Venturing into the Virtual: A Tale of My $0 Virtual Influencer Experiment
So, picture this: the virtual influencer craze is going wild, and there I am with my existing gang of characters. Why not, I thought, let's throw a fake AI girl named Tiiu into the mix using the Stable Diffusion XL (SDXL) magic.
Now, the internet's buzzing with promises of quick cash, but making that moolah without going all spicy was a head-scratcher. Started in mid-December 2023, I initially set out to create a new LoRA. But, hold on, it's déjà vu from my last article on consistent characters—no added internet value there. So, what to do with Tiiu?
Well, Instagram seemed like a cool spot. Daily posts of Tiiu doing random things, thanks to my Stable Diffusion prowess, became my jam. Why? Because, as an "AI Artist," flexing those muscles is pretty darn intriguing.
Guess what? Followers started trickling in and then BAM! 500 followers. Now, I'd love to say it's all thanks to my brilliant posts, but let's be real, it's probably the bikinis. Social media on easy mode, folks.
Some posts from Tiiu's timeline
But, the real question was, do I want to keep this up? Generating images on my trusty MacBook was eating into my precious TIME. So, I set a challenge: if Tiiu hits 1,000 followers by January 1st, game on. If not, time for a little soul-searching.
Cut to the chase, she hit around 700 followers in just two weeks (applause, please!). Now, here comes the twist. After some deep thoughts this week, I realized my 2024 goals in AI and tech are too juicy to spend hours on Tiiu. The plan? Let her nap for a bit, then wake her up to promote my own ventures. Self-advertising on a whole new level, right?
And that, my friends, is the saga of creating a virtual influencer, where the lessons learned are the real gold—forget the greenbacks.
Feel free to check out Tiiu's Instagram page for more examples.
If you'd like to learn how to create a Virtual Influencer, or would like me to do it for you, feel free to reach out on my main site https://jeremyschroeder.net or hit me up on X.
Have fun.
Links to my other consistent character articles:
Crafting Cohesive Characters: Consistency with Stable Diffusion Embeddings:
https://bits.jeremyschroeder.net/crafting-cohesive-characters-consistency-with-stable-diffusion-embeddings/
Creating a LoRA from your consistent character:
https://bits.jeremyschroeder.net/creating-a-lora-from-your-consistent-character/
Advancing Consistent Characters: The Power of FaceSwap Lab:
https://bits.jeremyschroeder.net/advancing-consistent-characters-the-power-of-faceswap-lab/