This month I have a special treat for you. As you are probably aware, the role of influencer has become a hugely important money-spinner for top social media personalities, with some earning as much as $1m for a single post. The industry itself is worth over $10bn a year as companies and brands scramble to get their products endorsed by these internet moguls.
Magic, of course, tends to reflect real life and there are those in our art who are seizing their opportunity to become for magic what Bella Hadid is for Instagram. One such rising star is card magician Devant, whose imaginative and unintelligible posts on social media have garnered him more than a few raised eyebrows.
I thought it might be interesting to have a chat with Randy to see if we can get an insight into the glamorous lifestyle of the magic influencer, and so with that in mind, I drove to his bedsit in central Rotherham for an exclusive interview.
ML: “So, how did you start with the role of magic influencer?”
RD: “Well, it all started when I popped down to my local Lidl one Sunday morning. I’d run out of smokes and gin the previous night while celebrating my first successful performance of the invisible pass – at least I think I managed it, but since it was invisible it was a bit hard to tell. Anyway I was just coming up the bread isle when who should I bump into but my mate Kim.”
ML: “Kardashian?”
RD: “Bless you. Need a tissue for that? So, Kim was telling me that she had 221 million Instagram followers, which I thought was quite tidy, and she said I should get with the programme and offer myself up as a magic influencer too.”
ML: “So which social media platform do you post on?”
RD: “Well, I decided to go large right from the start and post on Myspace. Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok, YouTube, Pinterest are all OK, but that’s where everybody goes. I wanted to be unique and so decided that the uncluttered and unpopulated Myspace would help me to stand out.”
ML: “Ah, interesting. So how are the follower numbers looking?”
RD: “Well after a slow start over the first 12 months I have steadily built up the figures and I have now just gone past 10.”
ML: “Million?”
RD: “No, just 10…..Rome wasn’t built in a day you know. Obviously the video posts featuring me sitting on the bed in my best vest practising the double undercut using Fox Lake Aviator bridge size cards has drawn people in.”
ML: “As an influencer you must have been flooded with enquiries from magic dealers etc for product placement in your posts?”
RD: “Sorry, what? No chance! I don’t want ugly commercialism to interfere with the influence that my slick card skills alone generate with viewers, so there’s no way a Tenyo or Vanishing Inc are riding on my coat tails. Let them start their own posts.”