Part 3: Making money online in Zimbabwe – become an influencer

This article is part of a series. Read part one and part two here.

Today we start on the particular ways of making money online. The first one is become an online influencer. It is not technical in any way and anyone who is willing to learn and can do it – open door.

There is a discipline of marketing called Influencer Marketing. According to Wikipedia:

Influencer marketing (also influence marketing) is a form of marketing in which focus is placed on influential people rather than the target market as a whole. It identifies the individuals that have influence over potential buyers and orients marketing activities around these influencers.

Creating a huge and engaged following on social media and blogs for someone’s market makes you an influencer. These people have a huge audience such that their opinion affects many other people.

The businesses who are interested in a particular market will approach the influencers there to help them market their products. When you become an influencer in a relevant market, you can earn money from the businesses, which are interested in that market.

How to become an Influencer

Through social media following.

Having a huge and engaged following on social media is probably the easiest in becoming an influencer. Notice that I said ‘huge and engaged’. Buying likes to a page or followers on social media does not qualify anyone to become an influencer.

If you are looking for an Influencer, look for someone whose posts on social media gets more likes, shares and other forms of engaged over those with huge but dormant followers. Influencers are those people who can get anything to start trending.

To be a successful influencer on social media make sure you target an audience that can be commercialised. If you gain huge and engaged following talking about ‘adult content’ for example, it may be very hard for any business to want to be associated with your brand.

For public figures especially musicians, this is a huge opportunity which many of them do not see. They could have very huge and engaged following on social media and use it to do influencer marketing for businesses.

For businesses, social media influencers are some of the best people to introduce your brand to masses. When thinking of getting into a new country, find out the influencers in your target market there and get them to talk about your business. 

An example of a Social Media Marketing thought leader is Max Souter – check out his Facebook Page to see what it means to have an engaged audience.

Thought leadership.

The power of thought leadership is that many people in that market take their opinions seriously.

According to thoughtleadershiplab.com:

Thought leaders are the informed opinion leaders and the go-to people in their field of expertise. They are trusted sources who move and inspire people with innovative ideas; turn ideas into reality, and know and show how to replicate their success.

When you are a thought leader in any market, you would have become an influencer. When you make public comments about products or services in that market, it affects how the people perceive the product.

For businesses who are thinking of working with thought leaders:

• Getting reviews from them. Publishing reviews by thought leaders is very effective in dealing with buyer objections.
• Getting recommendation. You can record a video of the thought leader using your service and encouraging people to try it.

How to earn money as an influencer

Be known for a something.

Influencers are brands. Particular things are associated with any brand. If a soccer influencer tries to recommend taxation services, it may not only fail but may hurt their influence.

Make it easy for people to reach you.

Some people are very influential but they are hard to get. I remember one day, I was helping a friend to hire a popular gospel musician to sing at a wedding. It was so hard that we ended up resorting to play their music.

When you are an influencer, make it easy for people to find you online. Find you should be as easy as Googling your name. So many opportunities pass influencers because they are hard to get.

Focus on growing your fan base.

While making money is what we are discussing here, it is important for influencers to keep focusing on why people are following them in the first place. Avoid straying into paid influencer jobs and forgetting why people are following you. Keep the audience happy and engaged while making money. More money is made that way.

Register as an influencer on platforms.

There are many platforms online where you can be listed as an influencer and get gigs from there. Here is a list of influencer platforms. This is an opportunity for someone in Zimbabwe to create such a platform and earn money from it – this idea not patented – you are free to take it.

Start promoting

To get the first influencer-marketing opportunity may be hard as a beginner. I am an advocate of doing free things to for the acknowledgement. Start by approaching someone and promote his or her staff free or get a results oriented deal.

When you start, people notice and more opportunities start coming your way.

Questions and thoughts

I could say a lot more on how online influence marketing but we do not have all day. I hope I have managed to help both influencers and businesses see how this is an avenue to create revenue and generate business online.

Do you think it is easy to become an influencer? What else is missing in this article? Let us discuss in the comments section below.

This article was written by Trust Nhokovedzo. He is an online business consultant with website design background. He is fond of digital marketing especially Search Engine Optimization.