It’s no surprise that influencers (bloggers, YouTubers, and social media stars) are taking their passion projects to the next level. Brands are increasingly tapping influencers for marketing campaigns, event appearances, and design collaborations because of their unique ability to forge strong connections with their audience. Those with celebrity-like influence often get signed with an agent and work full-time as an influencer, while others with emerging followings continue part-time or simply view it as a hobby. Currently, entrepreneurship comes in several flavors for influencers:
Advertising and Sponsorships – operating as an affiliate by receiving a commission on referral sales or receiving payment for promotional placements
Brand Joint Ventures – designing a product in partnership with an existing brand under a payment and/or revenue share model i.e. Bethany Mota for Aeropostale
New Product Launches – designing and creating a new product under their own new brand i.e. Em Cosmetics, Ipsy, Chiara Ferragni, Glossier, Real Techniques
It was about a year ago when I first wrote about the growing influence of young content creators and featured SaphiraFashion, now a 3-time winner of LookMazing’s Makeup Challenge contests. Since then, she’s continued to amaze me with her dedication to her passion and has continued to accomplish more impressive achievements from giving a TEDx talk to hosting meetups in different cities.
At the young age of 17, she’s already starting to dabble in several forms of entrepreneurship, with the most recent being the launch of her online store. She is a great example of the emerging generation of tech-savvy, young entrepreneurs that are able to juggle and effectively use social media channels to launch a business. The motivation to start her online store was driven by her fans wanting to take part in her “Be Happy” movement, where she motivates everyone to stay positive and follow their dreams. This message strongly resonates with her audience as they come to her for advice on all fronts. She’s not one to shy away from talking openly about teen topics ranging from bullying to self confidence. Her candid and realness is what has made her stand out – she is embraced by an international audience who wears her Be Happy Necklace proudly (myself included).
She recently hit an exciting milestone of reaching 100K subscribers on her YouTube channel and also has a potential clothing line in the works. Despite her growing popularity, she continues to remain humble and honest with her viewers. As she continues to work towards transforming her YouTube channel into a full-time career, we’re excited to be supporting her and other influencers & entrepreneurs with the technology, tools, and opportunities to help them grow.
Are there influencers turned successful entrepreneurs that you admire? Share with us in the comments below!
Tags: entrepreneur, influencer, saphira