Influencer Pro
A guiding hand that helps anyone interested in social media achieve success by turning their passion into online influence.
Timeline
2022 July -2023 Jan
Role
Product Designer
Team
  • Product Manager
  • External stakeholders
  • 2 Product Designers
  • 3 Engineers
  • 2 Data Analysts
Responsibilities
  • User Research
  • User Flows
  • Wireframing
  • Usability Testing
  • Prototyping
Overview
  • Social media has transformed the way people connect, share their lives, and even build their careers. The rise of influencer marketing has created new opportunities for people to monetize their online presence.
    ‍
    Viral Nation recognized the need for a reliable and comprehensive solution to help aspiring influencers succeed and tasked their product design team with creating a digital coaching app, Influencer-Pro.

Tackle complexity with swift development and incremental progress

The Influencer-Pro project presented a unique challenge due to the ambitious vision of the stakeholder, who aimed to create an all-inclusive solution catering to the diverse needs of aspiring influencers, experienced influencers, and entrepreneurs simultaneously. It eventually led to an expansive list of desired features, which initially threatened to overwhelm the development timeline and resources.
To address these challenges and ensure a swift time-to-market, we adopted an agile development process and an iterative approach. We focused on shipping the first iteration quickly by prioritizing the essential features that would deliver value to aspiring influencers, our primary target group. This allowed us to launch a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) that addressed the core pain points of this user segment, while still aligning with the broader vision for the platform.
"An MVP is not about creating the minimal product; it's about finding the fastest way to learn and validate your hypothesis while minimizing risk." - Eric Ries
Many individuals struggle to become influencers due to the overwhelming amount of information, lack of guidance, and challenges in growing their following.
TL : DR
click to read more
Who
🤔
1. Aspiring Influencers
2. Entrepreneurs
individuals  or small business owners attempting to grow their online presence, monetize their content, and build a personal brand, are experiencing the problem.
Click to view Persona
When
⏰
The problem appears when these aspiring influencers begin their journey in the highly competitive social media landscape, where they face challenges in identifying their niche, growing their following, and monetizing their presence.
click to view Journey MApping
Where
📍
Users experience the problem in the context of their daily social media activities, as they create and share content, engage with their audience, and attempt to attract brand partnerships.
Click to view Social platforms
Why
🤦🏻
Addressing these pain points would enable them to achieve their personal and financial goals, grow their audience, and establish themselves as credible and influential voices in their respective niches.
click to view more pain Points
X
X

Defining success through business goals and user needs

The goal is to develop Influencer-Pro as a comprehensive platform that addresses the unique challenges and needs of aspiring social media influencers, while offering an intuitive and engaging user experience.
🎯
01
Help users identify their niche and develop a cohesive content strategy.
02
Enable users to grow their following their social media presence effectively.
03
Provide personalized guidance that considers each user's unique goals, strengths, and challenges.
04
Foster a community that connects users with others on the same journey

User research: uncovering challenges and opportunities

Through an extensive research process, we aimed to better understand the challenges and needs of aspiring social media influencers. Our findings revealed that users struggled with identifying their niche, developing a content strategy, growing their following, and monetizing their presence, leading to frustration and unfulfilled potential. This enabled us to comprehend their goals, habits, and interactions with various resources and tools, highlighting the need for a comprehensive, personalized solution to support their journey as influencers.
💬
10
user interviews
👀
3
Contextual Inquiries
💻
1
Platform Audit

User Persona

Enthusiast
Micro Influencer
Entrepreneur
Martins James
Job
Student
Age
24
Satus
Single
Income
$1600/ month
Location
London, ON
Background
James has been spending most of his time on social media and has decided to start creating videos. He wants to leave school and make money by creating content as 2 of his friends became famous in a similar fashion.
Goals
  • Become a full-time influencer
  • Making money from social media
  • Becoming influential
  • Collaborate with other creators
Fraustration
  • Coming up with engaging content to post frequently
  • Not knowing when and how to post
  • Learning how to be authentic
  • Content ideas and suggestions
Skills
Darlene Robertson
Job
Cashier
Age
27
Satus
Single
Income
24$/hr
Location
Golden, BC
Background
Darlene is working in a supermarket store as a cashier for the time being and makes instagram videos showing her daily care routine, gym workouts and visits to shoppings malls. She wants to quit her day job and to turn into a full time influencer.
Goals
  • Become a Marco influencer
  • Making stable money from social media
  • Expanding her audience to more people
  • Learning the latest trends on social media
Fraustration
  • Not able to become viral
  • Not knowing when and how to post
  • Too make competitors in her niche
  • Increasing the engagement rate
Skills
Arlene McCoy
Job
Real Estate Agent
Age
32
Satus
Married
Income
60$/hr
Location
Calgary, AB
Background
Arlene is a real estate agent who has been in the industry for over 10 years now. She has been working in a major firm but wants to start her own business and needs to learn how to use social media for more than posting her personal pictures.
Goals
  • To open a business account
  • Become a real estate influencer
  • Getting more leads for her business
  • Earning credibility for her sales
Fraustration
  • Not sure which platform to start
  • Not sure how to create quality content
  • unaware how to approach or get clients
  • no reliable source of tips to follow
Skills

Uncovering Crucial Insights: Empowering Aspiring Influencers

📇
Overwhelming information
Users struggle to find trustworthy advice for their influencer journey.
⏰
Time management and consistency
Users struggle to maintain consistency in posting and managing social media.
🐢
Slow growth and reach
Users experience frustration with the challenging process of growing their following.
🔍
Difficulty identifying a niche
Users have difficulty finding their unique niche and content strategy.
🧑‍🦯
Need for personalized guidance
Users desire customized support tailored to their individual needs.
🤝
Importance of community
Aspiring influencers seek connection and support from others on a similar journey.

Defining the navigation : Information Architecture

The information architecture aimed to organize and categorize the app's content and features in a logical and user-friendly manner. This involved defining the main sections, such as Academy, Toolbox, Community, Inbox, and establishing the relationships between these sections. The information architecture ensured that users could easily navigate through the app and access the features and content relevant to their needs.

Iterating on wireframes

Wireframes were developed to visualize the layout and hierarchy of the app's user interface. These low-fidelity representations focused on the placement and arrangement of elements, such as navigation menus, content blocks, and interactive components, to ensure a clear and intuitive user experience. The wireframes also incorporated design principles, such as consistency, simplicity, and visual hierarchy, to create a seamless and engaging user journey.

Collecting feedback on user testing

"No clear “method” to be an influencer so they have to learn through trial and error which can take a long time."
"Have day jobs and considers “posting on social media” as a side hustle or a passion project."
"Not sure how to create content."
"They are not sure where to get started. They consume content online that gives advice or search out youtube videos for answers."

Key solutions : Addressing key challenges and improving efficiency

01
Personalized Goal Setting and Guidance
By prompting users to set specific, measurable goals for their social media presence, Influencer-Pro provides tailored guidance and resources to help them achieve their objectives.
🎯
Daily challenges homepage
Personalization based on target
Settings to re-align goals
Suggestion based on platform
02
Comprehensive Learning Path and Tools
Influencer-Pro offers a curated selection of exclusive educational content created by experienced influencers in collaboration with Viral Nation. This content equips users with the knowledge and strategies needed for social media success.
📚
Homepage of Academy Section
Learning path : fixed series of videos
Curated video by top influencers
Intuitive way of watching videos
03
Actionable Analytics and Insights
Influencer-Pro integrates in-depth analytics and insights, enabling users to make data-driven decisions and optimize their content strategies based on actionable tips and insights.
📈
04
Building a Supportive Community
The app fosters a vibrant community where users can connect with other aspiring influencers, share tips and advice, learn from others' experiences, and stay motivated on their journey to becoming successful influencers.
👥
Discover users, news and communities
Exclusive communities with influencers
Latest insider news on social media
Connect with users & busineses
Hacks and discussion from top
Insider news on trending topics
05
Equipping Users with a Toolkit
Influencer-Pro provides a comprehensive toolkit that simplifies content creation. From intuitive schedulers to robust analytics, users have access to the essential tools needed to streamline their workflow.
🛠️

Validation

As an MVP, the app aims to attract early adopters, gather valuable feedback, and iterate on its features. The intended outcome is to enable aspiring influencers to grow their following, monetize their content ethically, and become more efficient and strategic in managing their social media presence.
That said, launching this functionality is only the first step towards the program’s success.
With continuous improvements, the Influencer Pro app has the potential to become the go-to platform for individuals seeking to establish themselves as successful influencers in the competitive social media landscape.

Thanks

A big thanks to the people who participated in the interviews and gave me feedback to improve the idea.In particular, I thank Jason Sobers, Miike Gagliese, Alice De Vries, Lise Bruce, Manny Kandola, Cagdas Mudlur, Nhan Le, Deniz Kilicci.

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© Akash Deep. All rights reserved.

User Interviews

The interview sample took into account influencers who are in different tiers, based on their level of reach and engagement.
Potential / Inactive users:
(valuable insights into their pain points, needs, and goals)
Occasional Users
(insights into the strategies and tactics that have worked for them)
Active Users
(insights into the broader trends and opportunities in the influencer market)

Customer Insights

After analyzing the interviews, despite the amount of generated data, this was the most relevant information for decision-making in creating the solution:
78%
Do not plan about their content prior to filming/shooting
53%
Never schedule their content ahead of time
80%
Do not use any content editing tools or content tracking
75%
respondents reveal lack of knowledge regarding analytics
89%
Used youtube as the source of truth to become a content creator
What we see is that although 89% of users try to educate themselves and learn to become an influencer by watching youtube channels out of which 75% of them say they find it very difficult to curate reliable videos out of all the video out there.
  • Complexity of the taskBecoming an influencer is not a simple task and it requires a lot of hard work, dedication, creativity, and consistency.
  • Constant evolution of social media:The social media landscape is constantly evolving and what works today may not work tomorrow. making it difficult to keep up with the latest trends.
  • Lack of personalizationEach person's journey to becoming an influencer is unique, and a one-size-fits-all approach may not be effective.
  • Difficulty in measuring successInfluencer marketing is a relatively new field and there is still a lot of debate about what metrics should be used to measure success.

Research summary

"Guided videos make it easy to learn how to build presence and grow influence on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. "
"Not sure how to create content."
"Some are unclear about how to manage themselves as a business. "
"They are not sure where to get started. They consume content online that gives advice or search out youtube videos for answers."
"Have day jobs and considers “posting on social media” as a side hustle or a passion project."
"No clear “method” to be an influencer so they have to learn through trial and error which can take a long time."
"Engage with community & interact with posts from all social media channels. "
"To connect with  others on the same journey  as them and to be able to ask questions & get advice"
"Not sure how to  collaborate with brands and other influencers."
"To connect with  others on the same journey  as them and to be able to ask questions & get advice"
"They get caught up in life and forget to post."
"A way to easily monetize."

Wireframes

The Wireframe was designed to build the structure and architecture of the information and only then go to visual and interactions.

Style Guide

Color Palette
10
20
30
40
50
60
Purple - 60
#803EF7
AA - 4.77:1
100
200
300
500
700
900
Grey - 900
#F1A73B
AAA - 9.41:1
Typography
Aa
Font
Manrope
Aa
Manrope
Bold
Aa
Manrope
Semibold
Aa
Manrope
Medium
Aa
Manrope
Regular
Name
Line Height
Header 1
H1
Header 2
H2
Header 3
H3
Header 4
H4
Header 5
H5
Header 6
H6
Button
Button
Copy
Copy
Captions
Captions

Growth with Insights

We know that analytics is just numbers so we offer insights based on your individual analytics to help you continue to grow !
3.7 B
active users across social media platforms (Youtube, Instagram, TikTok & Facebook)
86% kms
of teens/adults consider purchasing a product endorsed by Youtuber
$16.4Blbs
Projected growth in 2023 of the influential marketing.
62%
of millennials aspire to become social media influencers
User Onboarding
As we all know onboarding sets the tone for the entire user experience of an app. Hence we created a simple interface to help users get started easily.
Main motive was to reduce the friction that can be associated with learning a new tool.
We also wanted to gather important information about the user, which can be used to provide personalized recommendations.
Daily Challenges and Streak
Depending on how much time you have, the niche you have chosen  and actions you take on the application, The Influencer Draft learns and offers personalized coaching by automatically adjusting your  daily challenges that will help users progress towards their goal.
Guided Personalized Coaching
Guided learning paths make it easy to learn and understand the basics of how to build presence and grow influence on Instagram, TikTok and Youtube.
You are guided through beginner, Intermediate and advanced learning paths to ensure you are building on knowledge and growing your channels.
Specialized Learning Path
Got a specific social question ? Our academy has host a variety of learning material that are exclusively available to all the users of The Influencer Draft.

Toolbox to get things done

Learning is just one half of the equation to success, the doing has to get done and our toolbox includes inspiration from your niche and a post scheduler  integrated with integrated AI caption recommendations and other tools to empower you towards your goal.

Project takeaway

Simplicity is strength
As a designer, we are often lured by attractive, trendy and out of the box designs. But, We must always remember the ‘why’. The primary goal is to understand the user, their problems and then come up with a design that solves it.
Seek out feedback early and continually
Keeping the stakeholders/users in loop and testing solutions in whatever form (paper, low-fi or hi-fi) as early as possible saves ample amount of time and re-work.
Prioritize
Create a strategic plan to launch an MVP. This helps deal with out-of-scope requests that could potentially derail the project and helps deliver a quality product in time.
What do we need next to make this happen?
The Influencer Draft should not become just a one-time delivery. It should be iterated by considering usability tests, A/B tests, and other in-depth surveys with the user to improve the initial version.. In this way, analyzing metrics such as guided paths, daily challenges & tasks, community discussions, and toolbox features used over time would be important for understanding success and elaborating the product roadmap.
What have we not considered?
‍
Although API Integration is easily implemented from a technical perspective, we will need to source the specific APIs globally for specific social platforms. We also need to be weary of security issues and cyber attacks that can creep up as lot of confidential information would be stored on the platform.