Over the past five or so years, social media influencers and their capability to advertise on social media, especially Instagram, has grown tremendously. I know that I, for one, cannot go one day without scrolling through apps on my phone and seeing a social media influencer promoting some type of product, whether it be clothing items, food, or a service or product.

However, this might be because my big and my best friend have become a social media influencer over the past three years. My best friend, Sam, has created a miniature empire all through her Instagram account. It is easy for the common person to look at Sam’s Instagram page and just think she is just a pretty girl posing, but it really is so much more than that.

When I sat down with Sam and asked her about being an influencer, she stressed the fact that it goes way further than just posing for a picture. It requires intelligence, common sense, a business mindset, and extreme confidence.

It is easy to look at a social media influencer's accounts and judge them because they’re just another pretty face, but although Sam is a pretty face, she has taken this business for herself, made it her own, and made it likable for more than 57,000 people on Instagram to enjoy, and this is not a simple task that everyone is capable of.

I believe it is so important to keep in mind that being an influencer on social media is not just a hobby – it is, in fact, a business that should be taken more seriously. Next time you see a post on Instagram and feel intrigued or annoyed, remember that a lot of thought has gone into that post.