Top influencers in the world of DIY bring passionate fans, expertise, and authenticity to highly-engaged followers all over the world. Their affable, clear instructional content perfectly pairs with sponsorships, affiliate marketing, cross-promotions, and a variety of other marketing channels.
We’ve put together a list of DIY influencers—in a variety of industries—and found seven who vividly illustrate how they make their mark on audiences and markets.
1. LazyGuyDIY (Home Repair, Furniture Assembly)
LazyGuyDIY is a project run by Adam Beasley, a carpenter without formal training who learned his handyman skills from his father’s various construction projects. After discovering an interest in industrial design, his passion for carpentry took full force.
That is until he was sidelined as a spreadsheet jockey, and, feeling confined in an office, decided to do something different, launching the popular blog LazyGuyDIY, where he gives woodworking, repair and furniture building tutorials, in addition to tool reviews.
Image via LazyGuyDIY
Why we love Adam Beasley
Like many successful DYI influencers, LazyGuyDIY finds a great deal of success in selling an idealized skillset—masculine handiness—and provides simple step-by-step instructions, bringing carpentry to a generation of men who don’t necessarily know their way around power tools.
And the end products are gorgeous—end tables, bar carts, charcuterie boards, often in vibrant hardwood, offset by pitch-black iron accents. His instructions provide clear, step-by-step directions accented with movie references and personal anecdotes.
All this has earned him a great deal of attention. His Pinterest board is viewed half a million times each month, and his sponsored posts, product line reviews, and his longtime partner Home Depot tell of an influencer who has seamlessly integrated their passion into a trusted brand.
2. Young House Love (Home Decorating)
It’s easy to see how this Richmond, Virginia couple found their massive audience. John and Sherry Petersik, the husband and wife duo, make for a picture-perfect Instagram couple. You know the sort; young and beautiful, having it all: a popular blog, Young House Love, two beautiful children, and more than 300,000 Instagram followers.
Image via YoungHouseLove
Why we love John and Sherry Petersik
Their popularity is no doubt due in part to their lifestyle. One that so many millennials desire: a minimalistic life filled with fresh, ‘grammable meals, momentary pleasures, stability, and, crucially, a life that’s potable when the desire calls (The couple is currently preparing for a move to Florida).
With over 3,000 home projects on their blog, these long running DIY influencers have made a veritable digital empire. Everything is there, DIY shelf hanging, kitchen organization, decorative wall molding, vine trellises, and more philosophical advice like eliminating waste from one’s life.
Monetization comes in the form of affiliate links to e-commerce sites like Amazon and RewardStyle. The duo also often receive sponsorships from home decor brands, but decline to make sponsored content.
3. Kids Activities (Parenting)
Holly Homer is a Dallas mom of three, an author, and a leading childcare influencer. Her projects don’t require special skills, lots of money, or advance planning, making her advice ideal and trustworthy for budget-minded parents who need help.
Image via KidsActivitiesBlog
Why we love Holly Homer
Domesek is particularly notable for turning DIY into a full-fledged lifestyle—all focused on making parenting fun, manageable, educational, and crucially, more affordable. Her blog, Kids Activities, offers tips, projects, and DIY learning activities in a variety of subjects.
Among these tips, teaching your kids to wash their hands for the length of a song from a popular children’s show, 88 cent Dairy Queen Blizzard specials, DIY rain boot easter baskets, and DIY disinfect wipe dispensers, among innumerable others.
Like many DYI influencers, her business model relies on affiliate links in blog posts, and content sponsored by kid-friendly brands. Since launching Kids Activities, she’s also launched a lifestyle brand, PS I Made This, that takes on more adult-focused DIY subjects like beauty, fashion, and cooking.
4. Tator Tots and Jello (Arts and Crafts)
With more than 115,000 Instagram followers, this craft-centric influencer has a long-running blog, TatorTotsandJello, presumably named after snacks she’s no doubt made numerous times for her four children.
Image via TaterTotsandJello
Why we love Jennifer Hadfield
A classic scrapbooker, Jennifer Hadfield’s designs are gorgeous, colorful, and ornate. They add vibrancy and touches of joy to everyday items, almost as if they’re occasions in of themselves.
A number of her projects are kid-related, too, cozy and creative decorations and craft projects for kids, on top of costumes, puffy slime, and countless projects to make holidays more memorable.
On the business end, Hadfield create a number of sponsored posts, affiliate links to craft supplies on Amazon. What’s more, she features advertising from DIY brands like Color The Word, and has collaborated with JoAnn Stores on a paper line.
5. Mimi G Style (Fashion)
Few influencers can claim the same life story as Mimi G. A former victim of domestic abuse, Mimi was homeless and a teen mother. Sewing —which she learned as a girl by watching her seamstress aunt in Puerto Rico—was her outlet. She soon would go on to start her DIY fashion brand, Mimi G Style.
Image via Mimi G Style
Why we love Mimi G.
Above all, Mimi’s designs are stunning. More than simple advice for sewing tips and tricks, Mimi’s tutorials walk readers through the construction of gorgeous, stylish clothes that her 320,000 Instagram followers can’t find anywhere else.
Mimi G is who you turn to when you want to transform your jeans into a skirt,refashion a sweatshirt into a spring top, or add compression mesh to your clothes.
Her business model is also unique. She sells DIY fabric and tutorial packages on her site, and others (Sometimes sold co-branded with DIY brand Simplicity). Mimi G also holds an annual conference funded by a range of corporate sponsors. As if all that wasn’t impressive enough, she’s also recently launched an online sewing school, Sew it Academy.
6. Nikkie Tutorials (Beauty)
At only 26, Nikkie De Jager works on a scale exponentially larger than all others on this list, with a YouTube following the size of 13 million.
Her following is due to a number of factors, her unmatched artistry in makeup, her fun makeup tutorials, and of course, her viral videos. She began creating videos at 14, in 2008, and started working as a professional makeup artist in 2011, later gaining fame and 41 million views for her 2015 viral video, “The Power of Makeup.”
Image via Nikkie Tutorials
Why we love Nikkie De Jager
As one of the first makeup tutorials on YouTube, she’s pioneered both the medium and business of DIY influencers.
First and foremost, Nikkie is an artist and an inspiring one at that. Her first viral video set the tone for her career: was an earnest love letter to the joy, creativity and transformational power of makeup, which confidently rebukes the misogynist myth that makeup is shallow, fake, and performative.
Understandably, this, and her uncanny artistry, has earned her a great deal of loyalty.
She earns her living from a mix of YouTube ad revenue, affiliate marketing, and sponsorships with leading beauty brands like Maybelline, Ofra and Lady Gaga’s makeup brand, Haus Laboratories. In 2019, she began working with Marc Jacobs Beauty as a global beauty advisor.
7. Kayley Melissa (Hair)
Kayley Melissa is a bright, brilliant hairstylist and DIY influencer, with 1.7 million YouTube subscribers and 126,000 Instagram followers. She gives easy-to-follow hair tutorials, beauty lessons in attractive, well-produced videos.
Image via Kayley Melissa
Why we love Kayley Melissa
Melissa’s focus is simple: fun and creative hairstyles that anyone can do themselves. This means endless varieties of ponytails, retro hairstyles, five-minute-curls, and costumes and cosplay tutorials. In one of her most popular videos—with more than 8 million views—Melissa attaches 100 layers of hair extensions; #hairmountain indeed.
Her revenue comes from affiliate sponsorships with NuMe, corporate sponsorships from a range of brands like CVS to Herbal Essences, and has made sponsored content for Garnier. Melissa has also recently merchandised her own line of adorable shower caps.
Why DIY Influencers work?
Influencer marketing is a powerful means of matching passionate, hungry fans with the products and services they’re most likely to love. DIY industries are perhaps the ideal vertical, providing a means of supporting our everyday hobbies and dreams, fueled by those who inspire us to aspire for more.
This article originally appeared in the Grin.co blog and has been published here with permission.
