It isn’t until the last couple of years that we started hearing about the term social media influencer, or influencer for short. These are the people we see on sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter with a huge following and have some sort of influence on their followers. Many businesses and brands have taken notice of this digital trend and have gone on to partner with the most prominent ones in order to boost their product sales or at least increase their business’ digital presence.
The value of a strong online presence cannot be discounted in this increasingly digital age. For brands to gain their market share over their competition, they must leverage every opportunity available and that includes creating a strong social media presence. One way to do that is by partnering with influencers who already mastered social media marketing.
Any Social Media Advertising Agency will always recommend to business owners to examine their business goals and how they want to be perceived by their audience. This can be done by creating a strong brand image along with a message. With that in place, they can start looking for influencers who align with those ideas as they have the audiences who are likely to be receptive to the brand.
A makeup brand, for instance, will most likely partner with a makeup influencer whose core fan base are also people who are interested in makeup. Similarly, a brand that sells yoga gear will reach out to a health and fitness influencer.
The simplest way to build a relationship with an influencer is simply by reaching out to them, either through direct message or through their business email. The brand typically offers free products in exchange for mentions on the influencer’s social media page. Or both parties strike up a deal that involves multiple sponsored posts in exchange for either affiliate links or an agreed-upon monetary incentive.
For small to medium brands that don’t necessarily have the budget to pay a big influencer, they can research micro–influencers who are rising fast. These are social media personalities who have a follower count below 50k. These are the influencers who are a little more receptive to collaborating with brands and typically won’t demand too much in exchange. Building a strong relationship with rising influencers can benefit both the brand and the influencer in the long term.
An influencer who has worked hard in order to build a strong following will be hesitant to accept a deal with a brand if it means compromising on their personal brand. Influencers intimately know their audience and their behavior. Each one of them creates content that is consistent with their feed. Businesses, therefore, should be willing to give up some creative control to these content creators who are already experts in this area.
Businesses shouldn’t just let the influencer do all the work. They can help boost the campaign’s reach by cross-posting content from influencers in their official social media pages. This puts a little more credibility on the post and will benefit both the brand and the influencer.
Social media influencer marketing is a rising marketing trend and being able to leverage it will mean success for the business. But being so new, there are still a lot of things to be understood about it. Take the time to do your research, get to know the influencers, and see how your target audience is reacting to your new marketing campaign.
