To Be An Influencer Or Not: A Debate

A social media influencer is someone who has established a good and solid reputation on social media platforms. Looking deeper, it really is a big deal. It takes a significant amount of time, effort, dedication and a lot of other things to build thousands of followers. To be an influencer one of the “requirements” is to have a significant amount of followers across different social media platforms (or just one depending on the type of influencer. Also, an influencer must have earned credibility and trust from followers. For example, if you’re an influencer who promotes goods or services, your audience come to your page for reviews, questions or answers. And I’m not talking about low-budget influencers here. Sounds pretty interesting and cool, right? As cool and interesting as this may sound, it involves a lot of work. Being an influencer is not for the weak. While many people dream of becoming an influencer, others would rather venture into other fields.

About three years ago, I became friends with an influencer. Well, a mini-influencer. She had the dreams, passion and zeal to make it big. She’d always talk about her dreams to make it big in the industry. When we met, she had already found her path and was working towards it; building her page and gaining followers every day. With the many conversations we had, I got to know that to be an influencer, one of the first things you have to put in place is to find your path and follow it. For example, if you’re a food lover and you decided to go into promoting chemicals, it probably won’t work for you. Follow your field. At that time, my friend was a gym freak. She knew everything about gyming; the type of food you should eat, protein and supplements, waist trainers and so on. So, she dived into it. Today, she has made a significant amount of followers and is doing well in that field.

As I mentioned above, many people love to be an influencer, while others do not. I am one of the many people who would NOT want to be a social media influencer. It id not primarily because of the stress involved. If anything, I love growth and I enjoy building and growing. It brings me joy when I start something from scratch and it yields significant results . However, there are several other reasons why I would not want to be a social media influencer.

One of the reasons why I wouldn’t want to be a social media influencer is the popularity that comes with it. There are perks attached to being a celebrity, but I’ve never fancied the idea of being one. Loss of privacy is not something I can deal with. I love maintaining a low key profile, and being a celebrity snatches that away. I mean, you'd not be able to visit places without people taking pictures of you and posting them online, saying funny and awkward things. Imagine going out to a restaurant you used to enjoy and someone takes a picture of you while you are about to swallow a big morsel of your favorite food.

Another reason why I would not want to be a celebrity is the danger that comes with it. The pressure on you and loved ones is something I would not want to deal with. Imagine you are a social media influencer who promotes goods and services and then you promote a fake product; let’s say a fake lip balm. Your followers whom you have built for years would come for you, reporting your account and dragging your name from left to right, right to left. The worst that could happen is putting pressure on you and your family. Humans sometimes do crazy things. Also, they get caught up in too many heated topics.

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Thanks for reading.