“If you are an influencer people give you more attention,” says The Spruce Boy, a male lifestyle and fashion influencer in India, with over 21 thousand followers on Instagram. The actor/blogger considers himself a public figure, which “makes you more popular than being a normal person,” a valuable commodity in the acting and fashion industry. But what’s it really like to be a male influencer?
An influencer, for those unfamiliar with exactly what one is, produces native content—a marketing term for paid content, made to align with your brand. You do have a brand, don’t you? Today, who you are is inextricably tied to your brand, an elusive melange of self-importance and connectivity that leads to success.
Forbes predicted that 2017 will be a breakthrough year for influencers. Indeed, the prediction came to fruition, as traditional advertising like TV commercials have ceased to excite consumers as they have in the past. Now everyone’s scrolling through their social feeds several times a day. In fact, you probably troll Instagram when you’re watching television, proving that influencer marketing is making commercials obsolete.
When you think of influencers, the names Kylie, Kim and the rest of the Kardashian-Jenner family come to mind. Indeed, these are people who you see on television and on your social feed; they seem to be everywhere. Along with the products they’re selling. But the influencer space is not only reserved for women. In fact, as the influencer bubble continues to grow, you’re going to see a lot more influencers—and don’t expect them to look like Kardashians.
AJ Silverman, CEO of influencer advertising platform Quantum Sponsor, a platform that connects brands and influencers, is not targeting supermodels or reality stars—he’s targeting regular Joes and Janes. He calls the “nano influencer.” He uses the term to describe someone with less than 10,000 social media followers and hopes it will be the next big thing in influencer marketing. And guess what? About 60 percent of the nano influencers he’s signed on are male. “Men like an opportunity to make money. [Being an influencer] shows their hustle. It shows they’re willing to do what it takes to grow their audience.” Hustle, money, power—these have all been traditionally gender-biased toward men—so it’s no surprise that men are entering the influencer sphere, to claim a slice of the pie. True, Silverman says that his male influencers are more into the street fashion than haute couture, more into fitness than makeup, and extremely tech savvy and up on the latest apps. As men enter the influencer space, they might first turn towards traditional staples of masculinity like muscles, money and machismo. However, gender fluidity is becoming a staple of millennial identity, slowly chipping away at traditional gender stereotypes. “Why wouldn’t a man not want to wear makeup to cover a pimple?” asks Silverman.
As for pay, the number of followers you have determines how much cash you can generate. Generally, influencers are paid $1,000 per 100,000 Instagram followers and $2,000 per 100,000 YouTube followers, according to Digiday. Influencer campaigns on Snapchat start at $500 for 1,000 to 5,000 views in a 24-hour period. Rates vary based on how loyal and engaged an influencer’s audience is. True celebrities can demand top dollar. Kim Kardashian reportedly earns more than $250,000 per Instagram photo.
Anyone can type in their Instagram handle into Silverman’s Quantum Sponsor model and see how much they can bring in for an Instagram post as a nano influencer. (For example, The Spruce Boy would earn about $15 for a post, according to Quantum.)
Is the world of influencers one where there is no gender wage gap? Quite possibly. Still, Quantum Sponsor targets nano influencers. In the big leagues of influencer marketing, expect to find a market comparable to modeling, where female models out-earn male models by leaps and bounds.
So what does it take to be a successful male influencer? “You have to know your audience. Post consistently and at peak hours, and interact with your audience,” says Reuben Wood of digital talent firm SOM Agency, who has more than 93,000 Instagram followers.
Engagement is what drives influencer marketing, that and the celebrity endorsements. But as the influencer space continues to grow, you will begin to see that engagement will overtake celebrity status or that is Silverman’s prediction. For Wood, engagement is the fun part of being an influencer. “I enjoy the connection I have with my followers and interacting with new people every day.”
Having an authentic approach to connectivity is a key component of successful influencer marketing. Take the account of yoga instructor Jimmy Wheeler, who qualifies as a nano influencer with about 8,000 followers. As an outdoors enthusiast, the stunning backdrops of Bozeman, Montana complement this yogi’s poses, in photographs that are works of art (taken by his girlfriend, who is indeed a photographer). As a yogi, he talks about his journey to finding yoga at “a very low point in my life. I can honestly say the practice changed my life.” Instagram was a natural platform for Wheeler to share his “journey,” and help change the notion that yoga is just for women. “I wanted to share my passion for yoga and encourage others to find a yoga practice or deepen their own journey. I am grateful for the Instagram platform in which I am able to do so,” Wheeler says. The clean, cohesive and professional imagery of his account gives it a narrative, which is valuable from a marketing perspective. As for being an influencer, he says it’s important to portray a “realistic lifestyle.”
Whether Kim and Kylie portray a realistic version of their lives is hard to say. On social media, it’s tempting to curate a filtered #LivingMyBestLife version of yourself because of the attention, admiration and, for some, money. However, if you can influence people by just being you, imagine how powerful that must feel.
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