Exberliner Issue 171 May 2018

DON’T WORK, MAKE MONEY
SOCIAL MEDIA
@awesomenberlin
How to be a
Berlinfluencer
Hip Berlin is the perfect subject for Instagrammers, bers and bloggers – but can they make any money with
Youtu-
it?
By Alison Bell
@delicieux_11
Social media has created a new class
of celebrities. Instagrammers such as
Kayla Itsines, Sophie Hannah Richardson,
Murad Osmann and even Marnie the
Dog are household names, showcasing their
enviable lifestyles to a huge online following.
Unsurprisingly, brands have caught on
to the potential of these social media stars.
With a strong following and high engagement
rate, many bloggers and social media
users – aka influencers – provide trusted
content to shape the opinions and purchasing
decisions of their loyal followers. Top
influencers such as Kim Kardashian are
rumoured to earn over €200,000 per post.
Clearly, “influencing” has the potential to be
a lucrative business.
In Berlin the graffiti-lined streets, achingly
hip people and perfectly-formed flatwhites
make for an Instagrammers dream.
But is it really possible to make it as an
influencer here?
Social school
One recent Saturday morning a small group
of aspiring self-publishers have headed to
Charlottenburg to find out how they can
make their fame and, hopefully, fortune on
social media at the Influencer Marketing
Academy. Today’s topic: “Influencer basics:
how to market oneself professionally, grow
and make a living from Insta & co.” Opened
in September, the Influencer Marketing
Academy was established by Sascha Schulz
and Niko Martzy in response to a growing
demand they had noticed for social media
and influencing expertise.
Their influencer courses are “for people
who are either already active in publishing
on social media and want to convert their
voluntary work into a business or people
who are about to start and want to get a bit
more background in perhaps how to create
photos or films for YouTube or how to set
up a media kit and contact a company in
order to receive a booking,” says Schulz. The
goal here is not to make people stars, but to
train them in how to make money with social
media publishing.
While one might expect the Academy to be
filled with scores of manicured Kim Kardashian
lookalikes posing for selfies, it’s not
entirely the case. Yes, the room is predominantly
young and female, but each of the
pupils brings more than model looks to the
table – they all have their own area of expertise
that they’re hoping will help them stand
out in the online world. There’s a Lufthansa
flight attendant who has created a platform
for vegan recipes and nutrition, a cosplay fan
who offers tutorial videos on make-up and
body paint, three young fitness bloggers and
a self-described business influencer. As we go
through the introductions, the modest, common
goal is to earn a bit of extra cash from
sharing the things they love.
Leading the course, Schulz starts by
setting some basics. On the whiteboard
he draws a pyramid. At the top are the big
earners, the two to three percent who can
make a full-time living as a self-publisher
or influencer. The rest can expect or hope
to earn some money but should hang on
to their day jobs. He suggests a monthly
sum of around €600-800 would be feasible
– hardly life-changing and, as he points
out, the trajectory from the bottom of the
pyramid to the top can take two to three
years, requiring some level of dedication
and a great deal of time. One way of making
money is product placement, with Schulz
pointing to tools for helping to monetise
posts, such as Berlin’s ReachHero, an online
marketplace bringing together brands and
influencers. While the average earning varies
enormously according to the platform
and number of followers, as a rough rule
of thumb, ReachHero’s founder and COO
Philipp John says influencers can earn
between €50 and €120 per one thousand
contacts on YouTube and between €5 and
€15 on Instagram. But Schulz is also keen to
stress that being paid to promote a product
is just one aspect of influencer marketing:
there are many possibilities for “increasing
social media value”, such as long copy
blogs, opinion shaping campaigns, such as
public health campaigns, and events.
To be considered for such paid campaigns
typically requires a following of at least 1000
followers or subscribers, depending on the
platform. But it’s not all about the biggest
channel. “Having a large number of followers
is not a sign of quality,” he says. “It can be the
same as printing a magazine with a circulation
of 100,000 and trashing 90 percent of the
print copies. Today it’s more about the degree
of involvement and credibility.” Smaller channels,
with between 1000 and 40,000 followers,
tend to have higher engagement rates (the
total amount of likes and comments). “For
companies to create impact, it’s best to build
networks of smaller, lesser known channels in
order to have the same reach, for less money
and with higher credibility.”
Blogging for fun and cash
One Berliner who fits this criteria is Mary
Scherpe, the brains behind food and fashion
blog Stil in Berlin. Founded in March 2006,
the blog started out as a side project to document
Berlin street-style “I studied art history
and Japanese studies, which is very theoretical
– you write papers and they’re read by
your professor and that’s more or less it. I
wanted to do something that had more to do
with the rest of the world,” explains Scherpe.
Today she has over 120,000 Facebook likes
and almost 38,000 Instagram followers
Content includes a mix of her own recommendations
for food, travel and shopping,
as well as the occasional guest contribution,
combined sponsored content, for example a
Tanqueray-sponsored post on twisted gin &
tonics, and on-site advertising.
It’s with some reluctance that Scherpe
describes herself as an influencer: “The term
‘influencer’ was just invented two or three
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EXBERLINER 171