If you are familiar with social media and the term ‘influencer,’ then you probably have a general understanding of the job. It is an industry that’s evolving by the second–the only constant is change. The dynamic nature of social media platforms encourages creators to constantly adapt how they produce new content.

According to Business Insider, “the influencer marketing industry is on track to be worth up to $15 billion by 2022, up from as much as $8 billion in 2019, according to Business Insider Intelligence estimates, based on Mediakix data.”

As someone who has been involved with both sides of the market when it comes to influencing, I can tell you firsthand that it most definitely is a job.

Being a micro-influencer or a larger-scale influencer requires creativity, business skills, planning time, attention to detail and an understanding of marketing in the digital world.

Through my internship with Beverly Hills Physicians my sophomore year, I had the opportunity to plan content, shoot and edit photos and videos and make sure our social channels always had fresh content on a weekly basis that was consistent with our brand image.

As a Communication student, these were skills I found to be essential in a marketplace that is constantly evolving and changing.

On the business side of the industry, I have had the opportunity to manage various influencers’ by setting aside strict schedules for content as well as being the Creative Director for engagement and captioning once the content has been shot and planned.

More than just posting cute pictures

Ainsley Ross, a model and high school senior taking online classes, said in an email interview that she believes modeling and social media go hand-in-hand.

“Once I started modeling, I started to understand how important social media was. This motivates me to start putting more time into my content which started landing me collaborations with companies,” Ross said.

Ross said being an influencer and content creator is time consuming and should be considered to be a ‘real’ job.

“I think it is a full time job. The amount of hours spent planning, creating, and networking is crazy. I would say I spend about 8 hours a day hardcore planning, networking, and creating. I’m always thinking of new things to do and create,” Ross said.

Ashley Fisher, an alumna of California Lutheran University who majored in Communication with an emphasis in Advertising and Public Relations, is a beauty influencer on YouTube. She makes detailed videos of how to complete complex makeup looks.

In a Zoom interview, Fisher said she has goals of growing her audience since she is passionate about the creative side of everything that goes into content creation as well as influencing. 

“Another goal would be more like, I guess you could say realistically speaking, would be to work with [a] reputable beauty brand doing like influencer relations, PR, so that I’m kind of doing it–but on the other side,” Fisher said. “Cause when I was at Cal Lu and I interned with Lime Crime… I was really able to see how all that stuff worked on the business side of it and I really really enjoyed that.”

Fisher said she is extremely proud of herself after recently an older post of hers was acknowledged by Benefit Cosmetics and she is excited for the future in influencing and content creation.

“I am so excited and grateful that Benefit Cosmetics felt I could represent them well enough to repost me to their Instagram page,” Fisher said. “As an influencer it’s not only one of my biggest goals to be reposted by a big brand that I genuinely love but it is a huge compliment, especially when I use their products on a daily basis.”

Because of all the time, work, effort and planning that goes into content creating and influencing, it should be considered a job just as any other in the creative realm. There is a lot of work behind the scenes, not to mention blood, sweat and literal tears. It is a very fulfilling industry for creatives to come together through different mediums and share their creativity in the ways they see fit.

As the influencer market continues to grow and expand, be sure to remember that it is more than just pretty photos and should be considered as real of a job as any other.