Over the last five years, the Instagram industry has experienced significant growth, particularly in terms of revenue, user base, and engagement. Instagram has shown a rapid increase, especially noted during the pandemic, which drew more users and brands to the platform. From generating $0.5 billion in 2015, Instagram’s estimated revenue skyrocketed to $60.3 billion in 2023.
The platform’s user base also expanded significantly, reaching 2.115 billion active users by 2023, demonstrating a steady growth pace and marking Instagram as the fourth most popular social app worldwide.
Now we have a few major players on Insta: public figures and influencers. While public figures are recognized for their societal, cultural, or professional contributions, influencers are known for their content creation and personal engagement within specific niches. We have pleasure in meeting Tom Claeren who created his own successful story on Insta and shared with us some insights.
Olga: Tom, for those who maybe don’t know you, can you tell us where you’re from?
Tom: I am from a modest French family. I grew up in a very small village with 500 inhabitants. So, very far from the world we know in Monaco. Simple family, nice house, a lot of land; I grew up outside, so it was a very happy childhood. My mom has nine brothers and sisters. So I have a lot of cousins and grand cousins. At Christmas we are like 45 for dinner. We try to catch up twice a year with everyone.
Olga: You came to Monaco to set up a business with your father…
Tom: We were supplying home entertainment for yachts and villas. I was on the marketing side of the company because I have a master’s degree in digital marketing and business development. I started the branding and creation of a company in Monaco and after that my current media company.
Olga: Does it mean you got inspired by luxury lifestyles thanks to the clients of your father’s company?
Tom: I discovered what kind of clients and opportunities Monaco had to offer. During the events I met interesting people from the cinema or in the influence media industry. And this is how I got inspired. Actually in Cannes during the film festival, I was in some parties with major influencers at that time. And I got inspired to create my own version of luxury lifestyle media here in Monaco. I presented myself as a person specializing in luxury lifestyle events and media to share online.
Olga: We call people who work in Insta “social media entrepreneur”, “influencer”, “public figure”. And how do you define yourself?
Tom: I run a marketing company, so we provide services for luxury brands, international brands in digital marketing; we produce content, we create promotion, events and value for these brands. I’m a public face of my own media and an ambassador for some brands we work with. So it’s a mix between a sort of influence but in a niche media. We don’t have hundreds of millions of followers, but a target group interested in our topic, which is luxury lifestyle, travel, hotel, cars, watches and jewellery. I’m doing creative direction, film direction, content production, marketing agency, consulting, and also the media side of it with my face on it.
Olga: Talking about influence, people follow you for various reasons. In that case you can influence their purchasing behaviour. Do you feel any real responsibility for what you’re doing?
Tom: Definitely. As soon as your audience reaches a large number of people you are responsible for the communications. I’ve refused a lot of partnerships or deals with companies which were not fit for my audience. I’m very picky about what I will show to my followers. Obviously, we have commercial agreements with brands, but I don’t want to say “we are selling this with promo code” or this kind of thing. It’s more like showing a lifestyle and a life inspiration and beautiful assets, elegant products and topics.
Olga: If you promote something, do you say: “I use it for myself, it is a good stuff, I never recommend to my followers something bad”…?
Tom: I would not recommend something I would not use. So in that sense I choose products that I like and I think bring value to my audience. It’s my own channel with my own followers. They trust me. They sign up and they expect to see some quality content and something which is curated in that way. So I feel very responsible for what we publish. Most of the things we show are something we create because it’s what I love. I love creating, I love producing new images and new content, inspiring my audience with unique angles.
Olga: Is there something you’ll never do?
Tom: I do have my limits. I will never have anything imposed on me by any brand. So it’s more partnerships to create content together. There are many companies promoting maybe doubtful products or scamming or promoting those that can be addictive for some audience. I would not like to promote that kind of stuff.
Olga: Do you follow some bloggers and influencers who really inspire you?
Tom: My inspiration comes more from the cinema industry, actors and the beautiful aesthetic of the cinema world that I wanted to bring also to social media when we started our cinematic production for brands. So it would be more iconic actors, like Denzel Washington, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matthew McConaughey… or great young actors such as Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya. Storytelling and the cinema world take a lot of space in what I do every day.
Olga: You are not only a director of your company but its face. Would you like to be an actor?
Tom: Cinema was always something I loved. But I was very shy when I was young and I couldn’t really go straight into cinema. So creating a media company was a way to enter this industry without really going straight to mainstream cinema.
Olga: How many people are involved in your project?
Tom: Every project in content production is different. So we have a fixed team, a few people in photography, videography, an assistant and administration support etc. For some other projects we grow to 20–30 people, hiring a lot of self-employed people. It’s very interesting and I’m happy because we work with a lot of talent located here, in the south of France, but also in different countries.
Olga: On Instagram we see your amazing life, beautiful places, cars, outfits; you always look handsome. Does your real life differ from the Instagram one?
Tom: I live in Cap Martin, near the sea. It’s quiet, I love it. I love the south of France because it’s where I’m from. I love light, people, food, air… Half of the year we travel for our projects, our events, our business, and it’s more dynamic. My company also requires office work, administrative work and preparative work. Getting inspiration for new creative projects can be tough when going from one project to another. You have to reset your mind. To find new ideas is the challenging part of the business. That’s why I like to be quiet in my personal life, to relax and do sports.
Olga: What was your biggest challenge?
Tom: My biggest challenge was to decide to follow my passion and to jump into creating my own business — even though I had a very stable position and salary. I had to take a risk and then to fly on my own. And then it paid off because obviously it became a successful company.
Olga: How do you measure your success?
Tom: Overall, success on Instagram can depend on various factors including the type of content shared, the target audience, and how engagement is measured. First of all, with the figures, of course, income and profits, etc. The second indication for me is on the media side and the value that people bring to your project when you realize something big. And the last indicator of success would be happiness. If you make a lot of money but you’re not happy, it’s not really success. It’s so simple: you could instead make maybe less profit, and end up super happy and that would be more important.
Olga: Let’s talk about the Formula 1 event. You said that you were going to do a new project next year. Can you give some insight into what it is going to be?
Tom: For me, the goal is to create something very special in Monaco during the Formula 1 event. A lot of celebrities, personalities and business people come here for the F1, so it’s a very important moment to connect around the races but also for business for parties, events and brands. This year we are chartering a 50+ metre yacht for hosting events for four days and four evenings as well as holding cocktail parties with special DJs and celebrities. The goal for us is to provide something that hasn’t been done somewhere else. Last year we put a Ferrari F40 that costs €2.5 million on the helicopter deck of a boat with our sponsor ALTR! And then we created an art exhibition and a watch exhibition. And suddenly a lot of people were talking about our project because it was unique and attracted a lot of media value. So people who will purchase tickets to watch the race from our yacht are sure that it will be an amazing and very exclusive network. We have local guests, but also people coming from Asia, America and Europe. It is so interesting to bring people from different industries and different countries together to enjoy the race. And also, a lot of business can take place on this platform for our partners and for our private guests.
Olga: Are you looking forward to expand your activity all around the world?
Tom: Yes, so this is a strategy that I’m putting together. This year is the second year we will have a boat in the port of Monaco. I’m looking at other destinations such as Abu Dhabi, for example, where you can have a yacht in the marina. And I want this year’s Monaco Grand Prix edition to achieve at the highest level as we did last year. And after that, we are looking for expanding our project in other countries.
Olga: Which rules and principles are important in your life, maybe in work?
Tom: The first principle I’m trying to follow is as much as possible to follow what you love not always money or things like that. Because money comes when you do what you love. And doing it well is important. I started with passion and it’s how I created my business. Also to believe in yourself because when you have a strong idea, you must really believe in yourself. Some people will not have your vision, so it’s important to go ahead, no matter what people say.
Olga: Now social media has a lot of rules and even in Instagram they are changing their algorithms. Do you follow these changes and how do you adapt?
Tom: Of course, the industry is changing and the consumers are also changing their behavior and how they consume content. And it’s important to always keep an eye on trends. Photo posts are still dominating the platform. Carousel posts, interestingly, have the highest engagement rate. However, video content, including Reels, has seen an increase in viewing time dramatically.
But also it’s important to remain yourself and continue with what you create, to follow your own creative direction. So we try to keep our image and our branding, but also implement new trends, which is, for example, shorter form content. Now, as you can see, attention is very short on Instagram. People are scrolling fast. Before we were working on longer videos, like one or two minutes, but now we do a lot of short forms also because the brands are asking us for 10 second videos which can get a lot of attention and views. So it’s a mix between adapting to new trends and keeping your own style.
Olga: Women earn more money in modelling than men, for example. Who is more successful and who is getting success easily on Instagram? Men or women?
Tom: That’s a tough question. I haven’t made an analysis of this, but I see that there are probably more women in the influencer industry because of the topics in fashion, makeup, food and healthy products etc. There are a lot of feminine voices, I would say. But for men it’s also positive because we are maybe fewer in this industry and we bring a different perspective. My audience is 85 % male based, so I have a lot of men following my media.
Olga: Do you know some of them personally?
Tom: I have friends following my page. Sometimes we also have celebrities following like Conor McGregor, for example, or Jay Balvin, or some Formula 1 drivers … people with 30, 40 or 50 million followers. Also we have private clients; sometimes we meet followers after they message me and then we become friends. It’s very interesting to connect with people all around the world. And I think it’s a great tool not only for business, but for relationships.
Olga: You are an ambassador of few brands. Can you name them?
Tom: We work with the Marriott Group, for example and in the hotel industry with the Ritz-Carlton more precisely. We go to their hotels for new openings, and we produce visual campaigns for their communication and media exposure. In the car industry we work with Aston Martin. We have now quite a long term relationship, and we’ve been working with other brands like Bentley, Mercedes-Maybach and Lamborghini, and with ALTR with the Ferrari F40 on the yacht at Monaco F1. We’re working with brands in watches and jewellery, like Chopard, Audemars Piguet, also in yachting, real estate, art with Artist Richard Orlinski and Bel Air Fine Art, even in the spirits industry with beautiful Maisons such as Dom Pérignon or Château d’Yquem. So it’s pretty wide and I like new challenges and also new kinds of products because it brings a new sort of creative direction to our business.
Olga: I’m sure you had a moment when people come to you saying “Ah I know you, let’s make a photo together”.
Tom: It happens and it’s always a pleasure as people come with a very positive message like “I have been following you for many years, I love what you do”. So, it’s an important part of the business to see the recognition from the people who are following us.
Olga: And what about negative comments? How do you deal with them?
Tom: If a negative comment is out of topic, I am simply blind to it. I don’t listen to negativity. I don’t have time for it.
Olga: Many youngsters want to become influencers. What kind of advice can you give to them? How to start? What to avoid?
Tom: My advice would be to believe in themselves and then to stay true to themselves, not to try to be someone else but to show who you are. Nowadays, you can grow quite quickly if your content is interesting. So stay consistent, post regularly and don’t pay attention to numbers.
Olga: What do you think about buying followers?
Tom: It brings shame to the industry. And it’s surprising that it’s not more regulated because it’s bringing a lot of bad attention to the business. Many people are entering and suddenly acquiring one million followers and fake likes, fake followers, fake comments and still getting invitations from big brands or deals. And this is, I would say, also bad for the people with real numbers who have been working hard. I’ve never bought any follower or any likes. I don’t hide any numbers. I’m proud of it. I know it’s real. And we have great people following my media. But now it’s part of the industry and brands have to be careful when they select media or influencers.
Olga: I also think that it really depreciates social media. You know, when you see some accounts with a million followers, but now it’s easy to figure it out who is real and who is not…
Tom: Now the problem is people who are not comfortable if they don’t have big numbers. And I think it’s more of a society problem like “oh, I need tens of thousands…”. But if you have 400 likes or 100 likes from 100 important people, it’s amazing. You know, even 10 likes in your industry, if I post and I have 10 likes from 10 billionaires, the value of this is huge. I prefer having 10 quality likes than 100,000 likes because my niche industry is not about numbers. It’s more about quality. People have to realize it’s not about numbers and who cares whether
you should have a lot of likes or not. It’s more about your message, the value you bring and your audience.
Olga: Does it demand a lot of work to be in shape?
Tom: I’m lucky I was sportive; I played tennis for 10 years. I do my sport regularly now at the gym. I like boxing with my coach, also playing paddle with my friends. So I’m trying to stay active and in good shape and also for the image, of course, because my body is part of my business. In this case, we do some campaigns for swimwear companies. And it’s also important for the brain, for mental training every day, at least to be active. And it’s a good way for me to start my day. When I’m here in Monaco, I try to train every day or at least go for a quick run or walk on the beach and to breathe some air. So important for my brain and my ideas. I get a lot of ideas when I train, sometimes new creative ideas.
Olga: And do you have any specific diet?
Tom: I just focus on healthy food and try to eat fresh products. I tried the vegetarian diet for two years, then I went back to a traditional diet, but with a reduced level of meat. At home we try not to cook a lot of meat.
Olga: You’re French. Does it mean that French cuisine is your favourite?
Tom: I do love French cuisine, although I have a preference for Asian food. I like simple and healthy food, fresh tomatoes with cheese, for example. I love also mixing. If I could recommend a place in Monaco, it would be Song Qi.
Olga: Do you have a lot of friends? How do you spend your spare time?
Tom: I can count my real friends on the fingers of my hands. And I like it. My friends are also entrepreneurs and sometimes we also create ideas together. I also enjoy time with family, also sports training.
Olga: What is your favourite place in Monaco?
Tom: I love Le Américan bar because of live music. I think it’s very important to get some live music, good energy, relax having a nice glass of wine or whiskey. It’s a place which is filled with history; it’s classic and elegant. As for parties, sometimes we jump from one place to another, from Trinity to Sass, then Jimmy’z and Twiga… I’m quite excited about Amazonico, a new up and coming beautiful brand.
Olga: Do you have a dream?
Tom: To be happy with what I do every day. And maybe to try some projects in cinema.
Olga: If you have to choose between money and love, which would you choose?
Tom: I choose love. It’s a very easy choice for me.
