platform? They control the algorithms and the rules. You have to continually provide good content that people want to watch ~ and rely on that for your income.

“The problem with being a YouTuber or an online entertainer is that you constantly have to outdo yourself.” - PewDiePie, 109 million subscribers

Taking control — Influencer Entrepreneurship

If you’re an influencer, you are already a huge step ahead. You have a large, engaged audience who trusts you. You can do more than affiliate. You can do more than monetizing directly from Youtube. Even more than brand deals.

The issue here with becoming an entrepreneur is that influencers often time lack the business knowledge to create a full-on venture on their own. This is okay. There are people out there, companies out there to help you. All influencers really need is the vision and the idea. This part isn’t unfamiliar at all as it’s something already embedded in the content creation process.

There are managers and even companies out there willing to walk with you in this entrepreneurial process. And a lot of the time, the process ends up being easier than you thought it’d be. Just don’t let your lack of business knowledge stifle your idea.

Examples of influencer entrepreneurship:

Mr. Beast: MrBeast Burger

A virtual cloud kitchen — offering a separate concept to run out of your kitchen, available for delivery only via food delivery services.

MrBeast Says His Burger Brand Sold One Million Sandwiches In 2 Months = One million $7.99 burgers is equivalent to revenues of nearly $8 million in just under three months.

Emma Chamberlain: Chamberlain Coffee

Coffee was already part of her brand and personality on YouTube so she decided to start Chamberlain Coffee (Read more here).
“With Chamberlain Coffee, I can see that hopefully growing and becoming something that could be my main source of income.”

Logan and Jake Paul

Started the Impaulsive Podcast, The Financial Freedom Movement, NFTs and Trading Cards
They both have been boxing and bringing in millions from the PPV fights

Kayla Itsines: Founder of Sweat

Zoe Sugg: Founder of Zoella

CaptainSparklez: Founder of QualityContent