We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kate Lahr a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Kate, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We love asking folks what they would do differently if they were starting today – how they would speed up the process, etc. We’d love to hear how you would set everything up if you were to start from step 1 today.
If I were to start all over again with becoming an influencer/content creator I would prioritize being consistent, engaging with others, and cross-platform promotion. I’ve learned that posting every day works well for me. Everyone’s perception of consistency is different, and everyone’s social media strategy needs to work for them, and their personal lives.
Additionally, engaging with others on the platform is vital to building a community, which helps boost engagement throughout. Finding other creators to look up to can help you with the creative process, and inspire you to keep going.
Cross-platform promotion is so significant for growth. Posting consistently on IG, TikTok, YouTube, and Pinterest is beneficial because each platform has its own unique audience, and you can attract a vast amount of people from each platform and build your presence up on social media even quicker!
Additionally, to these strategies for social media growth, I would make a media kit to start sending to brands. You can view my media kit on my website here: https://katelahrinquiry.wixsite.com/website/media-kit
I will also be offering my services to create media kits, how to pitch to brands, and more soon!
Ultimately, I would just have fun with it! Creating content that resonates with you, and makes you happy is so important to sustain consistency and growth.
Kate, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Becoming a micro-influencer is a journey rather than a destination. I started my journey at the end of 2021 while going through one of the hardest moments of my life. I suffered badly from Crohn’s disease and encountered over 4 surgeries throughout my time in high school and college– I was forced to shift my path multiple times.
As a child, I was obsessed with YouTube, and I pretended to be a YouTuber myself. At the end of 2021, I was at my lowest of lows with my disease as it was extremely painful both mentally and physically. However, this is what pushed me to dive into content creation and influencing!
I was bedridden from my disease which allowed me to conduct TONS of research. I would take my pain medicine, gather my whole wardrobe, and go to a local parking garage to batch content with my very supportive fiance. I did my research and created a strategy for myself.
Fast forward, I started receiving emails from brands asking to work together. From posting consistently, and working with brands to promote their products, I hit 5k on IG. From there, my health gradually became better, then worse. Throughout this time, I switched my major to Digital Marketing and got a job as a Starbucks barista. This ended up slowing my growth and consistency with content creation/influencing. However, I still managed to grow to over 10k on Instagram by Summer of 2023!
During the Summer of 2023, I had an emergency surgery to remove a significant piece of my intestine. This set me back for about 5 months YET AGAIN. While going through this, I graduated from Arizona State University with a bachelor’s degree in Digital Marketing, with a 4.0 GPA!
Currently, I am searching for a remote job in Digital Marketing, as well as continuing my content creation/influencing journey in full force.
Using my degree, hands-on experience, and vast knowledge of the digital marketing space, I’m adding freelance work to my roster soon! I will be offering services such as creating media kits for influencers (big or small!), developing a social media strategy for businesses, independent influencers (like myself), and so much more! You can always check my website for any services I’ll be offering, and more! https://katelahrinquiry.wixsite.com/website
I post on YouTube quite often too! It’s actually my favorite platform. I’ve posted a vlog detailing my experience with the resection surgery, multiple travel vlogs, outfit ideas, and a lot more. You can subscribe to my channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZNGNLrm5tbuF03mTHlY7vA
How did you build your audience on social media?
I’ve built my audience on social media by using multiple strategies. One of the best tips I can share is to find other creators in your niche and engage with them daily. Supporting others will help create a community that others will become drawn to. Creating and sharing content that resonates with others, helps others, and is shareable/saveable is also vital to growing your audience. Think about things that people compliment you on such as your makeup or hair, and share with your audience tips on how you achieve those looks. You can take this tip and relate it to your own niche!
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
One thing that comes to mind with resilience in my journey is when I lost a significant amount of followers on Instagram. When I was forced to get a major surgery that put me out of commission for months, I lost hundreds of IG followers. This was due to me not posting at all. Obviously, I was going through a lot with my health mentally, physically, emotionally, and I needed a break from social media. Unfortunately, social media can be unforgiving if you don’t show up consistently. Losing hundreds of followers felt so unfair, especially during such a hard time. Thankfully, I overcame it and earned them back plus some.
At the end of the day, your follower count doesn’t matter as much as your engagement rate does. Losing followers can be a great thing— it makes room for your target audience to come in.
My resilience shined through with this situation BIG TIME. I was in so much pain from my surgery, my mental health was at a very low point, and it felt like my dream was falling through my hands faster than I could grab it. Instead of giving up, I pushed forward. It was difficult, but necessary to push forward in that moment.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://katelahrinquiry.wixsite.com/website
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itskatelahr/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katelyn-lahr-838139a0/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZNGNLrm5tbuF03mTHlY7vA
- Other: Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@katelahr?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc
Image Credits
*all images are my own*