The bread-and-butter of influencer marketing is social media followers. Unfortunately, most influencers focus all their efforts on increasing their social media reach and ignore the importance of having an online platform they own. In this article, we’ll show you that you can strengthen your online brand and maximise money-making opportunities when you own your own website.

You’ll Better Engage With Clients And Partners

Your social media pages are for engaging with your followers and for posting the type of content that keeps them coming back. However, being an influencer is all about engaging with brands and partners so that you can leverage your online influence financially. First, you’ll need to register a domain name with a reputable registrar like IONOS. After that, you’ll have a platform to showcase your portfolio, advertise your services, show successful past collaborations, and highlight your social media following across the various platforms you are active in. This way, you don’t have to inundate your followers with business-related posts, you get to keep your social media pages fun and conduct business on your website.

E-Commerce

Selling merchandise, products, and services is one of the more lucrative income streams for influencers. Most social media platforms can support selling to followers, but they charge hefty commissions. They also have strict rules regarding what you can and can’t sell on their platforms. This isn’t the case when you have your own website. Adding e-commerce to your website allows you to sell whatever products and services your followers want – as long as they are legal in your jurisdiction. This includes alcohol and adult-themed products.

You Have A Content Backup

You don’t have any control over the social media platforms you are popular in. There have been cases of influencers with millions of followers having their accounts deleted because a rival initiated a brigading campaign to mass-report their account. Sometimes, you can run afoul of the countless terms and conditions and have your account scrubbed. If your account gets hacked, your entire content history can be deleted. When you have a website, you’ll usually post your music content there even as you upload it on TikTok. Most modern web hosting services give you enough storage space to support your content portfolio. This way, however, you lose your content, you have a ready backup.

You Get To Be Authentic

For the most part, your social media followers are interested in the entertainment you offer. This is especially true for influencers in the entertainment niche whether it’s dance videos, poetry, movie reviews, or producers of short films and skits. But on your website, you can lose the ‘persona’ and be more authentic in terms of being yourself, talking about your journey, and letting your fans know what your motivations are. Some fans like to see this type of behind-the-scenes content and your website gives you the best platform to do this. You get to do your thing on social media and still have a separate platform for being your authentic self.

Conclusion

The bottom line is, you might be big on social media but you don’t have any ownership or control on those platforms. It is important to have an online space where you can sell your products, engage with partners, and be your authentic self – all on your own terms. Also, having your own website allows you to back up your content and have it remain accessible should you lose your social media accounts.