Only two years into her full-time influencer journey, Dubai-based Annabell Newman already garners millions of views a week posting content to her more than 230,000 followers on TikTok.
Through social media, the rising TikTok star shares everything from daily vlogs, lifestyle tips and tricks, couple goals content, and pranks on her unwitting fiancé.
As the world shut down in response to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, Annabell — who started creating content online six years ago — opened up even more of her life to the world.
Since then, she has received the coveted blue check mark as a verified contributor and her name has often been listed in numerous publications as one of the top TikTokers to follow in the Middle East.
As influencer marketing has become a way for companies to aim at their intended customers with pinpoint accuracy, UK-born Annabell has made a full-time profession out of it — earning thousands of dirhams for her posts.
Harnessing her online popularity, she said keeping up with her hundreds of thousands of fans is not easy, but she would not change it for the world.
“I get to live out my passion everyday,” she said.
“I am in charge of my own time, I can work from wherever I want, and most of the work I do is super fun, glamorous and exciting.
“When I am creating so much content all the time it pushes me to do more stuff and try lots of new things and places.”
Having give up the nine-to-five workday, the former digital marketer said being an onlline celebrity has more ups than downs, but it can sometimes be hard to separate work from home life.
“You end up working all the time because there is no hard line between work and home life,” she said.
“You put yourself out daily for millions of people to judge you and not everyone is nice.
“I do have to chase brands for payments at times too and the pressure to always keep achieving certain views and likes [can be daunting].”
The influencer landscape in the UAE has evolved tremendously over the past few years.
The introduction of Social Media Influencer licences and the requirement that influencers pay VAT has played a big part in professionalising the industry.
Here, Annabell shares with The National what a typical day looks like for a UAE TikTok star:
Morning
9am — Wake up and check my social media channels to see how my videos have performed overnight and gauge what content has done well.
Check my to-do list for the day, including what videos I plan to shoot and how. If I have packages sent from PR agencies, I choose my favourite bits and set them aside to share on my socials later in the day.
10am — Get ready for the day. Shower, do my hair and make-up and be ready to shoot content later in the day.
11am — I spend a lot of time checking emails and replying to agencies and brands, discussing projects, sharing ideas for future content, discussing deliverables, sharing data and insights from my social media channels and campaigns.
I also create and send invoices, chase up payments and read and amend contracts sent by brands and agencies.
Afternoon
1pm — Start posting on my social channels. Come up with a caption for each piece of content and spend some time replying to comments.
2pm — Start preparing to film. I set up a phone stand and two professional lights. I try to shoot about three videos a day to stay ahead of my posting schedule.
If the content is fashion-related I need to plan out transitions and pick outfits. If it’s a make-up video I need to pull out the products for the final look and I film each step of the application. I often have to repeat some steps to get the right shot.
If I’m posting a daily vlog, I shoot lots of clips throughout the day to give my audience insight into what a day in my life usually looks like.
4.30pm — Filming a 15-second video can take anywhere from 10 minutes to several hours to complete, depending on what it is. Once they have been filmed, most of my videos need to be edited. I usually transfer all my content and clips to my laptop and spend hours reeling them together. I sometimes add voice overs to my videos so I need to record these separately.
Evening
6pm — I try to go live twice a week on TikTok to chat with followers for around an hour. Sometimes I bake, do my make-up, play games or do a simple question and answer session while engaging with them.
7.30pm — Post on my social channels again. Come up with a caption for each piece of content and spend some time replying to comments. I also watch other TikTok videos to keep up with trends.
