The ‘Perfect’ Lifestyle Job
Growing up in a generation alongside the development of technology and social media has always had its perks. Being able to connect with people anywhere in the world, share photos with friends and family, access products and information at the touch of a button and so much more, these platforms have enabled instantaneous connection for all users. Social media has become an integral part of our daily lives and for some people, they have managed to turn it into a career.
Majority of the time when I open Instagram on my phone the first image I see is an influencer promoting yet another product. Scrolling through their profiles they seem to have the perfect lifestyle, always travelling, wearing beautiful clothes, attending social events and ALWAYS having fun. Do these people ever work? How can they afford to live so luxuriously? I always have to remind myself that these influencers get paid to live like this, and that they are marketing these products and services for brands. It’s hard to believe that you can get paid to live such a glamorous lifestyle just by having a large social media following to promote products towards.
An influencer is an individual that has access to a large audience through social media platforms (e.g. Instagram, YouTube), and has established enough credibility in an industry to influence the ways in which their audience views certain products and brands. Over the past decade in particular, social media acted as a tool for users to build their brand and grow their following, allowing them to become the influencers they are today.
Well known beauty and lifestyle influencer from Brisbane, Shani Grimmond began filming makeup tutorials in 2012 and uploading them to YouTube. Over the years she has grown in popularity and started filming different types of videos such as ‘daily routine vlogs’, ‘clothing try-ons’, ‘travel vlogs’ and other so many other video varieties. While maintaining her consistent video uploads on YouTube, Shani began promoting and collaborating with brands through posting images on Instagram.
With 1.59 million subscribers on YouTube and 1.4 million Instagram followers, the 22 year old appears to be living the dream. While still promoting brands such as Bondi Sands, and collaborating with clothing brand ‘BabyBoo’, she also built a company and designed her own swimwear ‘Sylk Swim’ which launched at the end of 2018. Social media has allowed Shani to make a living while doing what she loves, but how much of her perfect lifestyle is work?
As most of us aren’t influencers it can be hard to imagine all the work that goes into posting the perfect arrangement of content, especially when they make it look so effortless. Apparently being an influencer takes a lot of hard work and patience, especially when you’re choosing the right photo to post when promoting sponsored content. In an article, Rachel Hosie explains that even being a ‘micro-influencer’ is hard work.
“If it looks like an influencer is living the dream 24/7, that’s because they want you to think that. In reality, a whole lot of work goes on behind the scenes to create that image.”
London Based fashion writer, Sophie Milner also opened up about the struggles of being an influencer and how there is way more work involved than the public sees.
Sophie admits that it is extremely difficult to find a balance between life and work as an influencer since perfecting and promoting your lifestyle basically becomes your job.
Being a social media influencer is much more difficult than most realise. Behind the perfect lifestyle they are showing us on their Instagram there is an incredible amount of hard work being put in to create it. Yes, they get paid to go on extravagant holidays to promote fashion and beauty brands and they also get free meals and luxurious outfits to advertise on their social media platforms. We have to remember that it’s not always glamorous and that being an influencer promoting products is still a job. While we all get to enjoy using social media, influencers have to use it for their career while trying to find a balance between their personal life and influencer lifestyle.
