Are you considering working with a social media influencer to promote and market your products and services?
In just the past few years, influencer marketing has proven to be an effective way for businesses to reach a wider group of prospects who might be interested in buying their products or services. Influencer, as the name implies, is an individual who can influence the behavior and opinion of an audience (your target audience that is). Influencers are known to wield an impressive amount of influence on their hundreds of thousands of followers, and more importantly are trusted by their followers.
Why do influencers have such an impact on their followers?
According to a Nielsen’s Global Trust in Advertising Survey, 92% of consumers trust peer recommendations and only 33% trust ads. And these days, consumers appear to trust influencers more than they would the words of a celebrity or a commercial on TV.
The truth is many consumers are not as receptive to paid ads, TV commercials, and celebrity endorsements, this may be due the one directional, cold engagement emitted from those endorsements.
Influencers, on the other hand, have cultivated loyal followings for their honesty and authenticity. By giving their followers a peek into their personal lives through their social media accounts, they become more relatable to the public and their word becomes more trustworthy.
How do I connect and collaborate with influencers?
It all starts with identifying the right influencer to work with. You’ll want to collaborate with an influencer who shares an aesthetic similar to your brand and has an impact within your niche.
To find the right influencer for your brand, start by listening. Social media tools can give you insight on what interests your audience, and that includes what influencers they follow. This way, you’ll be able to understand what your Twitter influencers are interested in.
Regardless of your industry, there are opportunities for you to work with an influencer so that you can reach a bigger audience. Here are three tactics to try:
1. Gift your goods or services
Gifting influencers with your products or free services allow them to sample what you sell. And if they’re happy with it, there’s a good chance that they share their positive experience with their followers.
Do bear in mind however that there are influencers who simply will not accept gifts. And while there are influencers who will accept the gift, there is no guarantee that they will post anything about it.
2. Sponsored posts
Sponsored posts are probably the easiest and most straightforward way to work with an influencer. A sponsored blog post is when you pay an influencer to blog about your brand on their blog using their own voice.
And like most bloggers, links to your sponsored blog will be posted across all the influencer’s social media channels which likely include Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn increasing the reach of your post.
While their readers will know that it is paid ad due to a small note included in the post that the story was sponsored, it will still be seen by the bloggers huge audience and gain awareness for your brand.
3. Giveaways
Giveaways are a great way to build excitement around your brand and increase your followers, especially if the rules of the giveaway state that they must follow your brand to quality for the prize.
An influencer who agrees to work with you on your giveaway can rally a lot of enthusiasm around your brand. Choose a product that is your best seller and best represents your brand.
There’s plenty of good reason to partner with influencers. The trick is to find one that your brand relates to the most. Tools like Fedica can help you identify the right influencer for your brand through powerful search, curation and analytics that will help gain insight to determine if their interests are aligned with yours.