A young content creator at the age of 24 managed to earn a salary of $370,000 in 2023, almost twice as much as the previous year, thanks in particular to a business strategy honed by his fiancée.
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Anthony Tran is a well-known influencer on TikTok, where he has over 281,000 followers. He has also been on Instagram since 2022, which has increased his visibility and at the same time his popularity.
The Journal dedicated a story to him last summer as part of a file on Quebec influencers.
For a long time he focused the content of his videos on the topic of food, but now he addresses everything that might interest his subscribers.
The influencer has an enviable client list including McDonald's, Tim Hortons, Mazda, Couche-Tard and Google. He was able to develop an effective approach to gain their trust, especially through the productivity of the advertising campaigns he created for them.
The key to success? Take the time to develop a good business strategy together with your customers. And here the role of his fiancée Élisabeth Boyer takes on particular importance.
“I have been working with my fiancée since last year. She really brought a structure because that's really who I am [dans la créativité]. She has a better business structure than I do,” explains Mr. Tran.
Anthony Tran and his fiancée Élisabeth Boyer during the first edition of the Influence Création Gala, which honors the best creators of the year in Quebec. Photo provided by Anthony Tran
Passion before income
The influencer doesn't want to create viral videos that would allow him to reach millions of views.
“I prefer 10 videos with 100,000 views and keep a good average,” he notes.
He adds that to be successful, you have to do this job for passion and not for income.
“It's difficult to get results on social media. You don't want to do this for clicks, likes, or views. “You have to do it yourself because it’s something you want to share,” Mr. Tran continues. Influencers are like an SME. Money is not created that way. It’s not because everyone makes a few videos to make an income.”
And when an influencer is successful, they have usually worked for years without earning a dime.
“Often there are around ten years of unpaid work where we did it out of passion,” he argues.
A plan that works
Mr. Tran does not take his reputation for granted and, as a self-employed person, always thinks about securing a viable future. He, who in particular had started studying actuarial science, decided to stop because he had a plan that was already working.
“I don’t recommend anyone drop out of school to create content unless they have a solid plan where you can already see results,” he emphasizes.
Although competition among content creators is fierce, Mr Tran believes the market is far from saturated.
“There is still a lot of work to be done in Quebec and we still see new creatives emerging every month and every year.”
Mr. Tran is one of the co-founders of the Influence Gala, the first gala recognizing the content creator profession in Quebec. The second edition will take place on May 4th, when the Association of Content Creators of Quebec (ACREA) will be launched to give credibility to this still little-known profession.
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