We have all heard of influencers, prominent figures with audiences big and small that market products to their audience often for a big payday (and prices are rising). Advertising someone else’s business is one thing but can you leverage your audience to get your own business off the ground. In this list we look at 3 examples of people that did exactly that, for some the audience came first whilst others already had a business before amassing their followers but all 3 have leveraged their online following to grow their companies and develop their careers.
Joe Rogan (The Joe Rogan Experience, Podcast)
Onnit
Joe Rogan is one of the most recognisable names on the internet. The comedian turn king of podcasting is the host of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast. Depending on the source Rogan’s podcast generally is ranked in the top 10 most downloaded podcasts and higher when you look at independent creators and not production companies who may hold several of the top spots. Combined with 2 YouTube channels (one for the full podcast and one for clips), Instagram, Twitter and more Rogan has a huge audience which has definitely grown his comedy career and allowed him to tap into the influencer market by running pre-roll ad reads on his podcast. Rogan has also helped grow his health and wellness company Onnit into a multimillion dollar business alongside the companies CEO Aubrey Marcus.
Casey Neistat (CaseyNeistat, YouTube)
Beme
Filmmaker Casey Neistat is one of the most popular YouTubers, recognised largely for collaborations with Nike and a viral video concerning the battery life of Apple products among other things. Whilst having a huge audience across existing social media, Neistat decided to push boundaries further and create his own platform, Beme which was released in 2015. Beme Inc the company behind the Beme app was later acquired by CNN. The Beme app was shut down in 2017 whilst Beme was merged into CNN Digital Studios in 2018. Beme was built off the back of Neistat’s audience and ultimately led to the reported $25million acquisition, a nice payday for Casey and Beme co-founder Matt Hackett.
Kayla Itsines (@kayla_itsines, Instagram)
Sweat app
We have already looked at podcasting and YouTube but social media platforms can also give birth to entrepreneurs, including Instagram fitness influencer Kayla Itsines. Turning her follower base into budding customers Kayla started by selling fitness eBooks – a solid business but nothing compared to what was to come. Alongside partner Tobi Pearce, Kayla launched the Sweat app which now has over 30 million downloads. Tobi Pearce is the CEO of Sweat and has an amazing story of his own but it was Kayla’s fitness expertise and social media presence that kick-started the company which, according to TechCrunch, is set to do $100 million in revenue this year.
When it comes to marketing a company influencer marketing can offer enormous upside and as an influencer being paid for sponsored brand deals can be very lucrative but the greatest impact could be at the cross section where your own audience meets your own business. Regardless of the platform or industry, an audience that supports you will be willing customers if you have something of value to offer.
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