Ever wondered what influencers do all day? Same, tbh.
Which is why we spoke to Love Island twins Jess and Eve Gale to find out what their jobs as influencers really entail, their top Instagram tips and how they got on Love Island in 2020 - not the All Stars series, obvs.
Over the years, one thing we've discovered from chatting to Islanders is that a lot of them are scouted from Instagram and Jess and Eve were no different. In fact, they'd received "a few" messages from other TV shows but decided to continue with the Love Island casting team.
So, of course we had to ask what made them stand out on Instagram but Eve reckons it's "really random".
"Even speaking to the [Love Island] casters they don't actually cast big following influencers.
"I think probably the best advice is just try and show as much as your personality on your Instagram as you can because I think that's what they look for," Jess explained.
The girls actually got approached for the winter season in July (when the 2019 series was airing) and one way Jess believes they stood out was because they were abroad at the time.
"Where we go on lots of holidays, we were posting lots of pictures and we were in Ibiza. We just tagged Ocean Beach.
"I think they go on the hotspots when the casting team research and Ocean Beach is a typical place, I think where they’d look.
"I think they were looking for twins and then they see our pictures. So maybe just make sure you've got a public profile if you're out in any bait places and tag the place."
BRB, we're flying to Ibiza so we can get on Love Island.
Jess and Eve Gale reveal how they blew up on social media
Jess and Eve both have over one million Instagram followers but even before they went on Love Island the first time round, they already had thousands of followers.
When we asked how they both managed to gain 10k followers, Eve explained that it was people from their area that would follow them.
"I would just take pictures when I was on holiday," she explained.
Jess added, "Then we moved to London from Cambridge and it was in London when I really grew my followers, because I just posted every time I went out in a popular place.
"I'd post, then tag that place or they'd repost me and then I just got a lot from that."
And even though a lot of influencers say consistence is key, Jess and Eve weren't very consistent before they went on Love Island.
"I wasn't strict with my posting. I'd just post and it kind of built up over time," Eve explained.
Jess added, "It would literally be like once a month."
And fun fact: before heading into the villa the girls were both studying at university and didn't ever think about making influencing their full-time job.
"I always used to see influencers on my feed and on influencer trips and I'd think 'Oh my God' that must be so fun, but I never really saw it as something I would do myself because I thought I was going to go more down an academic route.
"I thought I was going to graduate and then get a different job in a different industry because we never thought about going on Love Island. We never considered it," Jess explained.
"We never thought about going on Love Island. We never considered it"
"I never thought about growing my Instagram. I was never trying to get more followers. It was never something I really like set out to do."
Eve added, "Before Love Island we had about 10k followers each and at one time there was a point where I was getting free clothes and I was like 'Wow it's so good getting free clothes not to get paid or anything'.
"But it wasn't something that I was going to push and pursue it into a career I just though ‘Ohh you can get benefits from social media.'
"I remember once getting sent out a water bottle and being really amazed by it," she joked.
A day in Jess and Eve Gale's life
Now, the reason we started our influencer series is because we want to know what influencers do on a typical day.
And it turns out Jess and Eve's standard day is very different to the usual nine to five.
"Me and Eve are actually night owls. I sleep quite late and then I wake up late, so normally I get up around 10 or 11am.
"Every day is kind of different. Normally what I'll do is write down everything I need to do the night before, so I've got a list to do. And to be fair, weekends, we normally give ourselves off."
Jess also explained what their "content days" consists of - FYI, a content day is exactly what you think it is, a fun taking photos or filming videos for social media.
"I'll get up, get ready and then I'll do my pictures first, so maybe like two, three pictures. Me and Eve are quite good at getting them in the flat, normally we take a lot of mirror pictures.
"So we'll move the mirror around and do different spaces in our flat and then we'll film our ads at the end of the day after dinner.
"It's the last thing I'll do and I'll send it to my management at 4 in the morning."
She went on to say, "Every day we're in conversation with our management and they're discussing, 'are you happy to do this post, this is the kind of brand and this is what they want.' Because different brands want different things.
"You want to do your posts for them but at the same time, we've got our own Instagram styles and our own fashion sense.
"We don't want to lose ourselves to try to appease every single brand [because] then your own feed is just a model of what every single brand wants.
"So you're constantly negotiating. Some brands want to send you this and you might not like the clothes.. So we’re in constant talk to our management about that kind of stuff."
Jess and Eve on getting the perfect Instagram photo
It turns out for Jess and Eve that getting the right photo for the 'gram is all very weather dependent.
Eve explained, "If it's really rainy day outside or if the weather is not going to be that nice all week, I’ll be like 'Right I'm going to have to be indoors in my flat, I'm going to have to get a ring light out.'
"Whereas if it's like really sunny, I'm going to be like 'Right I'm going to shoot my Fashion Nova summer content'."
Jess added, "If it's a gloomy day, I just know the lighting is not going to be good. I just know I'm not going to get good pictures and some times I just don't even bother.
"I'll just save it for a day when the lighting is good, because I know it sounds stupid but lighting makes such a difference."
Once the girls have sorted out lighting, they turn to editing their pictures to get the best results.
"I definitely edit my pictures," Jess admitted.
"I think you've got to be honest. I do use Facetune and I use Lightroom. If the lighting isn't good, I sometimes just edit the brightness on Face Tune and it can honestly make such a difference."
However Eve prefers another app, "I use Snapseed. I experiment around with a few of them. I’m always trying to pick up little tricks and always see what other people use.
"There's not really anything that I like to strictly go by."
Jess and Eve Gale on how you can become an influencer
If you want to follow in the footsteps as Molly-Mae Hague, Olivia Neill or any other influencer then Jess and Eve gave their top tipcs.
Jess explained, "I would say a big part of it is there's not really much structure. So you've really got to do it yourself and be harsh on yourself.
"I think what is sometimes quite difficult is there's no time you can really switch off. Even when me and Eve are out with our friends, I think, 'Oh, I can maybe get my picture here'. It's just constant. I'm constantly thinking about it."
Eve added, "I think consistency is the main thing. I can check how many followers that I gain per post. So I guess the more you post, the more you're just out there and the more Instagram will show your page to people."
Jess and Eve Gale on the disadvantages of being an influencer
Being an influencer may appear to be an easy job but as with everything else, there are disadvantages.
"Instagram and social media in general is known for being quite toxic. I do sometimes think, ‘Oh my God, I'm spending so much time on my phone.' And then sometimes I'm like, ‘Oh, my God, is this superficial?’ Because you don't really get too much reward from it other than getting a lot of likes.
"I've seen that this many people have liked my picture and I’m like 'Oh yes, it has done well, so many strangers have liked my picture and that's kind of my reward."
"You do find yourself comparing it to everyone, it gets competitive with brands"
Jess added, "Especially in lockdown because I haven't really been able to go out and see my friends. I've just spent a lot of time online. And I think, 'Oh, my God. I need to actually go out and interact with people'."
Eve went on to say, "As an influencer, you're on social media more... So you do find yourself comparing [life] to everyone, it gets competitive with brands and everything."
She also admitted that she refuses to do any sponsored content around trading posts, weight loss or crazy diets".
And Jess revealed that sometimes posting sponsored content can have its disadvantages.
"You're like, 'Oh my God, I need to get a really good picture', especially if it's a brand that you want to impress, so the standard is high and then me and Eve are really fussy with our pictures if it doesn't turn out how we want it, it's pressure, stress and then you've got the time limit on it as well.
"It's not just me taking a picture for fun. Whereas I think a lot people think you're just bobbing around every day just putting on a cute outfit taking the picture and then done but afterwards you go through, you see all the variations and the amount of times I've reshot stuff.
"There's been times I've literally spent the whole afternoon shooting content. I really like the picture I send it off for approval and they'll say something like, 'We like it but you need to get the logo in or can you do it from the back as well' and you’re like 'Argh', so then you’ve just got to do it again.
"Sometimes you feel like 'Oh my God I just spent all that time now it's gone to waste'. I feel really lucky with it but there definitely are downsides".
Jess and Eve Gale on influencers salaries
While Jess and Eve don't discuss influencer fees with their influencer friends, Jess insisted that influencer fees are "exaggerated" in Snapchat articles.
"Even before I went on Love Island I remember the producers telling me 'You'll see these big clothing kind of deals in the newspapers. It's not actually that much people don't get £1million clothing deals.'
"It just doesn't happen," Eve added.
If you're thinking of becoming an influencer then Jess has advised, "I think only get management if you really feel like you need it. Because otherwise they are taking quite a cut of your money.
"Especially if you're not making that much in the beginning in the early stages. I think not being signed with management is fine if you can handle yourself.
"Don't just do it so you can have them in your Instagram bio because then you will actually be losing out."
Jess and Eve Gale on growing Instagram followers
One bit of advice the girls recommended for growing on Instagram is try to get your posts shared by brands.
"You can literally have 20 followers, as long as you look good in the clothes, they repost, you.
"Then once you're on their Instagram, they can reach up to a million people, and they’ll tag you. And that's a great way of growing your followers," Jess said.
Eve added, "If you can get re posted by Fashion Nova then you're being exposed to 20 million people because they've got 20 million followers."
What are Jess and Eve Gale's future plans?
Now we spoke to the girls before they returned to the villa but at the time they said they've deferred their degrees and it is something they'd go back to in the future.
However for now, they're focussing on influencing and starting their own business.
"That's actually something we're working on at the moment and we are planning to get that out in summer," Jess revealed.
Eve added, "Probably in the future, we want to do more. I think because with influencing the one thing you do have is a big platform. So you do get a lot of free advertising from it.
"I think it'd be silly not to make the most of that and kind of push your own businesses. So we've got one business venture that we're working on. And I guess in the future, I will aim to have more."
They added that they'd love to travel more when they can with Jess saying, "I want to go to the Maldives, Thailand, I've never been to America and I really want to go there.
"And with that I will be able to get better Instagram content because London is great but like on a rainy day life does not provide the backdrops," she joked.