Yesterday i had a coffee with my neighbor - a handsome Brazilian male model. As the conversation went on, being someone who "struggles" with social media and digital marketing for a living, I of course, wanted to know how many Instagram followers does he have.
Maiko, 34, seemed very eager to talk about the topic of social media, and to what degree it affects his life. He did have 8000 followers on Instagram, which, he said, is "very few". (Needless to say, that's about 25 times more than i have on my Instagram account!)
Maiko shared with me two important points: one, he said, for models it's much easier to gain followers by posting perfect shots from photoshoots; two, he desperately needed to get more followers, and he HATED the idea behind it.
Maiko' showed me an account of his fellow model friend (@chico_lachowski), who is being followed by 850 thousands of people! The guy gets his jobs right from Instagram. More than that, not having a big Instagram following for a model these days can drastically alter his prospects of getting modeling gigs. Because, if no one likes you on Instagram, chances are, no one will like you in a commercial/runaway walk or an ad gig that you are banking on! This is the kind of mind set people have today.
While my friend said he finds it very superficial, and he feels stupid every time he takes a selfie and shares it with the rest of the world, for Maiko this is the way to maintain his name in the industry.
And of course, let's no forget about Rihanna recently finding a girl for her music video on Instagram using the Discover tool. Sanam is the artist based in Seattle (on NYC now, as her account states) whose appealing and unique Instagram personality attracted a superstar and pushed the artist's career onto the next level.
As the conclusion, i won't "discover America" by saying it's crucially important to keep your online presence intact. And what you have on your Instagram, represents who you are as a brand. Yes, a brand, because all of us are "brands" in a way. And your Instagram account could be the key selling point in getting you / your brand from point A to point B or even C in your career path.
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| Image courtesy: tanuha2001 / Shutterstock.com |
Maiko, 34, seemed very eager to talk about the topic of social media, and to what degree it affects his life. He did have 8000 followers on Instagram, which, he said, is "very few". (Needless to say, that's about 25 times more than i have on my Instagram account!)
Maiko shared with me two important points: one, he said, for models it's much easier to gain followers by posting perfect shots from photoshoots; two, he desperately needed to get more followers, and he HATED the idea behind it.
Maiko' showed me an account of his fellow model friend (@chico_lachowski), who is being followed by 850 thousands of people! The guy gets his jobs right from Instagram. More than that, not having a big Instagram following for a model these days can drastically alter his prospects of getting modeling gigs. Because, if no one likes you on Instagram, chances are, no one will like you in a commercial/runaway walk or an ad gig that you are banking on! This is the kind of mind set people have today.
While my friend said he finds it very superficial, and he feels stupid every time he takes a selfie and shares it with the rest of the world, for Maiko this is the way to maintain his name in the industry.
But is Instagram only good for models?
Once in a while i check the job market to see where i stand against the competition, and guest What! The next level positions have a "strong (proven) ability to gain followers" as a part of the job description!
And of course, let's no forget about Rihanna recently finding a girl for her music video on Instagram using the Discover tool. Sanam is the artist based in Seattle (on NYC now, as her account states) whose appealing and unique Instagram personality attracted a superstar and pushed the artist's career onto the next level.
As the conclusion, i won't "discover America" by saying it's crucially important to keep your online presence intact. And what you have on your Instagram, represents who you are as a brand. Yes, a brand, because all of us are "brands" in a way. And your Instagram account could be the key selling point in getting you / your brand from point A to point B or even C in your career path.
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