‘Be real’: Australia’s most powerful influencer Sarah Magusara on how she got to the top

A Brisbane woman has shared the secrets to her success that has led her to become Australia’s most powerful influencer, with millions of followers.

In another life, Australia’s most powerful influencer, Sarah Magusara, would have been a PE teacher.

The young Brisbane-based mum fell into influencing when she was just a teenager, gathering hundreds of thousands of followers in just a few years with little effort. Now, six years on, Magusara boasts nearly 18 million followers on TikTok, 1.2 million on Instagram and 367k YouTube subscribers and has committed to content creation full time. It is because of her incredible reach, high engagement and strong connection with her audience that she has topped theoz.com.au Top 100 Influence Index.

Magusara’s content predominantly consists of fitness, dancing and fashion videos that regularly star her two year old daughter Zamira Rose. The 21-year-old is awaiting the birth of her second daughter in December.

Sarah Magusara is QLD's highest-ranked social media content creator on The Oz Top 100 Influence Index.

“If you had asked me in high school, I would have said I would like to be a PE teacher,” Magusara said. “But now, I get to create content for my audience and do what I’m passionate about. And there’s nothing better than that.”

The Top 100 Influence Index measures more than just follower count. Adding in factors like fan engagement levels, trustworthiness and relatability, Magusara is the national No 1 on a game-changing chart that for the first time reveals which of Australia’s thousands of “influencers” really make a difference – leaving some well-known names floundering behind newer, younger stars of social.

The Index, published exclusively today (August 25) at theoz.com.au, used behavioural science to quantify and rank content creators according to their overall impact.

Editor of theoz.com.au, Elyse Popplewell, congratulated Magusara for taking out first place on the list, saying it was “well deserved”.

Influencer Sarah Magusara with her partner Pieta Warbrick and daughter Zamira,2. Picture: Glenn Hunt / The Australian

“Sarah’s content is authentic, genuine and it’s obvious she truly connects with her audience,” Popplewell said. “Her extremely high engagement rate shows her community adore what she offers. Nothing epitomises The Influence Index more than a young woman who has committed to a full-time career in content creation and built an incredible, huge community.”

Magusara was overwhelmed and humbled to hear she was Australia’s most influential creator, saying it had taken “a long time” to realise the reach she had.

“(Being Australia’s top influencer) is definitely a big thing to consider,” she said. “It’s gonna take time for me to believe it and to actually be confident with that.”

Asked what advice she would give a young person with aspirations of being an influencer, she said: “Just do whatever you’re passionate about.”

“Be you. Be real. Everyone loves real these days.”

See the full Top 100 Influence Index at TheOz.com.au