What do 30K followers get you on Instagram?
- [Janae Brown] I just have my camera, my food, my magazines. I stay busy in bed. Not the kind of busy peoplethink you're supposed to be in your twenties, but it's work. (laughs) I'm sweating! - Home interiors andlifestyle micro-influencer, Janae Brown, has about 30,000 followers. And although we often thinkof influencers as celebrities with millions of followersand crazy lavish lifestyles, it's becoming possible tosucceed as a smaller creator. (upbeat music) For micro-influencers,it's less about their scale and it's more about theclose connections they have with a smaller group of people. And it's exactly this typeof tight-knit community that advertisers of 2019are trying to get a part of, which is why someone with 30,000 followers could possibly quit their day job and go full time on Instagram. So let's head to Brooklyn,see what that life is like. (easygoing hip-hop music) - Okay, so this gridpost has been up now... Let me refresh. It's been up for 14 minutesand it has 483 likes, which for me, was unheard ofliterally three months ago. (laughs) I actually first startedInstagram like most people, just posting silly pictures for friends. I was really just having fun. I saw that other womenwere posting fun pictures and cute outfits, and I waslike,
"Well, I don't see "that many curvy, black women doing that, "so I'm gonna try that." When I started taking Instagram seriously in January of 2018, my whole mission or point of my page was to be relatable and, essentially, to letmore women know that, hey, whatever you're goingthrough, you're not alone, whether you're going through a break-up, whether you're dealingwith body image issues, girl, I've been there, let's chat. - [Becca] It's this approach that has jump-started Janae's success. And, yes, she actually readsjust about every comment. - She used an orange heart,I'm gonna use an orange heart. It never gets old, everytime I see this room, I just heart eye emojis. The main part of my page isactually the conversations that we're having. - Anyone can be aninfluencer if the people who are following them really care about what they're saying. - [Becca] That's Joe Gagliese,he's one of the co-founders of Viral Nation, a fullservice marketing company that specializes in influencer marketing. - Influencer marketing is nothing more than word of mouth on steroids. So I know influencers,even friends of mine, who have a thousand followers,but that's a cult following. And when he talks about somereally new, cool restaurant he went to in Toronto orNew York, people go to it. - Oh, yeah, this side is pretty.
So I'm very open andhonest with my audience about #ScamForTheGram, whichthe aesthetic we create on Instagram all thetimes that is not factual. I don't drink coffee,so I just have this one that I keep in the fridgeand I just use for photos. So, these are photos thatI use that are pretty and may catch someone's attention, in the hopes that they'll read the caption and be able to relate. I know the amount of workI'm putting into my posts. It's not just like takingcute selfie picture. I'm moving furniture,I'm setting things up, and then coming up witha relatable caption, responding to these comments,answering questions. And in order to do that,there's gonna be a need for some sponsored posts,which will probably, for me, is only 5% of what I share.
Although Janae'smedia kit is constantly changing based on her subscriberand engagement counts, when we visited her in late March of 2019, it looked a little like this. Now, Instagram is notJanae's full time job, but this money ishelping her build a brand that could someday turninto a full career. - As brands start to realizethat it's harder and harder to reach certain people, that influencers are gonnabe that kind of golden egg that allows that kind ofscale, big, big audience, while also coming across in a way that people are gonna consume it.
So Janae is in a unique position where she has this strongconnection with her audience, but can she retain that as she grows and attempts to make thismore than just a side hustle? - Yeah, it's gotten to a placewhere I'm not able to know as many other people's stories. It's hard for me 'cause I feellike I'm being very selfish and it's more of likea take, take, take now and I'm not giving back byengaging with other people. But... hopefully that's not the case and I'm hoping as I learn more, how to do each job more efficiently, I'll be able to open up that time again to engage with other people again 'cause that is really important to me. I'm just just slightlyoverwhelmed at the moment. (laughs) I just realized that I did notrespond to someone's comment. I actually just commentedon my own picture five minutes ago saying, "OMG, you are seriously the sweetest." But it is not in response to anyone, so we're gonna delete that'cause that is not cute.
"Well, I don't see "that many curvy, black women doing that, "so I'm gonna try that." When I started taking Instagram seriously in January of 2018, my whole mission or point of my page was to be relatable and, essentially, to letmore women know that, hey, whatever you're goingthrough, you're not alone, whether you're going through a break-up, whether you're dealingwith body image issues, girl, I've been there, let's chat. - [Becca] It's this approach that has jump-started Janae's success. And, yes, she actually readsjust about every comment. - She used an orange heart,I'm gonna use an orange heart. It never gets old, everytime I see this room, I just heart eye emojis. The main part of my page isactually the conversations that we're having. - Anyone can be aninfluencer if the people who are following them really care about what they're saying. - [Becca] That's Joe Gagliese,he's one of the co-founders of Viral Nation, a fullservice marketing company that specializes in influencer marketing. - Influencer marketing is nothing more than word of mouth on steroids. So I know influencers,even friends of mine, who have a thousand followers,but that's a cult following. And when he talks about somereally new, cool restaurant he went to in Toronto orNew York, people go to it. - Oh, yeah, this side is pretty.
So I'm very open andhonest with my audience about #ScamForTheGram, whichthe aesthetic we create on Instagram all thetimes that is not factual. I don't drink coffee,so I just have this one that I keep in the fridgeand I just use for photos. So, these are photos thatI use that are pretty and may catch someone's attention, in the hopes that they'll read the caption and be able to relate. I know the amount of workI'm putting into my posts. It's not just like takingcute selfie picture. I'm moving furniture,I'm setting things up, and then coming up witha relatable caption, responding to these comments,answering questions. And in order to do that,there's gonna be a need for some sponsored posts,which will probably, for me, is only 5% of what I share.
Although Janae'smedia kit is constantly changing based on her subscriberand engagement counts, when we visited her in late March of 2019, it looked a little like this. Now, Instagram is notJanae's full time job, but this money ishelping her build a brand that could someday turninto a full career. - As brands start to realizethat it's harder and harder to reach certain people, that influencers are gonnabe that kind of golden egg that allows that kind ofscale, big, big audience, while also coming across in a way that people are gonna consume it.
So Janae is in a unique position where she has this strongconnection with her audience, but can she retain that as she grows and attempts to make thismore than just a side hustle? - Yeah, it's gotten to a placewhere I'm not able to know as many other people's stories. It's hard for me 'cause I feellike I'm being very selfish and it's more of likea take, take, take now and I'm not giving back byengaging with other people. But... hopefully that's not the case and I'm hoping as I learn more, how to do each job more efficiently, I'll be able to open up that time again to engage with other people again 'cause that is really important to me. I'm just just slightlyoverwhelmed at the moment. (laughs) I just realized that I did notrespond to someone's comment. I actually just commentedon my own picture five minutes ago saying, "OMG, you are seriously the sweetest." But it is not in response to anyone, so we're gonna delete that'cause that is not cute.
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