She Thought Her 2.8 Million Followers Would Make Her Rich Until She Couldn’t Sell 36 T-Shirts

How not to build a business and market yourself.

Photo by Liza Summer

I am a huge fan of how people converted a simple “posting photos and lifestyle” app like Instagram into a way of making money online.

It’s admirable how a person can create content that millions of people like and engage with users until they become a brand that makes millions from something free to use.

However, not all users with millions of followers on social media have succeeded in business. Just because you are popular doesn't mean you can build a successful brand that can make you six figures, and influencers fail on think that followers don’t mean fans.

Here’s the thing, when you have an audience on a free application, you can make money in two ways:

• With ads. Other brands see your content and decide to pay you to promote their business.
• With products. You create your own brand and start selling people your assets.

But to make that possible, you need something specific for those two ways: good personal marketing around a niche. That makes brands want to promote their products with you or people who want to buy from you because you have something to…