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Casey Major-Bunce
@MAJORMUMHACK
FOLLOWERS: 466,000
POSTS: 597
EXPERIENCE: 7
Ami Charlize
@AMICHARLIZE
FOLLOWERS: 3.2m
POSTS: 624
EXPERIENCE: 8
heat investigates what it really takes to be a social media sensation
Once upon atime, before the dawn of the digital age, we didn’t even know we were being influenced by celebrities, and they didn’t know they were influencing us. But, following in the footsteps of global megastars such as Selena Gomez, Kylie Jenner and Ariana Grande, ageneration of social media-sav v y types suddenly realised the earning potential offered to them in the new world of “influencing”.
Today, with content-sharin gseemingly unstoppable, the possibilities of influencing are limitless. Over the years, there has been an increase in civilians accidentally becoming stars. Take GK Barry, who started out doing self-deprecating TikToks and has been propelled to celeb status, even recently starring on The Wheel.
But most have put in blood, sweat and tears to curate asuccessful social media presence, culminating in acareer they can live off, thanks to those lucrative sponsored ads and brand deals.
Recent research by marketing platform Influencer Intelligence showed that Instagram remains the platform of choice, with TikTok hot on its heels. With one in five social media users considering themselves influencers, or content creators, we wanted to know more.
NEVER NOT WORKING
Casey Major-Bunce (@majormumhack) –amum of four and mumfluencer from Portsmouth –admits she struggles to factor in downtime amid parenting and her work, which picked up at an astonishing pace last summer when she went from 100,000 followers to 400,000 in amatter of months.
“Sometimes I’m sending voice notes at 11pm,” she admits. “I had an Insta-story the other day that got about 7,000 replies, and Ido go through the vast majority of them. It’s so nice that this many people care about you.” Now, influencing is her sole income, having previously been a stay-at-home mum. “You work so hard making this content, you need to get money out of it,” she says.
Kiaya Nigel
@KIAYAS.OUT.AGAIN
FOLLOWERS: 22,800
POSTS: 211
EXPERIENCE: 6
Lynsey Crombie
@LYNSEY_QUEENOFCLEAN
FO
