- August 6, 2023
- Kaitlyn
How To Become a
YouTube Influencer In 2023
If you’re anything like me, you’ve considered becoming a YouTube influencer as your next side hustle. But how much effort is really involved? Does it end up being worth it? I’ve been a social media manager for several years and have helped my clients gain thousands of followers and millions of views on Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter! Let’s break down how to become a YouTube influencer in 2023.
Table of Contents
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What Is a YouTube Influencer?
A YouTube influencer is a pretty broad term. But it’s anyone who influences their audience to…do anything! These can be Family Vloggers, YouTube video game streamers, podcasters (yes, there are podcast videos on YouTube!), or even Makeup Artists! If you have a large following and an engaged audience, you can become a YouTube influencer.
What Do YouTube Influencers Do?
Well, that depends on the influencer. Every industry and influencer is different. But for the most part, influencers will create content that builds trust with their audience. Brands are attracted to influencers with large followings and highly engaged audiences! Not just the followers.
These YouTube influencers partner with brands to promote their products. But again, every influencer is different, so take this with a grain of salt!
How To Make Money As a YouTube Influencer
There are so many ways to make money as a YouTuber influencer, which is one reason why this is such an attractive side hustle. After meeting some qualifications (number of followers, watch time, verification status), you can display ads on your channel.
Every time someone watches the ad, you get a small cut—around $18 for every 1,000 views. But if you get 100k for just one video, that’s $1,800! It adds up quickly.
Ads are just one way YouTube influencers make money. The most common way is through brand deals and affiliate marketing. If you partner with a brand, you may just get free products and no other compensation. Or, depending on your analytics, you can make upwards of $10,000 for one deal! It’s unbelievable how much money is involved with YouTube influencing.
You can also do some affiliate marketing. Market other’s products, and when someone purchases through your unique link, you’ll get a small cut. You’ll usually receive between 10%-50% of the product’s price.
You can also create your own products to sell to your audience too. There isn’t a limit to ways to make money with YouTube. Becoming a YouTuber is a great way to make some passive income!
How Much Can a YouTube Influencer Make?
We went over a little bit above, but in short, it depends! This is going to be the answer to a lot of questions, unfortunately. But it depends on your niche, your audience size, your engagement rate, and how long you’ve been a YouTube influencer.
Micro-influencers (influencers with small followings. The exact number depends on the industry!) can expect to make $500-$2,500/month through brand deals, YouTube ads, affiliate marketing, and selling their own products.
Macro-Influencers (influencers with large followings) can expect to make anywhere from $2,500-$100,000+/month. That number sounds astronomical, but if you truly take the time to create great content and optimize every video, it’s 100% possible.
How To Find Your Audience
Finding your audience is similar to finding your ideal clients as a Pinterest manager or virtual assistant. So, if you’re already experienced with that, then it shouldn’t be a problem! If not, let’s go over it.
First, decide what type of content you want to make. This could be in-depth book reviews, marketing tutorials, family vlogging…whatever you want!
After that, figure out who your ideal viewer is. What are their age, gender and sexual identity, interests, and even phase of life? If you want to give marketing tutorials, maybe your ideal viewer is someone aged 25+ working as a freelancer who wants to grow their clientele.
Then, you find them! You’ll do this by setting keywords and phrases and engaging with them directly.
Engaging With Your Audience
Did you know that, technically, YouTube isn’t a social media platform? It’s a search engine! Because of this, keywords are more important than anything.
But engaging is important, too, especially when you’re starting. Respond to comments and engage with your ideal audience’s videos and content.
Without this, it can be so hard to grow your account into an engaging atmosphere.
Optimizing Your Account & Videos
The most crucial part of becoming a YouTube influencer is optimization! Without this, nothing else really matters because your videos and account won’t be seen by anyone.
You’ll need to:
- Add a profile picture
- Add a YouTube banner
- About Description
- Links to a website & other social media accounts
- Catchy Thumbnail to videos with keywords
- Keywords throughout bio & videos
- Keywords throughout the video description
- Create end cards
- Edit videos for screen changes every 20 seconds (slides, fade to black, change positions, etc., This is only for people who want only to sit and talk to the camera and don’t involve much movement).
I know it sounds like a lot, but once you get in the habit, it becomes so natural. It’ll take a little while to get it optimized, but after that, there’s little editing that you will have to do.
Tools You Need To Become a YouTube Influencer
To truly optimize your account, you’ll need some tools to help you do it right. Fortunately, there are tons of tools that are free or have free plans that you can use.
You’ll need:
- Something to capture your videos (phone, camera)
- Computer to edit your videos
- Editing software
- Graphic design software
- Keyword research tool
- Grammar tool
And that’s it! It may take a bit to ensure you know how to use every tool correctly, but once you do it, you won’t have to do it again. It can be overwhelming, but don’t let it stop you!
Is Becoming a YouTube Influencer Worth It?
Just like my answer to almost every other question, it depends! There are a lot of factors that go into it. What are your goals? Are you willing to learn? How overwhelmed do you get? Do you have time to learn and post consistently?
If you know yourself and know that you can become a YouTube influencer, then yes, it can totally be worth it. I mean, $100k/month sounds worth it to me! Even $2,500/month passively! But everyone is different.
Do some inner searching and figure out how busy you are in the next 3-6 months while you learn and grow your audience. That should give you a good baseline as to if it’s worth it or not for you.
If you want some more side hustle ideas, download this list of 113 side hustles organized by category and potential income. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to email me at hello@strivehustles.com.