Ultimate Guide: How to Become a Yoga Influencer

With the growing popularity and industry of the online superstar, we’re here to help you find out how to become a yoga influencer. 

Yoga is increasingly becoming more mainstream and is enjoyed by people all over the world, so we have 8 steps to success here including:

• Step 1: Set a Goal for Your Yoga-Influencing Journey
• Step 2: Choose a Niche for Your Yoga Influencer Account
• Step 3: Give Your Yoga Instagram Authority With The Right Credentials
• Step 4: Implement a Content Strategy to Become a Yoga Influencer
• Step 5: How to Become a Yoga Influencer - Sign Up for an Influencer Marketplace
• Step 6: Create a Media Kit to for Your Yoga Instagram
• Step 7: Reach Out to Yoga Brands for Collaborations
• Step 8: Observe & Track The Progress of Your Yoga Influencer Instagram

If you’re looking to gain some authority in order to teach your own yoga classes, acquiring a Level 3 Diploma in Teaching Yoga is a vital first step.

To learn more about our internationally-recognised qualification, be sure to check out our downloadable course prospectus. 

Step 1: Set a Goal for Your Yoga Influencing Journey

First things first, you should start off by deciding the very basics. 

What is the bigger picture? Do you want this to become a business, or is it more of a hobby?

If it's the former, a great place to start is reading our guide on 'Becoming a Qualified Yoga Instructor'. Here, you will receive a step-by-step breakdown on how you can start a career in yoga! 

This is how you will set your intentions and goals and work towards them. Here are some things that you should be considering from the get-go:

What Kind of Voice You Want Your Account to Have

The voice behind your account is going to be the driving force behind the success of your influencing career. 

This is when you need to think about the type of page you want, do you want to cater to trends and be a generic yoga influencer or step outside the norm and take a different approach?

Here are some options to help you decipher what your voice could try to communicate:

• Motivational 
• Personal 
• Educational 
• Transparent
• Business-driven

There isn’t any harm in dipping in and out of all of these things, but having a clear goal when you’re starting out can help you with your initial direction. 

For example, look at this yoga influencer below and see how she has a motivational and personal approach to her feed:

As you can see, there is a distinct energy to her feed, it is calm, motivational and personal through the use of her images like yoga with her children and shots of her embracing nature. We should note as well that she has over 2 million followers, so this is clearly something that works!

Take some inspiration by assessing what you enjoy to see the most and what you naturally gravitate towards since you want to keep your page focused on what you enjoy and are passionate about.

Who Do You Want Your Target Audience to Be?

Something else that you need to think about when learning how to start a yoga Instagram is who you’re directing your content to. This means getting to grips with making more thought out content which you may not be used to on your personal Instagram.

We have taken a look at some yoga statistics in case this could help you direct your content more strategically. The most popular demographic to practise yoga according to statistics from thegoodbody are women aged between 30 and 49 years old.

You could take this into consideration when creating your content if your main goal is to simply increase engagement and reach since this is the demographic that is likely to have the most interest in your page. 

If this isn’t what your goal is though, don’t worry about it! It doesn’t matter if you don’t want to slot in with the masses who are already catering to the major demographic. In fact, you could use this to your advantage and have a niche, but more on that later.

What Kind of Brands Do You Hope to Work with?

Finally, when setting up your page and getting started with becoming an influencer in any capacity, there is the ultimate goal to work with brands in order to make an income. 

This is how successful influencers make the bulk of their money, so by thinking early on who you want to work with, you can align your voice with theirs too. This can help show your desired brand partners that you have had similar ideologies from the get-go of your page.

Planting the seed early can really help you to get where you need to be in the long term and gain brand deals that can help grow your page and your bank balance. 

For example, take a look at this yoga influencer below that has secured a relevant brand deal among others for active wear:

This might seem like a future goal that you don’t need to think about yet, but Insagram followings can boom if you get a good post that goes viral so it doesn’t always take a long time to build up a following.

So why not be ready from the start and aim big?

Step 2: Choose a Niche for Your Yoga Influencer Account

We mentioned earlier that we would talk about having a niche to find your yoga target market, so what does this mean for your account? 

Since there is already a market of yoga influencers out there, you might want to have something about you that makes you stand out from the rest. This isn’t to say there is not room for everyone because there very much is, but making it big might require you to make your page stand out that bit more.

Some of the ways you can do this in terms of yoga are influenced by what we spoke about earlier when it comes to finalising your style and finding your voice. 

This can really help you as a content creator come up with ideas that are a bit easier since you have a clear direction. For example, let’s take a look at a yoga influencer that has a specific niche and how that works to their advantage:

This yoga influencer directs their attention to pre or post natal yoga, you can see this in the post above how she is educational with her content but still creates engaging content all the while. 

So while pre or post natal yoga is a niche in itself, there are some other things that you can take into account when deciding your own niche, such as:

• What demographics you’d prefer to create content for, e.g: mens yoga, prenatal yoga etc.
• If you have a particular style of yoga that you want to focus on
• Unique activities in conjunction with yoga. e.g : Puppy yoga is a popular activity!

Think about what suits you most and where your passions lie since this is what is going to continue your drive to keep producing content even without a huge following or brand deals.

Step 3: Give Your Yoga Instagram Authority With The Right Credentials 

One of the key things that will help to grow your account authority is by gaining some credentials to put a stamp of approval behind what you’re saying. One route you could take is a level 3 diploma in yoga teaching. 

This kind of course is going to provide you with the knowledge and expertise you need to create content that is informative and will genuinely positively influence your audience.

You can also use this to your advantage if you’re trying to maximise your income since you could hold online classes, sell programmes or own a studio should you have this qualification. 

Often, behind a yoga influencer page there is a yoga teacher, like this one below: 

As you can see, in her yoga bio, she has stated that she has over 750 hours of yoga training behind her, while also advertising her yoga app giving this the stamp of authority that it needs.

This is also a good idea if you decide to choose to have a page focused on a particular discipline, for example, a level 4 in yoga teaching could see you choose a discipline so you could also put your specific expertise in places like your bio.

Though it isn’t completely necessary, it can surely help you to not only create some reliably informative posts, but also to maximise your income all the while.

Step 4: Implement a Content Strategy to Become a Yoga Influencer

When starting a yoga Instagram, implementing a strategy for your approach will ensure that you’re maximising reach and ultimately, your chance of success. 

Here are some things that you need to focus on in order to achieve this:

#1 Share High Quality Imagery & Graphics

While Instagram can be a place for you to share raw moments, influencing is often a little more professional. This isn't to say you can’t post more personal and casual posts, but the feed itself typically has a bigger purpose in yoga influencing. 

For example, if your goal is to start a business and make money, you might want to focus on showing your professionalism by using high quality images of you in action so people find you trust worthy. 

If you can’t get the basics right like using high quality imagery, then it is unlikely that you will be able to market your page well. Take a look below at a yoga influencer that does this correctly:

As you can see, the aesthetics of the feed are consistent, and while there are still some promotional posts like imagery of the studio - there is still the consistency of typical influencer posts. 

Nonetheless, no matter the purpose of the post itself in what it is hoping to achieve, whether that be entertainment, information or promotional, they are all high quality images that match the aesthetic of the page.

#2 Put a Consistent Posting Schedule in Place

As well as the subject of what you’re posting being of high quality, the rate at which you post needs to be consistent too in order to make them worthwhile. 

Posting frequency is super important, as is when (i.e. the day and time) you post. There is no exact time and frequency that works for everyone, so you will have to trial and error this over a period of time to see what increases engagement the most. 

Whatever it is that works for you, you should always stay consistent with it. 

For example, if you decide to post 3 times a week, ensure that you keep doing this. If you don’t know where to start, there are some direction from softwares such as Hootsuite that have research figures to help you, you can see these below:

With Instagram typically being the leading platform for influencers, pay attention to these figures. The sweet spot is somewhere between 3-7 times per week so avoid posting more than once a day for optimal results for engagement.

#3 Utilise Video Content on Your Yoga Influencer Page

Video is becoming more and more popular within the social media realm, so you must move with this progression to be successful in influencing. 

Use the likes of Instagram reels to diversify your feed and help you to adhere to the algorithm. For example, take a look at this yoga influencer below and the frequency of his video content:

Out of 6 posts, 4 of them are reels. 

Try your best to incorporate reels into your posting schedule, practice makes perfect so keep it up and it will become second nature.

#4 Becoming a Yoga Influencer Requires You to Prioritise Engagement Over Followers 

When learning how to become a yoga influencer, your mind may directly go to the follower count, rather than the engagement level.

You can push for this, rather than wait for it to happen organically. For example, a good way to prioritise engagement is by including CTA’s (call to action). This can be as easy as writing in your caption: “let me know what your favourite yoga pose is in the comments section!”

You can see yoga influencer that does this below:

You can also use things like Q&As on your stories and other story features to keep up engagement too.

Ask yourself before you post, does this post warrant a response? The answer should be yes! You want to create conversation and relevant discourse around your page so by pushing for this you’ll soon get there without even trying.

#5 Create Content That is Valuable & Authentic

Your content shouldn’t be any old post, this is why you need a clear strategy. You should make sure that you have an end goal for your content. 

Make sure that you’re creating value, or people won’t stick around or even follow in the first place. Secondly, don’t make it all promotional, keep the vast majority of your content valuable and entertaining and around 20% of it promotional if necessary. 

As well as that, be authentic! Show your followers that you’re a real person behind it all. Yoga is a huge skill to master, so show the ups and downs not just your success. This kind of authenticity is what will attract brands and followers, so it is the best style of page to go for.

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For some more helpful resources on finding success in the world of yoga, head over to these articles below:

• How to Become a Successful Yoga Teacher
• What Makes a Good Yoga Teacher?
• How Much Experience Do I Need Before Yoga Teacher Training?

Step 5: How to Become a Yoga Influencer - Sign Up for an Influencer Marketplace!

Once you feel like you have everything in order and are ready to start turning your hobby into a source of income, you need to make yourself discoverable.

Many people go wrong when they sit back and wait for something to happen, though becoming an influencer can happen this way, it can come to you much faster when you chase it!

There are now a range of organisations that can help you chase that dream. Platforms like Upfluence can be a great opportunity to start getting brands on board. Platforms like this can help to bridge the gap between you and potential partnerships. 

This can be a great opportunity to get the ball rolling with brands big or small. 

Once you become a member of a community like this one, you can share your social statistics, such as how much engagement you get and who your followers are, with interested brands who may be interested in hiring you as an influencer. 

So, once you create a clear target audience, a steady stream of content, and start seeing engagement rise, it could be a good time to join a community like this to get the brand deals and partnerships coming in.

Step 6: Create a Media Kit to for Your Yoga Instagram

An important part of professionalism in your journey to becoming a yoga influencer on Instagram is getting to grips with promoting yourself as a business. 

The way you do this is by creating a media kit. A media kit is essentially a branded file that shows your work, your prices and is the place where you’ll put everything about your influencing business.

Make it aesthetically pleasing and show off your skills and passion behind what you do. 

It is super important to make this perfect because it is going to be the way somebody can see past your Instagram selfies and into the business side of what you can offer. 

Here’s a list of everything to ensure you include within your media kit:

Introduction: Talk about who you are and what your brand is, show who you are behind the profile.

Social insights: Show things such as engagement, shares, saves, likes, comments etc. Use screenshots as proof so they know you’re trustworthy.

Who your key demographics are: Who are your main audience members that interact with your posts? This is one of the most important factors for a brand to know in case you’re not relevant enough for them.

Location of your followers: This is helpful for brands that are solely based in a specific location, there isn’t much use an American promoting a small british brand since it doesn’t look authentic enough that they actually endorse it.

What your main channel of posting is: e.g, videos, reels, images, graphics etc, the potential brand partner might have a preferred method so it is better if you align with them.

Other successful partnerships and their results: Bigger brands in particular are going to want to know your past success, showing how your results driven can make you a better candidate. 

Pricing Structure: Pricing is of course a huge one, this is what potential partners will be looking for to see what you require investment wise. This is where you should also include your structure e.g, post by post or packages?

Go into detail for each of these, the last thing you want is for your potential partners to be left asking questions. Answer every question they might have within this media kit so there is less chance of them declining a partnership deal.

Step 7: Reach Out to Yoga Brands for Collaborations

Like we mentioned earlier, you should avoid sitting and waiting around for a brand deal to land in your lap. Whether you’ve begun utilising a particular platform for connections or not, you can always make the first move yourself. 

This is when becoming a yoga influencer gets put into practice, you need to think about your tone and what you’re asking for.

Are you going beyond your means? Think realistically about it, if you lack any experience in promoting and don’t have huge engagement levels as of yet, maybe going for the big brands isn't the best way to kick off your search. 

First, decipher if you fit the bill. Who do you want to start off pitching your media kit to? 

If you’re a small account, start off with small brands - they’ll still be interested in working with you if your engagement levels are worthy. 

A popular product could be yoga wheels for instance. Why not look out for an independent brand that could benefit from your exposure and whose product you use and love already?

You could contact them asking if they would be interested in a partnership and if they would like to view your media kit. First, do your research.

Do they already have brand deals, or would this be something new completely? You can find this out by going on their page and doing some digging into their posts seeing if they work with people. This will give you an indication of if they would be open to the idea at all. 

For example, say you take yoga wheels as your focus, a partnership may look something like this:

As you can see, you’re able to create an informative post that won’t only help you and the brand create a deal, but your current followers can learn from your post using the product.

Once you have decided whether the brand of your choice is plausible for your account size, you’ll want to find the correct point of contact. Avoid filing in with direct messaging boxes, dig a little deeper and look for an email address.

Find a correct email address and send a professional email explaining why you want to work for the brand and your professional media kit. Use professional language like you would in a business to business manner since after all, this is what you’re doing.

It will give you some valuable practice in putting your business self forward, not your personal kind that you may otherwise be accustomed to.

Step 8: Observe & Track The Progress of Your Yoga Influencer Instagram 

Finally, you should begin to assess your progress to determine whether anything needs to be changed. 

Of course over time, naturally things will progress and change, so you have to keep up with the ever evolving nature of social media. 

Though you will have the insights from your business account to help you analyse what is and what isn't going well, you can also utilise softwares to help you determine this more clearly. 

For example, platforms like SproutSocial can help you once your account starts to grow and you need help in managing things more effectively. 

Below you can see a holistic overview of what sprout social can offer and a visualisation of what the platform looks like: 

This is a popular approach if you want to become a yoga influencer that makes it big! It can help you hand over the responsibilities of the technical side to running a business account to a social media manager if need be and helps you focus on the more creative side of making valuable content. 

The bottom line is, you must track your progress or there is no way of indicating success from failure. Some things that you should always be keeping track of are:

• Return on investment: If you’re running paid ad campaigns
• Brand awareness: you can measure how many people are searching for you on the likes of Google trends or AHrefs
• Reach
• Engagement 
• Followers gained / lost
• Shares 
• Saves 
• Affiliate successions

The reason you must do this is because you need to remember that when you work with brands, you’re essentially a catalyst for sales, a channel of advertising so without any reliable stats behind you they have no obligation to take your work seriously.

A lot of brands will ask for the aforementioned statistics when deciding whether your account fits their influencer criteria.

From the get go, start collecting stats, it will motivate you too when you see upward trends of engagement, this is how you turn a hobby into a profitable business.

Before You Go…

Now that you have the tools on how to become a yoga influencer, what are you waiting for? Start the ball rolling and set up your social accounts!

Don’t forget, if you want to add that extra bit of authority to your page, you take a look at OriGym’s Level 3 Yoga Teaching Diploma. This will allow you to market yourself as an internationally recognised instructor, who is free to train yogis across the world. 

Find out more about this course and our advanced Level 4 Yoga qualifications, by downloading our FREE course prospectus.