Q & A: Influencer State of Mind
Annalea Zhao is a Colorado born influencer. With just over 4,000 followers on Instagram she is a growing micro influencer. Sponsored by one the largest brands girls ages 15–25 shop at called Princess Polly. Annalea is a senior now at UCLA and is hoping to pursue a career in social media marketing.
Today I got to talk to Annalea about how she started marketing herself as a brand and selling clothing items. It was interesting to learn about how she got started, where she sees herself going, and why she influences.
What got you into social media marketing/influencing?
I got into social media marketing/influencing after I saw a few of my other friends doing it! Honestly it was the brand itself that I liked and wanted to see if I could partner with, so I reached out and I got on board with the application process. The clothing brand I work with is not one that I usually shop from because it’s kind of out of my personal clothing shopping budget, so getting to receive free clothing from a brand I loved was a huge incentive to doing it!
Related: How to Become an Influencer in your own field?
What are your future goals?
Honestly, being an influencer wasn’t ever really a big goal of mine. I’ve received offers from other brands to be an influencer for them, but I’m not sure if consistently posting products online is something I can keep up with/is representative of what I want my personal social media pages to be. However, social media marketing was always something I was interested in. I’m working for a big entertainment company this summer and doing international publicity for them, so social media marketing plays a part in that and is an important aspect of almost every leadership position/job I’ve held and will likely be a part of anything I pursue in the future since I have lots of working experience with it. My goal is to incorporate social media/social media marketing/marketing in general to my future career
What are the pros and cons of being your brand?
A big pro is that you get to utilize your imagination and get creative with what and how you post. You get freedom in styling what you want to wear and how you want to promote the products on your platform. Some cons though are that you have a timeline you have to follow and a lot of rules laid out by the brand (such as no tagging other products, your full outfit must be from the brand, what to include in your caption/stories, etc.). But overall, there’s more pros than cons as ultimately when you’re doing social media marketing/influencing, brands chose you as a representative and they want you to market in your unique manner.
What makes you stand out from other influencers?
If I’m being honest, I don’t think I stand out from other influencers, at least compared to other influencers for the brand I work with! I see all the other influencers who are all so beautiful and creative and we all are so different in how we style our content, so I think we all stand out in our own way. For my brand, most of the influencers are college students, so we’re all busy and hardworking and share similar aspirations and goals. I try to consistently switch up my photoshoot locations and styles of outfits though, so my content isn’t all the same.
Related: What is an Instagram Influencer?
When you advertise something is it because you would use it?
I can’t see myself advertising a product that I wouldn’t personally use/benefit from. In my opinion, if you choose to represent a brand and help market one of their products, you should put your all into it because they’re trusting that you will care about it. For me, I love being an ambassador for the clothing brand I work with, because I’ve always thought that their products were high-quality, stylish, and relevant to the demographics of my social media audience.
Related: Demographics of Social Media