Being an influencer is the dream of many. The possibilities are many and varied, both in terms of subject areas and collaboration opportunities in the company. An interesting and very creative option is the cosplay niche. Here you can read more about the topic and see if cosplay is an option for Influencer Marketing.
Successful social media for cosplayers
Cosplay is of course all about having fun first. Cosplayers dress up and create great props and costumes simply because it's their passion. But then of course it also makes sense that the wonderful results of their efforts are shown on social media. First of all just out of pride about the accomplishment.
And in return, the cosplayer gets Likes and the photos and contributions are shared. Even if this is not an end in itself, it is a practical side effect, so to speak. The more spectacular the costumes and the performances, the more followers it brings.
So it's only natural that you can turn this into a source of income. With real cosplayers, however, this isn't really the main focus and especially in the beginning it's more about earning a little bit of money with the hobby in order to be able to finance the expensive costumes and the visits to the relevant cosplay events.
So in this organic way a real source of income has been created - Influencer Marketing with Cosplay.
Since authenticity and credibility are very important in Influencer marketing, it should really be about people who are passionate about cosplay, because you can see it in the posts.
If cosplay is just a hobby, you don't need your own Facebook or web page. The situation is different for independent artists, profit cosplayers, prop makers, photographers, make-up artists and influencers who have to earn their living with it. Here, the importance of an effective social media and internet presence is a major factor for success.
However, it takes some skill, because over the years and with every day new artist sites, it became more and more difficult to be noticed. Facebook artificially limits the reach of fan sites to earn advertising money, Twitter is simply not of much value to artists and Instagram only works on mobile devices and is slowly turning into a second Facebook.
In the past, when there weren't a million different cosplay pages, it was much easier to be seen and even go viral. But of course it is not impossible. Let's just take a look at the most important social media platforms.
Facebook
A very famous cosplayer, Svetlana from Kamui Cosplay, is a good example to illustrate this. She has a Facebook fan page (Kamui Cosplay) since 2010, where she started, of course, like everyone else, with 0 Followers. In three years she made it to 24.000 Likes for the page (January 2013). Around this time she started working with Worbla and wrote her first books. Just over a year later (August 2014) she had an amazing 160.000 Likes. That is about 140,000 more in just one year. Two years later (August 2016) she reached 270,000, another plus of 110,000 in two years.
The slightly slower growth is not necessarily due to less interest from potential followers, but according to Facebook is related to the fact that false and inactive accounts were deleted during this time. These approx. 30,000 unlikes are therefore a good thing in themselves, because the quality of the followers is increased in this way.
According to her own statements, the cosplayer currently only gets an average reach of 80,000 for each post, which is not even one third of the page's likes. This can either be related to the fact that there are still a lot of fake or inactive accounts, or that Facebook is trying to get more money this way, as users might be induced to place ads.
In general, in order to be successful, you have to show really interesting things, so that they are considered with a Like and hopefully shared. If you only do that one millionth Worbla tutorial, you are more likely to be ignored.
YouTube
YouTube is a fine thing, because people can not only see photos, but can admire the cosplayer in action, or see the face and facial expressions and gestures, hear the voice and communication is more vivid and personal.
Of course, an explanatory video is also much more vivid than a written tutorial with photos, especially when it comes to make-up or making props.
However, it is important that the video is really well recorded and looks as professional as possible. Insufficient lighting, bad sound, lengthy explanations, etc. are a nuisance and are not well received. So it's better to make a video rarely and post, but make sure the quality is perfect.
YouTube is often underestimated by cosplayers, which is a real pity, because the possibilities are great especially for cosplayers with their creative work. At the moment TikTok is also very popular, the Chinese video platform with which you can produce great videos much easier and faster and share them immediately. Certainly a very interesting option for cosplayers who don't want to venture into the larger undertaking of YouTube video.
Instagram
Instagram is currently more popular than Facebook, especially among young users. Most of the time, Instagram posts are shorter and crisper than Facebook
For example, it's also a good idea to simply publish progress pictures from time to time, which let you experience the development of the costume.
In addition, for a successful career in influencer marketing you generally need as many social media channels as possible, i.e. a healthy mix. That's why you should generally upload posts to both Facebook and Instagram (and of course elsewhere).
At Instagram, the use of #hashtags is very helpful to be discovered on this platform. Because if you search for a hashtag, all trend posts that use it will be displayed, but also every new post! So you will be found even by those who are not currently following your account.
Twitter
Twitter is not necessarily insanely popular with German cosplayers. However, you can conveniently link your Twitter account to Facebook, Instagram and YouTube so that posts are shared automatically. Svetlana from Kamui Cosplay reports that the account created in 2010 has about 3,000 posts and 24,000 followers. Not bad for a dead account, but of course not nearly as useful as other social media activities - but small stuff just makes crap.
Own website
It is also recommendable to have your own website. This serves as a hub for all social media accounts. Here you can keep a detailed blog, offer eBooks (free or for a fee), offer video tutorials, and much more.
Of course, it is important to update the site regularly and offer new content. With a little work you can get a decent number of visitors.
A website is also worth a lot because the articles published here don't just disappear, as is the case with social networks in principle. The posts often get lost in the bustle of other posts. Once seen, they are no longer displayed and have to be searched for, which most people don't do, of course.
All these posts are not found by Google, and that is a big disappointment. If your followers don't see your post when it appears, they probably won't see it later either. But a website can be found in many different ways: Keywords, meta tags, links, image search and more. It offers the opportunity to be discovered by many new people.
Now most of you probably don't know anything about HTML programming, how to set up a domain in general or don't even have a friend who could help you. But with WordPress you can set up everything yourself pretty easily. Besides WordPress, there are many other services that allow you to create a fantastic website without knowledge of HTML.
So how can I build a good following?
Basically, there are two things that simply matter: Patience and hard work. Because, as Dur has probably discovered himself while reading up to this point, there are some platforms that need to be filled with content every day. Somehow it never ends and content is created and posted on the weekend as well. The big advantage, however, is that you are doing something that you really enjoy, and that is for yourself and not for a boss or company.
The work is especially hard in the beginning, when you don't have a Like at all, or only very few. But the big advantage is that the whole thing is a snowball principle. You start small and with good work you get a momentum and a real momentum of your own. Because each once divided mail reaches several hundred other users, if some of them share the pst it quickly comes to a real avalanche. So once you get going, you are quickly on the ascending branch.
The recipe for success is therefore to always produce good content, clean photos, interesting information and to publish it regularly. This should be done on several social media channels simultaneously.
Also pay attention to the time of your posts. In general, it is better to post in the morning or evening when people are not at work and are more likely to be on social networks.
From a certain point on it is also useful to work with photographers. Because that way you get great photos that are professionally taken and simply make a great impression. Especially for cosplay selfies are not very useful anyway, because you don't want to show only the face (unless it's a make-up tutorial), but the complete outfit. Cosplay is not just simple dressing up, but the character should be recreated and replayed. This means in practice that striking poses, fighting postures and the like should be taken. You can't take pictures of them as a selfie. Therefore the photo has to be taken by another person - ideally by a photographer. A good idea can also be to work with photography students, they are either much cheaper, or are even satisfied with a mention, because even the hopeful young photographers want to make a name for themselves and become known.
Concluding thoughts
To be a really good influencer - no matter in which area - you have to be true to yourself and credible. So a lot is also a matter of feeling and it is important that you feel comfortable.
If you want to be successful as an influencer, you have to invest time and energy and also some money (especially in equipment, web domain and maybe some professional help with some aspects).
In addition to your own efforts as a follower, you also have to find companies that want to reward you for your efforts and hire you as an influencer to market their products or services. Here is the help of a good agency, such as Adfluencer.de Gold Wert. Because here you get in contact with advertisers and get valuable information and tips on how to make a name for yourself.
