The term “influencer” has always existed, but it wasn’t until the rise of social networking sites like Instagram and Facebook in the late 2010s that it became a job description, too. For many years, famous faces like Kim Kardashian, Khanyi Mbau and Temi Otedola were a surefire way for brands to attract interest in whatever they were selling at the moment, but, over time, everyday social media users have manifested themselves into salespeople with the ability to influence the masses to move in all sorts of ways.

What is influencer marketing?

According to Influencer Marketing Hub, influencer marketing, “takes the idea of celebrity endorsement and places it into a modern-day content-driven marketing campaign. [...] But influencer marketing doesn't just involve celebrities. Instead, it revolves around influencers, many of whom would never consider themselves famous in an offline setting.” As of 2023, the industry is worth an estimated $21.1 billion on a global scale. And, thanks to publications like Forbesbeing eager to share how that wealth is distributed amongst the creators themselves, we know that top earners like American creator Charli D’Amelio are raking in figures in the millions. As with all things, however, earning $17.5 million in one year – on TikTok alone – is not a universal experience.

Three influencers from the continent share insights with OkayAfrica on the challenges that come with being a social media influencer and how far they’ve come.

Foyin Ogunrombi

Ogunrombi is a Nigerian-South African creator who treats her 21,000-strong Instagram followers to beauty, life, and style content. For Ogunrombi, influencing began with a blog she started in grade seven with the hopes of exploring and expanding on her favorite fashion and beauty trends and styles. “That was in 2009, but the social media platforms I use today all started around 2012 so I’ve been pushing my content and brand since then,” she said in an interview.

Charity Ekezie

With over 3.5 million followers across her many social media profiles, Nigerian influencer Ekezie’s decision to start posting herself online almost nine years ago came from a natural passion for entertainment, with a journalism degree to support her efforts. “I created my YouTube channel in 2014, but I was too scared to post anything,” she recalls in an interview. “But, I was making short skits for Facebook and Instagram. Two people watched them but it was important and made me feel fulfilled.”

Levi Maluvele

For the Mozambican fashion enthusiast, a desire to break free from a world that squinted at men with a passion for fashion inspired him to start sharing himself with the internet. “I started about 11 or 12 years ago," Levi Maluvele said in an interview. "I used to dress up, ask someone to take a picture of me, and then post it online. I loved dressing up for work and starting new trends. Then the movement of well-dressed Black men came up and brands wanted to promote me, so that’s when I really started to create content. I wanted to inspire young men to be seen and respected because I believe in the power of dressing well. American fashion tends to be very casual, so it’s fun to mix the African heat with classic European styles.”

Evolution of the job title “influencer”

Although all three hoped to gain viewers and build community with like-minded social media users, the term “influencer” is not something that gained prominence until recently. “I didn’t even know there was a job description," Ekezie said. "In those days, it was just me doing what I loved, for fun, and to push myself to break out of my comfort zone. I always loved to perform, even in childhood. But, I didn’t even consider being an ‘influencer.’ I didn’t know what that was.”

Ogunrombi shares Ekezie’s sentiments, as she recalls her roots taking form during “the age of the blogger.” “We were all bloggers [back then],” Ogunrombi says. “I was about 16 years old living my Gossip Girl and Teen Vogue lifestyle – one of the youngest creating at the time. I sat front row at fashion shows to write up reviews on my blog. If you were a blogger, you had a website and everything existed in long-form writing. We were all writing back then.” According to the 27-year-old, the shift began in 2015, when photo-sharing social media app Instagram began to pick up real steam. “Especially in South Africa,” she says. “That’s when visual content, instead of written, started to take over as the dominant form of content creation.”

Monetizing content

In 2007, social media sites began monetizing the content being created and shared in their spaces via ad revenue generated or, later on, viewership. But, for those who live outside of Western borders, brand deals and sponsorships are their real, and only, meat and potatoes. “My first deal was a company reaching out to me to ask if I could promote their product, in exchange for the products themselves,” says Maluvele.

Ogunrombi, too, has received the majority of her earnings through relationships with different brands. “The money I made from ad revenue and the platforms themselves has been so infinitesimal that it can't even count it as real money,” Ogunrombi said.

Surprisingly, Ekezie’s first paid opportunity came well into her online career. “I only started earning money in 2021," she said. "I’d get a little bit here and there, but it was just stipends. When I started, I was nobody. Just doing stuff for my circle of friends, it wasn’t until I started my TikTok account in 2020 that people started to recognize me.”

Although more doors have opened over the last few years for African influencers, barriers to their success remain in place. “Compared to our international counterparts, the amounts we make are different. You can’t become a millionaire off of AdSense in South Africa, whereas that’s a real possibility in the U.S. and the U.K.,” says Ogunrombi. Alternatively, some apps themselves don’t provide resources for African creators to earn while using them.

According to Ekezie, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook do not pay African creators, but YouTube and X (formerly Twitter) do. “You can get paid on TikTok if you go live and viewers send you money,” she says. “I rely on brands. That’s the only way I had made money until a year or two ago. The deals would come once a month, or two, or three. It’s not a stable schedule. You just get lucky and hope for the best. It wasn’t until I joined YouTube last year that I was able to start making a living.”

Misconceptions and challenges of influencing

From the outside looking in, many still assume that being a content creator is not a real job. Besides having to convince strangers on the internet to gain an interest in you to the point of influencing many of their daily purchasing decisions, the actual process of producing content is not all sunshine and rainbows, either. “The most annoying misconception is that it’s easy,” says Ogunrombi. “I think a lot of people underestimate just how much work goes into the job.”

She adds: “People see a field that is dominated by women and think it’s not worthy of respect, or that it’s stupid. There’s a lot of scrutiny and pressure. We’re always having to come up with new ideas. Editing is very laborious. You are literally a 10-person team, often in one person. People like to downplay it because it looks easy, but that’s the point. It’s supposed to look easy.”

Maluvele believes the term has become more of a hindrance than anything, due to misconceptions. “I use the word “inspiring” more than 'influencing,'" he said. "Because, from the beginning, the idea was to actually add something to society. It was more about changing perspectives, communities, and creating these dynamics among young people. To be able to look at yourself and understand what you want to be in life – starting with the way you look.”

African Influencers’ “Sweet Spot”

The world has turned a very eager eye on African culture in the last few years, and Ekezie believes that’s where many of the continent’s creators have found their sweet spot. “My biggest audience are not Nigerians,” she says. “My niche is mostly targeted to people in the West, and if a Nigerian brand approaches me and you want to advertise to Nigerians, unfortunately, I will turn it down because I wouldn't want to take your money and then I won't yield results because my followers are mostly foreigners. I have very few Africans [watching my videos]. They still relate to my content, but they already know how we live over here. It’s the foreigners that I’m educating, they’re the ones my videos are actually targeted to, not my people. In fact, if I was getting more Africans than other nationalities, I’d be unhappy because my goal is to educate those who don’t know anything about Africa.”