Influencers Shouldn't Quit Full-time Jobs without Making a Significant Mark – Aashna Shroff This lifestyle influencer shares the key to making big in the world of blogging

The growing influence of social media over the masses has redefined the definition of celebrities. Unlike the days when only high-end actors and models gracing Page 3 of newspapers and magazines, anyone who holds the power to inspire and establish connect with the audience can become influencers with or without YouTube. social media, after all, has become the new rage, especially Instagram.

As per Linqia's report on "State of Influencer Marketing 2019', Instagram is the most important social network for influencer marketing, followed by Facebook and YouTube. "Why Instagram has worked so well is because it's an instant platform. The interaction is very quick. People can quickly go through the post and move on with their day," explained Aashna Shroff.

Commenting on what's the secret to having a loyal fan base on Instagram, she explained "the whole idea of being very consistent and showing your daily life' has brought her nearly 665k followers on the platform. A lifestyle influencer by profession, Shroff started her journey with a fashion blog – The Snob Journal and gained a steady social media following.

The Path to Becoming an Influencer

Her enthusiastic approach and constant postings have earned partnerships with multiple leading brands, making her one of the most successful influencers on social media. Influencer marketing has now become a critical component of the various brand's digital marketing mix with 74 per cent of marketers using influencer content for product or service promotion.

Often the path of earning a living and living the passion end up never crossing. Hundreds of youngsters actively post on social media and write blogs about topics they have mastered, through experience or passion, but not everyone can influence and those who can, are very well making a career out of it. The path, however, is not as easy as it seems.

"If you work hard on your content and people start liking your work, they will start following you. Once you have a certain amount of audience, the brands will automatically start coming," Shroff stated. Success doesn't come overnight though. In order to have an influence over people's decision or mindset, influencers' content needs to have mettle and quality.

Quit the Job or Not?

Many argue that concentrating on building a career through blogging while continuing with a job is impractical. However, Shroff's only advice is, "You shouldn't quit your full-time job unless you have made a mark on your influencing platform enough that you can earn from it." To sustain themselves every single day, they cannot afford to leave their job without a source of regular income.

While leaving a job is out of the question, aspiring influencers can keep their weekends for your social media. Sharing her own example, Shroff stated, "My Sundays used to be my shoot days. I used to travel two hours to a good location and create content for my entire week. That's how you maintain the balance between your job and your social media."

Once your social media grows, you start getting brand partnership and realize that quitting your job would be beneficial for your content is when you can embrace social media influencing as a full-time career. Unlike other professions where the initial capital investment scares away people before they even start out, the influx of good-quality smartphones and editing tools have cleared the path for influencers.

Respect the Audience

Audiences start following influencers based on the niche they are catering to, making it crucial for the latter to stay true to their followers in circumstances. "For over five years, I've built an audience for fashion, beauty and travel. If I suddenly start fitness content, it won't work for them," Shroff justified.

Influencers are often approached by all kinds of brands, whether they relate or not. Money though shouldn't be the only factor while deciding upon associated oneself with an organization. "Even if you get approached by 20 brands and only one of them is relatable, you should go for that only," because that's what your audience has seen and would like to see in future as well.

Not just the audience but marketers are also beginning to benchmark the performance of influencers against the consistency and relatability of their content. Brands are strategically associating themselves with influencers to drive more clicks, conversions and product sales. However, it all goes around the audience loyalty.