Influencer: Building Your Personal Brand in the Age of Social Media

Before reading this book, I was enthusiastic and passionate about sharing different makeup and nail design looks via Instagram. My following has been and continues to be organic interactive followers. I wanted and needed to increase my social media following. I needed to learn how to improve my social media profile, that can lead to increased followers. I knew that I need to improve my social media marketing plan. I seriously wanted to figure out, how to use social media to gain many more loyal, interactive followers. And, to gain followers to purchase my own cosmetics brand. This season I have launched my brand of skincare and makeup. (The launch of my own company was my ultimate goal.) These are the following things that I appreciated about this book, and is helpful for myself: 1. Before buying this book, I either spent my personal money on makeup products or I would receive free makeup products from different brands. Sometimes, I still record and post "sponsored content" for other beauty brands. Chapter 5: "Money," helped me to know exactly how to calculate the formula, to know the appropriate amount to charge to the beauty brand, that initiates contact with me. 2. The author explained the professional information that needs to be included on an influencers' profile. This was helpful. I needed to better organize the contact, heading, and other information, for my social media profiles to look more professional or polished. 3. Chapter 2: "The Audience," helped me with so many things that I was overlooking. The importance of engaging into genuine conversations or comments with the followers. Previously, I thought that the number of likes for a post was just enough. Now I realize that, I need to write questions about the product that is featured within the post. Also, in this chapter, there is a helpful list of #hashtags, that can be used when posting photo's or video's to social media. 4. This book has given me the guideline to become better at different aspects of operating my social media campaigns, posting and promotions. Over the months, I continue to use this book as a good reference, to help myself know the sensible, logical actions to do, to meet my social goals. I am 100% satisfied with this book purchase.

Everything you have ever wanted to know about what it takes to become a financially successful influencer is answered in this book. Brittany goes into every detail you can imagine about what you should charge according to viewer engagement and subscribers. The information contained in "Influencer" can be used for influencers in all industries not just beauty. It's basically the same across the board. It would take hours upon hours (and probably days) of googling to even get 25% of the techniques found in this paperback. Trust me, I've tried and rates are not revealed or spoken about like it's some super secret or something. You will learn about Influencer marketing jargon, how to create a media sheet and why a blog is just as important as having social media. You won't regret purchasing and will learn in literally a couple of days what would otherwise take years to pick up on your own. I feel so much more confident as a future influencer in negotiating my own rates now from reading this book. Some background, I once paid an introductory price of $50 for a $98 "influencer" manual from a "lifestyle" blogger that only contained 30 pages and 80% of it was completely useless to me. At least 10 of those 30 pages were blank pages you were supposed to write "notes" on. The author had done a series of campaigns, so I thought they would be revealing some of their secrets to game. Nope. Needless to say, it was a complete waste of time and I couldn't even tell you where it is now. I felt I got played and it turned me off from the person immensely. I unsubbed from all of their platforms vowing to never again be scammed like that again. You won't with "Influencer". It's really the only book you'll ever need on the subject.

I wrote a best seller, The 21 Laws of Influence back in 2004. This topic has fascinated me for a couple of years. I've been reading and exploring the role of 'new influencers' and how to pivot my existing influence and expertise in one field to another that I am equally an expert in, but no where near as well known. In transitioning from corporate expert to fashion, self-tanning, and skin care expert I've been researching, read countless articles and books, and mostly wasted tons of time trying to figure out the business side of Influencers. In reading most books, I actually felt like banging my head on the wall while screaming "Why did they feel motivated to write NOTHING of value while constantly 'pitching' their courses. In fact, more than half are consistent in touting that writing an Amazon best-seller is the absolute best route to influencer status! Since I know this field, and know that most in publishing think this is nonsense, I thought after reading every book: "OH MY WORD! NOOOOOOOO! This can't be correct - it just doesn't seem plausible as a strategy to build any business, much less a good business preposition for the company booking an influencer... Why would they really care if you scammed your way to Amazon best seller status?" Then, thankfully, and FINALLY I found this book! My recommendation: Read it! Take notes. Digest it. If you plan to start this journey, start with this knowledge. Understanding the goals, the strategy and building from there just makes the most sense. Well worth the read. I plan on jump starting with some of what I learned here. I'll let you know how it goes....launching in a couple of weeks :)

Entertainingly written, funny and empowering for women leaves you asking the question why not me As a 30 something woman starting into the space of digital content creation this was refreshingly honest about the hard work involved, but also formulaic and straightforward on what is required for success Could use an update with new platforms like TikTok

Transitioning to running my blog full-time left me lost with no idea of what my next step would be—there is so much information out there that it can be challenging to discern what is relevant and what is not. Brittany removed the guesswork of it and laid everything out. I am clear about the possibilities and what it will take to accomplish my goals. I love the blunt way the information was presented and the real-life examples and advice from people doing it and doing it well. This is a MUST-READ for anyone in the content creation industry, even if you have been in it for a while. I rated this book five stars because the book is an easy read with loads of helpful information and zero fluff.

Writing has a lot of style, and Brittany's character comes across well throughout the book. The examples seemed very focused on a small subset of the influencer market. I feel like a second contributor from a slightly different genre would do well in an updated version. Overall a pretty easy read with good insights, but not a "must read"

I’m a social media manager and I’m always looking to expand my mind and learn new things in the world of social media. That said I have ordered a lot of books and I do mean a lot. This book is so easy to understand, it’s well written and definitely a page turner. I have taken so many great notes from this book and have put them into practice with my clients. I do caution, reading this book will not make u an overnight star, but it will give you some great tips and advice for being an influencer and a lot of it can be used in other areas. Maybe you have a business you are trying to get brand awareness, this book will help. It’s a must read.

I highly recommend this book for any independent creator or business. I was hesitant at first because of some of the youtube reviews i saw for this book. People were saying that it was just okay, and it was written for people who only want to learn about working with influencers. It is definitely helpful for “influencers”, but the information in this book is relevant to any brand that wants to learn anything about marketing and attention the internet. It’s is obvious that the best and biggest place to do marketing on the internet is through social media, so “influencer” is just the term that will be used to frame the information. The section that stuck with me the most is when she breaks down how businesses view social media accounts depending on what sort of engagement and following they have. Incredibly valuable information that I will never forget! I am so thankful I read this! I recommend it to every person or business who wants to build a following on social media. This book will clear up any doubts you have in your understanding of social media marketing, and the author writes in a very direct and no nonsense way.

She said she was gonna read it but never found the motivation, probably needs to be a picture book for Gen Z lol

Es un libro muy completo y fácil de entender.

Ce livre donne une vision globale du métier d'influenceur et peut-être utile pour un débutant comme une personne déjà dans ce domaine. J'ai pu trouver des infos utiles pour prendre du recul pour créer du contenu.

I'm a person who is a man, and... I'm pretty much social media illiterate. Anyway, for me it was a good book. Lots of interesting information. Written in a clear and concise manner. I am very happy with it, however, I only gave three stars because it leaves me a little at a loss considering the book is mainly aimed at women. There is definitely some 'girl power' in there as well. If the author could also manage to write a book for male influencers that would be totally awesome!

I purchased this book after a friend sent me a picture of it via Instagram and it has been an incredible purchase. If you are looking to grow your personal brand in this day and age of social media, this is the book you will need. It is filled with great examples of how to send/respond to various individuals, real experiences by Brittany Henessey as well as other well-known influencers. The format and writing of this book was well done and I am beyond pleased with my purchase. Xx