Becoming a social media influencer is kind of like spotting sharks on a dive. You can put yourself in the right position, but a bit of luck goes a long way. That’s what happened for Olivia—aka Fully Submerged Scuba—when she started posting funny dive videos on social media during COVID-19.

A scroll through her Instagram (@fullysubmergedscuba) and YouTube (@FullySubmerged) pages reveals everything from short dive-related skits to longerform educational vlogs—and her content features skeletons, lots of skeletons, thanks to a love of Halloween that inspired her own line of “spooky” dive skins.

Olivia grew up in the Midwest, where an interest in marine biology led her to get certified in college. She ultimately became a PADI IDC Staff Instructor and a professional aquarist as her day job. But social media is where she really lets her creative self shine.

“I was living in Minnesota, where you can’t dive seven months of the year, so I started bringing dive gear to an indoor pool and doing silly videos,” she recalls. “Or stuck at home during the pandemic, I’d use the green screen filter on my phone and make jokes and skits as a way to stay connected to the community.”

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Olivia credits much of the initial growth of her channels to being in the right place at the right time. “I started posting reels to Instagram right when the platform was shifting to a greater focus on video content,” she says. “The second reel I ever made was a joke about peeing in your wetsuit— that one really took off.”

From there, she made a concerted effort to consistently post content to grow her audience. “For the first couple of years, I was posting a video almost every single day, but currently my schedule is more like two to three posts a week,” she says.

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Olivia headed south to Florida a couple of years ago, and now that she’s able to dive year-round, she spends one weekend a month actively diving, filming and editing content for her channels.

“I spend a lot of my free time just looking for inspiration and gathering ideas into a folder, organized by where I need to shoot,” she explains. “I might spend a whole day Saturday filming on the boat, underwater or at the dive shop, and then I’ll spend Sunday editing the clips and scheduling them to post on my channels.”

Olivia says her biggest challenges as a scuba diving influencer are the same as those of anyone who works in social media: following and participating in the latest trends, staying up to date with changes to the social media platforms themselves, and working to keep the community she’s built a positive place for herself and her audience.

“Anyone who has a public persona online will experience negative comments,” she says. “I try to get out of the social media bubble every once in a while, while also making sure I’m being a safe and responsible ambassador for the dive community in my videos.”

She adds that creativity, consistency and authenticity are the most important factors in successfully establishing yourself as an influencer. You need to come up with a steady stream of fresh, fun ideas and post them on a regular schedule, yet if you’re not authentic and passionate about what you’re doing, people will recognize that and lose interest.

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Job Requirements

Degree: None, but media production experience is helpful.

Salary: Varies based on the number of followers, platform-based ad revenue and sponsorships.

Certifications: PADI Open Water Diver