Balancing school work, a social life and a job in college is difficult — add in being a social media influencer, and it makes it even harder. I am a senior student at West Chester, a sales associate for Green Eyed Lady Boutique and an influencer on Instagram and TikTok. Needless to say, I’m a pretty busy person.
By definition, an influencer is a person with the ability to influence potential buyers of a product or service by promoting or recommending the items on social media. Often, this is a person’s full-time career. Many influencers didn’t go to college because they just didn’t see a point. Gabby Epstein, a model and influencer with over 1 million followers on Instagram, states how she dropped out of nursing school to pursue a career in social media: “I was in nursing school in Australia when my Instagram started gaining more and more following. Once I started making 10 thousand-plus monthly from collaborations and brand deals, I left school.” Some influencers, like myself, choose to do both. Of course, when I am struggling to make everything work, I think about what it would be like to leave school and focus 100% on social media, but I love being able to relate to my followers who are in college and show that I am just like any other 21-year-old. In addition, my degree in media and journalism may help me advance in social media even more.
On Instagram, I have over 65,000 followers, and on TikTok, I have over 49,000 followers. These numbers fluctuate depending on how much I post and if I’m sharing things that resonate with my followers. I like to share my lifestyle, traveling, fashion and just my day-to-day life. When I am busy with school and work, I plan out “content days.” These are days I dedicate to taking massive amounts of content. I bring my tripod, different outfits and drive around to different locations. By the end of the day, I have over a hundred pictures that look like they were all taken on different days. This way I am able to continue to share these photos on Instagram over the next few weeks without seeming too repetitive. This is a “secret” to a lot of influencers’ success on Instagram as it helps us stay active.
Being an influencer has brought me insane and incredible opportunities. In 2019, I was invited to sign onto Dan Bilzerian’s promo team and travel with them to Italy. The trip was full expenses paid, and I got to spend the week with photographers, models, influencers and Ignite modeling agency’s team. This trip taught me a lot about how to optimize my Instagram for business, and shortly after, I signed contracts with a few different businesses that were monthly paid collaborations. Once I learned how to make money from Instagram, I was able to negotiate brand deals that helped me reach my full earning potential.
At times, being a full-time student and a social media influencer is a lot to handle, but it has helped me earn work ethic and strong experiences for my resume. If you are interested in building your social media, feel free to email me at gennyshawcross@gmail.com.
Genevieve Shawcross is a fourth-year Media & Culture major with a minor in Journalism. GS918938@wcupa.edu