I’d be lying if I didn’t see a content creator or “influencer” every few scrolls on my social media feeds — and I think you’d be too. It’s no secret that influencing and creating content on social platforms such as Instagram, TikTok or YouTube is a reality and goal for many. I mean, being able to share your opinions, experiences, and work with the world WHILE profiting seems like all the rage. But the question remains: is it sustainable in the long run? 💨

In particular, I want to focus in on the micro-influencer — aka: creators who have a minimum of 1,000–3,000 followers (these numbers look a bit different depending on the industry). Over the course of the past two years, micro-influencing has been deemed more and more legitimate. Brands are beginning to work with smaller creators, for more authentic reach, engagement and awareness. While these brands are seeing success working with smaller, more intimate accounts, are these micro-influencers seeing the same pay off?

In this case, “pay off” correlates to the tangible skills that micro influencers could build upon in order to expand their career. Take, for example, a fashion micro influencer shooting “day in my life” and “try on haul” videos. Through this process, they may pick up some video editing skills and photography skills, but how are they expanding these skills to create more opportunities for themselves? If these micro-influencers are here to grow their accounts into businesses or better brand deals, real tangible business skills are exactly what they need. In 10–15 years (or even sooner) the social media / collaboration / partnership space is bound to change. When this happens, what do these influencers have left to use to their power? 🤔

Over the course of my life spent between Instagram, Pinterest and now TikTok, I’ve seen micro-influencers turn into larger influencers with businesses and brands of their own. They’ve taken their skills from partnerships, video editing, photography, marketing, design and have created something that has the potential to scale larger, with the promise of being ownership.

Here are a few that come to mind 👇

Allie started a sustainable, conscious, and ethical clothing brand, HARA the Label back in 2016. Since then, the brand has boomed, making waves in the sustainable fashion industry. Allie uses her personal platform to influence others to think deeply about their purchasing power and steps they can take to embody their own beauty in today’s digital age. 🌞

Matilda, who now was 1.7 million followers, has worked her way up the influencing ladder. Many actually refer to her as the “OG influencer” (of course, not compared to the OG herself, Paris Hilton 👑) since she was so early to start documenting her life through aesthetically pleasing photos. While she could’ve kept working solely on partnerships with brands, Matilda made a business move. She started her own company, DJERF AVENUE — an ethical clothing brand. 🍃

It’s hard to say when the wave of influencing will ever stop, but as we know it, this industry is always changing day in and day out. With Instagram’s new announcement branding the platform as “no longer a photo sharing app” things are already headed in a different direction.

In order for these influencers to survive long-term, I’d suggest looking into the tangible skills mentioned previously in this article. In order to own your wealth, you need to be in charge. Your decisions need to be yours, rather than being based on a brands' opinion of you or hopefulness in your work. Taking matters into your own hands will take time, but through the work most of these influencers are already doing, there is real room to expand those skills into a sustainable long term career.