A number of UK children now see ‘social media influencer’ and ‘YouTuber’ as professions they want to pursue – becoming more popular career options than veterinarian and teacher.

A study of 2,000 parents with at least one child aged between 11 and 16, conducted by Awin, found that social media influencer and YouTuber were now the second (17 per cent) and third (14 per cent) most popular professions that children are interested in, with only doctor (18 per cent) being more popular.

Despite the growing interest amongst children in influencer-related careers, 45 per cent of parents said they didn’t understand what a social media influencer did, and 58 per cent were unaware that money could be made from it.

“The rise in influencer marketing has been seismic, with our data showing an increase in activity and sales across the board, so it is not all that surprising that social media influencer is a genuine aspiration of many young people,” said Carina Toledo, influencer marketing consultant at Awin. “Whilst traditional jobs are still vital to our society, whether we like it or not there is a place in the modern world for more unconventional jobs such as influencers, YouTubers and bloggers.”