What does it take to be an influencer? Dan Duminy has it all figured out.
From travel vlogs, to behind the scenes music shoots, Durban’s Daniel Duminy is slowly making a name for himself on the social media scene.
He is funny, friendly, and has great eyebrows. Lifestyle and travel vlogger Daniel, known as the Real Dan Duminy (@realdanduminy) to his social followers, is turning his love for the social life and the camera into his career. Did we mention he is only 18!
No stranger to the South African music scene, Daniel has shot a number of vlogs for rappers’ Nasty C (@nasty_csa), Tellaman (@tellamanofficial) and Rowlene (@rowlene_sa).
When he is not rubbing shoulders with the who’s who of the entertainment industry, @realdanduminy is either jet setting overseas or reviewing the latest products for brands and capturing it all on his Instagram.
“You know I’m just going where God takes me. Since I was young I loved to inspire people daily and make an impact on people. I admire how hard they work to constantly have daily uploads. I wouldn’t say I want to be an Instagram influencer but more of an all-rounder influencer on all platforms,” says the busy vlogger.
With fame comes the fans and @realdanduminy has had his fair share of crazy encounters.
“I was in a mall and this girl came to me and for like five seconds she just stared at me, mind the fact I was actually having coffee with my mom. After what felt like forever she says, ‘Oh my word you are actually the Real Dan Duminy’. It was so funny,” says Dan.
With the diversity of the audience on Instagram, everyone has an opportunity to make money. And when you combine travelling and getting paid you sure have a winner. So, which destination gets the thumbs up from Dan?
“It has to be Mauritius. I went there for work and got to ride on these cool things called Seakarts which are like Go-karts that you can race on the sea! I did that for the company Seakart.”
Dan has also worked with brands like Custom Apparel, Phomolong Lodges and L’Exil lodges.
“I make money from artists and from YouTube itself and from doing paid advertisements. I love what I do and the brands and artists that I work with,” says the bubbly teen.
Dan’s advice for ways Instagrammers can increase the number of followers whilst building a professional look for their accounts?
“Fill out your bio with all the right information. This includes your contact information, what you post about and where you’re from. Add in a few keywords and even a couple of hashtags to ensure you’re easily findable by the right kind of followers. Post regularly to grow numbers. Take great and use relevant hashtags to get your images seen. Finally, make time every single day to engage with your followers or anyone involved in your industry by commenting on and liking images,” he says.
With 33 000 Instagram followers and growing, creating content that strangers will love is not an easy task but for this influencer there is nothing else he would want to do with his life. So how does @realdanduminy stay relevant?
“I admire Tanner fox, Jake Paul and Logan Paul. I admire how hard they work to constantly have daily uploads. My personal definition of being creative is definitely just being yourself in anything you do, because the more you are yourself the more creative you become. Because you not scared what people think of you,” he says.
When he is not behind the camera you can find Dan on the race track. Earlier this year Dan was selected from more than 120 applicants from around the world to race in the 2018 Audi Sport TT Cup.
“I will make my debut in May, but I’ve been training flat out since August. I will also race at home in South Africa alongside my overseas campaign, “he says.
As they say, age is just a number and the future is really looking great for Dan.
“I’m really excited about the rate my Instagram followers are growing. It’s so encouraging to get such nice comments on my photos and make some awesome connections with my followers! Thank you so much to everyone who has supported me so far and I’m excited to see where this goes,” he says.
Dan’s tips for people wanting to make money with Instagram:
Focus on sponsored posts for brands that want to reach your audience
Sell your own products or services
You can sell other people’s products and receive a cut
Sell your photography
*Written by – Chairs Coleman