Influencer Book Review & a Linkup

Get this book here.

This is my first ever book review on my blog!  I’m so excited to talk about this book, because I’ve already started using bits and pieces of information that I read and started updating my social media accounts and blog.  I won’t go into full details, because that’s what this book is for, but let’s get into it!

First and foremost I have to give a quick shoutout to Ellen over at Ask Away Blog for sending this book to me for Christmas.  I hate reading because I have a terrible reading comprehension problem (some would classify this as a learning disability), which has left me to not read at all.  I get very easily discouraged by reading, but because Ellen sent it to me, I had no choice but to read it.  In addition to that, she knows her stuff, so I knew it would be a great book.

Easy Read

As I mentioned earlier, I have a really hard time reading.  This book was an easy read.  It’s almost as if I was sitting down and having a one on one conversation with the author, and she was telling me a lot of useful information.  I read the book in record time, and honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever read one this fast.  The fact that there is a lot of valuable information in this book is why it was so easy to read.  There was substance to this book.  More times than not I see these “Influencer Experts” and there’s nothing that they offer that I don’t already know from reading free information online.  Which brings me to my next topic.

This isn’t one of those “Influencer Experts,” this is the real deal.

How many of you have been scrolling through Facebook or Instagram and you see these ads for these 5 week (give or take) online classes? Or have you buy some kind of handbook from an Influencer guru?  More times than not (and no offense to anyone, girl get your coin), the information they provide is easily available if you search through some Google articles.  They basically just took what everyone said on the internet and put it into an online course.  While I’m not saying it’s bad, and I do give them props for doing all of that research, and speaking a little bit from experience, but a lot of this is just fluff.  There is no substance to what they are saying.  It’s not giving us the proper tools on what we need to succeed in this forever evolving industry.

This book was written by an actual expert, or at least in my opinion.  Because the blogging/Influencing industry is fairly new with really no regulations (besides of course what the FTC currently enforces) or even stable rates (because it literally differs for every. single. person.), this book is perfect.  It talks about what companies look for in an Influencer.  The book also provides testimonials from real life Influencers/Bloggers/Content Creators etc.  These are people I’ve either come across in my explore page, or people who I already follow.

What have I changed so far?

As soon as I started reading the book, I already noticed myself changing some things on my Instagram bio haha!  I know it’s very minute, but just keep reading.  Brittany Hennessey talked about what she looks for in an Instagram bio when she is looking to speak with an Influencer on a campaign.  She pointed out things that I honestly would never know if it wasn’t for the book.  The author talked about how usually when she speaks with her team she has to show photos and it’s better for a profile picture to have you from the shoulders up, not a full body ootd.

She also said that more times than not, she’s looking at Instagram accounts on a computer, so the send an email option is a little annoying, and that’s usually when she has to go to her phone.  However, if you have it directly written in your bio, she already likes you a little more for making her life a little easier.  These may seem like teeny tiny changes, but think about it for a second.  This is what she does as her full time job.  She works with bloggers and influencers.  She’s looking at hundreds, if not thousands of us a day.  Can you imagine having to go back and forth from computer to phone, just to send an email?

In addition to this, I spruced up my branding (yes, I got a new logo in case you didn’t notice).  I’m going to be working on this blog and what I want to change because I feel as though the design needs a little sprucing.  Along with that, I went through all of my pages at the top and updated a bunch of stuff.  Y’all, my About page still said that I worked a corporate 9-5 job, and that’s obviously not the case.  The author talked about how there are specific things that she looks for in your About section because it’s the best place to see if you’re the perfect person for a campaign, especially if it’s really particular.

Let’s say that a company is looking for a specific influencer who is vegan, has pets, and lives in Arizona (I know this is random, but trust me some of the examples she gave were pretty specific).  With that being said, what if your About section just says “Hey, my name is _____, and I’m a 30 year old who loves to create content in their free time.”  That literally gives the author no information about you in particular.  When someone comes to your blog or Instagram, there should be cues as to what you’re about.

I’m still not done changing things as I stated previously, but, it’s a work in progress.  Plus, I need to reference back to the book on a few things.

Does it go over numbers?

YES!  In case you’re wondering the author does go over numbers.  Meaning, if you’re not 100% what you should price your posts, or social media posts at, she can give you a little bit of a guide.  Of course, it will differ, this does not mean this is a definite number, but it gives industry averages.  She goes over how you can tell if a deal is worth it due to exclusivity, and if it can possibly deter you from working with other potential companies in the future.  There is also a section where she talks about just how easy it is to look into a blogger’s engagement/audience and what percentages you should be striving for.  It’s all in this book.

Should you buy it?  Is it actually helpful?

Yes to both questions.  If you’d like to purchase it, here is a link for it.  This book is beneficial for both aspiring and current Influencers.  I’ve been in the blogging industry for almost 7 years, and while I did know some of the things mentioned in this book, it was a great motivational read, and it also debunked some questions that I was having about the industry.