Mexico City /
“Many think that being ‘influencer’ It’s easy, just publish videos on TikTok. It’s much more than that!” says Marta Hughes, aspiring to make a living from this contemporary profession and that he is preparing for it at an Irish university.
Since September, the young woman has been taking the courses of this new training, called “Content creation and social networks”taught for four years at the Southeast Technological University (SETU), in Carlow, 80 km from Dublin.
The ‘influencer’ career has recently appeared, but it attracts many young people from Generation Z, born between 1997 and 2012.
“It’s something that’s growing enormously,” the director of this particular university degree tells AFP, Irene McCormick.
This former television producer started offering a course summer intensive taught by TikTokers, which attracted 350 applications for 30 places.
“The project was incredibly successful. We saw that there was a huge appetite, so we decided to go for the diploma level,” he explains.
The training teaches applicants to ‘influencers’ how to convert into one source of income your presence and content on platforms like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.
After two years of preparation, The course was approved and welcomed its first batch of 15 students last month.
Monetize influence
On campus, between classes, students chat, they take selfies and surf on their smartphones.
“My friends always tell me that I talk a lot. I told myself that maybe I could earn money from that and try this training,” says Harry Odife, 22.
Most of the studentss are already immersed in the digital world, but they are looking for additional tools and knowledge, according to McCormick.
“You can try to learn on your own at home, but acquiring practical and theoretical knowledge about how to reach a specific audience will make a big difference in your career,” says the director.
The term ‘influencer’a person known on social networks who uses his celebrity to recommend, promote or generate interest in products and brandsoften in exchange for remuneration, recently entered the dictionary.
The most popular, like the ‘youtubers’ MrBeast or KSI, American and Britishreach sizable audiences and earn significant revenue from brand sponsorships or advertisements.
“We became interested in how to monetize their influence with a large online audience,” McCormick says.
“I publish many of the hairstyles I do on TikTok and Instagram and I would like to learn how to make a real business out of it”explains Favor Ehuchie, an 18-year-old hairdresser.
Martha Hughespassionate about horse riding, affirms that horse teams are now looking for personnel capable of dominating social networks.
“Future of the marketing sector”
The steps to obtain the diploma include courses of video creation, entrepreneurship, psychology and storytellingdata analysis and podcast production.
Content creation involves “editing, planning, organizing, etc. It takes more time than you think, people don’t really understand it”says Marta Hughes.
The students They learn to use cameras and microphones.
“Learning to feel comfortable in front of cameras will help us gain confidence in ourselves, whatever our profession may be”emphasizes another student, Naoise Kelly, specifying that her top priority is not to become the next social media star.
According to McCormick, there are many job opportunities for the ‘influencers’.
“Approximately 70 percent of marketing specialists today consider that ‘influencers’ are the future of the sector; governments also use them to transmit messages,” he emphasizes.
“The publications of ‘influencers’ on social networks can sometimes be frivolous, but the activity itself is not, it is a very serious business,” he concludes.
JCM
