Pamela Reif, who is riding a wave of popularity on China’s social media platforms recently, is no doubt one of Germany’s most famous influencers. The 23-year-old star has turned her million-strong social media following into the seeds of a health and fitness business empire.

Pamela’s key to success seems to be doing things differently from ordinary people. Rather than just increasing her calorie intake, the today’s Instagram star picked up weights to build up more muscles at the age of 16.

“I was too skinny, which really hit on my self-esteem,” the German social media influencer said. She embarked on a regular weight lifting routine and at the same time kicked off an impressive influencer career without having any intention to do so.

Today, the fitness expert has 4.2 million followers on YouTube and 6.2 million on Instagram, runs an online fitness platform, has written a book, was featured on the cover of Forbes DACH magazine, and lives off the income she makes through co-operations and sponsorships.

“I started uploading images on Instagram for friends and family, just as a hobby and without any professional approach,” Pamela said. Two years later, when she graduated from high school with an A+, she decided to not go down the ordinary academic route of picking a university course. Instead, she went for a professional career as an Instagramer.

“This was what I loved doing and I saw the potential,” she said. At the same time, the first co-operation offers flooded in. By then, her community had already grown steadily at impressive rates.

Pamela’s key to increase followership is high-profile quality. “I have never uploaded just something,” she says. “I have rather made sure that the pictures are high-quality, edited and simply professional.” Just like anything she does, the tutorial videos on her platform www.pamstrong.com are professionally shot and her looks are perfect — whether she demonstrates what matters when doing seated shoulder press with dumbbells or explains her “Golden Rules of Nutrition” in professional English.

Authenticity seems to be another success factor in Pamela’s formula. With her respectful and down-to-earth attitude, she patiently answers questions straight to the point without any wiffle-waffle. She is free of pretentious airs and graces. “I realize that I am now featured in the magazines I used to buy myself,”she says modestly about her publicity. “But I don’t think that I have changed as a person, just because I get a lot of attention.”

Having opted out of studying to pursue an office career means that Pamela works 24/7. “Everything I do is somehow related to my job, whether it is training, grocery shopping, cooking my recipes, writing blog posts, working on projects that haven’t been published yet, or creating fitness programs. Wherever I am, there is my workplace.”

Usually, she trains five times a week for an hour. “Don’t get me wrong, I do it because it’s fun and I feel better afterwards. I like to see the achievements, which I share with my followers. Motivating others is motivation for me.”

This is also why she has written a book “Strong & Beautiful,” which was published in 2017.

Despite the Instagram success, Pamela strives for more. “I am now working on becoming more than just an Instagram personality,” she said. The book and Pamstrong.com are components of that strategy, while she also banks on long-term co-operations with partners who are a good match. (SD-Agencies)