Who’s an influencer? How Pharaoic is making racks across all platforms
Ever wondered how social media pages end up with thousands of followers?
I talked to Pharaoic, a teen from Cali who’s done it again and again and amassed over three million followers across social platforms.
The Beginning
Pharaoic born Marko Danial was a kid looking to fit in after moving from Egypt to the U.S. at age 6. And for him, fitting in meant, learning as much as possible about sports.
“I started out on Instagram five or six years ago, with a sports account.”
Throughout elementary and middle school, Marko’s classmates were very into basketball and football. Marko felt shy and embarrassed because he didn’t know how to talk to his friends about sports.
So he decided to do some research and learn more. This turned into his first Instagram account where he would post info and cool sports shots while growing his knowledge about basketball.
“I did it out of curiosity. I just wanted to learn more about the sport.”
Growing more accounts
Around 2014 a video of Kobe Bryant that Marko posted went viral and spurred the growth of the sports account “@Sports_Insane_.”
At the time Marko was only a freshman in high school and not really sharing his online fame. He also was not very social media savvy at the time, hence the name.
After going viral, Marko decided to start his own company, Spzrts, a sports media company that is well known for its diverse coverage of sports. It currently has over 40k followers and a high amount of regular engagement.
He also went on to create more spin-offs of his sports account. Marko founded @PureAnkles (83k followers), which he dedicated towards crossovers and ankle breakers. He also currently runs @NicestKicks (42.2k), which is a page for all the sneakerheads who love fire kicks.
He then branched out further, outside the sports realm and started @Cvmedy that gained popularity for its comedy, videos, and memes and stands at 188k followers and engagement of around 40k likes per post and 200+ comments.
Pharaoic has reached out to apparel and sports brand companies offering to use his many platforms as a marketing tool. He’s seen some success with promoting brands’ products and apparel as well as improving their overall engagement.
Now, Pharaoic currently manages social media accounts including Instagram and TikTok for several Sports brands and companies.
Innovative Practices
One of the ways Pharaoic has been able to continue growing his IG accounts is by finding new and innovative ways to drive engagement and make connections in the entertainment world.
After reaching 14k+ followers on his @Pharaoic IG account, he started to branch out. From there he would start to create a new lane for music. One that he could fun with.
This drove engagement up with users regularly navigating to the page to learn about the latest music releases. Seeing this Pharaoic made it a weekly thing.
What’s more, is that the artists would re-post Pharaoic’s stories to their own IG accounts. Marko was able to build a relationship with several artists like YBN Nahmir, 24kGoldn, OT Genasis, Mozzy, MADEINTYO, and Guapdad 4000.
“DM’ing is a great way to connect with influencers and artists. It doesn’t hurt to message and talk to people if you wanna learn more and connect with people”
On his @NicestKicks account, Marko is a master at creative engagement as well. He, of course, posts the latest sneaker drops but also regularly posts an IG story with the engaging poll asking “Cop or Drop” on new releases.
The poll keeps followers engaged, keeping them always coming back to give their two cents and see how others feel about the newest kicks on the market.
Lasting Advice
Marko recommends doing small things like posting regularly on any given industry and reaching out to celebs in that field. He says you wouldn’t realize how many entertainers really check and read their DMs. You can really build a relationship and network with people online.
The most important advice Pharaoic gave was to set goals, stick to those goals, and consistently work towards those goals. And, that it’s okay to be different.
“Don’t let anyone put you down for what you’re doing, just keep going. And if you fail, get back up. You have to fail to succeed.”
Expanding to other Platforms
After seeing several social media platforms rise and decline, Marko decided that expanding his reach beyond Instagram would be a good step to keep what he’s built. He’s since grown his presence on TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
“I decided to make a YouTube channel to create my own content because throughout my whole life I’ve been a little quiet about what I do to my friends.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4ZRCL7AwUA&t=173s
It’s after he decided to expand to YouTube that Marko adopted the name Pharaoic.
“Since everyone knows Egypt is all about the pharaohs, pyramids, and camels, I wanted to have Pharaoh in the name while ‘heroic’ means brave and courageous. From that, I started making Youtube videos as Pharaoic.”
The future for Pharaoic
Marko has decided to pursue Engineering in college and continues to run his Instagram accounts along with social media for several brands.
Also, Pharaoic has built up his company Spzrts, where he sells unique sports clothing and gear, after seeing a lack of variety in the sports world.
His YouTube channel is also likely to grow, having amassed over 7k subscribers in a short period of time. His videos range from how his friend took Kylie Jenner to prom and everyday vlogs to social experiments and pranks.
Even while stepping back a bit to get his education, and knowing all he’s achieved so far, we at Kulture Hub know there’s so much more to come from Pharaoic.
“You just have to go for it. You can’t let anyone tell you, ‘you can’t do something.’”
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