A social media influencer is simply a person on social media who has established credibility within an industry and has a large audience and can impact these large audiences based on an implicit trust between the two.
What can influencer marketing do for me?
Influencer marketing is a great tool to have in your marketing resources. If someone has a lot of people wanting to hear what they say, an endorsement on your behalf can go a long way in enhancing your reputation and recognisability.
In fact, this 2016 research from Twitter shows that “nearly 40% of Twitter users say they’ve made a purchase as a direct result of a Tweet from an influencer.”
Who is a potential influencer?
The primary criteria for identifying valuable influencers are:
- How relevant they are to your brand, how similar their content is to yours
- How many people can they reach that are likely to be interested in your brand, and
- How much do their audiences engage with content relevant to your brand
To identify them, you can do an analysis on Twitter to gauge how they measure up to the aforementioned criteria and also keep in mind to notice if they endorse any of your competitors above others.
How do you reach out to influencers?
Once you have identified potential influencers, slowly start to engage with them on the content that they are putting out. Commenting on blog posts to show that you’re reading, participating in Twitter chats, and sharing some of their content are great ways to build rapport.
Make sure that the influencer that you choose has a similar tone and look to your content so that in the future, their followers are able to digest the content you put out seamlessly. Additionally, influencers will be more likely to work with a brand that is consistent with their own, to protect their own brand reputation and following.
At the end of the day, you have to offer something in return (and not just monetary value) if your aim is to create a lasting beneficial relationship with them. You could arrange to do a content swap, a joint merchandising agreement, guest blogging, etc., but you have to be able to offer them something meaningful in return.
[…] Influencer marketing is another tactic that should not be ignored. When you find an influencer that not only has a similar audience to yours but their tone, style and content match the values of your company, this can be a great, mutually beneficial opportunity for collaboration. This could be doing a content swap or sending bloggers free samples in exchange for a review. […]