HOW IT BEGAN:
I've always taken a ton of photos. If you look at my camera roll, I have over 160,000 photos. I'm always taking photos of just random things, or my outfits—and so I decided to start another blog account, just for fun." - Rachel Kang
For those who share a deep passion for something they love doing— whether it be gaming, fashion, arts & crafts, or simply spreading awareness about contemporary issues, social media has allowed the opportunity for people to become influencers and profit off of their passion.
Rachel Kang, a 21-year-old senior at Chapman University is a micro-influencer in the fashion and beauty industry.
Micro-influencers are content creators with 10,000 to 50,000 followers who help companies promote and advertise their products through digital content such as photos and videos.
Rachel created an Instagram account (@r.rachelkang) dedicated to posting outfit and fashion photos at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, where students had to quarantine and take online classes from home.
Today, she has 17.4K followers on Instagram.
“I began posting every single day in August which led my account to grow, I would gain around 100 followers per day or per week, which helped me grow to my platform now and I think I have around 17,000 followers today,” said Rachel.
Rachel’s content consists of her wearing minimalistic, business casual, and feminine outfits with neutral and pastel undertones. She does sponsored posts and collaborations on her main platform on Instagram, but also has a TikTok (@rachellkang) account.
So what is the typical 'day in the life' of being a micro-influencer?
"I'd say a typical day would include waking up, styling my pieces, going out and shooting them... a fun part about that is being able to collaborate with others, and then just going home and editing them to prepare the posts."
Rachel often posts short vlogs in the form of Instagram reels and TikToks to show viewers a glimpse into her life, which includes fun days attending PR events, beach photoshoot days, and travel vlogs.
As a micro-influencer, Rachel mostly receives gifted brand deals from companies but occasionally gets paid to make posts. She has collaborated with popular clothing brands including Skims, Princess Polly, Motel Rocks, and lots more well-known names in fashion.
Most of the time, brands will reach out to Rachel for collaborations, but she also takes the initiative to pitch herself to brands she loves.
“I do pitch myself every once in a while but I also don't because I get scared of rejection. But honestly I will say it does help like for applying to jobs it's like the same kind of thing.”
In terms of influencer brand deals, Rachel says micro-influencers can make anywhere from $100 to $700 per post and bring in six figures or more a year.
LESS IS MORE (Sometimes...)
Recently, companies are starting to utilize micro-influencers more due to their engaged audience and lower costs for collaborations.
She explains that influencers with a bigger platform and following do not necessarily appeal to brands all the time due to their lack of genuine audience engagement.
“Even though if they (micro-influencers) have 5000 followers, they're getting 1000 Plus likes and comments, people are actually liking what they post and stuff like that. Whereas someone with 100,000 followers might just have a bunch of bot (fake/ robot) accounts or something. So, being able to find these micro influencers are making actual impacts, that's what companies are looking for.”
A big part of being an influencer is also getting to attend PR events that brands host. But instead of purely attending the events, influencers are invited to help with marketing the brand by promoting them on social media.
Some PR events Rachel has attended includes Miss Dior, Aldo, and Alo House by Alo Yoga, a yoga apparel brand popular among young female adults.
Her favorite and first PR event she ever attended is Alo House by Alo Yoga, an event promoting the brand's summer collection last year.
“I don't think I even had 10,000 followers at that point, and so it definitely gets kind of crazy just having an “oh s***” moment—like I am like a nobody here— there's Diplo over there, people from the bachelor there— that was definitely a super trippy moment. On the other hand, it was also an "I made it moment", I would never have imagined that I would be at that kind of event."
Rachel’s dream job is to work on the social media team for a professional hockey team— specifically the Kings or the Ducks in the future. She hopes that companies can see her potential through her social media presence as a micro-influencer and content creator.
She will also continue to work on influencing and growing her fashion account.
“It would be amazing if I could take my own platform full time, but until then, I will continue grinding this out.”