Five Great Tips To Help You Become A Lifestyle and Fitness Influencer

It’s getting to that time again; the time where us Britons hit the garden, park or anywhere possible to lay in the 19 degrees overcast heat of England, or if you’re one of the fortunate ones, to the beach to sizzle in the sun. And what do we do this for? To get that summer glow for an Instagram photo aimed at showing off our summer bodies; the summer body that these social media superstars seem to have all year around. Not only do they have rocking bods but the lives to match, travelling the world and getting paid to do it, getting given free clothes and even free food and supplements.

Well there’s good news! I’m here to give you my top tips on becoming a lifestyle and fitness influencer so you can start sharing better content, be noticed and get some freebies while you’re at it.

Tip 1 - Know your audience

When it comes to growing a page as an influencer you must know exactly who you are trying to attract and how to reach them, otherwise you’ll be stuck at the first hurdle. If you’re planning on building a page based around bodybuilding, drinking and partying then it’s going to be unlikely that your audience is going to consist of anything other than millennials who share at least one of those interests. And it’s the exact same with any niche market, you can’t please everyone and trying to do so is going to spread you too thin and you’ll lose your purpose and message. If you run a page based on weight loss and healthy eating, then your audience is going to consist of people following the same journey or people looking for inspiration to do the same.

Tip 2 - Mix it up; be different but consistent

Do your thang, try things out and be different. There’s nothing worse than a profile with two or three posts, six months apart with completely different styles and messages. My advice here is to prepare a handful of photos ready to upload before creating the page so that it does not look bare, while creating a starting point to kick off the conversation. This will give you the head start you need to start attracting followers, but you will need to post regularly giving updates on anything new, trends, etc. Influencers with hundreds of thousands of followers still post daily - yeah it’s going to be time consuming, but that’s part of the deal.

Another problem lots of influencers face is a lack of imagination – coming up with new ideas to attract and engage your audience. To be an influencer you should constantly be thinking of what new posts you could upload, taking your audience into account. But don’t fall into the trap of posting the exact same thing every day, try new styles/filters/angles until you find one that suits you and your goal.

Tip 3 - Get your name out there

Now this is a difficult one, but not if you know what you’re doing, and by the end of this blog you’ll be clued up… hopefully. Interact with those on the same journey as you, like other people’s content, share the positivity and enthusiasm that people will be sharing with you. And if the opportunity arises to work with a fellow content creator go for it! Influencers are forming communities among themselves to support each other through amplifying their content. You scratch their back and they will be more likely to scratch yours.

Another way of getting your name out there is working with brands or at least wearing their clothing and tagging them in posts. By doing this it’s possible they will see your content and promote it by sharing it, retweeting it or liking it. Tagging your location can also help to increase engagement further – particularly on Instagram.

Tip 4 - Get a good camera PLEASE!

Now tell me, do you see any of the viral photos on Instagram being anything but professional looking and awe inspiring? Thought so, so it could be time to upgrade your equipment. Phone camera’s work a treat and don’t financially bankrupt you, but if you’re looking to take your page to the next level you must be willing to spend that bit extra to improve the quality of content that you put out to your audience.

Tip 5 - Be real

Be yourself, after all acting like something you’re not is going to be very difficult if you ever meet any of your audience in person, and you would be surprised how they can sniff out the fakes. What I mean by this is, if you enjoy going out don’t hide that, if you eat something unhealthy or skip a gym session, don’t lie about it just be honest and the people around you will respect it.

Not only do you need to be real when it comes to your aims, background and personality, you also need to be honest with your photos, don’t photoshop and keep editing to a minimal. Be body positive and proud of your achievements, at the end of the day it’s an ongoing process and you will only improve with time.