Top influencer gives tips on how to turn online presence into money

The podcast is a partnership between RX Radio and Pulse Uganda.

Pulse, among other ventures, works with influencers to connect them to brands and companies, and is in the process of hosting the Pulse Influencer Awards on October 15, the first of its kind in the country.

Beewol, by his own admission, earns quite a bit of money from the internet and pays all of his bills off of money that he makes as an influencer. That makes him a professional influencer who knows a thing or two about the craft.

He gave a few tips on how to turn one's online presence into money and even become a successful influencer like him.

He advised one to:

Find their niche conversation

If you get online as, let's say, a gardener, and you talk every day about gardening some day, there are going to be people looking for voices of reason about gardening, voices of authority about the matter and therein lies the opportunity for you.

For instance, there are people who make good money as motivational speakers online because people struggle in their everyday lives and they are seeking for a hand reaching out to them, motivational speakers provide that. So find your niche.

Number of followers doesn't necessarily matter

The number of followers is not as important as the sense of authority you command over your chosen subject matter. You might have just 20 followers but if those twenty people respect you and believe in what you say, you are probably going to impact a lot more than a person that has half a million followers all of whom don't have that much respect in what the person talks about. So numbers are usually not the most telling thing when it comes to return on investments for clients.

For instance, if I am selling a shoe online and people know that I am the kind of person who is known for fine shoes, there are people who will respect my opinion about shoes and will probably want to buy from me. The reverse is the case.

Selling your items

If you have a shop downtown and you want to attract more customers to your store, the internet is a very easy way out.

How to present yourself to a company to get signed as an influencer

Beewol says that before you even approach a company or any brand to work for, you must first consider your interests.

"What things are you passionate about? Because usually that is usually the starting point. The thing about influencer things is that it works backwards. First you start by creating a brand as an individual before you work with other brands. Once people identify that you like dressing in black, you are always in black, then that becomes your brand. Then in future if anybody has anything that has to do with black, then you are the person they will be thinking about," he says.

Don't jump from one subject to another

Brands don't want someone who like to jump from one item to another because you do damage to their brand. They don't want someone who today is pro this and tomorrow you are anti the same thing. They want consistency and consistency can be gained if, as an individual, one first looks inside you and decides, "so these are the things I stand for" and then carry that forward to tomorrow, next week, and next year. A day will come when brands will be looking for someone with that consistency and your name will rank highly.

Keep yourself relevant

Sustainability is a must according to Beewol.

He says, "Your influence can diminish over time if you don't keep yourself relevant. For example, ten years ago, writing and reading was all the craze. Everybody did blogs and stuff like that. Today, everyone is doing videos."

Beewol says that because the internet is very dynamic, you must move with the trends. He warns that you don't want to be the guy clients are saying 'but that guy is a bit of a dinosaur'.

"You can't say I am an influencer but you can't find me on TikTok. Get on it, not to share content but to see what people are doing," he advises.

The money

Beewol says you must be patient because when you are just starting out, the money is little and intermittent. But he adds that once you start making big money, it doesn't stop.