Stories to fuel your mind
MISS 604: SECRETS OF A SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCER
Story by LIN STRANBERG
With the rise of social media channels in our everyday lives, a new breed of fame has arisen: the social media influencer. Defined as those wielding the clout to affect the decisions of their audience, influencers are hired by marketers for everything from simple product endorsements to swaying major political decisions or changing societal attitudes.
And while influencers can emerge from virtually anywhere, their respective followers don’t need to resemble those of a Kardashian to be considered valuable.
FROM BLOGGER TO INFLUENCER
Rebecca Bollwitt has been spearheading the local influencers’ scene since building her first website in 1997. Her blog, miss604.com, which has chronicled BC life since 2004, is the most award-winning blog in Western Canada, with 20 local “Best Blog” titles, along with national and international media awards. She has co-authored two books while publishing over 10,500 articles about events, arts, entertainment, travel and history.
“I am an influencer although I was doing what I do before that word was used in the context that it is now,” she says. “I think of myself more as a digital media publisher, since my main property is the one I own and I use third-party services (social media networks) to promote that.” Miss 604’s origins date back 17 years, before the rise of many of today’s major social media networks. But Bollwitt quickly saw the value of social media. “It was around the
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“IT IS DEFINITELY NOT AN OVERNIGHT PROCESS IT TAKES TIME TO BUILD A BRAND.”
time Web 2.0 came about that I knew social media had immediate value. I could use these networks to promote stories on my blog that linked back to my full article,” she says. “Social media has since been the top promotions tool for my website; it’s those ‘click-throughs’ that give me the ad views. I wouldn’t be anywhere without ad revenue!”
CULTIVATING INFLUENCE
So how does one become a social media influencer? “It’s definitely not overnight — it takes time to build a brand,” says Bollwitt. “You need an audience that you need to build trust with. I had the readership on my blog already so when social media came about, they literally followed me from platform to platform on their network of choice.”
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“IT’S ABOUT THE VALUE AND INTEGRITY OF THE SOURCE.”
Bollwitt engages with her followers through multiple platforms and even offers social media coaching to those who are interested in pursuing her chosen route. “Once you have a certain number of followers you have a dedicated audience who will click on your links, purchase what you’re selling and take your advice and reviews to heart,” she says. “That’s when you can partner with businesses and brands that will pay to get their content in front of your captive audience. Your followers and fans essentially become your online community. When someone says they made a purchase or donated to a cause because of something I wrote, that’s a success to me getting paid to do that as my day job is the icing on the cake.”
But Bollwitt says it’s not about the number of followers one has, it’s about the value and integrity of the source. “I believe an influencer is anyone with a digital media following who has a trusted brand. It could be someone with 1,000 totally engaged followers in their online community (micro influencers) or someone with 100,000 followers (macro influencers) or those in the millions (celebrities). It’s someone who can literally influence their online community to make decisions (purchases, donations, boosting “likes” or sharing, etc.) and they also have the support of that community.” As for where the future lies for influencers, Bollwitt proffers a more mobile world ahead. “I think we’ll be untethering from our desktop devices even more,” she suggests.
“For example, video production has gone from using an expensive editing suite on a souped-up computer tower to making 30-second clips with greenscreens, stickers, GIFs, and streaming audio in just a few minutes using Instagram Reels or TikTok. People are connected digitally now more than ever so I look forward to the next innovations!”
