How to Become an Equestrian Influencer: The Ultimate Guide

In this day of age, influencing is becoming the norm. But with a saturated market, it can be overwhelming starting out. Here’s How to Become an Equestrian Influencer: The Ultimate Guide!

When I was 13 years old…

I discovered an equestrian youtuber for the first time; and the horse-obsessed girl that I was (and still am, let’s be real) became fascinated with the concept entirely. Before long, I made it my own personal mission to get a horse and make an equestrian YouTube channel.

A few months went by, but after persistently begging, my parents finally caved… I brought home my first horse, Legend.

Of course I jumped right into video creation and to my surprise, my channel started on an upward trend! Six years later, I’m still doing what I love – being an equestrian influencer – despite doing so in a different manner, but all the same.

So without further ado, here’s How to Become an Equestrian Influencer: The Ultimate Guide!

Choose Your Platform

The absolute first and foremost thing to check off is which platform you’ll be utilizing as an equestrian influencer! Back in the day, YouTube was one of the more popular platforms, but nowadays, we’re seeing Instagram and TikTok take first place.

You might think to yourself: “Why can’t I use all the platforms?” and while you can, at the end up the day… you’ll be known for only one. So you have to decide which will take up the majority of your time.

If you’re wanting a better shot at “blowing up” and would rather make short, fun videos… then TikTok would be your best bet. Keep in mind that a 10-second fame could be at stake here seeing that so many up and coming creators are jumping into this app.

If you like the idea of long barn vlogs, building a real fanbase, and the long haul… then YouTube could be a good place to start! Patience is pretty much in the fine print though considering how long it can take to be properly place in the algorithm – but it’s worth it!

If you’re big on aesthetics – either real life or curated – then definitely consider starting with Instagram! Do, once again, keep in mind that like YouTube, Instagram can be hard to get your foot in the door… especially if you don’t utilize all of their features like Reels.

And finally: if you’re wanting to educate other equestrians… perhaps blogging would be a good route! Setting up a blog and getting onto the google algorithm is time consuming to say the least, but seeing those pageviews go up is always rewarding!

Whatever you choose to go with, you’ll have the absolute most fun!

Find Your Niche

Now that you’ve found which platform you’ll be starting out with, it’s time to start narrowing down your content.

“But isn’t equestrianism it’s own niche?” while that’s true, there are still different types of equestrians. Obviously your videos should resonate with either English or Western riders, but also your ideal follower, right down to their age (but we’ll talk about that in the next section).

Think of what you want to portray: perhaps you would like to just do barn vlogs, or maybe fun story-times, TikTok trends turned horse-y, educational, or aesthetic videos.

Really zooming in on the exact content you would like to put out and how any potential followers will see YOU is very important for getting more and more traffic.

Your Ideal Follower

Have you ever followed an influencer and you can’t get enough of their content because it all just speaks directly to you…? But on the other hand, maybe you follow some people who’s content is just… eh?

At the end of the day, you’ll never be able to grow a fanbase if you’re not writing or speaking to someone. Because if you’re trying to relate to everyone, you’re really not relating to anyone.

Sit down with a notebook (or the notes app) and create your ideal follower.

You should go over everything: their age, hair color, and what he or she likes to do in their free time. For the equestrian twist, even add if they own or lease, what kind of horse they ride, etc. And then when you’re filming or writing, act as if you’re communicating with your friend – but it’s really this person that you’ve created.

You might feel as if this is extreme – maybe it is – but if you think about it, this character does exist. And when they find your account, they’re going to absolute love and cherish it because it speaks directly to them.

Just Start!

So you’ve done all of your brainstorming and master-minding, and now your ready to get down to business, eh? Well it’s time for the hardest part: taking the first step.

You might try to overthink… and maybe I’ve justified that by asking you to do this series of critical thinking; nevertheless, you just have to dive right in. If we’re being real, the first video is going to be messy. It’s definitely not going to be your best work. But why would you want it to be?

Just go to the barn, whip out your camera, and film. It doesn’t even have to be interesting in the slightest – just film. Especially making a goal to post once or twice a week is a fantastic way to get perfectionism out of the way, and consistency a new habit.

Be Consistent

Now that you’re slowly getting into the swing of things, it might be discouraging to see those numbers staggering or remain still. But fear not, it can take months to receive authority from the algorithms, especially if you just created your account.

The one and only thing now to do? Be patient. And be consistent. Well, I guess that’s two things but they’re pretty much the same thing.

But not only do you have to receive that authority from the algorithm, you also have to receive it from your followers. I mean, think about it: would you take advice from someone you just met? Nah.

Habits can be hard to establish, so it’s important to not overload yourself with ridiculous and unachievable to-do lists; however, once you do get into a swing, don’t get too comfortable. But we can talk about that some other time.

Point is, the one and only way to gain a reputation is be consistent. You can gain a thousand shallow followers over night from one blown up video… nonetheless, organic growth will always win the race as far as engagement goes.

Collaborate!

How to become an equestrian influencer? Collaborate!

I remember awhile back when my channel started to become popular and I had tons of aspiring equestrians in my email asking if they could collaborate with me. Why? Well I couldn’t tell you each of their motives entirely, but I would say one of two things:

(a) they too, wanted to gain popularity through me, (b) they just wanted to have fun and collaborate.

And while I was flattered, really, I only took on a few suggestions seeing that I didn’t stand to gain anything from these collaborations. Not that I couldn’t make a kind gesture and help these girls out, but I was also set on helping girls who really wanted to build their platforms – and channels with approximately zero videos didn’t make the cut.

This isn’t to discourage you from reaching out, rather, that you need to find boundaries where both parties stand to gain. Not to mention a proposal strong enough to entice the potential collaborator.

When you find a like-minded equestrian who you want to reach out to, think of things that could be beneficial. Perhaps you have more engagement than they do and you’ll encourage your followers to check out their page; maybe you have an original video idea that their followers would love.

It doesn’t have to be extravagant, but they shouldn’t leave the collaboration feeling robbed of their time. And hey, at the end of the day and most importantly… collaborations should be fun!

Become a Brand Ambassador

After all of these trials and errors, successes, and such: you’re well on your way. If you want to become an equestrian influencer, then you have to start influencing.

Now that you have experience working with piers, it’s time to take the next step. And while it can be daunting to reach out to brands, it’s all part of the process. Keep in mind that it’s just business and whether you hear back from them or not, doesn’t reflect your contents value.

Much like collaborating, both parties need to gain for it to be enticing for the brand that you’re proposing to:

• Send them links to your platforms as well as insights for engagement.
• Explicitly list how many posts they’ll receive for product reviews.
• List exactly what you want in return for those posts (free products, payment, etc.).
• Write enthusiastically but professionally.

Most brands receive quite a few proposals day in and day out, so you need to make sure that you stand out. Maybe it’s a clever way to incorporate said product into a fun video, or maybe a quick review within a video that’s bound to do well; whatever it is, it needs to be alluring.

Grow Your Fanbase

By the time you start working with other influencers and businesses, the only way from here is up! But it’s still not time to sit back and relax… you need to keep hustling for that fanbase.

See, you can have a large scale of subscribers and followers, but without engagement, those numbers aren’t worth much. The people who follow you need to value what you’re putting out there.

How do I grow a relationship with my followers, you ask? Well let me give you a couple of ideas:

Respond to every single comment:

Imagine you give someone a compliment or ask a question and they just… ignore you?

I don’t know about you, but there’s a solid chance I would never talk to that person again. And you might think that’s a stretch, but realistically, people are going to appreciate and value your platform if you actually interact with them.

So whether it’s just a quick little “thank you !” or a heart emoji, make sure no comment is left on read.

Inside jokes:

One of the best things to be apart of? Inside jokes. *In my humble opinion of course:)*

Having inside jokes that you and your followers can use on the daily creates a sense of community for your followers – one that only a select few can be a part of.

On the other hand, this also helps with bystanders as they envy to be in the know of these inside jokes; thus resulting in them pressing that follow button and doing their research to uncover what everyone is so giddy about!

Honestly, a win win for you ; -)

Have fun!

Now that we’ve gotten this far, I have a little secret for you. There’s absolutely zero point in becoming an equestrian influencer UNLESS your heart is 100% in it. Otherwise, it’s so easy to lose consistency and eventually drop your platform altogether.

But luckily social media is such a flexible job and you can adjust your platform as you learn and grow! So. Please, please, please just have fun! : )

And You made it!

Congratulations on successfully completing this course: How to Become an Equestrian Influencer: The Ultimate Guide ! That was a doozy for sure, but here’s a little recap for ya:

• Choose Your Platform
• Find Your Niche
• Your Ideal Follower
• Just start!
• Be consistent
• Collaborate!
• Become a Brand Ambassador
• Grow Your Fanbase
• Have fun!

Once again, whether you’re starting a TikTok or committing to a YouTube Channel, you’re going to do great! But be sure to save this post if you ever need a reminder or two ; -)

All the best,
Laura

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