How to become an influencer: from first post to paid work

Brands pay for content, access to a relevant audience and the ability to get people interested. Having an Instagram account is only the starting point. If you want to know how to become an influencer, begin with what you can offer your audience. Here is how to find a niche, build a following and approach your first brand collaboration while navigating AI and search on social media.

Imagine posting short videos between lectures: an affordable lunch near campus, your first internship interview, a realistic look at working alongside your degree. People start asking questions. Is the café worth a visit? What did the employer ask? Could you show the budget behind that weekly food shop?

Those questions give you something to work with. A single post can become a series that people return to. Developing it takes ideas, but also a basic marketing strategy, a way to assess your results and a clear sense of your responsibilities to viewers.

What is an influencer, and how is a UGC creator different?

An influencer can shape an audience’s opinions, preferences or decisions through their content and their relationship with followers. Their subject might be fashion, technology, books, sport or explaining economics. Follower numbers alone tell you little about whether people trust their recommendations.

Influencer marketing brings a brand together with a creator who reaches a relevant audience. In everyday agency usage, a UGC creator typically produces photographs or videos for a brand’s own channels or advertising. The fee mainly covers production and permission to use the content. A large personal following may therefore be unnecessary. One person can do both kinds of work.

If you enjoy filming but would rather keep your private life off a public profile, UGC could be a useful place to start. You might produce a sample product demonstration for your portfolio. Label it as a self initiated sample so nobody mistakes it for a commissioned partnership.

Find your niche using the STP model

Marketing’s STP model covers segmentation, targeting and positioning. It helps organisations decide whom to serve and how they want to be perceived. You can apply it to your profile through three questions: who are you creating for, what do they need and why should they follow you?

“Lifestyle for young people” leaves you with almost unlimited choices. “Affordable cooking for students sharing a small kitchen” gives you a clearer brief. Other possibilities include finding independent British designers, documenting your first business idea or explaining the thinking behind advertising campaigns.

Look for the overlap between your interests, the experience you can offer and an audience’s needs. You do not have to present yourself as an established expert. Documenting what you are learning can be a useful format, provided you distinguish personal experience from verified information and paid recommendations.

Why people trust influencers

Lou and Yuan’s 2019 study links informative content and creator credibility with trust in branded posts. When planning your own content, ask what people will learn from you and why they should believe you.

Horton and Wohl described parasocial interaction: an apparently personal connection with a media figure. On social media, this can sit alongside actual communication, such as a reply to a comment.

For your own work, this brings responsibility. Do not imply you have used a product you have never tried. Correct mistakes and decide where your privacy boundaries sit. Authentic content can be planned and carefully edited. What matters is whether it represents your experience and delivers on its promises honestly.

Four NEWTON graduates, four approaches to creating

You can find examples within NEWTON’s own graduate community. Czech creators Matěj König, Zuzana Zvěřová, Eliška Trojáková and Vojta Toman offer different perspectives on combining personal interests, content and working with an audience.

• Matěj König creates sports content and short videos. His work offers a useful starting point for exploring how a specific interest can shape a profile’s subject and recognisable format.
• Zuzana Zvěřová shares practical advice on affordable travel, including finding cheap flights. Consider which specific questions your own content could answer.
• Eliška Trojáková combines her own content creation with experience in creative video production. Her example also points towards opportunities behind the camera, where you can build a portfolio through filming, developing concepts or coordinating production.
• Vojta Toman founded Game of Life, a project bringing people together through public events. It offers a useful prompt to consider how your community might benefit from meeting in person too.

Look for an approach that suits your own interests and abilities. When you study another creator’s work, ask whom it serves, what it offers and how it connects with their wider activities.

How to start on Instagram, TikTok or YouTube

Choose one main platform for your first month. Base that decision on the audience you want to reach and the content you can realistically produce. As a starting hypothesis, try short videos for quick explanations, longer videos for detailed tutorials or carousel posts for guides people may want to revisit.

Make your profile clear about what you cover and whom it is for. Add a contact address for enquiries and pin examples that introduce your work. Start with your phone, clear sound and the light available to you. Buy equipment once you understand the specific problem it will solve.

How do you get followers? Give people a recognisable reason to return. A recurring series such as “One marketing campaign in one minute” can provide a clearer invitation than unrelated posts. Reply to thoughtful comments, connect with creators covering related subjects and use audience questions to shape future instalments.

Understand recommendations and social media SEO

TikTok explains that its recommendations draw on user interactions, content information and user information. The importance of different factors can change. This does not establish a universal posting time or hashtag count that guarantees reach. Our recommendation is to test your own content and assess how your audience responds.

Think about search as well as feeds. If your video answers “How to write a CV with no experience”, use that wording naturally in the title or caption and provide a useful answer. A specific description helps viewers understand the subject more readily than “You need to see this”.

For research, TikTok Creator Search Insights provides selected information about search topics and content gaps. Check whether it is available in your account and region. Use the information to inform your editorial decisions rather than predict the success of an individual video.

Create content with a clear purpose

Choose three content pillars. For a student focused account, these might be practical guides, personal experiences and answers to community questions. They give you a way to assess whether your profile is useful and remains relevant to the people you want to reach.

Give each post one main point. Open with a recognisable situation or problem, show the process or experience and finish with a suitable next step. Saving the post might make sense for a tutorial; a thoughtful question might suit a discussion. Make sure the content delivers what the opening promises.

Build a schedule that works around your degree. Two prepared posts a week, for example, could leave room for feedback and other commitments. Treat that as a possible working routine. Review what you can sustain and what gives you useful information about your audience.

Measure reach, engagement and meaningful action

Decide on the goal before publishing. If a video is meant to attract people to a student event, track visits to the registration page and completed registrations too. If you are building a series, look at viewing patterns across episodes and returning viewers where your analytics make that information available.

For your own comparisons, you could calculate engagement rate by reach = selected interactions / accounts reached × 100. A post reaching 2,000 accounts with 120 interactions would score 6%. This is an illustrative calculation, not a performance benchmark. State which interactions you include, and do not directly compare it with a rate calculated using follower numbers.

How much do influencers earn, and how do you get a brand deal?

There is no universal influencer rate card. Fees depend on the brief, audience, production work, usage rights and negotiated terms. Income can come from sponsored content, affiliate commission, UGC production, your own services or platform features where you meet the current eligibility requirements.

The IAB’s 2025 US research identifies creator reputation and audience alignment among important selection criteria for brands. Build your own pitch around the people you can reach.

Put together a short media kit covering your subject, available audience information, results for a stated period, work samples and contact details. Suggest a specific piece of content and explain how it could help the brand’s customers. Include a relevant example so the recipient can assess your work.

When setting a fee, separate production, publication on your own profile and licensing for further use. Agree on revisions, deadlines, payment terms, any exclusivity and use in paid advertising. A free product is not a cash payment. Consider whether the arrangement makes sense for your time and costs.

Label advertising clearly

For content aimed at UK consumers, the Competition and Markets Authority’s guidance covers incentives including payments, gifts and affiliate arrangements. Commercial content needs a clear, prominent disclosure. Simply tagging the brand or providing a discount code is insufficient.

Use an upfront label such as “Ad” that viewers can see immediately. The ASA’s influencers’ guide, updated in October 2026, provides practical disclosure advice. For work aimed at EU audiences, consult the European Commission’s Influencer Legal Hub as well. Also check the platform’s rules and commercial permissions for music, photographs and footage.