[22.01.19]

It’s two years ago that we heard from Futurologist, Mike Ryan at our Seminar about how the world will change over the next 20 years. One of the key elements of his fascinating and entertaining presentation, was how in the future people will have four or five careers; and how automation and Artificial Intelligence will bring an end to some jobs, whilst at the same time it will create new jobs.

This topic has really resonated with us and has resulted in us doing more reading around careers of the future. One such future career, which has already arrived, is the Social Media Influencers. The media titan, Bloomberg, followed one such Social Media Influencer, who makes money from companies that pay her to endorse their products and services on her Instagram feed. This Influencer will earn anywhere between $50,000 and $100,000 as a full-time Influencer, a lot less than some of her contemporaries. Nevertheless she is being paid to endorse products that support her passion for the great outdoors, particularly walking and camping. What a great “job”, we may conclude.

The truth of this “job”, however, is not quite so glamorous!

• To secure the sponsoring companies, the Influencer has to approach suitable companies, understanding their marketing plans, and creating a proposal which supports their plans. Plus the conversion rate is challenging, with 70% of these approaches going nowhere.

• Once a company is interested in sponsoring, the Influencer needs to negotiate hard to secure the best deal.

• As social media, particularly Instagram, is about the quality and style of the photos, the Influencer has to edit the images to make them wow the audience, whilst fitting with the sponsor’s brand.

• Social media never switches off – people are posting comments all the time. To keep the audience engaged the Influencer needs to read, review and respond to all comments 24 hours a day. This is all-consuming.

• Although social media is currently a key communication channel to the outside world, it is a fickle channel; and changes in the social media platform’s algorithms can have a profound effect on the Influencer’s reach.

Putting all of this together, it is clear that a Social Media Influencer’s challenges are no different to most professions, using the same skills. The key difference being that the Influencer’s “office” may be much more flexible!

Should you wish to change your career please feel free to speak to Andrew or Jackie about your business plan, finances and tax position.

Castletons Accountants