Hey Reader,

Up front, some housekeeping. Last week, I promised a blog dissecting the analytics behind my recent Facebook posts. I ran out of time last week but that's still coming! A spreadsheet has been made so you know it's real. Now then...

Let's talk about being an influencer.

I am not an influencer. I have friends who are influencers. I have worked with influencers professionally. I have studied the industries around influencers and communications. I have created content and published it with the goal of advancing my business. I have done all of these things, but I am not an influencer.

This is not a moment of rampant imposter syndrome, nor is it some personal gripe with language and connotation, this is simply the truth. I am not an influencer because being an influencer is an entirely different job than being a marketer, or even a content creator. For a whole litany of reasons, the general social conscious does not seem to understand this difference, and that bothers me.

So hear I am, writing my silly little newsletter about a silly little point. I'm going to teach you what "being an influencer" involves with the hope that I can influence your behavior.

An anecdote.

Not so long ago, I worked for a company that produced social media content for clients. We had a very consistent problem: prospective clients thought we could make them influencers. Enter me, the account manager, who had to break the devastating news that, while we could create and schedule content for a client, we couldn't make them influencers.

"😰Why?" said my clients.

"😤Why?" said my boss.

"Because you/they don't want it bad enough and if you/they did, you/they wouldn't need a company like us to do it for them."

Then I quit that job.

You don't want it bad enough.

The problem was that neither my clients, nor my boss knew what it actually takes to be an influencer. See, the social media layperson only interacts with the end-product of an influencer. Unfortunately for literally everyone involved, one consistent social post per day does not an influencer make. On the contrary, I think most influencers in 2025 would tell you that three consistent social posts per platform, per day barely an influencer makes.

The job referenced above specialized in repurposing content to minimize the effort our clients needed to invest in their social media. Let me be so fucking clear with you: if you yearn to minimize the effort you invest in social media, you do not want to be an influencer. And that's ok!

Look, I don't know you, I don't know your life, you may want to...

• Get more value out of your social media
• Gain more followers
• Make more sales and convert your followers to buyers
• Market your business/product/event/etc on social media

You may yearn for some or all of those bullet points. You can do all four of those things (and more) without being an influencer.

What's the goal?

If you want to be an influencer, your top priority is your social media presence. You should be posting multiple times per day. You should be engaging with other content for hours per day. You should be replying to comments, messages and replies. You should be digging into your analytics for every post and researching trends and honestly a whole bunch of other shit because being an influencer is HARD. I have the utmost respect for my influencer friends. They are a kind of "online" that I could never maintain and if any of them are reading this, hey, I love you and I hope you touch grass this week.

I am not an influencer, because I don't want it bad enough either. And, I'll say it again, that's ok.

I really like playing hockey. I'm not going to the NHL anytime soon, but I get a lot out of it anyway. Being a fulltime influencer is the pro league play of social media, and we can't all make it to the pros. But you don't have to play in the national league to get value out of participating, right? (rhetorical)

The internet is flooded with social media advice, I hope now you have a way to filter it. Is the advice you're getting in service of what you hope to get from social media? Or is it holding you to impossible standards?

-MC

p.s.

• I've got a PHAT blog coming this week that breaks down the analytics around last week's blog. Stay tuned if that interests you.
• Forward this to someone who needs it.
• If this email was forwarded to you, join the list here, then forward it to someone else!

Being an Influencer vs. Social Media Marketing The video that inspired this blog! ​ Watch the Video

Read old newsletters? If you've subscribed to this newsletter recently, consider checking out some back issues! You can read every issue of Fyreside whenever you want. Well, except for next week's. ​ Fyreside Archives

If you want to know more about how social media works, You should read my free eBook! (Yes, you have to put your email in again. I'm sorry, it's a platform issue.) ​ Get the Book!

Ok so they're not exactly a client, but I've spent the last few months coaching the esports team at my alma mater, Otterbein University. Two of our students were named as the top 2 rookies for our league in a game called Rainbow 6 Siege.

I'm adding it to this newsletter a) because I'm proud of these guys, and b) I wrote up a press release for the university's Sports Information Director. Here is your friendly reminder that you can turn literally anything into a marketing opportunity and a solid portfolio piece. You can read the article here.

---

Let's celebrate your wins next. Ask me how!

$5.00 Bahnfyre Tip Jar This is so incredibly cool of you. Thank you!! -MC Send a tip

​