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A review by thebookhaze
Influencer: Building Your Personal Brand in the Age of Social Media by Brittany Hennessy
3.0
I must admit that I only got about 15% into the book, so this review may not be the best one to judge if this book would be helpful for you. The reason I decided not to finish reading the book, however, is because I did not find the approach helpful to me.
I do believe that there are a lot of helpful tips in the book for those who would like to be influencers and make money doing it, but I didn't like all the "shoulds" and "have tos". Even though you already have a vlog, you should also have a blog. Don't say swear words, because if you do, we immediately pass you over for any of our campaigns. And so on.
I appreciate that the author is probably speaking from her own experience and what her company looks for in the influencers they work with, but I definitely don't believe it to be true for every niche, market, audience, etc., and I don't like broad statements like that. I feel like it causes more harm than good for those who want to be influencers.
I have a blog, but plenty of people I follow and admire on social media don't, and they do extremely well without one. I like to swear, and I love people who swear, they make me feel right at home. If someone I followed who swears a lot suddenly stops swearing because they were trying to appeal to the author's views of what an influencer should be, I would instantly lose respect for them. I feel that authenticity is more important that a squeaky clean image, and I would rather follow an influencer who knows exactly who they are and make no apologies for it, than one who changes who they are to try to please their audience.
Again, I didn't read past the first 15% of the book, but you could probably get some good tips out of it if you ignored the approach. I just prefer something that is more inclusive and understanding of a varied audience, and that values authenticity over mass appeal.
I do believe that there are a lot of helpful tips in the book for those who would like to be influencers and make money doing it, but I didn't like all the "shoulds" and "have tos". Even though you already have a vlog, you should also have a blog. Don't say swear words, because if you do, we immediately pass you over for any of our campaigns. And so on.
I appreciate that the author is probably speaking from her own experience and what her company looks for in the influencers they work with, but I definitely don't believe it to be true for every niche, market, audience, etc., and I don't like broad statements like that. I feel like it causes more harm than good for those who want to be influencers.
I have a blog, but plenty of people I follow and admire on social media don't, and they do extremely well without one. I like to swear, and I love people who swear, they make me feel right at home. If someone I followed who swears a lot suddenly stops swearing because they were trying to appeal to the author's views of what an influencer should be, I would instantly lose respect for them. I feel that authenticity is more important that a squeaky clean image, and I would rather follow an influencer who knows exactly who they are and make no apologies for it, than one who changes who they are to try to please their audience.
Again, I didn't read past the first 15% of the book, but you could probably get some good tips out of it if you ignored the approach. I just prefer something that is more inclusive and understanding of a varied audience, and that values authenticity over mass appeal.