Going Through the Ins and Outs of Instagram Modeling with Katiana Kay
The ways people search for success and fulfillment of their dreams are just as varied as the people who use them. Someone might take the time and go through every stage of getting into a top college and finding their dream job in a corporation. Someone else might look for quicker, more direct ways of getting their dreams to come true.
Katiana Kay chose the more direct way to bring her dreams to fruition. She became an Instagram model, and in the short time she’s been at it, measured in months, she’s managed to grow a sizable following. Getting to 500,000 followers in five months is no mean feat.
At the same time, Katiana established a presence on other networks, too. TikTok proved to be especially useful for her content, and having an OnlyFans page didn’t turn out bad, either. While doing so much in so little time, Katiana had to learn the important lessons and the ins and outs of online modeling quickly.
Having a Good Reason for Going In
Modeling is one of those industries that tend to favor younger people, with opportunities dwindling with age. It’s a sad situation that could do with a change, but it’s still a reality that anyone getting in needs to acknowledge. One way to do that is by using the momentum from Instagram modeling, or content creation in general, to propel other ventures.
Katiana likes to say that, even if she weren’t a model on Instagram or another website, she’d still be “looking for a way to sell something online, or create some sort of brand or products that would help people.”
Those brands and products are part of the reason why she got into the industry in the first place. She uses her online presence as a springboard for businesses and projects that would revolve around her interests, primarily natural medicine and mental health. She’s currently at the helm of Bay Smokes, a brand of smokable hemp products offering a true alternative to tobacco and regular cannabis. If her business moves manage to get her on the cover of Forbes, another big dream of hers, it would be even better.
Finding One’s Way of Doing Things
However, to get to their end goal, online models need to navigate the waters of content creation, social media, and the business side of it. Some would sign up with a company to manage them, but Katiana decided that managing herself pays off better. She even dabbled with starting a management company, but it turned out that taking care of her career was the better choice.
This isn’t the only instance of Katiana doing things her way. She didn’t jump into working with photographers straight away, opting to see how far her iPhone’s camera and the occasional help from a friend behind it would get her. Looking for photographers and choosing to do collaborations with other models are steps that she’s taking on her terms.
She also finds that having her routine on shooting days helps. Katiana’s big on taking care of herself, and she starts her content-creating days with a good meal and stretching before she does her makeup and starts creating the content. The process can sometimes be grueling, and when it gets like that, there’s nothing in Katiana’s book against taking a well-deserved break.
Following the Rules of the Game
Still, Instagram modeling isn’t an industry that doesn’t have any rules. They are the same ones that every other type of content creation follows; virality pays off immensely, but so does investing in promotion. Katiana managed to experience both.
Her viral success came on TikTok. The video she created was based on a popular request, and it prompted a significant rise in the number of followers she has on that platform. But the success of the video didn’t stop there; it eventually caused her Instagram following to grow, as well as her subscriber base on OnlyFans. The impact that a single piece of content had on her online following was staggering.
Katiana is also the first one to say that content, no matter how good it is, only matters if people see it. So while it’s true that, as she puts it, models need to “make good content, and a lot of it,” it’s marketing and promotion that will play the critical role in a model’s ability to grow her career. Therefore, she’d recommend that models not be shy when it comes to paying for promotion. It’s just another way of investing in and caring for oneself.
